Collateral Damage
ISBN: 9781982113582
Description
The past returns to haunt Captain Jean-Luc Picard - a crime he thought long buried has been exposed, and he must return to Earth to answer for his role in a conspiracy that some call treason. Meanwhile, the USS Enterprise is sent to apprehend pirates who have stolen vital technology from a fragile Federation colony. But acting captain Commander Worf discovers that the pirates' motives are not what they seem, and that sometimes standing for justice means defying the law.
Reviewed on 2nd January 2020
Billed as the final episode in a series of Star Trek follow-on novels that have been published over nearly 20 years, wrapping everything up before the new Star Trek: Picard TV series begins in early 2020 - however that’s not really what it is.
This story does feel like it’s wrapping up some of the threads that have been explored over a lot of books though, with Picard returning to Earth to defend his record, while Worf takes the Enterprise on a complicated mission, which also serves as something of a follow-up to some of the previous events, while doing the traditional Star Trek thing of providing a mirror to our world.
It’s a really good, solid Star Trek novel, that explores a lot of important themes in a way which treats the characters with respect. I did feel in places that it cut between scenes a bit more frequently than I felt necessary - feeling a bit like it was afraid one of the plot lines might be too boring if not mixed up constantly with the other, more action-packed plot.
A happy place if it is the final novel we see from this era of Star Trek - though I hope it’s not, as I’ve got a lot of pleasure over the years from reading these continued adventures - as excited as I am about the new TV series, I hope the novels are able to continue too.