Dragon's Honor (Star Trek Next Generation 38)

Without question the worst Star Trek I have ever read! It went on and on without ever going anywhere! Truly awful and utterly pointless!

Dragon's Honor shows what a great crew Picard had with the Enterprise-D, everyone in the crew was used smartly, even Deanna Troi with her "unusual" dealings the Dragon, surprise ending too.

There is a play by Gilbert & Sullivan, the Mikado, based on China but in the style of Pirates of Penzance. This is a Star Trek style adaptation of it. All of the Next Gen regulars are involved, although Geordi's part is quite limited. The situations in themselves are actually quite reasonable, but then taken to absurd limits. The results are hilarious. Some of the situations: Picard is "honoured" by sharing favourite foods with the Dragon Emperor, foods that everyone but that Emperor considers offal. Riker attends the bachelor party, where the guests are more inclined to have funerals for each other the next day. Dr. Crusher ends up, to quote: playing den mother at a kung fu slumber party. Data, onboard Enterprise, engages the commander of the approaching alien fleet in what the Old Norse called a flyting: an insult contest. The Old Norse flytings were long, nasty, inventive and incredibly amusing, and they would have loved Data's performance. That was the best part of this very funny book.

It is quite interesting to note that in the recent release of Greg Cox's "The Q Continuum," with an interview between Greg Cox and Kevin Dilmore that this outstanding STNG novel wasn't a collaborated effort between Kij Johnson and Greg Cox but more of a re-write on Greg Cox's part. Apparently, Kij Johnson was only able to get the first draft in on time due to her changing jobs. Pocket Books and John Ordover asked Greg Cox to step in and write the second and final draft. While the excellent premise and characters belonged solely to Kij Johnson, the credit for the exceptional characterizations and pacing goes to Greg Cox for this wonderful STNG story.While the cover art for this STNG novel is pretty much standard fare for the time in which it was published, the art is a cut above the rest.The premise:The Enterprise is en route to Pai, the throne world of the Dragon Empire in order to secure the insular empires entrance into the United Federation of Planets. In order for the entrance of the Dragon Empire to happen, Captain Picard and crew must ensure the wedding of the Emperor's son to the only daughter of their oldest enemy goes off without any problems, effectively putting an end to decades of civil war.This great story takes a turn for the worse when Dr. Crusher who has a very prominent role in the story, wins the confidence of the bride to be and discovers that she is reluctant to carry out the wedding. Adding to that, a vicious alien race comes into the story and they will stop at nothing to prevent the Dragon Empires entrance into the United Federation of Planets...What follows from there is nothing short of one of the best numbered Star Trek The Next Generation novels that both authors deserve a great amount of praise for bringing to print. I highly recommend this novel to any and all fans of Star Trek fiction! {ssintrepid}

Star Trek-The Next Generation: Dragon's Honor written by Kij Johnson and Greg Cox is a who-done-it complete with mystery and intrigue as Captain Jean-Luc and the Enterprise crew battle an alien armada and are at an exotic Dragon Empire ready to join the United Federation of Planets.What I liked about this book is the mystery as you try to guess who-done-it with the clues furnished by the author as you read on in the book. There is a wedding between to old foes with mistrust running rampid and this "Royal Wedding" is entrusted for its security on Picard and the Enterprise crew. I like how the fleshing out of the characters in this story were written.This is a well-written book the will keep you on the edge of your seat. Without the wedding there can be no peace and the treaty with the Federation would never happen... but this isn't all... there is some really bad guys that would stop at nothing to see that peace never happends. Thus, this vicious race plans assassination to all out invasion, just to keep the Empire from joining the Federation and this is where you'll read about Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his formidable skill as a negotiater.There is action and advenure in the book along with the mystery and intrigue that will keep you reading till the end of the book. This is a classic Picard saves the day book.

From THE SPEAKING TREE MAGAZINE: STAR TREK -- THE NEXT GENERATION: DRAGON'S HONOR by Kij Johnson and Greg Cox Pocket Books, ISBN 0-671-50107-0, $5.99 Why is it that things never go as planned? It sounded so simple! Attend a wedding as a representative of the United Federation and get a signature on a peace treaty -- ending decades of civil war. What could go wrong? Hmm. Either these Star Trek books are getting better or I am starting to sort out the characters. I think this is the second one in a row that I have liked. A wonderfully fun quick read, DRAGON'S HONOR sets a good pace from the beginning. The story is told with humor and style. I figured out the mystery about half-way in, but that didn't stop me from enjoying this tale to the utmost. This one is going to go on my book shelves to reread some rainy afternoon when I want to lose myself in a story.  --Reviewed by Elspeth Sapphire ©199