Keith Sharee

On the surface this one might seem like your standard "Enterprise encounters an Orwellian planet, some people get brainwashed by Orwellian planet dwellers, they succeed but cannot help the inhabitants because of the Prime Directive" story, but then there's layered on top of it a whole subplot in which Troi enters Dreamtime (??) and also Worf writes a novel. It really kept me guessing, which I think must mean it was pretty good, although there's also some strange things about race in it - mostly because as in some but not all Star Trek novels, race and culture walk in lockstep (you have a Zen archer, and not only is she Japanese but she has a very Japanese name...) That's not entirely wrong, I think there's good reasons why Star Trek might prefer to represent diversity not a melting pot, but it does come off as a little 90s at times.… (meer)

This book had it's moments. I disliked the feeling I get from Sharee towards religion, but I understand it well. Replace the leader of Rampart, with say, NeoCons and you have a modern-day story. There are many nods to previous works--Orwell, Bradbury, of course Swift... I know many Star Trek fans have found this novel not to their liking, yet they are notoriously dull-witted and snobbish. So for that reason alone I gravitated towards reading it. There are some very memorable moments Sharee gives us. Overall, time well spent!… (meer)