I have always disliked the Star Trek series of novels. I've had a bad experiences reading them. Usually they're half-baked attempts at writing about beloved characters of the series. Besides how many stories can you tell about the crews of the Enterprises, DS-9, or Voyager before you begin to violate what's occurred in the television series?

In order to write anything of value you have to allow characters to grow and change. But how can you do that in a book where you have to always return the characters to the status quo? For example, you couldn't write a book in which Commander Riker and Deanna Troi get married and stay married because when the next TNG movie comes out they'll be single again, making the novel less powerful. And you can't write a story in which McCoy, Spock, or Scotty die in an adventure following Star Trek 6, because they've each reappeared in episodes of TNG.

Peter David understands the status quo problems. He wrote comic books for a number of years, and in an article for Wizard he said, "In the pages of 'The Incredible Hulk', I walked a fine line. I made changes in the character that were, to my mind, permanent, but they were also illusional. I knew that I would never return the character to the mindless, "Hulk smash" Hulk because I found that limiting and simply not inspirational for storytelling. However, none of the changes I made were irrevocable."

For those of you unaware of Peter's contribution to "The Incredible Hulk," he managed to get away from the "Hulk Smash!" mindless monster, and created something truly amusing and amazing. In recent years, since Peter left the Hulk series, the Hulk has once again reverted to a mindless curse for Bruce Banner. But I digress…

Peter's worked on a few Trek novels based in established series, but has always had to return to the status quo. Then he wrote "New Frontier." It began as a 4 part series of paperbacks which have been thankfully reprinted as one volume. The ship is an ambassador class starship called the USS Excalibur. The Captain is a barbarian named Mackenzie Calhoun. Your first officer? Commander Elizabeth Shelby from the famous 2-part Borg episode of TNG. It's now blossomed into two more adventures and a novel in the Captain's Table series.

A vast area of space known as the Thallonian Empire was always cut off to Federation and Star Fleet exploration, due to the xenophobic nature of the Thallonians. But like all empires before it, it has fallen. The Thallonians naturally have come to the Federation for help. With the help of Captain Picard and to the disdain of Admiral Jellico (yes, everyone is surprised they made that jerk an Admiral too) a ship is sent into Thallonian space to explore and render humanitarian aid. My only exception to this remarkable series is that the Thallonians should have been the Thollians. I was actually confused into believing they were one and the same at first until I watched the Thollian Web episode on the Sci-Fi Channel.

The rest of the crew is, at last, mostly non-human. There's Zak Kebron the Security Chief and Tactical officer. He comes from a low gravity world and enjoys breaking people in two. The Chief Engineer is a Hermat named Burgoyne 172, who is both male and female, and constantly horny. The Science officer and Chief Medical officer are both Vulcans. Soleta, the Science officer is actually half-Romulan, while Selar originally appeared in some episodes of TNG as a junior doctor under Beverly Crusher. Finally we round out the crew with Ops officer Robin Lefler (played by Naomi Judd in two TNG episodes) and Navigator/Helmsman Mark McHenry who can multi-task his brain.

The best part about the characters of Kebron, Soleta and McHenry is they are characters from earlier books by Peter David's series, "Star Fleet Academy." Finally there is Ambassador Si Cwan, the last member of the Thallonian royal family. He smuggled himself on board and was caught. Calhoun allowed him to stay in the hopes he will be able to benefit the mission.

What's in New Frontier for a die-hard Trek fan? A chance to finally read a story about a starship crew which can go somewhere. There is humor, nostalgia for fans of the original series, and enough action to keep Worf interested. New Frontier is a must read for fans of Trek. It has all of the character development and adventure of the series, but is able to take itself where no series has gone before. Here's hoping Paramount will develop a series out of it!

What makes it work over other Trek books? The characters are not established, known characters of any series. There are cameos of Picard and Riker, but whereas Jellico, Shelby, Lefler and Selar originally appeared in TNG episodes there is little chance of them showing up in the films. Because of this Peter David is able to explore the strange new worlds within the characters selves as well as the strange new worlds of Thallonian space. There is no need to return a character to his/her status quo at the end of the book out of fear of alienating fans. Instead the characters can grow, change, and become as real to us as the characters in the established series have always been.

More Book Reviews

Book Review: Wizard of the Winds
Book Review: Eye of the World and The Great Hunt
Book Review: The Silent Blade
Book Review: Star Trek novels