Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Publisher: Pocket Books (Simon & Schuster) 
Release Date: September 2003 
ISBN: 0743448529 (Book 3)
0743448545 (Book 4) 
Awards:  
Format Reviewed: Paperback 

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Oblivion US || UK
Three US ||UK

Read an Excerpt
Genre: SF/TV Tie-in  
Reviewed: 2003
Reviewer: Rachel A Hyde 
Reviewer Notes:  

Stargazer: Three
Stargazer: Oblivion
Star Trek, No. 3 & 4
By Michael Jan Friedman 

     Michael Jan Friedman has written two further chapters in Captain Picard's early career when he was in charge of the USS Stargazer when only 28 years old. There are those who want him to fail, but he has a stalwart crew behind him and of course his canny self. Read how twins Gerda and Idun Asmund suddenly find that there is another "twin" on board called Gerda Idun, and in order to send her home the crew have to deal with several ships full of hostile aliens. Then discover what Guinan was like when Picard first met her in a strange city made up of abandoned ships. This is where Picard meets Enabran Tain for the first time while searching for an old friend with vital information to share with Starfleet.

     Of course, while all this derring-do is going on the crew's personal relationships add depth to what could have been just an adventure involving phasers and aliens. It is this element that lifts Star Trek out from the common run of SF and gives it that vital human dimension. Three could have revealed more about the Balduk as they appear to be a new species, but the two plots dealing with the twins' dilemma and Vigo's mission to Wayland Prime to see the new emitter balance each other out nicely. However, each could have been fleshed out a little more to make a fuller story; this is a very rare occasion when I am actually suggesting that this book should have been longer…Oblivion works much better as we are already familiar with the Cardassians and Guinan so the story can work with the minimum of description necessary. This is a more together-feeling book all round, with the powerful triad of Picard, Guinan and Tain striking sparks off each other and the whole thing having something of the feel of a Farscape episode. What this series does need are some more fleshed-out descriptions of the various new races, and perhaps a bit more conflict among the crew. But this notwithstanding this is an engaging new series that ought to develop nicely.