Review: Star Trek: Picard: Rogue Elements (Star Trek: Picard #3), by John Jackson Miller, 2021

Rogue Elements by John Jackson Miller
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Star Trek: Picard: Rogue Elements (Star Trek: Picard #3), by John Jackson Miller, 2021

Synopsis:

Starfleet was everything for Cristóbal Rios—until one horrible, inexplicable day when it all went wrong. Aimless and adrift, he grasps at a chance for a future as an independent freighter captain in an area betrayed by the Federation, the border region with the former Romulan Empire. His greatest desire: to be left alone.

But solitude isn’t in the cards for the captain of La Sirena, who falls into debt to a roving gang of hoodlums from a planet whose society is based on Prohibition-era Earth. Teamed against his will with Ledger, his conniving overseer, Rios begins an odyssey that brings him into conflict with outlaws and fortune seekers, with power brokers and relic hunters across the stars.

Exotic loves and locales await—as well as dangers galore—and Rios learns the hard way that good crewmembers are hard to find, even when you can create your own. And while his meeting with Jean-Luc Picard is years away, Rios finds himself drawing on the Starfleet legend’s experiences when he discovers a mystery that began on one of the galaxy’s most important days…

 

Review:

What a dump-truck-on-fire of a novel this was. I tried hard to like the book, and I even almost abandoned it several times, but I had to plow through it because I wanted to get to know more of Rios' backstory and how he came to be the captain of his starship of La Sirena. Considering these novels in the Picard book trilogy are to be regarded as canon, I had a certain level of expectation. But this author did the character Rios and the Star Trek franchise some grave disservice. 

The author reduced Rios into a wise bumbling fool who can't catch a break and is always a victim of circumstance. Such a shame and waste of opportunity to bring Rios to life with a rich backstory. Instead, we get the one-trick pony slapstick humor repeatedly throughout the book, minor characters with no dimensions who we will probably never hear of again, and the Iotians.

I rate this book 1.5 star out of 5.

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Review: The Dark Veil (Star Trek: Picard #2), by James Swallow, 2021

The Dark Veil by James Swallow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Dark Veil (Star Trek: Picard #2), by James Swallow, 2021

Taking place after the Synth revolt on Mars Shipyard but before the Romulan Star supernova, this second installment in this series isn't a direct sequel but could have easily been a standalone novel. The book follows the adventure of the USS Titan, captained by Will Riker. Here we learn more about the secret Tal Shiar subcompartment Zhat Vash their plottings mired in paranoia and subterfuge by way of how the story's adventure unfolds.

I feel as though the point of this book is to give weight and provenance to the Zhat Vash threat, who are introduced in the television show Picard season 1. Perhaps reading this book first before watching the first season of Picard might have eased stalwart Star Trek viewers into the existence of a credible threat that underpinned the entire show. Much of what happens in the book doesn't really move Star Trek lore forward, as most things that occur are sealed in a bubble of confidentiality, never to be shared with anyone else nor put in any Starfleet reports.

Overall, the book moved at a decent pace, became engaging about a quarter of the way in, and was a fun read.

I give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars.

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Review: The Last Best Hope (Star Trek: Picard #1), by Una McCormack, 2020

The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Last Best Hope (Star Trek: Picard #1), by Una McCormack, 2020

The book follows Picard from the first moment he learns about the Romulan supernova, all the way through his eventual resignation from Starfleet after the synth attack on Mars — the final scene in the book takes place just moments before Picard and Raffi discuss his resignation in “The End is the Beginning.”

2019 Comics Countdown #1 and #2 by Kirsten Byer seems to be the blueprint for this novel. Between reading the comics and watching Season 1 of Picard, I wasn't sure how much I would get out of this book, so I set my expectations accordingly. To my delight, I enjoyed this read quite so. If the comics were the skeleton, then this book is the meat that thoughtfully fleshes out the characters and fills in the details the television show expects us to accept. I feel the author truly captures Picard's essence yet transforms him into the much older Picard character depicted on the television show. If I had read this book before season 1 of Picard, the depiction of the older Picard wouldn't have been so jarring and easier for me to accept. Another brilliant move by the author was to explain Raffi Musiker's relationship with Picard in a manner that allows us, the reader, to understand her motivations and experiences when she was a Starfleet officer. How she came to call him JL and her position as Picard's new "number one" on the USS Verity was handled carefully and just as craftily.

I rate this 4.8 out of 5 stars.

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Review: Star Trek: Picard: No Man's Land: An Original Audio Drama

Star Trek: Picard: No Man's Land: An Original Audio Drama by Kirsten Beyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Star Trek: Picard: No Man's Land," by Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson, 2022

"No Man's Land" is an audio drama read by Jeri Ryan and Michelle Hurd along with other voice actors. The story takes place between ST: Picard Season 1 and Season 2 and revolves around Seven and Raffi.

The story fills in some blanks of what happened with Seven and Raffi between season 1 and season 2 of Picard. It's partly a love story (or a breakup, depending on how you view it), wrapped around the adventures of Seven with the Fenris Rangers.

Seven is definitely more human and less borg in this audio drama which makes sense as it would align with her character on the tv show. I found myself not caring much about what the bad guy did or even the plot, and just the interaction between Sever and Raffi was enough for me to enjoy the story.

I rate the story a 2.5 out of 5, and performance 5 out of 5.

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Review: Star Trek Destiny: Lost Souls (book 3 of 3)

Lost Souls by David Mack
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The final installment to this trilogy nicely bookended the origin and demise of the Borg. The story revolves around three starships captained by Ezri Dax, Riker, and Picard and Erika Hernandez who is living with the Caeliar. A smaller portion, but no less important, is spent telling the story of the MACOs stranded with the Caeliar's city of Mantilis-- where the Borg originated.

I liked everything about this book except for two things; Picard made to seem so impotent and unlike his established character, and Troi painted out to be a real b*itch without a good reason.