The Brave and the Bold Book One

I just enjoyed the book and wanted to say so.

The Brave & the Bold is an interesting concept. It is a series of four novellas contained in two books, each novella involving one of the four Trek television series, with a prologue that involves the fifth. Not only is the concept intriguing, but DeCandido does a wonderful job with the first book. It contains a wonderful mix of the characters we know and the ones that he has created, along with characters who were briefly shown in a television episode whom he has fleshed out to a great degree. The first book is a knockout punch, and I enjoyed it very much.DeCandido has created a very logical way to bring the five television series together into one set of books. It does feel a bit stretched, as yet again the main cast of each show are involved in the same events, but at least DeCandido involves other ships and people as well, lessening that impact a little bit. DeCandido makes good use of the formerly incidental characters from the television series to flesh out the story. Even better, though, the stories are told completely from their viewpoint, so that all of the familiar characters that we know and love are seen from an outsider's view. I found this very effective, as we got to see our heroes as other see them without delving into their thought processes.In the first story, DeCandido has created a vibrant crew that is interesting to read about. Decker is the only character from the television series, all other characters being original. Decker matches what little we know about him from the series, and the rest of the crew comes across very well also. Takashewada is Decker's no-nonsense first officer who keeps him in line when he wants to go against the book. She's completely against the imposition of martial law on the planet and is ready to tell Decker in no uncertain terms about it when she gets the chance. Fortunately for Decker, she never does, as the situation is resolved before that can happen. She's very determined but you can also tell that she really likes Decker, and that he finds her a very valuable officer. Dr. Rosenhaus is a bit too much of a Dr. Bashir (from the series Deep Space 9) clone, given that he's a young doctor excited to be out on the frontier. He's arrogant and thinks he can fix anything, as well as thinking that he knows better than some of the old hands. However, the relationship he develops with Dr. McCoy of the Enterprise is wonderful. When they first meet, sparks fly as arrogance clashes with experience and McCoy's crotchetiness. Soon, though, a healthy respect develops, especially after Rosenhaus goes off half-cocked and almost kills an experimental subject. Rosenhaus learns some humility when McCoy doesn't berate him (too much) for what happened. Other crew members do well in the limited parts that DeCandido gives them, and all of them seem to have distinct personalities no matter how little screen time they have.Much the same can be said for the second story, and the crew of the Odyssey.

Star Trek The Brave and the Bold is a great book for thos who want a light read. The plot spans three decades, three Enterprises. They aren't short stories but they sort of reads like short stories. They each have a connection to each other. The first "story" i set in the time of the television show "Enterprise. It basically introduces you about what the Malkus artifacts are. It's only a couple pages long. The second "story" is set one hundred years later in the time of the show "Star Trek". The two star ships U.S.S. Constalation, and U.S.S. Enterprise(both Federation starships) are investigating a plague on the planet "Alpha Proxima". The next "story" is set another hundred years in the twenty third century. The two starships Oddysey and Deep Space 9(DS9) are working together to build a farming colony on "Bajors" second moon. But when a Bajoran terrorist named Orta who disguised himself as a farmer plans to hijack the Oddysey they see his what he truly wants. The Brave and the Bold is a good light read. It reads like a Star Trek episode and might be a good read especially for Trekkies.

Star Trek: The Brave and the Bold, Book One written by Keith R.A. DeCandido is the first book in a so far two book series that will encumpus all of the Star Trek genre.This first book starts out with with Captain Jonathan Archer and the crew of the Starship Enterprise NX-01. This portion of the story takes place shortly before the "Enterprise" first-season episode "Breaking the Ice." This adventure spans three generations of TREK as we will eventually fine out. This whole story starts to unfold as Archer and his crew find evidence about what will be known as the Malkus Artifacts... four very deadly machines that wielded absolute power to the person who controlled them. One was capable of controlling the weather, one imparted a fatal virus, one served as an immensely powerful energy weapon, and the final device could be used to channel telepathy.Archer decides to issue an all out alert warning to other vessels that the Federation needs to find these machines before they fall into the hands of those who would do ill with them... you see these machines emmit an energy signal that is unique to these machines, when they're active.Now, the book carries us to the ST-TOS timeframe. This portion of the story takes place shortly before the STAR TREK first-season episode "Balance of Terror." This is where the artifacts are now being found. You see they were scattered throughout the Alpha Quadrant to keep others from getting total control of the awesome power when combined.This book starts at 2151 in the Trek Universe, next 2266, and then 2370. So, we get a good sprinkling of the characters in these time frames. Captain James T. Kirk and the U.S.S. Enterprise and Commodore Matt Decker of the U.S.S. Constellation come across the first artifact on the colony world of Alpha Proxima II. This colony is plagued by disease... a mysterious plague that has the Federation has to stop. Order on Proxima is getting to a fever pitch where a cure needs to be found or all will be lost, the location of the artifact is paramount to the solution.Now, around a hundred years later, Commander Benjamin Sisko of Deep Space Nine, it's good to see his character in this book series again, is trying to start a farming colony on Bajor's second moon with the help of Captain Declan Keogh of the U.S.S. odyssey. You, guessed it the second artifact has been discovered and now a massive scales destruction threatens this operation. Bajoran terrorists, headed by Orta, are at the heart of this uprising.This book is a very fast read and the action-adventure flows well as the Federation's best and brightest try to solve this very ancient mystery. I hope book two of this series is as good as this first one was, until then... I will report soon on the second book.

I have to admit the best Star Trek books capture the feel of the TV show as if you were watching the episode. The best stories are the ones that have some reference to past shows. This one does a good job with the Decker character Kirk meets in the episode "Doomsday Machine". I wish there was more about Decker's rise to the captain's chair. He came up from the security department and has a much different view of the world than Kirk. Perhaps we can see prequel or short story in the future about the crusty Captain Decker.