Reviews

Excelsior: Forged in Fire by Michael A. Martin, Andy Mangels

wynwicket's review against another edition

5.0

Another excellent Star Trek book. Hikaru Sulu, newly-acting-Captain of the Excelsior must team up with a young Curzon Dax (currently a VERY formidable diplomat) and three of the best-known Klingon captains: Koloth, Kang, and Kor -- to track down and defeat an evil albino Klingon bent on revenge in the form of biological terrorism.

The insight into Sulu and Dax's histories was wonderful, and I loved our Klingon heroes -- egos and honor and culture clashes and all. I came away with a host of Klingon insults and a sudden fascination with Klingon culture. Good stuff.

birdmanseven's review against another edition

3.0

I really wanted to give this a higher review and I hope they do more novels that follow Sulu on the Excelsior. The thing is, there was a really good story buried deep down in the narrative. Too much perspective and time shifting, the Klingon angles weren't very interesting and there wasn't enough focus on Sulu's rise to commander of Excelsior. Again, I sincerely hope they expand on this series because I really enjoy reading from a perspective other than Kirk's. I mean, I love Kirk, but it's nice to see the character of Sulu expanded beyond just one of the token minorities that add a little color to the Enterprise bridge. Ultimately where this novel failed was the authors' attempt to tell too many stories. Strip it down, give us more from the perspective of the Excelsior and it's crew. Some much time was wasted on plot points and characters that eventually went no where. I was also disappointed with the end of story. I was reading along waiting for things to come back into focus when suddenly I find myself on the Acknowledgement page. All that to say it was a decent book, but I wanted (and expected) more from it. Maybe next time, Sulu.

olegx's review

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

aughadan's review

4.0

I'm really picky with my five star ratings; the book has to actually change my life to get one, but rest assured this was a fabulous, solid 4 and a half stars. Yes, it's long (especially for a little mass market paperback, which made it awkward to hold sometimes), but I can't blame the authors since they covered so much ground. I got the feeling from the back cover and the beginning that it wasn't really just a Sulu book, which turned out to be entirely accurate. Very nice. In fact, it was not just a Sulu book, but also a Klingon book, a Dax book, and a Excelsior book. Did I miss anybody? This is my favorite kind of Star Trek novel: the sort that introduces a ton of backstory, and weaves it in to the existing canonical framework in a way that enriches both. (Plus references to everything. I love references.) Overall, a great sprawling epic of a tale that might take you a while to get through, but will end up being very satisfying.