The Enterprise engaged the Borg. This book deals with ethics, honour, loyalty as well as the intricate relationships among the main characters both old and new. The writing is straightforward, no gimmicks. ( )

To celebrate 20 years of Star Trek: The Next Generation and following in the example of the successful re-launch of Deep Space Nine in the novels, Pocket books gives fans the continuing voyages of the Starship Enterprise under the command of Jean Luc Picard.

"Resistance" follows the events of "Star Trek: Nemesis" and last year's "A Death in Winter" novel. You don't have to read "Death in Winter" to understand or follow the storyline here--just know that in the novel, Picard and Dr. Beverly Crusher finally broke-down, admitted their feelings for each other and are now a couple.

Now comes "Resistance" which I have to admit I was looking forward to. Back in the day, J.M. Dillard wrote some great classic Trek novels, including the creation of some of her own reucrring Trek universe characters. As I picked up "Resistance" and found a new set of characters being introduced, I had high hopes we were meeting a new set of recurring characters who would inhabit and expand the TNG universe in the same way Vaughn and Tarrantar have in the DS9 novels.

Unfortunately, of the three new characters we meet, two of them become cannon fodder for the Borg by novel's end.

Yes, you read that right--the Borg are back. Following the events of "Best of Both Worlds" and "First Contact", Picard begins to hear the voice of the Borg in his mind again. His connection leads him to believe the Borg are regroupiing and creating a new queen in the Alpha Quadrant with the goal of annihilating the Federation and all humanity. Picard asks for permission to investigate, is denied and goes into the fray anyway.

After losing one away team to the newer, suddenly more vicious Borg, Picard makes a tough decision--he will become Locutus of Borg again in order to sabotage the new queen.

All of this takes placed in the first half of the novel, which I have to admit clips along at a good page-turning pace. It's only once Picard becomes Locutus again that the things seem to derail. The novel's pace slows and there's lots of hand-wringing about the decision and what if it fails. We spent a lot of time hearing about how Picard has lost his humanity again and while Dillard tries to convey how this violation might feel, it's just not as interesting as it could or should be. The final few chapters muddle along to the inevitable conclusion which is fairly obvious from the first half of the book. No huge surprises here and it make the final chapters seem flat and predictable.

Which is a shame...becuase for about 150 pages this was a great "Trek" novel, easily reminscient of Dillard's work in the 80s with the classic Trek novels. ( )

While parallels could certainly be drawn between this book and Christie Golden's "Homecoming" and "The Farther Shore", Dillard's "Resistance" is leaner, grittier, and in the end somewhat more satisfying. Unlike Golden's books, which were more episodic and didn't progress the continuity, Dillard's book seems to be more of a link in the chain -- the events seem to have more weight and more lasting repercussions.

Having said that, I hope that these repercussions will be the case for all parts of the book, not just the obvious ones. Over the course of the novel, actions are taken that reveal how Starfleet's outlook has changed since the Dominion War and the events in "Nemesis" ... and I can only hope that these weren't just throw-away references and deus ex machina. Only further books will tell.

Overall, this is a good starting-off point for the relaunch of the TNG books.

(Which leads to only one further gripe: the new books aren't numbered. I actually bought "Before Dishonor" before this one, only to make it two pages in realizing that I was in the middle of the story, not the beginning. Would it be so hard to include some verbiage to the effect of "These events occur after those in ..."?) ( )

An exciting and thrilling adventure that kept my interest at all times. Sad and poignant at times but such is life. It was wonderful to "be" back in TNG world. Highly recommended for TNG fans. ( )

http://www.sfreader.com/read_review.a... ( )