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meredith_peruzzi's review
5.0
Everybody keeps saying how similar this book is to The West Wing. It's been said Aaron Sorkin should be demanding royalties. The author freely admits the connection. I don't know about all that, because I've never seen The West Wing, which is my point: if you know the show, apparently the book reads like the show. If you don't know the show, the book stands up more than fine on its own.
From where I sit, the key achievement of "Articles of the Federation" is something another reviewer disliked: it doesn't feel like a Trek book. I like this because TrekLit has been published for decades, and while I enjoy reading about the continuing adventures of the crews I know and love, having something in their world but not ABOUT them is refreshing. There are plenty of elements of the Trek universe, particularly the events of Nemesis, but it's about a part of that world that's been happening in parallel all this time, that we've just never seen.
I don't think another writer could have pulled this off so well. I've read tie-in fiction that feels like a completely separate story, with trappings of the property laid over it like Miranda Jones's sensor web dress. "Articles of the Federation" is the total opposite, because DeCandido knows Trek so well, and is a master at telling stories that reflect what has happened off-screen as much as what we've seen on-screen.
Following the turns of politics is never easy, but this book makes it darn entertaining to do so. It's well deserving of all the praise that has been heaped upon it.
From where I sit, the key achievement of "Articles of the Federation" is something another reviewer disliked: it doesn't feel like a Trek book. I like this because TrekLit has been published for decades, and while I enjoy reading about the continuing adventures of the crews I know and love, having something in their world but not ABOUT them is refreshing. There are plenty of elements of the Trek universe, particularly the events of Nemesis, but it's about a part of that world that's been happening in parallel all this time, that we've just never seen.
I don't think another writer could have pulled this off so well. I've read tie-in fiction that feels like a completely separate story, with trappings of the property laid over it like Miranda Jones's sensor web dress. "Articles of the Federation" is the total opposite, because DeCandido knows Trek so well, and is a master at telling stories that reflect what has happened off-screen as much as what we've seen on-screen.
Following the turns of politics is never easy, but this book makes it darn entertaining to do so. It's well deserving of all the praise that has been heaped upon it.
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