Reviews in the individual books - My Enemy, My Ally; The Romulan Way; Swordhunt; and Honor Blade. Overall not bad, but not wonderful - I still love the first book and like the second, but the third (originally published as two, presented here as the one book it should have been all along) doesn't really work for me. The omnibus does _not_ include the conclusion to the series (which is DUMB) - The Empty Chair is a separate book. ( )

For the purpose I downloaded The Bloodwing Voyages - to learn about Romulan culture for roleplay - Diane Duane's novels are admirably suited. She really put her heart and soul into world-building and, pardon the pun, humanising the warrior race from TOS episodes like 'Balance of Terror' and 'The Enterprise Incident'. But had I known how completely these novels are concerned with the Rhiannsu (Duane's name for the Romulans), and how sidelined and misrepresented the TOS crew are as a result, I would have stuck with My Enemy, My Ally (book one) and saved myself a whole week and been spared much boredom.

I would say that Diane Duane doesn't 'get' Captain Kirk, or has issues with the character - she states in her notes that he 'has something of a reputation among the ladies' - but I really enjoyed her portrayal of him in Doctor's Orders, so I will just assume that she was so taken with her own Romulan character, Ael, that there was room enough for one captain only. I still resent the digs about Jim's 'past behaviour' with women, and the unsubtle reference to K/S shippers ('But watch it with Spock. People start the damndest rumours about this ship's crew, even without provocation'), if I read that line correctly. Duane is rather 'apologetic' for the original series throughout, in fact - the 'backing singers', as I like to call Scotty, Uhura, Sulu and Chekov, get to save the day in book one; Ael smacks of Mary Sue-ism, being a petite yet powerful starship commander who thinks on a level with Kirk and 'bonds' with Spock ( I would have much preferred the crew's trust in her to have been misplaced!); and there is an annoying assortment of aliens in Starfleet. Not just the usual humanoid species, but a spindly-legged crystal spider who 'chimes' and a horta, for heaven's sake! I know that the imagination is not hampered by special effects in the same way that the televisions series was, but I just didn't buy this gigantic rock rumbling around the decks of the Enterprise (and I didn't think he was cute, either).

Out of the four novels in this collection, I only really enjoyed reading the first. Book two - The Romulan Way - is a gigantic infodump on Vulcan/Romulan history and culture, interspersed with McCoy - ?! - being sent undercover to check on the status of a Starfleet officer posing as a Romulan housekeeper. Although interesting, particularly for roleplay material, Duane's Romulan backstory just doesn't have enough action to sustain half a novel. I'm sure the author had great fun creating a language and building on a few scant details in the episodes to imagine how the Romulans broke away from the Vulcans, but if research is supposed to be the tip of the iceberg, hinting at greater knowledge below, then The Romulan Way is the Titanic. Oh, and only Jim calls McCoy 'Bones' - I doubt he would ever tell anyone 'My friends call me Bones'. (McCoy's middle name starts with a 'H', too, not 'E' for Edward.)

Books three and four - or three when not split into two for marketing purposes - are just horrifically dull. Long expositional chunks of dialogue lead to a conference in space - randomly attended by Ambassador Fox and Samuel Cogley, just to remind readers about TOS - with a space battle tacked on to the end for good measure. And with Jim Kirk slightly 'off' - all reputation, no personality - not even the scenes aboard the Enterprise are worth waiting for.

Diane Duane knows how to write Star Trek, and Kirk, Spock and Bones, but I think she just got distracted here. The key to a good TOS novel is humour, of which there is perilously little throughout. ( )

Something of a guilty pleasure, maybe, but Diane Duane is my favorite Star Trek writer, and these books are fantastic. Her sensitive and creative development of the Romulan culture is thought-provoking and brings these books above and beyond the everyday space adventure beach-reading that is the norm for a Star Trek book.

A note on the edition - while I like that they gave up pretending that Honor Blade and Swordhunt were separate books, it would better to have the whole series in one volume. Instead, we're left with an awkwardly large book that only contains 3/4 of the story, and ends with a bit of a cliffhanger to boot. Make sure you have The Emtpy Chair on hand when you're reading this - you'll want to find out what happens! ( )