The Star Trek: The Lost Era: 2328-2346: The Art of the Impossible

This book was the first Trek novel I've picked up in a while. It was spectacular. Honestly, I was expecting to be bored. Political books are not usually my thing, but the balance between the cold, heartless leaders and the real people who served under them was just right. I didn't find myself siding with either empire. Instead, I cared about what was happening to Vaughn, Troi, Dax and Mogh. The familiar faces were enjoyable, especially Vaughn. This character has become one of my favorites in the entire Trek universe, and when I read Avatar, I wasn't even sure I was going to like him. He is so unlikable, and that is certainly part of his charm. He's the antithesis of Will Riker. It was also nice to see Curzon Dax, and the reverence he's held in by, well, most of the Klingons. The references to other events throughout Trek history also gave this particular book a depth I wasn't expecting. It makes me want to read the Lost Era novels on either side of it in the timeline. After six months or so not reading Star Trek novels, this was the ideal book to return on. One more thought, the epilogue was wonderfully ironic. We always see Cardassians as spies and military dictators, but this chapter showed just a touch of their human side. My compliments to Keith.

Star Trek - The Lost Era: The Art of the Impossible 2328-2346 written by Keith R.A. DeCandido is a story told well, with charater development and vivid charatization. This story is character driven but has action-adventure and is detailed. This book starts at 2328, thrity-five years after the presumed death of Captain James T. Kirk aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise-B in "Star Trek: Generations." It concludes in 2346, eighteen years before the launch of the Enterprise-D at "Encounter at Farpoint.""The Art of the Impossible" is mainly a character driven book and the characters are those that we've either read about briefly in books or comics or have heard about in the movies, television. This book takes it's basis from a conversation between Bashir and Garak about the eighteen-year Betreka Nebula incident between Cardassia and the Klingons in the ST: DS9 episode "The Way of the Warrior.""The Art of the Impossible" is a remarkable book as it starts out about a long past Klingon space exploration project and then a cold war between the Cardassians and Klingons developes and the discovery of and ancient Klingon wreck on a planet next to the Betreka Nebula and then the story gets resolved as both sides finially come to their respective senses. So, we have a book that is divided into three sections but there is seamless continuity as Keith R.A. DeCandido writes a well-crafted story.Some of the characters you'll read about that get fleshed out are K'mpec, Kor, Ian Troi, Sergey and Helena Rozhenko, Kang, Curzon Dax, and Lwaxana Troi. Others in this adventure are K'Tal, Corbin Entek, Tokath, Enabran Tain, General Worf, Koval, Legate Kell, Vance Haden, L'Kor, Kahlest, Sarek, Uhura and Rachel Garrett. Rachel Garrett is the main character in the next novel in the series "Well of Souls" and I will review that book when I'm finished reading it."The Art of the Impossible " is a book with great detail but also, it is written in a style that is easily readable and you'll finish the story quickly. If you like to read Trek this is a story you will NOT want to miss as it has some mystery and intrigue sprikled into for some spice, but foremost, the characters are well-written and you can visualize them speaking from the book. This book fills in the missing pieces from snipets of information about the adventures in the TREK universe before Picard and after Kirk.I gave "The Art of the Impossible" a solid 5 stars for a very well-told adventure that will pique the interest of the reader with detail and is masterly crafted. You will not be disappointed reading "The Art of the Impossible." Keith R.A. DeCandido does a wonderful job of telling a story that is both detailed and interesting.

This is exactly what I expected from series of Star Trek novels that promised to tell us about the "Lost Era". Author DeCandido has woven a compelling and utterly believable story out of threads and characters mentioned, often in passing, throughout the whole Star Trek canon. The novel increased my respect for the convcining alien civilizations that Star Trek has developed, and for DeCandido's ability to depict them. This is frankly the first Star Trek novel I've read in years that wasn't a hundred pages too long. I look forward to this author's next book.

Lost Era books seem to be divided into two sections of differing quality. I am glad to report that this one is divided into the great first half and the even better second half. My two favourite reading areas are history and Star Trek. The first half, the 2330s section, blends these two brilliantly. The style of the writing is like the author actually had the historical records for this era and profiles of the historical figures, and added a semi-fictional narrative to bring it to life. Similar types would be Clive Cussler's Sea Hunters, Bernard Edwards Return of the Coffin Ships, or, on a fictional note, Tom Clancy, or John M. Ford's The Final Reflection. Except for Ford, DeCandido's writing is better. I absolutely loved it.The second half, in the 2340s, changes to a more conventional action-mystery narrative. To my surprise I actually enjoyed it more than the first half. Part of that was the amount of Trek history it contained. Only part, though, because the writing itself was excellent. I don't think I have enjoyed a new Trek book this much since The Left Hand of Destiny. I highly recommend this to every Trek reader.

The Lost Era series has another winner with Kieth R. A. DeCandido's The Art of the Impossible. This third of 6 Lost Era books had a hard act to follow comming after The Sundered and Serpents Among the Ruins and in that it exceeds admirably. The book covers 18 years of confict between the Klingon's and the Cardassian's. DeCandido makes excellent use of characters that have appeared in Star Trek on screen. The action is fast paced, lively and gripping. This was another book that was hard to put down. I highly recommend it.