Oblivion

This is a good read, for the most part. There are still a few rough spots -- I'm getting awfully tired of the painfully slow development of the subplots regarding Nikolas & Ulelo, for instance -- but the main story here, the one involving Picard & his first encounter with Guinan, was actually quite good. Plenty of action, good characterization, good pacing. And we had only a tiny 5 page partial chapter dealing with Admiral McAteer, which was also a pleasant change.

Star Trek Stargazer: Oblivion takes place on a small planet called Oblivion, where what happens there, stays there. The story also takes place on the ship Stargazer, the ship Picard captained before taking the helm of the Enterprise. Oh, in Oblivion Picard is young with a full head of hair. Although this novel features Guinan, none of the other Next Generation Enterprise crew is in this novel. There is, however, a whole new and interesting set of crew members for the reader to get to know. They include a human crew member who is falling in love with a female gaseous being who works in a containment suit. The main story involving Picard and Guinan on Oblivion involves Picard trying to find an old Academy companion with whom Picard is supposed to rendezvous. Denmix has valuable information for the Federation. But at their meeting place, a bomb goes off and the two are fugitives from the Oblivion security forces, and from a pack of ruthless Cardassians hot on their heels. Guinan is a mysterious woman who knows Picard from the past, but he does not know her. Who is this mysterious woman? Who will get to Denmix first: the Cardassians, security, or his friend? What of the other dramas on the ship? This novel is fast paced and furious, with several big twists. A well-written and engaging novel. I recommend it for Next Generation fans.

Star Trek-Stargazer: Oblivion written by Michael Jan Friedman is the latest installment in the Stargazer series featuring a young Captain Jean-Luc Picard. As with most of Friedman's work this story has both an A and B plotline. So, hopping from one story to the next is what you'll have to do to finish this story.Jean-Luc Picard is on a mission to find a long lost friend, Demmix, who has vital information on the Ubarrak about a defensive system to be installed on all of their spacefaring vessels. Demmix will only offer this information to his friend Picard, but the Federation isn't the only organization that is trying to cull this information, so are the Cardassians. Now, with the Cardassians in the picture, things get rather heated as Picard trys to avoid capture. Picard is young in this adventure, but he is developing his instincts as he runs into Guinan the El-Aurian who will become, much later, the master of Ten Forward on the U.S.S. Enterprise.This book brings the reader into a tumultuous adveturous relationship between Guinan and Picard... as Guinan a long-lived El-Aurian still remembers Picard, who at the time of their first meeting was much older in San Francisco back in 1893. Now, she must work with Picard to find Demmix and all of his secrets. As we read on in the book, we find a very different more vunerable Guinan... a person who experiences pain and longing, but with budding qualities that we've come to expect. There is some real soul searching going on on Guinan's part. As she yearns of the Cosmic String and it's promissed peace and oblivion. The story between Picard and Guinan gets filled in as to their relationship and brings the reader into a personal relationship.So much for storyline A, storyline B is the crew on the Starship Stargazer. We get to see more of the personal relationships between the crew members in Picard's absence. Nikolas is still not over with his encounter with Gerda Idum from the other universe... that story is found in the book Stargazer: Three. The purpose of this storyline is to give the reader insight into the lives and thinking of the Stargazer's crew. Yes, it can be views as filler, but more importantly it gives us a view of the crew's fragilness.I gave this book a solid 4 stars, for the good story between Picard and Guinan that sheds some light on their long relationship. The character development between Picard and Guinan may have been written stronger, but this is an early encounter between them and their relationship only grows strong with time. All in all, we begin to know what makes Picard tick and how Guinan draws her strenght from the man called Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

This Stargazer book gives us the story of Guinan and Picard's "first" meeting and gives us insite into the deep relationship that Picard and Guinan developed over the years. We learn a bit more about Guinan's past. This is a well done story that is a must read for fans of Picard, Guinan and the Stargazer period

I like this book. It provides a good contrast of the Guinan character from what we see of her in the series. We find out that her character has suffered much greater losses than we knew and why her feelings against the Borg are so strong. We also see how important her meeting with Picard is. How in many ways, the meeting (the second one for her) makes her turn over a new leaf.I think out of the whole "Stargazer" series so far, this one and "The Valiant" tie for the best.