Original Sin
ISBN: 9781501133220
Description
At the end of 2385, in a significant shift of its goals from military back to exploratory, Starfleet sent Captain Benjamin Sisko and the crew of the USS Robinson on an extended mission into the Gamma Quadrant. Tasked with a yearlong assignment to travel unknown regions, they set out to fulfill the heart of Starfleet's charter: to explore strange new worlds, and to seek out new life and new civilizations.
Reviewed on 22nd October 2017
David R. George III has become the main author of the ongoing Deep Space Nine adventures, and this is the next step in his juggling of the number of storylines needed for such a wide ranging series. This novel focusses on the Sisko family, as Captain Sisko's ship, the USS Robinson, heads off to explore further into the Gamma Quadrant.
I'm struggling to work out how to review this without making it too spoilery... let's say that there are two plotlines that run through the book featuring a number of parallels, which answer some of the questions those of us who have been reading for (technically now) decades have been asking.
George performs the masterful Star Trek trick of tying together real science fiction concepts and exploration of new worlds and cultures with metaphorical reflection on our own society, with only a little thought required on behalf of the reader to understand the analogies and the lessons intended for the audience.
While Ben Sisko isn't generally my favourite DS9 character, and its huge ensemble cast being one of the reasons its my favourite Trek series, this is a solid entry in the continuation and one that I'd happily recommend to anyone who is reasonably caught up - there are very few elements that require the reader to be fully up to date.