Emissary

This novelization really fleshed out people's motivations in ways I didn't fully follow in the episode. Is that because the actors weren't good, or because they were settling into roles, or because they had different interpretations or their characters than the novelizer, or because I did, or some combination? Probably that last one.

In any case, that focus on internal thoughts is what I really want in a novelization and this delivered. I very much liked it.

Of all the recent novelisations I've read recently this one is one of the best. Beyond being a faithful adaptation of the pilot of Deep Space Nine, it actually bothers to give good descriptions and character insights / motivations. My one suggestion is to start with chapter 2. Although the pilot does actually start 3 years in the past with the Borg attack, the first chapter stalls the rest of the story. There is enough referral to the backstory that the first chapter really isn't needed in the b...more

This is the novelization of the premiere episode of the third Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine. It's been awhile since I've seen the actual episode, but the novel seemed very true to the actual story that was seen on the TV.

There were the normal bumps in a novelization. The fact that the station kept being referred to as DS Nine, or that Miles O'Brien from The Next Generation kept being referred to as an Ensign even though he's a non-commissioned officer (although they may have done that on the pilot episode too).

On the other hand the writer, Dillard, gets other things pitch perfect, like the interaction between Jadiza Dax and Ben Sisko.

Odo and Kira come off as a bit stand offish and Julian Bashir as totally clueless, but that was show more pretty well aligned with how they were on the actual pilot too.

DS9 was a series (and the series of books too) that was both the darkest thematically and the most religious of the Star Trek serieses. This book was a good novelization of the start of that. show less

I was reading this around the same time I read the ST:TNG pilot novel. Nice thing about novelizations is that they provide additional insights on the characters. Over time, of the series, DS-9 became my favorite, especially later as the series progressed.

all Star Trek legends have a beginning. This is the start of Commander Benjamin Sisko's command of Star Fleet's ninth deep space station. This effectively the a telling of Star Trek Deep Space Nine 1st episode.