STNG: A Time to Be Born

Star Trek: "A Time to Be Born" written by John Vornholt is an excellent start to a nine book series that takes us on an adventure and tells the untold story of the events that took place between Star Trek: "Insurrection" and Star Trek: "Nemesis."

The main part of this book takes place in the Rashanar Battle Site where the Federation and its allies made a last ditch effort to defeat the Dominion. This was the Dominion War's fierest battle where hundreds of ships now float aimlessly and lifeless in this region of space known as the Rashanar Sector. The U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew are sent to this galactic graveyard to help in the retrival of the dead, but they get more than they bargained for.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard, even with his vast experience, has a difficult time with this highly dangerous mission. We find out what has become of Wesley Crusher and why he hasn't been heard from since he left with the Traveler. As things go wrong in a hurry for the Enterprise and her crew, Jean-Luc Picard seems to have a real bad hair day in space.

It begins with the Calypso, Captain Picard's yacht being stolen right from under his nose, by the resourseful Androssi, while they were exploring the Asgard. Things deteriorated even worse with an encounter with an antimatter asteroid, when they reported that an Ontailian ship had been lost, only to have the Ontailians deny it. There are many encounters with scavengers as there is wholesale looting going on, and considerabe damage to shuttlecraft and escorts.

The interstellar graveyard has even more surprises in store with deadly blasts from energy spikes, dramatic rescues, and a spining gravity vortex, just to mention a few of the surprises. All of this makes the adventure move quickly as you read on and in no time your wanting to read on into the next installment " A Time to Die."

I found the book to be a fast read with adequate action and adventure to make you want more in the upcoming book. This is a solid 5 stars for this reason... now I only hope that this series of books live up to all of the hipe. There are some pretty good twists of fate in the book and Captain Jean-Luc Picard has the most to lose in the long haul. We are left hanging at the end of the book for a resolution to issues found within this first installment making for a good setup for the next book to come out.

I for one will be waiting for Star Trek: "A Time to Die" to come out in March 2004.

Intriguing Plot Marred By Poor Writing

John Vornholt has been among the most consistent writers of good Star Trek fiction, but alas he falls a bit short in "Star Trek: A Time To Be Born". This book will appeal only to those diehard Star Trek fans who are interested in finding out what happened to Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise after the film "Star Trek: Insurrection". Vornholt presents a very intriguing premise in his depiction of the Rashanar Sector's interstellar graveyard of warships left over from the epic Battle of Rashanar during the Dominion War. However, it is a premise marred frequently by poor writing and inconsistent plotting. At best this was an inexpensive, mildly entertaining read.

A Time to be Born (Book 1 of 7)

The Enterprise crew has taken an assignment to the home of the fircest battle in all of the Dominion War, and the home of the worst space battle in history. Federation, Jem' Hadar, and Cardassian ships fought each other to the death here... Or was it something else that day? The Enterprise is here to keep scavengers from salvaging the derelicts and to recover bodies. Captian Leeden of the Juno, a Federation science vessel sent to study and Rashanar and recover bodies has been there for a while and remarks that there is no shortage of ways to die. She is right. Captain Picard and his loyal crew are in one of the most dangerous places in the universe. And, another interesting twist: they have someone watching over them. Wesley Crusher, former ensign and now a Traveler looks over the Enterprise because of the nightmare he saw in the Pool of Prophecy before being born into the Travelers. Will the crew of the Enterprise continue their mission and perhaps find out what happened, or will they meet the same end as the rest of the ships-death-and destruction? Read the book!

John Vornholt did a relatively good job of painting the picture here, but his writing was choppy and hard to follow at times. I liked it because of the intracate plot, but his writing was less than what I expected. I hope that you will read it and enjoy it, though, because the sequel came out pretty well. Enjoy it!