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A review by midwinter
Obsidian Alliances by Keith R.A. DeCandido, Sarah Shaw, Peter David
3.0
The first story in this second book, The Mirror-Scaled Serpent, takes place in the Star Trek Voyager universe and features Chakotay in command of a rebel ship and its crew made up of Kate Janeway as engineer, Harry Kim as fighter and torturer, Tuvok as tactical officer and Annika Hansen (Seven of Nine) as engineer. Also appearing in the story are B'ellana a hated klingon-human hybrid trying to seize power within the Cardassian-Klingon alliance and Neelix and Kes, who are thrown into this part of the galaxy by the Caretaker.
The story is ok-ish but the characters are too bland. The accent is not placed on the reasoning behind "why we fight" but on the fact that "we fight because we don't like them, they're ugly, they stink etc". I would have enjoyed it more if Tuvok and his elite group of Vulcan friends would have received more emphasis.
Not really worth the read, unless you're a devoted fan or are travelling by train or plane for several hours.
Second story, Cutting Ties, is set in the Romulan Star Empire and follows the adventures of one of their slaves, M'k'nzy from the planet Calhoun. Freed from the Reman dilithium mines by a high Romulan official's daughter, Soleta he is then used as her protective detail aboard an extremely powerful ship where she accompanies her father on a diplomatic mission. When all goes wrong he uses his powers to gain control of the ship's "soul" and promises a rampage across the known worlds. Only Soleta manages to detour him by showing him what he could have been in another reality.
Somewhat better than the previous story, but it still doesn't excell. Interesting idea for the ship, but that's about it. Again, very much skippable.
The third and last story in this volume is Saturn's Children which is set in the Deep Space Nine universe. Here, the station Terok Nor is in the hands of the terran rebellion who threatens to purge all Bajor of life if the Alliance dares attack them. In this stand-off Miles O'Brien, de facto leader of the rebellion has under his command the warship Defiant, equipped with a state of the edge Romulan cloaking device. He struggles to maintain control of the rebellion when faced with the morality of warfare. On the other end of the spectrum we have Kira Nerys, former Intendant of Bajor, disgraced by her role in Regent Worf's capture by the rebels... she is now a slave of the new Regent. Slowly, by using her witts and her other skills, she manages to maneuver once again in the position of absolute power.
This story is the most interesting in the book. Somewhat connected with the first one in the volume, but not enough to warrant reading the first before this. Good action, nice plot, well drawn characters. The only story worth reading in this volume!
The first volume had more cohesion, in my opinion. The authors had some canon events they could use as plots for their stories. Now, though, the more we move away from the Terran Empire plot and into the rebellion one, it would seem the authors have no clear idea where they'd want to steer this whole universe.
The story is ok-ish but the characters are too bland. The accent is not placed on the reasoning behind "why we fight" but on the fact that "we fight because we don't like them, they're ugly, they stink etc". I would have enjoyed it more if Tuvok and his elite group of Vulcan friends would have received more emphasis.
Not really worth the read, unless you're a devoted fan or are travelling by train or plane for several hours.
Second story, Cutting Ties, is set in the Romulan Star Empire and follows the adventures of one of their slaves, M'k'nzy from the planet Calhoun. Freed from the Reman dilithium mines by a high Romulan official's daughter, Soleta he is then used as her protective detail aboard an extremely powerful ship where she accompanies her father on a diplomatic mission. When all goes wrong he uses his powers to gain control of the ship's "soul" and promises a rampage across the known worlds. Only Soleta manages to detour him by showing him what he could have been in another reality.
Somewhat better than the previous story, but it still doesn't excell. Interesting idea for the ship, but that's about it. Again, very much skippable.
The third and last story in this volume is Saturn's Children which is set in the Deep Space Nine universe. Here, the station Terok Nor is in the hands of the terran rebellion who threatens to purge all Bajor of life if the Alliance dares attack them. In this stand-off Miles O'Brien, de facto leader of the rebellion has under his command the warship Defiant, equipped with a state of the edge Romulan cloaking device. He struggles to maintain control of the rebellion when faced with the morality of warfare. On the other end of the spectrum we have Kira Nerys, former Intendant of Bajor, disgraced by her role in Regent Worf's capture by the rebels... she is now a slave of the new Regent. Slowly, by using her witts and her other skills, she manages to maneuver once again in the position of absolute power.
This story is the most interesting in the book. Somewhat connected with the first one in the volume, but not enough to warrant reading the first before this. Good action, nice plot, well drawn characters. The only story worth reading in this volume!
The first volume had more cohesion, in my opinion. The authors had some canon events they could use as plots for their stories. Now, though, the more we move away from the Terran Empire plot and into the rebellion one, it would seem the authors have no clear idea where they'd want to steer this whole universe.