The Last Best Hope by Una McCormackMy 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.
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment