I have to admit, going into this Star Trek novel, the central hook didn’t really compel me—a cross of the Star Trek universe with the West Wing. Honestly, I’ve watched West Wing a few times and I just don’t find it all that compelling, interesting or entertaining. Well written with some great dialogue, sure. But not enough to jump into my appointment TV viewing rotations. So, I have to admit that I wasn’t as intrigued by this novel as I was by this year’s earlier Titan book. I did pick it up because I’ve enjoyed the word of Keith R.A. DeCandido up to this point and see him as a rising star in the Trek fiction universe. (Some have compared him to the great Peter David).

Now let me warn you-if you’re a Trek fiction fan and you haven’t read the A Time to… miniseries and the first Titan novel, stay away from this one until you do. It takes place after both and follows-up on events in each of the series. That said, I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. It took some interesting risks-the concept of giving us an entire story about the first year of a Federation presidency and the political manueverings that go on could have fallen flat on its face or been (worse yet) dull. Instead, DeCandido gives us a good story with some compelling characters. I will admit I didn’t love this one as much as many of the Trek reading community have (I swear they’re picking out china patterns with the book as we speak), but it was a good story and well told. It was a nice change of pace in the Trek fiction and it’s not a novel that I’d mind a sequel to, provided that DeCandido gets to write it and can find enough compelling material for another year (I think he can). Just like Peter David, DeCandido is finding segments of the Trek universe that we can’t or don’t see shown on the small screen and expanding on them in new, compelling ways. And for that alone, I will encourage him to keep writing these novels and keeping the bar high for all of Trek fiction.