Skeleton in the Closet by Kevin J. Anderson

 

Skeleton in the Closet: A Dragon Business Adventure by Kevin J. Anderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The trial and tribulations of a former Knight and his band of friends who in these hard times live off their reputation of Dragon killers (mostly thanks to well paid Minstrels) and now "con" the well to do with daring deeds to rid their kingdoms and domains of various monsters and other undesirables. After a successful con involving killing a giant water monster the band decide to expand their business and con a King out of a small fortune by creating and selling him an art masterpiece. Alas despite the con initially going well when the Kings rich friends come to the epic unveiling of his latest acquisition the intrusion of an evil Magician and an Orc army kinda spoils the mood. So it is left up to the team to be themselves and save the King and his subjects from being entrees and main courses let along desert for the invaders.
Skeleton in the Closet was a recent Kickstarter project from Kevin and I was happy to back the novel being a long term fan of his writing. While I lean towards his scifi this fantasy based comedic story was a lot of fun with a colourful cast of characters and situations with a narrative that was fast paced and never boring, give it a go.

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Uhura's Song by Janet Kagan

 

Uhura's Song by Janet Kagan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A plague is running rampant through the felinoid population of Eeiauo and the Federation has sent the Enterprise to aid in treatment and research along with Dr Evan Wilson to handle shipboard duties while McCoy goes planet side. The virus then jumps species and a galactic pandemic is underway but maybe there is hope as Uhura knows some old songs of the Eeiauoan people one of which tells of a disease very much like the "long death" but the final verses are missing. When the song is investigated the Eeiauo doctor rejects the notion that they hold the key to the cure and when evidence points to Eeiauo not being the homeworld of this species the same doctor loses his temper and then collapses. Uhura and Spock through the songs locate a general region of space when the homeworld could be and the Enterprise is sent to find the cure and all prime directives are rescinded.
The story really begins as the landing party make contact with the natives of a world they come to know as Sivao and try to find the cure for a disease but they are considered children in this culture and some things are not told to children.
Uhura's Song is easily one of my favourite Star Trek novels, while Uhura takes center stage as the driving character of the story the majority of the crew get decent coverage and story development. Chekov is well served as well and the inclusion of Dr Evan Wilson as a catalyst is inspired both within the crew of the Enterprise and the people of the camp they find themselves in. The Sivao natives are also well developed and offer plenty of range in character traits/types which allow for full development and thus a satisfying pay off.
Highly recommended for any fan of the original series.

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Aftershock by Joshua Dalzelle

 

Aftershock by Joshua Dalzelle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Team Obsidian return and are tasked with uncovering the specifics behind the trafficking of aliens and a significant amount of humans from worlds across our part of the galaxy. Information provided by Omega Force as well as various government and underworld contacts led them towards a high level well organised operation under the auspices of the Cridal Cooperative. Investigating a private human owned mining facility in a far off solar system Obsidian find all the workers missing as well as two bodies, this leads to the team chasing down threads and fully understanding that with the fall of the Confed the galaxy is going to get more dangerous as the rule of law and the enforcement of treaties wanes.
Aftershock picked up the plot threads from previous novels in the series and from recent Omega Force novels and we are thrown into a cat and mouse chase with known and unknown entities from Earth and beyond. We follow the team as once again they throw themselves into a very entertaining adventure with mystery and action requiring some resourceful solutions all against the big picture that has been evolving from when we were first introduced to this "universe" by Joshua. A top notch addition to the Terran Scout Fleet series which does stand alone from the Omega Force novels but both series certainly benefit from each other. Highly recommend military scifi.

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The Final Reflection by John M. Ford

 

The Final Reflection by John M. Ford
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Returning once again to a favoured TOS paperback from way back in the day when things like continuity and canon were secondary to telling a good tale.

The Final Reflection for the most part takes place before the original series at the time of the first diplomatic exchange with the Klingons and the Federations first Babel conference. It pretty much deals with events from the Klingon point of view and the main character we follow from a boy to a starship commander is Vreen aka Kreen. In the time of Kirk the final reflection refers to a book recently published which is reported by Starfleet and vested interests to be inaccurate and features information declassified and from unconfirmed sources many of whom have passed away.
I'm not sure how much of the plot I can go into without ruining the story even though canon wise it's very wide of the mark but I have to admit I do like this interpretation of the early Klingon / Federation interaction and the fact that as with the best of Trek the "enemies" of the UFP are very much cut from the same cloth. There are no real manic/sociopathic bad guys in this story, there are only those who see events a little differently and are in their own story doing what is necessary and that works so well for this novel.
You will forget you are following a Klingons story and become invested in his failures and successors of Kreen and the people that orbit him but as with Kirk after he reads the book you have to wonder just how much of the "official" history is accurate, after all no one better than Kirk knows how one person can change the course of a civilsation.

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