A Rock and a Hard Place

Well, it's Peter David, what did you expect?

David does his usual great job of portraying Trek characters and universe, while pushing the limits with his own angles and humor. This is a nice A/B story with Riker "helping" on a rugged terraforming planet while he is replaced temporarily by a ... space case. That is to say an officer who works to drive everyone crazy - despite Troi assuring everyone he is sane. He gets results AND manages to step right up to the edge of ... just about every edge there is.

This is a great TNG story - no surprise.

It’s a good book, it really is, and yet, Stone, one of the non-regular main characters in the book is just such a bastard -- to everyone. And, I do get why the character has to be what the character is, but, it makes the book so hard to read because Stone is being such a n abhorrent jerk to characters that I really like.

The plot has two parts. Riker gets temporarily reassigned to lead a team of scientists to check on a plant that’s being terraformed called Paradise. A guy from Riker’s past/youth is in charge of it. They grew up together in Alaska.

In Riker’s absence the Enterprise gets a temporary first officer named Stone. He’s the bastard. Okay, during the novel his onion like layers are somewhat pulled back, but he’s not a show more character that many people will like.

Then there were the wild things. They were a disturbingly interesting part of the story for sure and I thought that that part of the story with the Wild Things the author did really really well.

I will always and continue to try and catch up with all the Peter David books, but, this one, while well done, is not my favorite. On the other hand, I can see some of his later books in this earlier one, why he created some of the later characters he created. show less

This has to be one of the darkest Star Trek books I have read thus far. Peter David is brilliant at creating edge of your seat suspense that doesn't end until the very last page with just enough comic relief to ease the tension. For the story alone with Riker I would give this four stars, however, Quintin Stone notches it up to five stars. One of the best character development that will haunt me for a long time.

I was a little hard on the last Peter David Star Trek novel, concerned that the characters seemed off book. If that was true for that novel, it certainly isn't for this one, where David really nails the voices of the crew we know, and also creates some very interesting characters that I would like to see more of. I'm very excited to continue reading his Star Trek novels.

I could take or leave Riker's time on the terraforming planet. The main plot and the character who creates the problem seems psychologically unlikely to say the least to me. Yet the book was well written enough that I enjoyed it nonetheless.

I really despise the way Picard reacted to Stone; it was not true to character *at all.* And I have trouble thinking of teen Riker as a rake. And what about the concerns of the rest of the terraformers? The rest of the story was kind of a mess, too, but there were some interesting bits. 2.51 stars?

Onward!