Well of Souls

God how I love "Star Trek" in all it's incarnations! Even though I grew up with the Original Series Star Trek, I also came to love TNG as well and, later, VOYAGER and ENTERPRISE. Being an avid fan of sci-fi in general, however, it would be an injustice on my part not to mention the many other old and new sci-fi works that both led me to Star Trek and which have forever forged my love for all sci-fi works: "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Puppet Masters", "Foundation", "2001", "2010", "Rendezvous with Rama", "Ringworld", all the "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" books, as well as books as new to the genre as "Advent of the Corps" and others.

I have to admit that after seeing some of the gripes about this book,I wasn't going to read it. Then a friend loaned me her copy, and I succumbed to temptation.Wow. All I can say is WOW.This book blew me away. I agree with people who have said that it's very dense, but this works in the book's favor. The author has done an amazing job of introducing us to a whole new crew and bringing them to life as fully-realized, flawed PEOPLE. I haven't seen the likes of this in Trek fiction for a long time (I have to say, probably never), and it makes for a tremendous read. I was so enthralled I plowed through all 400+ pages in three and a half days, was in tears by the end, and bummed that it was over! I can't add much to the praise that's already here. Bick writes with incredible delicacy and verve, and her action sequences are wonderful. I, too, have to say that I'm disappointed this isn't a series. But I would say to the people who don't have the patience to really let these characters get under their skin: you don't know what you're missing.Bick credits her editor Marco Palmieri with giving her a shot, and Dean W. Smith and Keith DeCandido with mentoring her along. I have to thank all those people, too, for giving us this new Trek author. I've already tracked down some of her other stuff and am eager to see more.

What a fabulous book - very cool character development - lots of twists - great descriptions like, "the way her black eyes flashed - a veritable semaphore of hostility."I can see why Dr. Bick also won first prize in the star trek anthology contest - a gifted story teller - I hope she publishes more books soon!

In the far past of an alien world, the line of the Night Kings ends with a prince too cowardly to take Uramtali - the goddess of the Well of Souls, the immortal dithparu - into his body. On present-day (2336) Farius Prime, a place not visited by decent or even prudent Federation citizens, Commander Samir al-Halad battles his ugly past in hope of saving the few people from that past who matter to him - and of keeping the person he loves most in his new life alive, too. Aboard the starship Enterprise, Captain Rachel Garrett grieves for a friend and first officer whose life she couldn't save; damns herself for letting that XO's replacement, Halad, go on "R & R" at a time when she desperately needs backup; and fences by subspace communications with a Betazoid xeno-archaeologist who is her still-beloved ex-husband. She's missed their son's twelfth birthday, and can't even manage a conversation with young Jason now without having her ship's needs interrupt it.I spent the first half of "Well of Souls" wondering how the author would bring together these and at least one other story line. Bick's characters captured me immediately as each appeared, and her graphically written action scenes proved wrenching because I cared about the people experiencing them. But what did Samir al-Halad's secrets, Rachel Garrett's ex-husband (on his way to a dig in Cardassian space that Ven Kaldarren knows isn't a much better place for young Jason than a starship, but what else can a father with full physical custody do except take the boy along?), Lieutenant Commander Darya Bat-Levi's efforts to fit in on her new assignment aboard Enterprise, and the Night Kings from long ago all have to do with each other?It comes together beautifully in the book's second half. What lifts this one above many other Trek novels for me is the way Bick (a psychiatrist who writes Starfleet counselors with resulting insight, and to her credit shows her "other profession" warts and all) infuses the whole work with depth and theme. Her characters, Garrett most emphatically included, aren't perfect. Instead they are living, breathing, growing people.I have one complaint, only. I wish this were the first in a series of Rachel Garrett novels to be authored by Ilsa J. Bick. If that were true, I'd be standing in line for every one!

Finally, someone gives us Trek characters with real problems, real emotions, and real foibles. I loved this book, not just because I love Trek but because Bick's written some terrific short fiction including "A Ribbon for Rosie" (a prize-winner which always makes me cry), "Shadows, in the Dark" (another prize-winner that thought of putting Seven of Nine together with Chakotay before they became an "item"). She just did a great story in NO LIMITS, a New Frontier anthology, and she's got stories on SCIFICTION. Bick really knows how to put dialogue in the mouths of her characters so they sound like real people. I don't think I've ever read a Trek book where people were in real anguish and didn't always make the right choices, or like the ones they made. I loved that Bick was brave enough to make Garrett less than perfect, and have her know it, too. Yet Garrett was a hero, too. All Bick's characters were terrific, and it's hard to pick my favorite because I wanted to see more of just about all of them. In particular, I wanted to see what happened to Kodell and Bat-Levy. The way Bick handled their love affair was terrific and had me in tears. And, wow, the way she showed the psychiatrist character was super. Usually, counselors sound too canned, or silly, and personally I hated Deanna Troi because she always said things that were so obvious. But Tyvan was right on. He made mistakes, too, and in a way that made him human and not just a talking head. I've loved all the Lost Era books. But I hope this is the beginning of a series of Enterprise C books, with Bick at the helm. She's a great writer.