Teaser

For almost a century, there has been a ceasefire between the federation and the Romulan Star Empire. Yet when a mysterious sickness spreads through the Neutral Zone, Starfleet Intelligence must send undercover teams into the Zone in search of the truth . . .

Review

The Star trek literary canon is chock-full of crossovers. Without the need to manage actor’s fees, budgets, and timelines, pretty much any crew can meet any other. The obvious examples are series such as Destiny or Typhon Pact, which regularly saw crossovers between The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager. On a smaller scale there is Greg Cox’s No Time Like the Past, which sees Seven of Nine thrown through time to the era of Kirk and co. These crossovers can be fun and entertaining, but oftentimes they don’t make a whole lot of sense. This, however, is not the case with Catalyst of Sorrows, which boasts perhaps the finest one-off multi-series crossover I’ve seen to date.

I’m not entirely sure if Uhura’s ascent to the head of Starfleet Intelligence occurred in the TOS movies, or the prior books, or it was simply invented for this novel. What matters is that it works. It takes the role of communications officer and follows it through to a logical ending. Most impressively of all, this book remembers that Starfleet Intelligence is not synonymous with Section 31. Indeed, the latter are not even referenced in the book, even if a certain director makes a cameo at the end. Starfleet Intelligence is not a cloak-and-dagger shadow organisation, it’s a rational and important part of keeping the Federation safe. To that end they employ various assets, including some familiar faces.

Tuvok is at his best as an investigator, and pairing him with a young Benjamin Sisko makes for an interesting dynamic. They are not alone, however. Owing the medical nature of the threat, there are some doctors involved too. Namely McCoy, Crusher, and Selar. The last of those, for the uninitiated, was a recurring figure in early TNG, who was sorely deserving of more time in the limelight. It may have taken a while, but this book finally delivers.

If all that sounds like a lot of characters, fear not. Everyone has something to do here, and no one feels wasted. impressively, not one of the characters feels awkwardly inserted into the story either. It helps that this particular book is not exploring some famous incident from future history. It’s just a great story that happens to include names and faces we know. The sheer size of the cast is actually of benefit to give us multiple perspectives on the affair. A personal highlight for me was Tuvok and Selar masquerading as Romulans, making full use of Trek’s long litany of near-identical species.

Unquestionably one of the stronger Lost era novels, Catalyst of Sorrows doesn’t stress itself by attempting to cover significant events. Instead it takes some familiar elements, and weaves an exciting tale with them. really, that’s all I’ve ever wanted from Star Trek.

Book Stats

• A Novel of The Lost Era
• Published in 2004 by Pocket Books
• 334 pages