Dayton Ward

Reviewed on 23rd May 2026

In this new Star Trek Picard novel, set somewhere between the many epilogues to the series, we get to visit Seven, Raffi, Crusher, Guinan, and Picard and a host of other familiar characters as they're drawn into a mysterious plot to change time.

It's a fun trip around the Next Gen era as the time travel plot device gets used to revisit some big moments from the canon and see them from new perspectives, all while taking part in a thiller-style investigation, and learn more about some of the occasional guest aliens.

It feels nicely episodic, which fits the feel of Picard season 3 - small chunks that make up a big story - and that means it moves at a decent pace throughout as we flow through each.

I did feel like the climax suffered a little though - perhaps my reading pace picked up toward the end - and this felt a little bit flat to me.

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Reviewed on 9th June 2024

A Next Generation / Deep Space Nine crossover novel, this story covers the period shortly before the DS9 pilot episode, when the Cardassians are withdrawing from their occupation of Bajor, and the Enterprise is dispatched to provide humanitarian and diplomatic help.

It feels like Star Trek, which is I suppose one of the best compliments for it. There’s a ton going on, so bigger than one episode, with a lot of plot strands to pull on and none of them seeming to dominate. This might make the book feel unfocussed, and I did at first wonder what the main plot actually was, before realising that it didn’t need to have a main plot to successfully tell stories about these characters.

Obviously the characterisation is spot on, and I particularly enjoyed seeing Keiko O’Brien get some story time as a botanist, and seeing her and Miles think about their future plans.

The choice of Garak for the cover art feels like a misstep. I can understand that he’s a marketable DS9 character, but his appearance doesn’t feel like it adds up to enough to make him as prominent as Picard, or more prominent than other characters.

One of those novels where it takes me a while to get into the swing of it, but from about halfway I stormed through.

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Reviewed on 16th July 2023

The latest Discovery novel, set between seasons three and four, sees the crew respond to a distress call and get caught up in an internal conflict amongst some old friends.

It starts like any classic Star Trek novel, but soon becomes clear that the plot really does only work because it’s a Disco novel. It does a good job to extend the lore and explore the interaction between the two Discovery eras, and uses a range of characters from the show well.

I found it slow to read though, failing to give me a need to absorb it all faster as I read through. Each chapter felt like it ended at a convenient point to take a break, instead of offering the cliffhanger I might need.

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Reviewed on 19th December 2021

The first novel of Coda, the trilogy that ends twenty years of novel storyline and promises to set things back on track for the Star Trek universe to continue plotting the future on television.

A variety of favourite characters from the 24th Century era come together as the universe faces a threat from across time. It’s a promising start, if a little slow to read.

Ward is brutal, setting up a storyline in which nothing can be taken for granted - certainly an attitude that I expect to follow through his colleagues’ remaining two novels.

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Reviewed on 23rd June 2019

The latest Star Trek: The Next Generation continuation novel successfully balances two plots - one covering the ongoing events from previous novels that have rocked the Federation and a second being a stand-alone mission that the Enterprise is on.

I really enjoyed both aspects of the story. I’m a big fan of the Star Trek novels that have dealt with Federation politics, and spent time with the various presidents, and so happy to see some more of this. Ward has also crafted a lovely stand-alone story that feels like an episode of the television series, but uses the opportunity of a novel to tell a story that wouldn’t have been possible with the television technology of the 80s and 90s.

The grasp of the characters is excellent, both for those that we’ve known for decades and the newer characters who have been introduced in the novels and who get to play a large part here. They now feel as much of the family as Picard and Worf.

A great continuation novel - but probably one that requires a decent knowledge of the novels that have proceeded it going quite far back. There’s at least one more on the way for this TNG universe, and I’ll be sad if that’s the end - because the existence of a new Picard TV series may mean that this version of the Trek future is overwritten, and it’s been a fun journey.

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Reviewed on 25th March 2018

The second novel based on the new Star Trek television series, Discovery, is set some ten years before the series and gives an insight into the backstory of two of the secondary character - Philippa Georgiou and Gabriel Lorca. Serving in Starfleet as Commander and Lt. Commander respectively, the two officers’ paths cross when a (later infamous) famine breaks out on a distant colony world after crops are infected by a deadly fungus.

I think this is a really good story, better than the previous novel, using these side characters really well to tell a tale that provides extra context, but not interfere with the direction that the television series is taking. It also of course provides an opportunity to tie elements of Discovery in with events mentioned in other series.

It’s hard to say a lot about the plot itself without dropping in spoilers for this novel or the first season of the television series (the book is intended to be read after season one, I think, through after episode 12 should be fine). My memory of some of the elements referenced was a little rusty, which I think helped build some tension as I couldn’t remember what had been established in canon, though also distracted as there were elements I had mis-remembered.

A good novel to tide me over until there’s some more Discovery on TV.

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Reviewed on 19th July 2017

A new entry in the Next Generation continuation series, this follows a long line of novels taking the story of the Enterprise and her crew forward several years from the last time we saw them on screen. Despite that, this does serve as a pretty stand-alone story in the classic style.

The Enterprise is exploring and comes across a planet that nobody’s made contact with before, but then strange orders arrive from Starfleet Command, and Picard is left to investigate without really understanding.

It’s a great mystery thriller, with a new premise that harkens back to some of the classic tropes of the series. It’s also the third entry in the author’s pseudo-trilogy featuring callbacks to the 20th & 21st Centuries - though having not read the first two (they are Original Series novels which I generally don’t read) I can’t comment on how it fits into that.

An enjoyable adventure, and one that mostly stands alone. But if you are reading everything, I’d recommend this is read after David Mack’s ‘Control’, as there are some references.

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