What Price Honor?
Star Trek Enterprise
By Dave Stern

     I confess to feeling a little excited on opening this novel, as this is the first one I have read set in the new fifth incarnation of the classic series. It is a murder story, in a way, with Lieutenant Malcolm Reed guilty supposedly of killing a fellow officer, young Ensign Alana Hart, who was apparently caught in the act of sabotage - but why? As events move forward with the Enterprise trapped in a conflict between two civilizations and accused of harboring a criminal Reed finds his mind slipping back to his burgeoning relationship with the troubled ensign, and trying to figure out what went wrong.

     This is a book that concentrates on the character of Reed, and we learn a little more about him as he tries to relate to, and then get over, the enigmatic Hart. It is certainly a story that kept me guessing and I didn't manage to guess it all, so this one gets points for suspense - and for being reasonably inventive. In a series that can perhaps be faulted for not having enough main characters finding out more about the existing ones and having at least one new one to read about it worthwhile, and the pre-Kirk ship with its limitations, and a glimpse into what earth's history might have been like in the next hundred years is also tantalizing. Hopefully the first of many stories about this new crew.