The First Virtue

Here's another great star trek book. Rondall Banks

The First Virtue is an excellent conclusion. It pretty much wraps up the reasoning to everything we learned in "Double or Nothing." In the First Virtue, we learn why Gerrid Thul wanted to create the Double Helix virus and why he wanted so much revenge for the loss of his only child. Both authors did a great job with their portions. The plot is well thought out, especially the portions of the book with Commander Jack Crusher and Lieutenant Tuvok. I felt that they captured Tuvok's personality quite well and gave a precursor to some of the decisions and general personality we saw on screen in Voyager. Overall, I would recommend the whole series, or the Omnibus that's due out in November to any and all Star Trek fans. Thank you to the author's for their excellent work.

This story is another wonderful tale in the Star Trek: The Next Generation tradition. It is based in the same wonderful universe as all other star trek books where faster than light travel and communications make galactic journeys possible. Unlike most other Next Generation books, this story does not take place aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise. Instead it is based a few years before the Next Generation series began on the U.S.S. Stargazer, Captain Picard's former ship. There are a few familiar characters though, obviously Captain Picard, and the often spoken of but seldom seen husband of Dr. Beverly Crusher, Lieutenant Commander Jack Crusher. Also joining these two characters is one Vulcan, Ensign Tuvok. If the name sounds familiar to Star Trek: Voyager fans, it is the same as your Lieutenant Tuvok but a few years before his Voyager years. The story is of a mission to the Kellasian sector to try and help defuse the war cries of two races on different worlds brought on by old hatred and recent terrorist attacks. While Picard tries to solve the problem diplomatically, he assigns Crusher and Tuvok to investigate the attacks because he believes they are coming from an outside source. This is the final tale in the series of the plot of a mad man to destroy the entire Federation. Interestingly, this last story is the first chronologically and answers the questions posed by the first five novels about why this mad man has been sending virtually incurable diseases to seemingly random places in the galaxy over a period of nearly a decade. Some of the most interesting parts of the story come when a carefree and impulsive Jack Crusher teams up with the completely logical and reserved Vulcan, Ensign Tuvok. The clash of their personalities is nearly audible to the reader in the early stages of the book. "The ease with which they found a place to land and hide their small craft, all within a few kilometers of a main city, was actually rather unsettling. `Any disreputable type can sneak onto this planet,' Crusher said. `But then,' Tuvok told him as they concealed their ship with loose foliage, `so can a team of Starfleet officers.' The commander looked at him. `In other words, I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.' The Vulcan appeared perplexed--and maybe a little annoyed as well. `The reference escapes me,' he said. `What it means,' Crusher explained, `is that you shouldn't question good luck. You should just run with it.' Tuvok sighed a little. `I see.' `Don't you have any colorful Vulcan expressions?' asked the human. The ensign glanced at him. `No,' he said flatly. And he dragged a few last branches full of leaves up against their vessel. Crusher brushed off his hands. `Looks like we're done.' `Indeed,' said Tuvok. he gestured.

The book was a good conclusion, despite being set 20 years before the other books. The only real problem with the book is Mike Friedman and Christie Golden's writing styles are very different and you can tell who wrote each part. The Starfleet: Year One chapter was a nice surprise, but only 13 pages long. Hopefully it will be longer in later books.