A review by octavia_cade
The Final Reflection by John M. Ford

4.0

This is excellent. I was honestly skeptical at first; I'd picked up the book expecting another easy adventure with Kirk and company, and it was very clear very soon that Kirk was only there to bookend a so-called historical novel about Klingons. I was not enthusiastic, and a very unappealing start to that novel - a lengthy and tedious game/battle sequence (and I do hate battle sequences, they bore me rigid) - had me very tempted just to put the thing down and walk away. I even came to Goodreads to check if other people had hated it as much as I did, and was surprised to see all the positive reviews... they were so positive I thought I had to keep reading. And I'm so glad I did. Once that off-putting beginning was over, this exploration of what it means to avoid war, and the relationship between a Klingon captain and a decidedly non-military human ambassador, an elderly scholar with strong pacifist beliefs, was just so strong, and so very thoughtful, that by the end I was both riveted and genuinely, enormously touched.

I've been reading Star Trek books a lot recently, especially over this past year, because they have the advantage of being generally hopeful and also generally popcorn. They don't require much of me, and I say that with affection; pandemic has given me new appreciation for escapist texts. This one, though, is a substantial cut above, and still hopeful even so, and I'm going to go out and find a copy of my own to keep, because the library (damn them) will not let me keep this one. And, you know, they probably shouldn't, because my giving it back means that other library users get to read it, and that's a good thing.

It's without doubt the best Star Trek book I've ever read.