A review by em_being
The Lives of Dax by Marco Palmieri
3.0
Dax is a mess of a character. Trill episodes in DS9 are often borderline to actually embarrassing because Trill society is a weird thing to handle around the edges of an already over-stuffed show. So you'd think short stories about the various Dax hosts would be a great vehicle for expanding these ideas. And you'd be right, assuming the author is good.
Ezri: the Ezri wrapper is terrible, not because of Ezri but because the Reeves-Stevenses seem to think that Vic Fontaine is vaguely supernatural? Bad. It's bad.
Lela: Lela is cool, this is actually a great story about what politics look like after first contact but before you join galactic civilization. One of the best stories in this book.
Tobin: some Earth-Romulan war adventures. Fun but disposable.
Emony: from the point of view of young Leonard McCoy, based on an offhanded remark Jadzia made in that one episode of DS9. Some lore nonsense but not unpleasant.
Audrid: a blatant tie in to the DS9 relaunch books, and absolutely worthless past that.
Torias: We knew Torias died in a shuttlecraft accident, what we didn't know was that it was actually about the development of transwarp engines. Again, some lore nonsense. Worse than Emony, imo.
Joran: perhaps the best story in the book? It's basically Red Dragon but on Trill, with a joined Trill detective who has been tasked through their various lives to hunt down any joined trill serial killers, by understand how they work. Joran is one such person.
Curzon: absolute garbage, a mess of racially problematic tropes and lazy Star Trek cliches wrapped in Curzon dragging a young Ben Sisko (who has no character other than being oblivious and horny) by the nose through a negotiation with some Intensely Alien Aliens. The worst story of the bunch.
Jadzia: a sequel of sorts to the episode where a guy briefly steals the Dax symbiont. It seems to be table-setting for future stories about life on Trill in upcoming books but it's hard to say. The core concept is interesting but the way it ties into Jadzia's pre-joining family is heavy-handed and unnecessary.
All in all, the ultimate mixed bag. Worth it for the two great stories, but honestly I'd recommend just skipping that Curzon one.
Ezri: the Ezri wrapper is terrible, not because of Ezri but because the Reeves-Stevenses seem to think that Vic Fontaine is vaguely supernatural? Bad. It's bad.
Lela: Lela is cool, this is actually a great story about what politics look like after first contact but before you join galactic civilization. One of the best stories in this book.
Tobin: some Earth-Romulan war adventures. Fun but disposable.
Emony: from the point of view of young Leonard McCoy, based on an offhanded remark Jadzia made in that one episode of DS9. Some lore nonsense but not unpleasant.
Audrid: a blatant tie in to the DS9 relaunch books, and absolutely worthless past that.
Torias: We knew Torias died in a shuttlecraft accident, what we didn't know was that it was actually about the development of transwarp engines. Again, some lore nonsense. Worse than Emony, imo.
Joran: perhaps the best story in the book? It's basically Red Dragon but on Trill, with a joined Trill detective who has been tasked through their various lives to hunt down any joined trill serial killers, by understand how they work. Joran is one such person.
Curzon: absolute garbage, a mess of racially problematic tropes and lazy Star Trek cliches wrapped in Curzon dragging a young Ben Sisko (who has no character other than being oblivious and horny) by the nose through a negotiation with some Intensely Alien Aliens. The worst story of the bunch.
Jadzia: a sequel of sorts to the episode where a guy briefly steals the Dax symbiont. It seems to be table-setting for future stories about life on Trill in upcoming books but it's hard to say. The core concept is interesting but the way it ties into Jadzia's pre-joining family is heavy-handed and unnecessary.
All in all, the ultimate mixed bag. Worth it for the two great stories, but honestly I'd recommend just skipping that Curzon one.