Gateways #6: Cold Wars

Like many reviewers have mentioned here before it is a story of two races that hate each other and were separated long ago by the Thallonians. They sent them to two different worlds with no spaceflight technology. Since this is a Gateway series you know they get their hands on it and attack each other. The Excaliber and Trident commanded by Calhouhn and Shelby are sent to solve the Gateway problem and the war between these races.The story is very typical New Frontier style with interesting twists and attitude. I did noticed the NF gang is mellowing and growing up more except for the engineering crew with that Fetus joke. Thatcould have been cut down a little. Overall I thought the story was great and to me the best of the series tied with the TNG story. The series started so-so, dropped to pretty bad in the 2nd but from that point on was good to excellent.

I'm gonna need another bang in the eye for dismissing Peter David's New Frontier world before I read this book. Admittedly, there are holes because I didn't read a few NF installments, but those holes didn't diminish my understanding or enjoyment of this book. A few details missed? Yeah. But in the Big Picture, I was still able to put it all together. The holes just make me want to go back and read the NF books I missed, so how could that be a bad thing?In this, novel, Peter expertly guides his "irreverently-professional" bunch through a rousing adventure involving both ancient technology and ancient enemies.Take two vicious enemies and put them on separate planets to keep them away from one another. Introduce technology (those dratted gateways) that enables them to get to each other in the blink of an eye and boom Big Trouble in Thallonian space.Enter Mac Calhoun on the *Excalibur* and his wife, Elizabeth Shelby, on the *Trident,* charged by Starfleet with keeping the peace.What follows is "peacekeeping" quite unlike what you might expect from, say, Jean-Luc Picard. Take, for example, this excerpt, written here to give you an idea of the reigning attitude throughout:"Calhoun was standing in the open area within the desk, and Si Cwan was next to him. The Counselars had made it clear that they would not convene nor speak with him at all unless he stayed in the 'Place of Address,' which was where he was standing at that moment. Calhoun did not particularly want to be in the Place of Address. Just then, he'd have far preferred to be in the Place of Beating the Crap out of the Counselars, had such a location actually existed."I ask you, can you beat this?While this novel stands alone just fine, it *ends* with a gateway cliffhanger, same as all the rest of them do, to be taken up in the final novel in this series, "What Lay Beyond."But for real? Read this puppy. And read all the other Gateway novels while you're at it.

`Cold Wars', though touted as book 6 of 7 in the Gateway story arc, is a stand alone story in its own right. While events revolving around the sudden appearance of Iconian Gateways through the Trek universe is the catalyst for these 7 books, only a very brief setup description in the first few chapters brings the reader up to speed on what's going on.In this New Frontier tale taking place in old Thallonian space, we learn that two warring races have been separated from their home planet and dispatched to two separate planets in order to refrain themselves from mutual extinction. These two races that share centuries old hatred for each other are introduced to Gateway technology, allowing them to invade each others planets for the first time since their separation. These scenarios are very action packed and will have the reader turning pages like mad. These skirmishes and their outcomes begin a frenzy and renewed interest in these warring races into wiping each other out. Thus, the UFP sends the Trident and Excalibur to each planet involved to stop a major war from brewing and to also find out who's behind the sudden appearance of the Gateways. It seems that the Gateway's in and of themselves are a threat to the known universe, for their misuse could end up causing irreparable damage to all systems.Think of the Aerons and Markanians (the two opposing races) as a social commentary of or own history. Substitute either the Hatfield's and McCoy's, Black vs. White, religious belief against religious belief, or whatever, and you have Peter David's message in a nutshell. Mr. David once again does a brilliant job of barely disguising our own problems that have plagued mankind's thinking for years in the guise of a great science fiction story. In addition to a great stand alone story, the author continues to develop other subplots that continue from previous novels (see: Moke, Dr. Selar, & Kalinda), introduce new ones (see: Burgoyne, Shelby, Mueller) and new characters: M'Ress & Arex (displaced in time from Captain Kirk's era), Ensign Phyetus and others. The author makes each of these characters unique with fascinating stories of their own that make the New Frontier series so entertaining. Mr. David does this in a way that always propels the larger story forward without the feeling of crowding these in for filler material or quick levity. These aren't your regular `red shirts' or menial characters usually downplayed in the television series or other books.Finally, the climax is full of excitement, and just when you think it is over, Peter David throws in his classic twist and cliffhanger. Great read.

No surprise that the first fully rewarding "Gateways" series book was written by Peter David and used his New Frontier characters. The story itself is self-contained, and you don't need to read all the other books in the Gateways mini-series for it to make sense (something mini-series writing Trek books need to do more often). Secondly, the characters progress from where we last saw them in the New Frontier novels - Shelby on her own ship, with her own crew. I liked two additions to what I hope is the regular cast: M'ress and Arex - characters you may remember from the cartoon of the original series. Though I did find that some of the "return" characters seemed a little forced - Shelby basically snapped up half the crew from the Grissom from when Calhoun served aboard said ship, the entirety of the USS Triton was well done. The plot was excellent - self contained, like I said, but also playing around with some interesting philosophical ideas: what is "holy land," what's the point of fighting over it, etc. Peter David is fairly true to characters when these issues arrive - it is the tactical-minded Shelby who can't comprehend the notion of fighting over something called "holy," for example. Add the usual level of witty conversation between characters and crew, and you've got a great book here, folks. Grab it.

Peter Davids latest New Frontier Cold Wars is his best effort to date. This book finds our heros Calhoun and Shelby going to thallonian space to investigate Iconian gateway activity. On the way they get sidetracked to two planets whom have been at war with each other forever and are now using gateway technology to once again start the war back up. Shelby's new ship the Trident is a galaxy class ship. We meet two of her new crew members right off. Arex and M'Ress from TOS anamated have joined the crew after separate temporal incidents. Another new crew member is Lt Cmdr Gleau a Selelvian who is the science officer on Shelby's ship. Calhoun's new 1st officer is someone you will never suspect. The story is fast paced and the book impossible to put down. Character development is great. Selar has some good moments such as when Moke ask her to be his mother. Burgy and Selar have some good moments also. And there is something for the fans of Calhoun and Shelby. Shelby and Mueller have several good scenes one which is very amusing when they discuss Calhoun. This book has a nice polished feel to it that was sadly lacking in the last outing Restoration. I highly recommend this book for all Star Trek fans and especailly for New Frontier fans