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By BWilliams / 00:24, 22 April 2005 / Reviews - Books
Synopsis: Tensions between the Federation and the Klingon Empire are the highest they've been since the Battle of Donatu V twenty-five years earlier. Even as Federation Ambassador Robert Fox engages in tense negotiations with the Klingon ambassador to maintain the peace, Captain Kirk sees the U.S.S. Enterprise refit from a ship of exploration into a ship of war...
Review: "Do you remember the Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish that is best served cold?" - Khan Noonien Singh, THE WRATH OF KHAN
In 2002 Pocket Books published the ERRAND OF VENGEANCE trilogy, a series of novels that took readers back to the days of the first season of the Original Series with a look at events that transpired during those classic episodes and the stories of the men and women who made up the crew of the Federation flagship. Now, writer Kevin Ryan has returned to the Original Series era with SEEDS OF RAGE, the first book in his latest series, ERRAND OF FURY, that sees tensions mounting all around.
Set just before the days of the classic episode "Errand of Mercy", Starfleet has received crucial information that the Klingons are arming for war, and it's up to Robert Fox, one of the leading ambassadors and negotiators in the Federation, to convince the Klingons of a peaceful alternative to war. Aboard the Enterprise, upgrades are in progress to turn the peaceful ship of exploration into a ship of war, and Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, and the crew are not happy about it one bit. But it's not just the crew of the Enterprise who are unhappy. Personal vendettas are at hand on both sides, and they may just cost Starfleet a crucial victory in the battle to come.
SEEDS OF RAGE is a story of two men on different sides of the conflict. Michael Fuller, the father of a young Starfleet security officer killed during the ERRAND OF VENGEANCE trilogy, has come back to action on board the Enterprise. But is his mission one of defense or of revenge? On the other side is Karel, brother of the Klingon operative Kell who infiltrated Starfleet's ranks by posing as a human and was ultimately killed for his betrayal of his oath to the Klingon Empire. Karel holds the Federation in general, and James Kirk in particular, for corrupting Kell's spirit and twisting his beliefs, and he's out for blood at any cost.
Between the mounting tensions on both sides, Ryan takes the reader back in time to the decisive battle of Donatu V, one that could have ended very badly for the Federation but ended even worse for the Klingons. Stalemate is not an option for the Klingons, Ryan posits, and the only way to avenge that stalemate is through war. But the cost of the conflict takes a dramatic toll for both sides, leaving no one for the happier as a result. It is this uneasiness and tension that Ryan keeps at the forefront of SEEDS OF RAGE, and through his straightforward and personal narrative he paints a very human portrait of men and women affected by war in both great and small ways.
This is just the first chapter of Ryan's story. His second novel, DEMANDS OF HONOR, should be just as exciting and filled with the same tension and yet the same dedication to humanity that the original STAR TREK was so noted for observing. This futuristic equivalent to Erich Maria Remarque's ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT is one tale that I look forward to seeing continue in the months to come.
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