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A review by octavia_cade
Star Trek: Myriad Universes: Infinity's Prism by Christopher L. Bennett, James Swallow, William Leisner
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
3.5
This is a great idea for a Star Trek book - alternate timelines, playing off canon. I think probably nearly every Trek fan has watched one episode or another and thought "What would it have been like if...?" Hell, half of fanfiction explores that concept.
Crucially, it explores alternate timelines in a way that is far more interesting to me than the bloody Mirror Universe, which I have been entirely sick of for decades now. It's probably no coincidence that, of the three novellas collected here, the one most resembling the Mirror Universe ("Seeds of Dissent" by James Swallow, in which Khan wins and the quadrant is ruled by genetically augmented characters like Bashir - essentially Space Nazis) is the one I like least. It also has a far too easy conversion at the end, I feel, but that's neither here nor there.
The best of the three, I think, was "A Less Perfect Union" by William Leisner, where Earth is not a member of the Federation and Kirk really struggles to get over a hatred of Vulcans after they are responsible for the death of his wife and child. There's something very hard and very hopeful and relatable about what the characters go through in this one.
Apparently there's a second, similar volume out there - my local library supposedly has it, but they seem to have lost it so here's hoping it turns up soon in the bowels of stack.
Crucially, it explores alternate timelines in a way that is far more interesting to me than the bloody Mirror Universe, which I have been entirely sick of for decades now. It's probably no coincidence that, of the three novellas collected here, the one most resembling the Mirror Universe ("Seeds of Dissent" by James Swallow, in which Khan wins and the quadrant is ruled by genetically augmented characters like Bashir - essentially Space Nazis) is the one I like least. It also has a far too easy conversion at the end, I feel, but that's neither here nor there.
The best of the three, I think, was "A Less Perfect Union" by William Leisner, where Earth is not a member of the Federation and Kirk really struggles to get over a hatred of Vulcans after they are responsible for the death of his wife and child. There's something very hard and very hopeful and relatable about what the characters go through in this one.
Apparently there's a second, similar volume out there - my local library supposedly has it, but they seem to have lost it so here's hoping it turns up soon in the bowels of stack.