A new Star Trek novel by Una McCormack? Sweet! And the main character of the novel is [checks notes] Una?! I’m in! Now the question is, where does Garak fit into this story?
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Asylum
Author: Una McCormack
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover
Published: November 5, 2024
Publisher: Gallery Books
View on Goodreads
Date Completed: October 29, 2024
My rating: 
Thoughts
I don’t want to dive too deep with this review since the book just came out (today as I write this). And in full disclosure, I graciously received an advance copy of this book for the purpose of reviewing it. Unfortunately I didn’t have the opportunity to interview the author myself; but Jonathan was able to snag an interview for Literary Treks – so go listen to that!
The book takes place in two time periods: during Una Chin-Riley’s final year at Starfleet Academy as well as after the events of season two of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
I liked both timelines a lot. It is always fun to see our main characters in their younger days. We recently covered the Lost Era books on Literary Treks where we got to spend some time with a young Will Riker during his Academy days. While Chin-Riley is still a fairly new character to us, she is similar to Christopher Pike in the way that it feels like we’ve known her for a long time. So it didn’t seem too out of place to really dive into her past. And the inclusion and a tiny amount of backstory for Pelia was also delightful.
My one gripe during this era was Chin-Riley’s insistence that her engineering class be more immersive. And then the use of certain technology that was a little anachronistic for my tastes as well as the reference to a certain scenario that of course was invented by an on-screen character after the suggestion by one or more other on-screen characters. It was all really well done and flowed nicely in the novel, if a bit tangential from the main storyline. But I wonder if the story would have been a little tighter without the inclusion of this part.
Regardless of that, the writing was fantastic and the characters were really well conceived. Some might say the main premise of the book, that of refugees seeking asylum, is a bit bonk-bonk on the head. But I say, so what? The book has a clear message and that’s something Star Trek always excels at. In fact, I wouldn’t say this message is any more bonk-bonk on the head than a certain half-black/half-white or half-white/half-black alien species we encountered in the original series. So to me, this book does what Star Trek does best – take a subject that is timely and put it in the context of Star Trek. Very well done here in my opinion.
And [spoiler alert, but probably not] although Garak doesn’t play into this story, I would like to imagine a short story by McCormack where Garak reaches out to the Chionians for help with the Cardassian refugees. I’d like to see what the Chionians have learned and even what happened to the Euxhana and how they would deal with refugees when the shoe is on the other foot.
Overall, I would give this one 4 out of 5 stars. Definitely worth the read for the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds fans out there.
