Given current events, it’s kind of amusing to be reading a Trek adventure in a society where everyone wears masks at all times, and their status is determined by the type and quality of their mask.

It’s ‘50s pulp young-adult space adventure. Quality? Accurate Progressive? Nope. But for what it is, it serves just fine. Plus, you know, telepathic Venusian frogs

Even for this series of ‘50s YA space adventures, a bit underwhelming. A key point basically depends on magic, and has a twist that is painfully obvious very early on.

Somehow the Roman gladiator planet from TOS has become a full member of the Federation, with a Starfleet ship crewed entirely by these neo-Romans. It does not go well.

Perhaps there are some pieces of interest buried in here, but I just had too many problems buying that in a scant few decades, with the way they’re portrayed, that there would be a starship crewed nearly entirely by natives of this planet. It’s no wonder everything falls apart.

Beyond that, the book wraps up the secondary antagonist’s issues off screen and out of nowhere, and then the ending is left so far open, I have to wonder if there is a sequel (or if there was a plan for one, whether or not it manifested) later in the series.

Ah, well. I’m still early in the TNG run of novels. They won’t all be gems.

While it was good, it was _so_ tough right now to read a cynical dystopian novel about overpopulation, eugenics, and colonialism, featuring endemic racism and sexism, that it was a real slog.

Almost a standard 3-star “stranded in primitive conditions/‘Bread and Circuses’ variant” adventure, but had some _really_ weird oversights that knocked a star off.

Spoilers for my two biggest objections follow:

Geordi gets abducted, and there’s a scene of his abductors decide if whether or not to remove his visor (they don’t), after which...it’s never relevant again. Aside from one moment where it’s knocked off until someone hands it back again, it never comes into play, even in circumstances where it should (like sneaking around in darkness).

Even worse, though, was an ending resolution that involved the Enterprise relocating 18,000 refugees of various alien races. In one go. By itself. For a ship which normally carries a compliment of just over 1,000 crew and civilians, and rated to carry up to 6,000 (numbers from Wikipedia), packing it with nineteen times its standard compliment, or over three times its maximum rated compliment, strains credulity to the breaking point.

Riker’s sent off on a B-plot, so a troublesome first officer is temporarily assigned to the Enterprise in the hopes that Picard can corral this loose cannon. He’s an ass, but is he unstable?

A pretty straightforward translation of the story from screen to page, but as it’s a classic of 80s optimistic sci-fi, that’s not a bad thing. Really has me wanting to rewatch the film now.

This was a weird one. _Fahrenheit 451_ plus technobabble plus mythology plus pieces that felt tacked on. Felt like the author had several ideas, couldn’t pick one, and tried to get ‘em all in.

Almost two stars because of the really painfully obvious “twist” that none of the characters managed to see, but otherwise acceptable.