By BWilliams / 11:58, 29 April 2004 / Reviews - Books

STAR TREK: A TIME TO DIE
Contributor(s): John Vornholt

Pocket Books MMPB
306 pages

Price: $6.99
Pub Date: March 2003

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Synopsis: Starfleet Command has unjustly assessed the actions of Captain Picard and the Enterprise crew during their assignment to the Rashanar Sector. While the court-ordered medical evaluation that relieved Picard of command is ongoing, there is growing speculation that his illustrious career may be coming to an end. It is up to acting captain Will Riker and a demoralized skeleton crew to clear Picard's name, even in the face of unbridled hostility and the promise of death.

Review: Now this is a fast-paced STAR TREK novel! Picking up after the conclusion of A TIME TO BE BORN, writer John Vornholt continues the story with A TIME TO DIE, the second in the nine-book NEXT GENERATION novel series that explores the events leading up to NEMESIS. While the action in A TIME TO BE BORN came off slow and at times difficult to plod through, this second entry picks up the pace and moves it forward with non-stop action. If you’ve not read A TIME TO BE BORN, be aware that some spoilers lie ahead.

Vornholt picks up A TIME TO DIE where his first novel left off, with the Enterprise-E reassigned to Earth, the crew scattered apart, and Captain Picard undergoing psychological evaluations after the events in the Rashanar Sector. Data has also undergone major renovations to his positronic system by order of Starfleet Command. And Beverly Crusher has received an appointment to return as head of Starfleet Medical. Everything is not looking good for the crew at this point, even for the ship’s junior officers. But help is on the way…

In A TIME TO BE BORN we witnessed the return of Wesley Crusher, who was strafing between his involvement as a Traveler and his Earthly origins. However, the manner in which he chooses to reveal himself in A TIME TO DIE comes off at times like a Superman-style wink to the audience, as we know his secret identity but the crew doesn’t. But therein lies the dilemma for Wesley, which Vornholt posits throughout the story: should Wesley give up his desire to be a Traveler, or will he continue with them?

One of the problems with A TIME TO DIE is that it’s difficult to distinguish between Wesley Crusher, the Traveler, the mysterious Ensign Brewster, and any of the other myriad names Vornholt uses to refer to the same character. While readers may pick up on the fact that they are all one and the same, we still need to see it in print.

Another problem with this concluding chapter is Vornholt’s usage of many myriad alien characters through the story. Pakleds, Orions, and Ontailians? oh my! It’s all dizzying to take in within the confines of a 300-page novel. More time should have been devoted to their back history and involvement at Rashanar, to flesh them out as three-dimensional beings.

But A TIME TO DIE is not just about the return of Wesley Crusher. It’s also about what brings Will Riker to the dance as a Starfleet captain. Over the years we saw Riker frequently take command of the Enterprise for dangerous missions, sometimes as a captain in rank. But now we get to see how Captain Riker pulls a demoralized crew together to function as a cohesive unit.

Still, Vornholt manages to pepper his concluding chapter with enough action and emotional impact to keep things interesting. In many ways, A TIME TO DIE lives up to its title, and more. While this doesn’t answer all of the questions regarding the NEXT GENERATION crew, it certainly starts the road towards those answers. But leave it to John Vornholt to end it on an optimistic note.

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