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Title: Oblivion (Star Trek: Stargazer, Book 4) by Michael Jan Friedman ISBN: 0-7434-4854-5 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.6 (5 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Star Trek-Stargazer: Oblivion
Comment: Star Trek-Stargazer: Oblivion written by Michael Jan Friedman is the latest installment in the Stargazer series featuring a young Captain Jean-Luc Picard. As with most of Friedman's work this story has both an A and B plotline. So, hopping from one story to the next is what you'll have to do to finish this story.
Jean-Luc Picard is on a mission to find a long lost friend, Demmix, who has vital information on the Ubarrak about a defensive system to be installed on all of their spacefaring vessels. Demmix will only offer this information to his friend Picard, but the Federation isn't the only organization that is trying to cull this information, so are the Cardassians. Now, with the Cardassians in the picture, things get rather heated as Picard trys to avoid capture. Picard is young in this adventure, but he is developing his instincts as he runs into Guinan the El-Aurian who will become, much later, the master of Ten Forward on the U.S.S. Enterprise.
This book brings the reader into a tumultuous adveturous relationship between Guinan and Picard... as Guinan a long-lived El-Aurian still remembers Picard, who at the time of their first meeting was much older in San Francisco back in 1893. Now, she must work with Picard to find Demmix and all of his secrets.
As we read on in the book, we find a very different more vunerable Guinan... a person who experiences pain and longing, but with budding qualities that we've come to expect. There is some real soul searching going on on Guinan's part. As she yearns of the Cosmic String and it's promissed peace and oblivion. The story between Picard and Guinan gets filled in as to their relationship and brings the reader into a personal relationship.
So much for storyline A, storyline B is the crew on the Starship Stargazer. We get to see more of the personal relationships between the crew members in Picard's absence. Nikolas is still not over with his encounter with Gerda Idum from the other universe... that story is found in the book Stargazer: Three. The purpose of this storyline is to give the reader insight into the lives and thinking of the Stargazer's crew. Yes, it can be views as filler, but more importantly it gives us a view of the crew's fragilness.
I gave this book a solid 4 stars, for the good story between Picard and Guinan that sheds some light on their long relationship. The character development between Picard and Guinan may have been written stronger, but this is an early encounter between them and their relationship only grows strong with time. All in all, we begin to know what makes Picard tick and how Guinan draws her strenght from the man called Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
Rating: 2
Summary: A mediocre Trek book
Comment: There are two main plotlines, one following Picard and one on Stargazer. Picard's story is a reasonable if not very good action story. The scenes with him and Guinan could have had used more depth. Using a familiar Cardassian character was a good and unexpected touch. However, this story has little more content, depth and length than a good but not great Starfleet Corps of Engineers e-book.
The Stargazer plotline is filler. In the other books the crew on the ship went off and had adventures while Picard was off the ship. Not this time. Almost all of this story is about Ensign Nikolas. He lost a woman he was infatuated in the last book, so he spends this book miserable. Misery loving company, he does his best to make everyone around him miserable. That included me. This half of the book was a waste of time. The author either should have concentrated almost everything on the Picard story, or made this half actually be a story, instead of one long sulk.
Rating: 3
Summary: Guinan, Cardassians, and an overly emotional crewman
Comment: That sums up the extent of what one will find in "Stargazer: Oblivion." The plot is thin; Picard is sent to Obl'viaan (Oblivion, a hodgepodge of ships that is somehow a "city) to rendezvous with an old acquaintance of his, Demmix. Demmix has important information on the Ubarrak, a race that threatens the Federation and the Cardassians--basically, everyone is threatening everyone else and the potential for interstellar war exists unless this information is obtained by the Federation. And, of course, the Cardassians want Demmix as well, but that is to be expected. I mean, you can't have an easy time of picking up your charge. A bomb goes off in a crowded bazaar, security men arrest Picard, and Demmix runs because that is what he does (he and Picard ran a marathon against one another, and that contrived bit of past is how they've become such "good" friends).
So Guinan springs him, they dye their skin, change their hair, and go off in search of Demmix. Also after them is the chief of Oblivion security and Enabran Tain, who seems to be out of continuity as a Glinn.
A merry chase ensues, and it's hard to stay for the plot. It's better to see the interplay between a stricken Guinan and a blossoming Picard, and here is the true payoff: she knows they will become friends, he does not, and yet Guinan cannot believe this is the man who will become the captain of the "Enterprise" and her good friend. Interesting bit of characterization here, and, as I said, the only real reason to read "Oblivion."
On "Stargazer," Nikolas is upset about losing Gerda Idun so he lashes out at a few people and knocks out a Bolian (twice) and feels sorry for himself. Yeah. Not really caring about his attitude, just wondering how he became so childish; this isn't the Nikolas we've seen over the past few novels.
However, the Paris/Jiterica relationship is excellent; they are both confused after a moment of unintentional intimacy, and what develops between these two as the novel progresses is simultaneously bittersweet and poignant.
Oh, and we're still in the dark about Ulelo at the end, so don't get your hopes up.
Let's hope the follow-up gets here soon, because these loose ends and pseudo-cliffhangers are maddening.
Don't pick this up unless you are absolutely dedicated to the "Stargazer" series or want to know how Guinan and Picard "first" met.
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Title: Three (Star Trek: Stargazer, Book 3) by Michael Jan Friedman, Michael Friedman ISBN: 0743448529 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Gods Above (Star Trek New Frontier) by Peter David ISBN: 0743418581 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Serpents Among the Ruins (Star Trek: The Lost Era, 2311) by David R. George III ISBN: 0743464036 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Art of the Impossible (Star Trek: The Lost Era, 2328-2346) by Keith R.A. DeCandido ISBN: 0743464052 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Well of Souls (Star Trek: The Lost Era, 2336) by Ilsa J. Bick ISBN: 0743463757 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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