frakalot's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Wormhole weapons! Wowser! In a bit of comical deja vu, entirely personal to my own experience, having just finished binging Farscape only a few days before starting this story.... the fact that this story features the Breen trying to acquire wormhole weapons was for me like an exciting nightmare. Oh no, here we go again. Except, we aren't doing quite the Crichton VS Scorpius routine, here we pit Doctor Bashir against the dastardly agent Cole of Section 31.
This was a great read from start to finish. Most impressively, this story didn't do exactly what I was expecting. It didn't follow a typical trajectory and I think that's the perfect way to write a Section 31 story. And I also think the author's infamously dark style is perfectly suited to this type of story.
To recap a little bit, (quite) a few books back Bashir had saved the Andorians from a genetic reproductive problem, but in order to do so he accessed and utilised highly classified information which had been gathered from the absolutely top secret Genesis device (see 'The Wrath of Khan' and also John Vornholt's books 'Genesis Wave' and 'Genesis Force').
Ok. Everybody knows that he did the wrong thing. Except, everybody including the red-faced Federation hierarchy admits that it was actually the right thing to do. So after some necessary "hard time" the new Federation President gives him a pardon and Julian suddenly finds himself a restless citizen, too compromised for Starfleet, too notorious to fade into a quiet life. Well, this is how we find him at the beginning of the book and it's a perfect scenario for Section 31 who have long desired to recruit the genetically enhanced brain inside his head.
Of course, Julian has been trying to bring 31 down from within, since way back when he was hanging out with Miles on DS9. Divergent values, opposing goals and a shared mistrust set the stage for this story to veer way off course, which it does in a delightfully spectacular fashion. When everybody is one-upping the others, you can expect the unexpected to occur.
Mirror Universes are my least favourite alternate universes and I kind of try not to pay too much attention to the details, which are always sketchy. Anyway, I think the place that this mission takes us to is the same as the Mirror Universe in DS9 episodes, however some big changes appear to have occurred in previous books. The changes are summarised well enough to follow and there's a reference for further reading in the Historian's Note at the beginning. I was able to follow along fairly well through chapters that time-jumped or universe-hopped with just the occasional pause when something didn't add up. "Oh, that's right, that major event didn't happen in THIS universe".....
Well I suspect this review is perfectly vague enough for a Section 31 report, although it should be clear that I did enjoy this story a great deal and that I am looking forward to more like it.
This was a great read from start to finish. Most impressively, this story didn't do exactly what I was expecting. It didn't follow a typical trajectory and I think that's the perfect way to write a Section 31 story. And I also think the author's infamously dark style is perfectly suited to this type of story.
To recap a little bit, (quite) a few books back Bashir had saved the Andorians from a genetic reproductive problem, but in order to do so he accessed and utilised highly classified information which had been gathered from the absolutely top secret Genesis device (see 'The Wrath of Khan' and also John Vornholt's books 'Genesis Wave' and 'Genesis Force').
Ok. Everybody knows that he did the wrong thing. Except, everybody including the red-faced Federation hierarchy admits that it was actually the right thing to do. So after some necessary "hard time" the new Federation President gives him a pardon and Julian suddenly finds himself a restless citizen, too compromised for Starfleet, too notorious to fade into a quiet life. Well, this is how we find him at the beginning of the book and it's a perfect scenario for Section 31 who have long desired to recruit the genetically enhanced brain inside his head.
Of course, Julian has been trying to bring 31 down from within, since way back when he was hanging out with Miles on DS9. Divergent values, opposing goals and a shared mistrust set the stage for this story to veer way off course, which it does in a delightfully spectacular fashion. When everybody is one-upping the others, you can expect the unexpected to occur.
Mirror Universes are my least favourite alternate universes and I kind of try not to pay too much attention to the details, which are always sketchy. Anyway, I think the place that this mission takes us to is the same as the Mirror Universe in DS9 episodes, however some big changes appear to have occurred in previous books. The changes are summarised well enough to follow and there's a reference for further reading in the Historian's Note at the beginning. I was able to follow along fairly well through chapters that time-jumped or universe-hopped with just the occasional pause when something didn't add up. "Oh, that's right, that major event didn't happen in THIS universe".....
Well I suspect this review is perfectly vague enough for a Section 31 report, although it should be clear that I did enjoy this story a great deal and that I am looking forward to more like it.
judenoseinabook's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Shouldn't leave it so long between linked Star Trek stories as it takes a bit to get back into the story arc. Also haven't read the Mirror Universe stories so took a bit of getting into those elements. But very fast moving. Julian heroic and idealistic as usual.
emmalouisemarriott's review against another edition
5.0
It has everything that you could want from DS9 novel: Bashir, Section 31 and the Mirror universe. It reads like a really well thought out thriller and I struggle to find fault.
dreamwanderer's review
5.0
I started reading this book with trepidation. David Mack is probably my favorite Star Trek author and Doctor Bashir one of my favorite Star Trek characters. So why did I put off reading it? The Mirror Universe, a concept that I hate. The TOS episode wasn't so bad but it was a ridiculous caricature in DS9. Those episodes get skipped on every rewatch and I developed a headcanon that it's not real. It comes into being when certain conditions are met on the temporal spectrum or some other technobabble explanation.
The story itself is riveting and held my attention, not an easy thing to do as I am guilty of allowing my mind to wander or my eyes to skim over certain scenes if they become too long and too detailed. None of that happened. Intrigue, double dealing, adventure and everything else I like in a story. While it didn't really change my mind about the MU Mack's version made it much more tolerable.
The story picks up where Zero Sum game left off. Bashir and Sarina have been 'recruited' for a mission by Section 31 to the Mirror Universe. The Breen are at it again and of course, Bashir and Sarina are called in to foil their evil plans. We see the Mirror version of Picard who is attempting to start a dialogue with and a familiar yet strange version of the Dominion. Meanwhile, Bashir and Sarina have a personal mission of their own, to take down Section 31.
It was a great read and I am looking forward to reading the sequel, Control.
For those of you out there who, like me, never liked the MU and because of that put off reading this book, rest easy. Mack has managed to make it palatable.
The story itself is riveting and held my attention, not an easy thing to do as I am guilty of allowing my mind to wander or my eyes to skim over certain scenes if they become too long and too detailed. None of that happened. Intrigue, double dealing, adventure and everything else I like in a story. While it didn't really change my mind about the MU Mack's version made it much more tolerable.
The story picks up where Zero Sum game left off. Bashir and Sarina have been 'recruited' for a mission by Section 31 to the Mirror Universe. The Breen are at it again and of course, Bashir and Sarina are called in to foil their evil plans. We see the Mirror version of Picard who is attempting to start a dialogue with and a familiar yet strange version of the Dominion. Meanwhile, Bashir and Sarina have a personal mission of their own, to take down Section 31.
It was a great read and I am looking forward to reading the sequel, Control.
For those of you out there who, like me, never liked the MU and because of that put off reading this book, rest easy. Mack has managed to make it palatable.
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