Teaser

Though the Dominion War is over, the Jem’Hadar remain among the most feared species in the galaxy. Taran’atar, an elder of his people, was sent by Odo to end this prejudice, but now finds himself on the run after committing a terrible crime . . .

Review

It’s been a long while since I dived into the Deep Space Nine relaunch. Partly because my attention has been elsewhere, but also because the books are just so hard to find. That latter reason also makes it a bit difficult to fully immerse oneself in the series. Much like the TV show that spawned it, the DS9 relaunch novels are heavily serialised. Warpath picks up from one cliff-hanger and ends on another, both of them from books I have not read. I don’t mind that too much. The story is still good, there’s just a whole lot of missing context that would have enriched it even more.

The good news is that David Mack doesn’t know how to write a bad novel. He’s probably the best writer of action scenes that the relaunch ever had. So when he writes a starship chase across the quadrant, you know you’re in for a thrilling time. Throw in some fisticuffs and explosions, and you’ve got a winning combination. In this regard, the plotting is fairly simple. There are a few twists afoot, though they are largely of the predictable kind (what, you mean that character wasn’t killed off-page? What a shocker!) and they also don’t matter much to the course of the narrative. They hang back for the final confrontation, leaving the intervening action nice and smooth.

Breaking up the action scenes we have the fate of one Kira Nerys, who starts the novel in a coma. In the real world, Kira is operated on by Bashir, and this side of the story holds little surprises, especially for someone who has read future novels in the series. While her body remains on the station, however, her mind wanders. Orb experiences, by their definition, disorienting. I’ll admit to not being the greatest fan of dreams and visions as a plot device, especially when they take up as many of the pages as this one does. Multiple chapters of pseudo-medieval Bajor, with appearances from enigmatic aliens who are likely familiar to more regular readers of the relaunch. It’s nice to have Kira in a different capacity to usual, while still bearing all the hallmarks of the character.

Less successful is the involvement of another DS9 standby, the Mirror Universe. This is one of those tropes that becomes exponentially less interesting every time it is invoked. Like Section 31, like the Borg, like Benny Russell, it’s an idea that has run its course. The Mirror Universe operate son the gimmick that everyone is evil there, and there’s only so much mileage you can get out of that. It’s unfortunate that Star Trek has continued to tie it’s two universes together, especially in making what is essentially a one-off zany adventure so pivotal to the future of the series.

That quibble aside, this is a great slice of space opera, and it’s a shame Mack was not more involved with the rest of the relaunch.

Book Stats

• Part of the Deep Space Nine Relaunch
• First Published in 2006 by Pocket Books
• 338 Pages