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• Book One of the Coda trilogy
• Part of the Litverse
• Published by Gallery Press in 2021
• An apocalyptic Space Opera
• 339 pages

Wesley Crusher returns to the Enterprise with a dire warning: Time itself is in danger. An unknown force is striking temporal hotspots across the Federation and beyond. The sheer scale of this threat means that Crusher and Picard will have to call in every ally, for the fate of existence itself is at stake . . .

All good things must come to an end, and that includes the Star Trek novel continuity. For twenty years, dozens of authors have continued the stories of the characters seen on TV (and added a fair few of their own). The stories cover over seven years of in-universe time, following on from the film Nemesis. These seven years are packed with momentous events, including the return of Benjamin Sisko, the final defeat of the Borg, the rise of the Typhon Pact, and more. So many events of historical significance occur, in fact, that the novel continuity is irreconcilable with the vision of the future as seen in Star Trek: Picard. As is the way of tie-in fiction, the show’s continuity overrides that of any secondary media, and so the Litverse must come to an end. But how? Genre readers are likely familiar with the fan uproar over the end of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, which was swiftly dropped and replaced with a new canon. Seeking to avoid a similar outcry, the Star Trek Litverse was given time to complete ongoing series, with conclusion that built up to this moment. The Coda trilogy, in which the stakes could not be higher, and every crew has a role to play.

Moments Asunder is the beginning of this end, and is largely centred on the crew from The Next Generation. There’s a fair bit of recapping of previous adventures, which might be tiresome for familiar readers, but was useful for someone like me who has only dabbled with the further adventures of the Enterprise. As with any opener in a series, Moments Asunder is largely concerned with setting up future events. Laying the foundations for the story to come. In this regard it absolutely exceeds, and I can’t wait to see what comes next. But there is a story to be had here in its own right. The opening battle in a war for the future is still a worthy tale in its own right. This isn’t a series you should jump into without some foreknowledge of the franchise, but it does have a helpful timeline at the start, and Ward’s writing is easy to get into once you’ve refreshed your memory.

Along the way we also get a lot of quieter character moments. Much of the focus is on the Picard-Crusher family, full of touching reunions and sentimentality. But there’s also some last moments of growth for Worf and Geordi. Even a few faces from stories gone by make an appearance, thanks to the wonders of time and reality unravelling. Dayton Ward has been the go-to man for the Enterprise crew for a while now, and this book shows just why. All that familiarity pays off. But the highlight here, as always, is Captain Ezri Dax. It is a crying shame that the Aventine never got a series of its own, and that this is the last we’ll see of the reinvented Trill. If Nicole de Boer isn’t in the running for a return to TV Trek in the future, the Federation is a poorer place for it. If any character deserves more, it’s Ezri Dax.

Moments Asunder marks the beginning of the end of the Litverse, but it also promises that we’re in for one final ride. And this time, all bets are off.

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