John Jackson Miller

Hell’s Heart is the opening book in the Star Trek: Prey trilogy. The events of the book span the time from shortly after the Star Trek 3 movie, Search for Spock to shortly after the time of The Next Generation. The death of Klingon commander Kruge at the hands of James Kirk at the end of Star Trek 3 kicked off a series of events with repercussions felt more than 100 years in the future.

Kruge’s death left a Klingon house in disorder, with a young Klingon, Korgh, the intended heir of show more Kruge never formally designated as successor. Without a clear heir, battle breaks out between officers loyal to Kruge and rival family members who want to pick clean the house Kruge had built. A last stand by the officers on a planet where a phantom wing of twelve advanced Birds-of-Prey are intended to turn the tide ends in disaster when the ships go missing. The defeat of the officers by a joint attack of Kruge’s relatives leads to an unprecedented power-sharing agreement among the family members and the discommendation of the defeated officers along with all of their families.

One hundred years later, the Enterprise under the command of Jean Luc Picard is present for a ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the battle. The Enterprise is snared in a trap 100 years in the making, leading to a crisis that upends the Klingon empire and puts its alliance with the Federation in jeopardy.

John Jackson Miller has written a thrilling book that rings true to the characters and events familiar to Star Trek fans as well as taking them in exciting new directions. Kirk and Spock kick off events that lead to unpredictable outcomes. Picard and Worf must unravel a conspiracy that threatens everything the Empire and the Federation have built together. Miller carefully unspools information that both illuminates what has already happened and raises the stakes for what is coming next. The action scenes are exciting and there are plenty of nods to characters and events from throughout the Star Trek universe sure to please any fan of the series.

The audiobook is narrated by Robert Petkoff who was a revelation. He breathed life into a huge cast of characters, Klingon, human and Vulcan. The accents were spot on and each character was easily distinguishable from each other. In some cases, the voices bordered on impersonations of the well-known actors who originated the roles. The narration complemented the story, propelling the action along and adding depth to the quieter moments. Petkoff’s performance with this book is worthy of audio award consideration.

Hell’s Heart is an exciting novel that leaves you anxious to continue the adventures in the rest of the trilogy. The audio version is extremely well done and adds to the enjoyment of the story. Highly recommended.

I was fortunate to be provided a copy of this book by the publisher. show less

This book consists of several short stories and a longer story concluding them. It tells over a thousand year history of a tribe of Sith that forms after Yaru Korsin's ship Omen crashlands on the planet of Kesh during a mission for Naga Sadow. Unable to return to his mission, Yaru begins leading his people and the natives of the land to form a society that would undergo severe changes over hundreds of years.

I borrowed this ebook from my public library. I am starting my exploration into the show more Star Wars EU, chronologically. This is the 3rd book I've read and one of the better ones.

I really enjoyed these stories and I liked how it showed the cause and effect of one person in a society and how they could severely alter an entire planet. Each short story is connected to the next, either by characters, or by the result of the actions of characters in the previous story. Most of the beginning stories are only 4 chapters long, making for very quick reading overall. The character development was rathe rgood and each character was different from the next, having different motives and goals for themselves. It was pretty cool seeing relationships play out between different species, especially as prejudices form. The collection also has a very solid ending that brings everything full circle. The story isn't overnecessarily (its said to continue in other novels and comics) but it has a natural stopping point that feels earned.

Overall I am very satisfied with this ebook and I am looking forward to the next book in the EU. This feels prety different from the Star Wars movies and books I have read in the past, but in the long run its a very good story that excels at world building. The pace is good and it shows the societal and political changes without getting bogged down with details. It has the right amount to bring the world of Kesh and its inhabitants to life. show less

I really enjoyed the storyline that Miller crafted. Zayne Carrick finally gets his due in his quest to clear his name of the murders of his fellow padawans. It's a satisfying conclusion. And then, the series continues. I think it would've been better from an organizational standpoint to end this volume with Carrick's showdown with the guilty. The two chapters that follow are anti-climactic.

My only storyline nitpick is the presence of Sith magic items and their effects. It really pushes the show more Star Wars story from space opera over to space fantasy. That's just a personal preference. I accept the Force because that's been there from the beginning, but these Sith artifacts just take it too far.

An aspect I liked here about the Jedi was that they weren't always this monolithic monastic order. There were actually different factions, as this series illustrates, who took a healthier (IMO) approach to life. Unfortunately, the Jedi Council always seems to be easily fooled by the Sith and are too slow to realize that they've been duped.

The artwork is all over the place. I really like the styles of some guys, but definitely not others. There wasn't much consistency in the appearance of the major characters from one artist to another. In a couple of instances, I wasn't sure if we were being introduced to a different character because the differences were so great. show less

The most recent Star Trek: Discovery novel once again has no scenes aboard the title ship. Instead, this book follows a year in the life of the USS Enterprise, showing what it was doing during Discovery's first season, leading up to its appearance in the season one finale, and retro-foreshadowing some of season 2.

I've always been a fan of Captain Pike's Enterprise-- I used to have a website on a shitty free hosting platform devoted to it-- and I was disappointed that the first Discovery show more novel, Desperate Hours, didn't quite lean into its Pikeness more. So of course I enjoyed this. At first it's a pretty action-y novel, as the Enterprise explores a dangerous region of space and ends up beset by aliens who kidnap a big chunk of the crew. Fun but disposable. But about halfway through, something dramatic happens, and the novel gets contemplative and atmospheric. I loved the difficult situation everyone ends up in, and I loved how they all handled it, and how it reveals so much about these people. Great big set pieces, awesome visuals of things I surprisingly can't remember being doing in Star Trek before. But also nice little touches, such as Nurse Carlotti's problem, or the role of shipwreck narratives. There are also some nice moments where the book joins

Miller also does a good job with the characters. His Captain Pike captures everything I liked about Anson Mount's portrayal, his Spock is excellent, and he does a strong job with other mainstays like Number One, Yeoman Colt, Nhan, and Doctor Boyce. I also really enjoyed the original character of Galadjian (I hope we see more of him somewhere, but I know by Discovery season 2 he's not around), and I was surprised by he journey Miller took Connolly on. At first the guy annoyed me just as he did in the season 2 premiere, but by novel's end, I understood and liked him and felt bad about how he was depicted in "Brother." Which, I guess, is what a good prequel does!

I'm not totally convinced by every aspect of the joining up, and some of the continuity-smoothing moments are groaners, but overall I really enjoyed this. I've been reading John Jackson Miller's Star Wars comics for over a decade, but this is the first prose fiction and the first Star Trek work I've read from him. He nails it in this universe as much as he did in that one. show less