Series Stats

• Consists of Three Books
• A Crossover between The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Titan
• Released in 2016 to celebrate Star trek’s 50th Anniversary

Review

There are still a lot of Star Trek books that I want to read in my (seemingly never-ending) journey through the Litverse. There are vast chunks of both the DS9 and Next Generation relaunches that my library is missing, plus a handful of novels from across the Litverse. Prey, however, was the last great crossover series that I wanted to tick off my list. I’ve actually had it in my TBR stack for half a year, but kept getting distracted by other books. Was I putting it off so that there was always more Trek out there? Maybe. But if so it was at a subconscious level. With this review, I’m happy to say I’ve finally slain the white whale of my TBR stack.

The first thing you should know about Prey is that it marks the fiftieth universe of the franchise, and crosses over multiple incarnations of the show. Aside from the frequently overlooked Enterprise, crew from all prior shows are involved in some capacity. Hell’s Heart is largely a TNG novel, while The Jackal’s Trick pivots to Titan, and The Hall of Heroes finally brings back Captain Ezri Dax. Along the way we have threads that go back to the movie-era of the original crew. Full credit to John Jackson Miller for making these links feel organic rather than forced. It’s a rare crossover that makes the universe larger rather than shrinking it, but Miller achieves just that. When it comes to fan-service, I’m more lenient in anniversary celebrations than regular releases, but I needn’t have worried. This is a book where the crossover feels genuinely earned.

Every author brings their own sensibilities to the Litverse. David Mack is the master of high stakes. Christopher L. Bennett hews close to the themes of exploration, and Kirsten Beyer fully inhabits her characters. Miller is, first and foremost, a writer of adventure. The Prey trilogy has ship-to-ship battles, heists, schemes within schemes, and ruthless politicking. It’s an appropriately epic story that needs all three books to be told, and across a thousand pages there’s rarely a slow moment.

As someone who is not overly interested in Klingon politics, some parts of the series were initially a hard sell for me. It’s all done well, but there’s only so much glory hounding I can tolerate. Happily, the political chaos is not limited to our ridged-foreheaded friends. The Typhon Pact is soon dragged into the conflict, and it’s with two of the more interesting factions. The Breen are perhaps my favourite member of the Pact, and a polity that grows more interesting with every appearance. Then there’s the Kinshaya, who take full advantage of not being limited by a TV budget. Honestly, all that was missing were some Tholians and this could have been a checklist of my favourite antagonistic aliens.

Though it isn’t necessarily the deepest of stories, Prey is a worthy celebration of Star Trek‘s first half-century. With a constant stream of drama, action, and adventure, it didn’t rock my world, but it did keep me thoroughly entertained while I was reading.

Book-by-Book Breakdown

Hell’s Heart

The Jackal’s Trick

The Hall of Heroes