Book 34 of 2026: The Enterprise Logs Volume 2
⭐️⭐️⭐️: As with the first, it’s not so much about the actual quality as the cringe entertainment value.
Star Trek
Trek has been part of my life since I was an infant. I have bookcases full of Trek books. One of my tattoos is the Vulcan calligraphy for “kol-ut-shan” (IDIC). This is my home fandom.
Star Trek: The Enterprise Logs
Book 31 of 2026: Star Trek: The Enterprise Logs
⭐️⭐️⭐️: Look – by just about any realistic objective measure (script, plot, science, fidelity to nearly any aspect of Star Trek, printing quality, etc.), these are bad; two stars would be generous. But as artifacts of 1970s Trek comics medium, they’re certainly entertaining, if in a very cringey sort of way. Not really worth looking for unless you’re a Trek and/or comics collector, but if you run across them and are curious, you’ll likely get some chuckles.
A Fury Scorned by Pamela Sargent and George Zebrowski
Book 29 of 2026: A Fury Scorned by Pamela Sargent and George Zebrowski.
⭐️⭐️⭐️: The Enterprise is called to assist a planet about to be destroyed, and is unable to rescue the entire population. A subplot of seeing if they can pull off a miracle (guess what…), but most interesting as the crew actually attempts to grapple with their inability to save everyone. More introspective than most Trek novels.
Infiltrator by W.R. Thompson
Book 27 of 2026: Infiltrator by W.R. Thompson.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: Descendants of Khan and his compatriots face off against the Federation. I found this one to be above average, with much of it being something of an early take on the same issues explored by Strange New Worlds with Number One’s status as an Illyrian in hiding, expanded to explore how a society of genetically engineered humans might deal with how they’d be perceived by the Federation. As often happens with any eugenics storyline, it would be improved if the Federation was more honest and introspective about how initial fear and caution has developed into long-standing systemic bigotry, but as Star Trek has yet to really tackle that aspect of the universe, I wouldn’t really have expected it from a thirty-year-old novel.
Possession by J.M. Dillard and Kathleen O’Malley
Book 24 of 2026: Possession by J.M. Dillard and Kathleen O’Malley.
⭐️⭐️⭐️: A horror-ish entry, as malevolent alien entities possess the crew. A little slow to start, but not bad, with some nice moments focusing on Worf’s home life with Alexander.
Rogue Saucer by John Vornholt
Book 20 of 2026: Rogue Saucer by John Vornholt.
⭐️⭐️: An interesting setup (a test of a saucer section prototype’s emergency landing capabilities is interrupted by it being hijacked) marred by characters making bad decisions because that’s what the plot demands and occasional inconsistencies.
To Defy Fate by Dayton Ward
Book 18 of 2026: To Defy Fate by Dayton Ward.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: Wesley Crusher, now an experienced Traveller, needs to work with several of his old friends to keep the timeline from fragmenting disastrously from a mysterious meddler’s machinations. Though released as part of the Picard continuity, the timeline jumping brings in characters and events from so much of the Trek universe that it feels (in a good way) like this was something of a stealth “60th anniversary celebration” novel. Some very fun deep cuts sprinkled in among the more obvious references, too.
Purgatory’s Key by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore
Book 16 of 2026: Purgatory’s Key by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore.
⭐️⭐️⭐️: Good wrap up to this 50th anniversary trilogy. A bit of a bummer that one of the villains was so similar to one in the prior book (a woman so obsessed with a particular goal that she makes increasingly irrational and ill-considered decisions), but otherwise does a good job tying things up with the rest of the books. Overall, the trilogy does well in touching on a lot of TOS and incorporating hints of things to come.
Best Defense by David Mack
Book 15 of 2026: Best Defense by David Mack.
⭐️⭐️⭐️: I enjoyed this middle book more than the opener, as the Romulans try to disrupt peace talks between the Federation and the Klingon Empire.
Captain to Captain by Greg Cox
Book 14 of 2026: Captain to Captain by Greg Cox.
⭐️⭐️⭐️: The first of a trilogy, this is primarily centered on Number One (now more well known from Discovery and Stranger New Worlds) when she was earlier in her career, serving on the Enterprise under Captain April. It’s kind of amusing, as this was written just shortly before her appearances in the modern shows, so it’s definitely Majel Barrett’s version rather than Rebeca Romijn’s. The adventure is fairly standard, with the common-for-modern-novels callbacks and references; nothing groundbreaking so far, but not bad.
