Star Trek: New Frontier

Usually I think of Star Trek as what mankind can do if it put it's mind to it. A utopia where anything is possible... If you are any of the following you might want to reconsider your those views and put them on the side before reading this series.Peter David, has introduced a Hermaphrodite main crew character named Lieutenant Commander Burgoyne 172, she is the Cheif Engineer of an old Ambassador class vessel.. (Enterprise 1701-C was the same vessel class.) So far he/she has the hots for Dr. Selar... but I won't say more. If you can't tolerate this kind of writing in a story this novel is not for you.Than there is the new Captain a brave Kirk-Sisko like character.Mackenzie Calhoun. This man does not follow the tradition Starfleet by the book approach when you get into book 3 of this book, you will see why. I like this Captain only because he has a willingness to fight and or do the very unexpected when the odds are impossible.I do not wish to go into the rest of the characters. I will say this... Peter David is a master Sci-Fi, writer, when he writes you can almost tell when he's having fun and when he's just writing... I like the inside jokes that Peter David writes.If you are a TNG fan... You will like this novel. If you are a TOS fan you will like this novel. I have just ordered the rest of the series... I hope you all consider this a good novel.

If you like Star Trek, and you like Peter David, you can't go wrong with the first four books of "The New Frontier", his introduction to Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and the rest of the crew of the Excalibur. I was hooked on David's writing through his classic "Grey Hulk" series of Marvel Comics. I find his prose and wit stands out from the crowd (though they did bring in some good writers for the original Trek book series). These first books in the ongoing "New Frontier" series are classically organized, developing the characters in their individual threads and then bringing them together on the Excalibur for a unifying adventure in their new territory. There's very nice balance between characters and a breezy pace. The Star Trek comics, er books, have a little more leeway with asides that you don't get in the TV shows or movies. With Peter David writing, the often serious tone is punctuated with comic relief. The time and place is set around the time of the Next Generation, with Jean-Luc Picard and even Spock putting in an appearance. Just to be clear -- these books read like comic books, or like a Star Trek episode. It's pure pulp, but pulp of the highest order. One word of warning: these "books" are barely novella length; it takes about an hour to read each, and that's if you read the funny parts twice. All in all, just as Star Trek should be.

This is a wonderful book full of colorful characters that interact in interesting manners. It is wonderfully refreshing and it the terrific beinnning to what develops into a wonderfully entertaining series.

This was the format that I read these first four books of New Frontier, so this is more like one book than four books to me, and this is why I'm only going to review them only in this format.This book, which includes a mini-poster of the crew and a mini-pedia of the first four New Frontier books, is an excellent foundation for this incredible series. In this book, Peter David brought in three characters from Next Generation (Cmdr. Shelby, Dr. Selar, and Lt. Lefler), and there characters from the first three books of his own of the Starfleet Academy series about Worf (Lts. McHenry, Soleta, and Keborn) Originally created for this series are Captain Calhoun, who knows Captain Picard from several encounters, and Lt. Burygoyne, a hermat (a species who have both male and female reproduction organs!).These four books focuses on the collapse of the Thallonian Empire (newly introduced in this series and brings in one more character, Si Cwan), and the U.S.S. Excalibur is sent to offer any needed help. On the way, they run into a whole bunch of trouble involving Calhoun's and Si Cwan's own past.This series I strongly recommend especially if you're already a Peter David fan. For those who don't usually read Star Trek books, I think you should give this series a chance.

Peter David did an great job writing this book. This book is highly recommended. After reading it I went back out and bought #5 & #6 for now. I'm not a big reader when it comes to books. So it might take me a while to read a book. I read this one in 3 days. Just couldn't put it down. Captain Calhoun is one of the great Captain's in star Fleet. Read it you will love it.