It is easy to see why Book Two in the Invasion series is so readily dismissed by a lot of readers. We went from 289 pages of small print in "First Strike" to 234 pages of big print in "The Soldiers of Fear." There is even a 38 page excerpt from "Time's Enemy" to pad the book even more. But those numbers are only indicative of the qualitative drop off from Book One in the Series. You get the feeling Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch worked from nothing more than a synopsis or an outline, because all of the background Diane Carey put into that first book are totally ignored. There are references to what happened with Kirk, and certainly the fear weapon used shows the invaders learned something about their opponents since that first encounter, but the entire culture of the Furies is abandoned, particularly the entire Druid angle. Since Carey is one of the co-creators of this series I have to feel that her perspective gets privileged. If they had the opportunity to actually read "First Strike" surely Smith and Rusch they would have made some serious improvements in Book Two to bring it up to line.

Of the Enterprise crew, Geordi La Forge is the only character who shows any additional depth, and this is mainly because the book does spend some time while he is engaged in solving problems as opposed to his just being the disembodied voice speaking from Engineering. There are a couple of interesting chats between Picard and Guinan, and some nice insights into Troi's subconscious as well as her relationship with Picard. But a lot of the emotional part of the story is reduced to short hand. Troi and Worf exchange meaningful looks when Troi is in trouble and the reader supplies all the meaning and import, although it is not at all clear where this story fits into the Next Generation chronology.

There was a sense of tragedy to "First Strike" because Kirk was trying to stop a war that was so unnecessary. In "The Soldiers of Fear" the writers try to create an epic moment, on the level of Spock's sacrifice at the end of "The Wrath of Khan," but when we get to the big moment there is no suspense because as soon as you know what the mission is, you know what will happen. The writers really needed to come up with a better way of getting out of that do or die situation. More importantly, "The Soldiers of Fear" simply needed to follow up on "First Strike" a lot better. The feeling of momentum in the Invasion series is gone by the time you finish this novel and realize the rest of the book is a teaser for the next volume. But I promise you that if you keep reading the rest of the Invasion books, you are going to be impressed.

I have read many of the Star Trek TNG books and I find this one to be the best. Smith and Rusch always make a really good book when they team up, just like Star Trek's "The Rings of Tautee". The drama and suspense of this book is out of the world. All the characters are well rounded and fit everything that the TV series made them out to be. But I must admit something, I read this book series out of order. I have since borrowed the other books in the series and will read them in order, this time. I will make a review of them afterwards

this was only the second TNG book I have read. I liked it a great deal and it was a perfect followup to the First Strike. The Furies are great enemies, and Kirk and his crew are at their best in confronting the threat. The pace is blinding in speed, the plot tight and well thought out and the characterizations well done. If you can get it (I noted it is out of stock) read it, but after First Strike

I am reading the entire Star Trek: Captain's Table series in order, and I have to be absolutely honest about this ... so far, it doesn't have much to be desired. I mean, it's a great idea for a series, but the authors involved in the first three books, thus far, just seem like they aren't really trying as hard as they could be to make this a good series. And The Mist is, so far, the worst book out of the six. (I am hoping the next three will be much better.) As for the plot of the story being told in this book, I have to admit that it was a very cool idea to develop a race of outsiders living and expanding in an 'alternate' space. However, there are things about this plot that just irritate me when I think about them. For example, after reading this book, everytime you watch Deep Space Nine on television, you will have to live with the fact that there is an invisible race and various aliens all around the station that nobody can see, and only a few select people, including Sisko and Sotugh, know about them - yet they never mention it on television or even talk about it ... ever. I mean, if the Mist were located way out in space somewhere, I could buy it. But having the Mist exist so close to DS9 is just not believable in my eyes, due to the fact that is seriously conflicts with the television series, which is the strong point of DS9. Disregarding this fact, I also would like to state that Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch should spend a little less time writing about people arguing over the details of the story, and spend quite a bit more time tending to the importances of the actual story, such as the battles (which were very weak in this book, especially for a Star Trek title). And last, but not least, there are three final things that I have to downsize about this book. The first is a word that is incorrectly spelled throughout the entire book (I hate that). The second is a sentence in the book on page 235 where Sotugh "wiped the back of his mouth with his hand." Shouldn't that be "wiped his mouth with the back of his hand"? And third, I noticed that the Quilli gets into a fight with Sotugh at the end of the book ... about five pages AFTER Sotugh already left the Captain's Table. That made no sense. Now, with all of these complaints out of the way, I would also like to point out that the only reason I did not give this book one simple star is because it did manage to have a few upsides. For one, there were times where I found myself enjoying the constant squabbling between Sotugh, the Quilli, Prrghh, and the other pub patrons. I also rather enjoyed a few instances within the story which made me glad that I read the book in general. In my opinion, Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch are both decent writers, even though I think this book would have been better if it were based on unknown characters, instead of Deep Space Nine. This book deserves my two stars, and no more. Now, I would like to add a comment that does not really relate to this book, but I feel it needs to be said anyway. It is a shame that at the end of each Captain's Table book there is a preview into the next book, because from what I read of book four, I am not too excited to continue with this series. Captain Kathryn Janeway seems to have a disturbing way with describing things, and I find myself hoping that Fire Ship will be much better than the first three books in this series - but I doubt it.

I really, really felt like I was sitting at the same table as Capt. Sisko, listening to his tale with this story. The suspense is well-timed, the characters and plot are vivid, and the whole story *moved* with a pace that I found hard to put down -- even for the season finale of DS9. I even found myself craving some nachos and jambalaya when I finally put the book down...and feeling sorry for that little gecko...

Of the six Captain's Table books I'd have to say this one comes in a close second to Peter David's "Once Burned." I say this because I feel that the character of Captain Sisko is one of the best character's in the Trek universe.
Although there are a few minor inconsistencies in the story, they are not too distracting. As it happens, a lot of the Trek books released have had them and I do my best to ignore them. Afterall, the books are not canon.
"The Mist" is an extremely well told story about a race that lives close to DS9 and are for all intents and purposes, cloaked or in another dimension that is only one step removed from the Federations. What a wonderful concept! In my opinion, the author's captured Captain Sisko's personality really well. The character interactions in the bar were particularly good. Sotugh is a well done Klingon. The Quilli besting a Klingon was really funny as well. Overall a great story and thank you very much to the author's for this one.

It has a great plot. All the rest of the books in the series does too. Also, interesting characters, with strong personalities(most of them). Interesting world, too. BUT there is the fact that it doesn't manage to muster up enough suspense to keep us really interested. And the world view is not detailed, or realistic, enough to make us feel as though we're really inside the book, feeling along with the characters- it all too often reminds us that the thing we're poring over is just paper printed with words. Because of this fact, I never managed to read the books straight through- chapters were skipped, pages were turned without being read- but because the plot was always interesting, only the narrating lacking, I did go through all the books. If you have the patience, this may be a very good book for you.

The rating of five stars is really for the series as a whole, not just the first book. I read the second book first, and the first book last, and I can see why some people don't like the first one, but by the end they are SOOO good, it doesn't matter! Persistance is the key! Arianna, Gift and Coulter are great characters, and I can't wait for the second series...

When I first saw the title "The Fey" in the book store I thought, naw, I've read this story a thousand times. But Rusch acutally manages to make the rather standard plot into an amazing and original read. This king's daughter/warrior in battle proving her worth story certainly has some cliche elements, but they only give the reader a foothold for Rusch's magic in creating the brilliantly complex characters on both sides of the conflict. I never could decide which side I wanted to win, and never did decide even as it ended. Instead of the standard "some good, some bad people" set up for each side, Rusch puts the "some good, some bad" in each of her characters in a very believable way. Read this book if you're planning on writing some great, complex characters!

This was a stupid book. It's only saving grace was that it was a very easy read. This trilogy started off with a good premise (aliens on a planet with a 2006 year orbit "harvest" large areas of the earth), but just got worse and worse. I don't think the folks hired to write this book (nominally, the "authors") cared about it much either.

Although published as three separate books, the Tenth Planet trilogy should really have been released as a single compilation. None of the three books are able to stand on their own. As a set, they are a light but engaging read. These books are pure escapist fun, with stereotypical characters, some plausible pseudo science and a fast paced plot. As long as you are not expecting great literature like Gene Wolfe and are prepared for sci fi that is more in the spirit of Edgar Rice Burroughs, you will enjoy this series.

In the second book, Earth has learned the terrible secret of the tenth planet. Not content merely to defend themselves against the rapacious Malmuria, Earth breaks out it's stock of antiquated nuclear weapons and prepares to take the battle to the Malmurians on their home turf.

If you enjoyed this series then you will probably like the Heritage Trilogy by Ian Douglas, which is far better written.

The Tenth Planet: Oblivion is not as riveting as the first book in the trilogy, but the action does pick up in the second half of the book. In this middle book, we see much more about the aliens. The authors show a great deal of imagination in presenting beings so foreign to us, and yet with a sense of ethics and emotions that are close to human. It's an interesting twist that these aliens are not evil, but it comes down to their survival or ours. The characterization of the humans is fair but not great. This is definitely a story of plot, not characterization. There is no great moral message that I've seen so far. I give the book 4 stars for two reasons. First, the creativity and great plot line begun in the first book of the trilogy keeps the reader eagerly pursuing the outcome. Secondly, reviews indicate that the third book, which I'm about to begin, is satisfying and better than this second book. All in all, I think any science fiction fan will like this series. It is set in the near future, making it more "real" than the far-out stuff you can try to wade through. It seems plausible that these things could happen. Enough writing--I'm headed for the couch to begin the next iteration!

When I bought this book i expected another dull, dry trivia test that assumed i knew nothing more than the contents of episode IV-VI- was i ever wrong. This difficult trivia coolection draws upon the book series as well as the comics. Parts of the testask you to identify spots on a map of tatooine or label the parts of an astromech droid. Take this challenge if you dare.

This is the ultimate Star Wars trivia book. This is a must for all true Star Wars fans!

I was hysterical to find out I could test my Star Wars knowledge while trying to apply for a job in the Diplomatic Corps. I didn't score as high as I hoped for being only 10 years old I have not read many of the Star Wars novels. I read the Jedi Academy trilogy and I am in the middle of the Courtship of Princess Leia. I enjoyed this exam and may the force be with you.

This novel, the first "Enterprise" spinoff to be out in paperback, (second overall only to the novelization of the pilot episode, "Broken Bow") was a reasonably pleasant quick read, and about two thirds of it was a perfectly acceptable if unexceptional plot. The characters were handled well, especially given that they haven't really been established all that clearly on the show itself yet, and the dialogue was handled well.

The biggest problem with the book was the roughly one-third of it that was devoted to the role-playing game four of the characters (five, if you count Hoshi, who was going to be involved but wound up too busy with her duties to play) played during their leisure time. I realize what the intention was here; it was to establish characters by showing us what they do for fun, and how they interact. In other words, it served the same purpose (allegedly) as the chess games between Kirk and Spock on the original series, or the holodeck stories in Next Generation. And to a limited extent, it accomplished what it was meant to accomplish; it did give us something of a look into the personality of Travis Mayweather, as well as a few more minor characters. But like the holodeck bits on Next Generation, and unlike the glimpses we got of chess games between Kirk and Spock, it was given far too major an emphasis; the purpose to this sort of thing is to give us some insight into the characters' personality WITHOUT taking up a major portion of the book. I didn't think that anything could be worse than watching characters in a television show play characters in a holodeck game, but I was wrong; reading about characters playing a role-playing game with dice was definitely worse, and it wasn't helped by the (admittedly very plausible) fact that, as novice gamers playing under a novice gamemaster, their game was poorly run and poorly played.

I sincerely hope that that plot device is NOT repeated in future books.

I picked up "Enterprise: By The Book" this morning and finished it a few hours later. While the format is deviant from most Star Trek books the style is smooth and flowing, urging the reader on. Smith & Rusch focus their tale on Crewman Cutler (who appeared in a single episode of Enterprise this season) as well as other characters not often exposed on the show itself. This is at first frustrating (we all want to hear about our favorite main characters not the sideline ones, right?) the method actually ends up rather agreeable.

The only difficulties with the story itself were the Captain's Logs (Choppy, abrupt and rather un-Archerish in my mind...indeed Archer is portrayed rather unflatteringly throughout) and the RPG subplot. The subplot (a RPG game between four low rankers) is complimentary to the story, in fact it is far more relevant then most Trek novel or episode subplots are but is, none the less, somewhat awkward. There's just something uncomfortable about 4 military (that is, after all, what Trek is...military but more likeable) professionals sitting around playing an RPG in the mess hall.

Regardless the book is, all for all, worth a read and an acceptable first step into the freeform Star Trek: Enterprise world. A note to those who are tempted to put it down after the first few chapters, push on it's worth the trip.

A friend recommended this book to me a few weeks ago. I was a little surprised, since the series is still in its first season. I picked it up though, and was pleasantly surprised to find it written by a duo of authors who have written prior Star Trek works that I found quite good.

This novel reads very quickly, and does feel very much like it could have been an episode. I was quite surprised at how it was able to pull out elements from the "history" of the show -- most particularly the events from the episode "Strange New World" -- and how well those prior events fit into the plot of the novel. The interplay of the junior officers was quite interesting, but like prior reviewers, I found the early RPG sections of the book to be annoying in the sense that they took time away from the main characters and their thoughts on the mission ahead. Later in the book, though, the RPG sessions dovetail into the main story quite nicely.

I was a little shocked at how inept Captain Archer seemed to be. I realize that the events in the novel were supposed to take place just a few weeks after the Enterprise was launched, but it would seem that he would not have disregarded his staff's opinions as cavaleerly as he did. His interaction with T'Pol also seemed at odds with the truce he seemed to have struck with her. Perhaps this is more a function of my having watched episodes of the series that have taken place "after" the events of the novel.

It was nice to see Phlox, Sato, Reed and Merriweather playing integral roles in the resolution of the story. All too often in the show, one of these four gets shunted to the background. And the ultimate resolution between Archer and T'Pol seems to justify the iciness the reader endures in the earlier sections of the book.

Overall, this is a quick, but worthwhile read.

A dull, plodding novel about a bunch of seaside citizens who endlessly lament their collective past. A boy comes back from the dead. Some witchcraft nonsense. Rather unlikeable.

This book is one of those you have to ask yourself, why was it written? It advances no new fields in spook writing, or even psychological suspense. Ms. Rusch's novel is slow and plodding, yet she does give you some richly developed characters. The problem is most of them are not very likeable at all. Take the novel's focal character: Addie Hawthorne..what a real bi..anyway, somehow she manages to come out sort of a heroine by the novel's end, but you have to go through some really lengthy scenes to get there.
The plot is somewhat muddled at times and one never really knows who to blame for the disasters befalling the cove and what really lies within the churn. Although the climactic scene does reveal some facts, overall I found myself wanting to know more: what was Lisa's involvement? Who really killed the man in the car? What will happen to Spencer?
Why the three? I guess I found myself involved in the book and there are some really touching scenes. Not a great book by any means, but a good time-passer.