2007-06-13 Spot on...

Over the past couple of years I've found myself immersed in star trek books since I started reading all the "A Time To..." series. When I heard about this book and it's sister book "Obsidian Alliances" I couldn't wait. I always enjoyed the mirror universe episodes. I wasn't disappointed.

The first story is about Empress Sato. I have not seen the Enterprise episode which precedes this story and wish that I had seen it as I would have got some back story, but I soon got into it and didn't feel that my lack of knowledge detracted from my enjoyment of the story. I like that in this universe characters who were more "chorus" than lead are given completely different and exciting story arcs.

The second story was fantastic, and gives the reader a taste of what is to come, setting the story for all the following stories. Spock has a plan, and goes to some great lengths to make sure his plan doesn't fail.

The third tale I found a little unnecessary. It fills in a few questions but I felt that it was merely an excuse for the writer to include as many characters from the series which hadn't been seen in the mirror universe. Stories from maybe ten TNG episodes are included here and I just found it all a little too much. I think maybe I would have preferred to see some characters who weren't used enough for whatever reason. I wish Tasha Yar could have been included. There's still time yet though, as the saga isn't quite finished yet.

I was thirsty for more and was rather relieved when I finished the book that the next one was due to land on my doorstep any day...
The death toll in these books is massive. I haven't seen anything like it since the A Time To... series. I thought Joss Whedon like to kill off characters willy nilly...

The first story doesn't feature Captain Archer, Kirk is dead in the second, and most of the TNG cast are missing from the third. It's nice to see that the editors have cared more for the story and the most appropriate characters for the job (except for the TNG story.)

A great book though - read it in two nights. The stories are more like novellas than the short stories in books like "Prophecy and Change" and "Distant Shores" so there's more room for characterisations. Highly recommended.