My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I’m a Star Trek fan. I’ll just admit that now. And The Next Generation is still a favorite of all the spin-offs from the original series. And I know Doranna Durgin can write a pretty darned good story. So, I was not surprised when I enjoyed this one.
It’s a fairly familiar set-up: the Enterprise is sent on a mission to save an alien race (this time because their sun is about to go nova) and the mission is complicated by a stubborn and hostile neighbor that controls the only route that will be quick enough. And the neighbor race demands that the Enterprise participate in a ritual hunt to prove the worthiness of the ruler’s son. The catches? For one, the hunt will take place in a domed preserve of sorts that blocks technology, so no phasers, communicators, etc. Even the shuttlecraft is affected and crashes, leaving Riker, Worf, and the hunting party to face deadly predators with only primitive defenses. Add in some political intrigue and the insufferable son-to-be-proven, and the story is off and running.
It’s faithful to the TNG universe, characters are nicely portrayed and true to what we know from the series, and the setting is good. The Tsorans (the ones controlling the escape route) might be a bit stiff and lack a bit of dimension, but it works for a race that relies on an ancient rite of passage to prove a person’s worth. The son is, at first, rather demanding and uncooperative. He’s fully set on completing his hunt and no amount of danger, death, or coercion is going to sway him. To say he frustrates Riker is an understatement of galactic proportion. But, as with so much in the Star Trek universe, our heroes prove right in the end and, after all the dangers and politics are faced down, win the day.
Was it the best action story? Probably not. Was it Star Trek? Through and through. It was also a good read and held my interest right to the end. Star Trek, and particularly TNG, fans will likely enjoy this one.
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My latest book is a collection of very short stories, half science fiction and half fantasy, called “Crossed Wires and Other Very Short Stories”. I have also written a few other short pieces, another collection, two novels, and an urban fantasy series. You can find most of them at Smashwords, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and wherever e-books are sold. A few are also available from Amazon in paperback. My novel, “Circle Unbroken” is also on Kindle Unlimited, if that’s your reading preference. You can find out about all of them here.
There are also some stories you can read here on my site, mostly the yearly Halloween short I write, but there are a few others. You can read them from here
And So On... 