A review by lefthandedmatt
Behind Enemy Lines by John Vornholt
An mostly enjoyable tale that let's us know what the Enterprise-E crew were up to when the Dominion War started. It's set in between seasons 5 and 6 of Deep Space Nine and follows Picard and Ro on an undercover mission to destroy an artificial wormhole that the Dominion has begun work on.
It's a short book; it feels to me like it was split into two novels as it ends very abruptly. The writing quality is just serviceable and feels mostly superficial, and there are times when it doesn't feel like the author really captures the characters. It moves fast and doesn't really dig into any moments or people.
Unfortunately, we only get to spend the opening chapters on the Enterprise - that's a bit of a let down for me. The main narrative follows either Picard and Ro on their mission, or the Federation prisoners conscripted to work on the wormhole project. Both of these are engaging plots and see the return of some old faces from the TV show. Less interesting and very irrelevant are the side stories with Riker (who just seduces a lonely woman, eesh) and Data (who sits around waiting and worrying).
It probably helps that I read this right after the New Frontier book, because this washed away the bad taste of that one.
It's a short book; it feels to me like it was split into two novels as it ends very abruptly. The writing quality is just serviceable and feels mostly superficial, and there are times when it doesn't feel like the author really captures the characters. It moves fast and doesn't really dig into any moments or people.
Unfortunately, we only get to spend the opening chapters on the Enterprise - that's a bit of a let down for me. The main narrative follows either Picard and Ro on their mission, or the Federation prisoners conscripted to work on the wormhole project. Both of these are engaging plots and see the return of some old faces from the TV show. Less interesting and very irrelevant are the side stories with Riker (who just seduces a lonely woman, eesh) and Data (who sits around waiting and worrying).
It probably helps that I read this right after the New Frontier book, because this washed away the bad taste of that one.