From the book jacket : Without warning or provocation an alien weapon appears above Earth and unleashes a blast that kills millions across two continents. A second such weapon could destroy the entire planet. In a desperate bid to save Earth and its people, Starfleet must change its mission from one of peaceful exploration to one of military service.
Only the Starship Enterprise is fast enough to stop the production of a second Xindi weapon. But the crew cannot do it alone, and Captain Jonathan Archer accepts a contingent of Military Assault Command Operations personnel -- battle-hardened soldiers known as MACOs -- on board his ship.
Starfleet and the MACOs are two very different services sharing a common goal, but divided in their views of how to attain it. It is a culture clash that echoes across centuries of military service. The men and women on board the Enterprise understand that somehow they must succeed in working together or the price will be paid in blood -- failure is not an option.
My review :
Version française
An important concept for me in a Star Trek novel, especially a novel from a TV series, is the description and the attitude of the characters. I like to feel like in an episode and find back my usual characters. But in this novel we discover a Captain Archer as we are not accustomed to see. Given the situation it is not illogical, but it was still a little disturbing. He has a bit this behavior in the season 3, he is ready to sit on his principles to achieve his purpose, but it may be less extensive than in the book. Another character who surprised me is Malcolm Reed who is a little too straight in his boots, does not agree with his captain and tells him. Although a very interesting flashback of his adolescence explains a bit why, I still found that it did not correspond completely to the character of the series. In the episode The Shipment it's even quite the opposite with a Lieutenant Reed who would be more violent with the Xindi and a Captain Archer more moderate.
This novel is set after the attack of Earth by the Xindi, so in season 3 of the Enterprise TV series, when the Enterprise embarked a contingent of MACOs. Members of Starfleet, nicknamed squids, and MACO (Military Assault Command Operations), nicknamed Shark, must learn to live together. At the beginning there are really problems of cohabitation and it will evolve over the book. What I liked is that it does not end too "Care Bears", I mean that it evolves in a rather consistent and realistic way. However, this part of the story quickly becomes repetitive and didn't particularly hooked me.
Mayweather has a fairly large role in this book, compared to what he usually does in the series, and it is interesting to explore a little more this character. As I said earlier, we can also see a flashback very interesting about the adolescence of Malcolm Reed. This is very interesting and for those who have seen the series, we see a link with some of his confessions in the series.
Given the situation of the Enterprise this novel contains some action. There are two different missions and the crew is rather dispersed. Although the author cannot touch the main characters, it introduces enough secondary characters so that we wonder who will survive their mission. So we think that there may potentially be people who will die in this novel and I found it gave additional tension.
This novel was fun but nothing more. I read it easily, but even if it is a detail, the characterization of the characters like Archer and Reed disturbs me a little, and the relationship problems between the crew of the Enterprise and the MACOs didn't passionate me. So of course this novel contains a big surprise that makes you want to read the following novel, but it doesn't do everything.
Feeling:
Authors: Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin
Editor: Pocket Books
Published: April 2006
Format : paperback
Pages : 352
Other reviews on the web: An Eclectic Bookshelf, Trek Today, Starfleet Library, Defcon's TrekLit
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