S. D. Perry

I gave this four stars because Perry did something pretty spectacular. Not only does this book take several unfinished plot lines from the series and provide (in my opinion) satisfactory endings, it also opens a can of worms of its own and successfully puts all the worms back by the end! Very impressed.
I also felt that Perry kept the overall feel of DS9, not sacrificing a character's personality or fudging events to "make it work." The aliens were a little strange, but as for the show more established characters from the series, it was well done. show less

This post-TV continuation of DS9 was something of a mixed bag, but overall continued in the spirit of the original series with meditations on religious faith (and lack of it) and war. With the finale sending so much of the cast off to different places, there are several of original characters here- my favorite addition was definitely Ro Laren from TNG, who takes over Odo's position as security chief, and my least favorite was the thoroughly eyeroll-inducing Elias Vaughn, a 101-year-old show more Starfleet veteran who becomes Kira's second-in-command.

Vaughn is quite possibly the most obvious example of a "Gary Stu"/"Mary Sue" character I have ever seen in original or fan-fiction, and those are terms I do not use lightly: he is 101-years old with 80 years of combat experience, immediately beloved by everyone on the Enterprise-E (we get POV of Picard, Riker, _and_ Troi wishing they were as cool as he was and wanting to be his friend), he has a security clearance higher than Picard and chose not to become an admiral not because he couldn't do it but because he "doesn't like meetings," is an expert on Jem'Hadar biology and development, is also able to outmaneuver Section 31 (including _stealing_ from them with no repercussions), and comes to DS9 after rediscovering a Bajoran Orb (which Picard is envious of, note) and seeing a vision of Sisko, convinced that it is his ~destiny~. Also, for additonal angst, another addition to the cast turns out to be Vaughn's estranged daughter, who is an ensign under his command.

If there's any reason I almost DNFed this book, Vaughn is it. _Thankfully_, the Vaughn-squee calmed down after the first half or so of the book; he and Kira respect each other and settle into a healthy working relationship, with absolutely no fawning on her part or the rest of DS9. Thank goodness.

Onto the actual stories, this omnibus starts off with a two-part story, Avatar, about a crisis in the Bajoran religion when a prylar finds an undocumented, possibly heretical book of prophecies, continues with a Section 31 novel where Bashir is coerced into stopping a genetically enhanced rogue agent with delusions of being the next Khan, and concludes with a novel and a novella out of the Gateways crossover series where the long-thought-dead Iconians reactivate their gateway network and try to sell the technology to the highest bidder and DS9 must help with evacuation of a planet plagued by radioactive waste being dumped through a new gateway.

The strongest character arc throughout is Kira, now commander of the station, dealing with being in that role and with the crisis in the Bajoran faith. I thought it was really solid- I especially liked the Gateway novella at the end- but was disappointed that a very key moment for her character occurred off-screen in Avatar. Ro's arc as commander of security trying to figure out if she wants to be on DS9 or not was great too, and I'm intrigued by the unresolved issues brought up for Ezri as her past incarnations seem to be surfacing more and more and Bashir as he wrestles with his genetic enhancement. Kasidy and Jake have interesting subplots relating to the prophecies in Avatar, but those kind of trail off with no resolution in this omnibus (I believe they are resolved in Rising Son and Unity respectively.) Quark remains Quark, and Nog remains Nog.

Taran'atar, a Jem'Hadar sent by Odo to learn about the Federation is an interesting but somewhat underused (more plot device than character at this point) addition, but probably the most interesting of the four original characters. I actively disliked Vaughn and it will take a whole lot to make me come around (I'm not happy that Mission Gamma seems Vaughn-centric), but am cautiously interested in Andorian science officer Thirishar ch'Thane and human ensign Prynn Tenmei. I hope that Tenmei will get characterization as her own person outside Vaughn's orbit rather than as a source of angst for him.

I plan to read through at least Unity, having picked up the four Mission Gamma books on sale last month; will be curious how things progress. show less

This book blew me away when I first read it in the '90s. Not only did it combine the two most iconic creatures in sci-fi cinema (before AVP had movies), but it also introduced a future civilization of human colonists about to enter a cosmic horror. The characters were engaging and the action was riveting. Honestly, I felt as though this book filled a lot of gaps in sci-fi books and media.

The story kicks off shortly after Leon and Claire’s escape from Raccoon City and includes the surviving characters from Caliban Cove as well as Trent, a mysterious individual that is aiding the characters when it seems to serve his interests, whatever that might be. As this is an original story rather than based on a game, there are fewer direct confrontations and combat and more stealth, espionage, subterfuge, and infiltration with the intent of gathering intelligence – Underworld truly show more is an apt title, and in more ways than one.

There are indeed BOW’s and combat and in that respect, the book did not disappoint, though a good number of pages must be read before the first BOW makes its appearance. Underworld’s strength is not being tied to a game. The pacing is by far the best of Perry’s Resident Evil books (that I’ve read) and there are no moments where the author is forced to justify cringy exchange of dialogue or nonsense actions.
There is but one thing that prevents me from giving five stars. Of the five protagonists, not everyone can have their equal amount of spotlight, but care should still be taken to avoid that a character feels superfluous. While all five characters were, at some point, relevant for the story, more could have been done to keep Claire, in particular, relevant to and directly involved in the plot as there was a large segment where she was just sort of ‘there’. show less