The Valiant

Started in ST:TNG Reunion and continued in The Valiant, Gauntlet, and Progenitor, this particular novel is incredible. It was superior to Gauntlet and about even with Reunion. I loved the Original Series elements and the flashback to the Valiant's last mission. I was slightly confused as to the effects of Greyhorse's syrum on the psychic humans, but all in all, this story is a must-read cover-to-cover.

Like Jordan Michael Jan Friedman scores another 1000 points with his newest Star Trek blockbuster entry The Valiant. His characters come to life readily in your imagination without struggling, trying to discern one from another. Captain Carlos Tarasco, a new invention of Friedman's, can hold his own with any of the Kirk's or Picard's of his day. Tarasco is a very interesting, riviting character. I would like to have read more about him than the young Picard. Maybe Friedman will pen other adventures of Tarasco and company. (Hint, hint). Michael Jan Friedman has been a favorite author of mine since I first picked up one of his other masterpieces, Crossover. All of his writing is clear, interesting and powerfully riviting from the first page to the last. I would love to see him write a totally original novel, staying away from the Star Trek, X-Men, Superman mold. Friedman's original characters take on a life of their own so proficiently that I'm sure he wouldn't have any trouble creating an entirely original creation. Read The Valiant. Read all of Michael Jan Friedman's books. You are guarranteed to experience a storytelling work of art.

What an interesting book. I truly enjoyed reading this one and let me tell you why.We start out reading as to what happened to the U.S.S.Valiant and her crew... of course we all know what hapened when Kirk and his crew found that bouy with the warning. Well this gets into more detail as to what happened and the crew's struggle to survive. Captain Carlos Tarasco's decision to destroy the Valiant. Now, some might say this is a little like the Gary Mitchell episode but we have the same author and he is giving us a little more background. Now that ends Book 1 and we now proceed to Book 2.Now, this is where the meat of the story is. We have a good look into the making of Jean-Luc Picard Number Two on the U.S.S. Stargazer. We have Starfleet sending the Stargazer to the galactic barrier to investigate a new threat to the Federation, aliens called the Nuyyad.Starfleet gets this information via a couple of descendants from the ill-fated Valiant crew. The Stargazer picks up one of the survivors at Starbase 209 and her name is Santana. Now comes the interesting play... can the crew trust this newly found person? Capt. Ruhalter puts Picard in the position to find out... much to the dismay of the XO Leach. We find the making of Picard's character here... the Capt. grooming a younger officer... and the insecurity of the junior officer in his convictions. But, alas, as the Stargazer passes through the barrier the Capt dies and the XO is in a deep coma. Now we see true character of Picard begin to blossom. Jean-Luc finds that he is the highest ranking officer after crossing the galactic barrier. The Stargazer picked up a Kelvan prior to crossing the barrier to help fight the newly found Nuyyad as they have had prior knowledge of the Nuyyad's ship design and fighting capabilities. We find out that the Magnians (Valiant descendants) distrust the Kelvans. Not only that but most of the Stargazer crew distrusts the Magnians. So Picard is now trying to get the crew behind him as well as he can... but we have saboteur aboard. So we have the rather unorthodox but clever Picard trying to hold all of this together. He tells Capt. Ruhalter that Santana can be trusted over the objection of the XO. Next Picard takes the Stargazer to the Magnians' homeworld instead of back through the barrier and home jeopardizing the crew and the ability to warn Starfleet.Knowing that a trap was set after getting to Magnia, Picard still trusted the Magnians and beamed aboard several more from the planet and gave them access to strategic systems and allowed their mental powers to be enhanced. Picard also removed the safeguards from the phaser technology... taking out a single enemy installation. All of this interplays with the making of the character of what we know to be Captain Jean-Luc Picard.Mutiny, sabotage, all around distrust and a common enemy dig deep into well of Jean-Luc Picard's character.A good fast read and background information. Read it and enjoy.

Good book all round, the story of how Picard took command of the Stargazer when the Captain was killed, and the first officer was incapacitated. This is not the standard TNG book, the only character we know is Picard, everyone else is fiction. The crew of the Stargazer were protrayed well, as were the crew on the Valiant. The plot is good, but, like another reviewer, the enemy troubled me slightly. They were not gone into in any detail, they were simply the Nuyyad, we never even saw a member of the species, only a slight physical description from one of the characters. Another thing is the planet Magnia. It is located outside the Galactic Barrier, I thought that was impossible? Wasn't there a great void between galaxies containing absolutely nothing, how can there be a planet? But, there's very little else to complain about. The story was solid, as were the characters. A good read.

The Valiant tells the story of Picard taking command of the Stargazer. The story begins with the crew of the Valiant from the original series Star Trek episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and fills in information on what happened to that crew. Jump 300 years ahead to the Trek era just preceeding The Next Generation. Decendants of survivors of the Valiant appear to warn the Federation of a potential enemy on the other side of the galatic barrier. The Stargazer and crew are dispatched to see if the threat is real. The ship is attacked and the captain is killed and first officer incapacitated and Picard has to take over. Picard has to deal with a mutiny, a damaged ship, gain trust of the crew he now commands, deal with a Kelvin, and the new threat to the Federation. If you like space battles and action there is plenty in this book. We see characters that first appeared in Friedmans Star Trek book Reunion and their character development in this book helps explain their actions in the previous book. For fans of Star Trek this book is a must.