Probe by Margaret Wander Bonanno

Probe by Margaret Wander Bonanno
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Probe has an interesting history, while Margaret is credited as the writer she didn't infact write the published novel. Seems to be Romulan level machinations going on with the publisher but for now I can only review this novel I read.
Probe is of course a story dealing with the machine/entity which visited the Earth in ST:IV in search of intelligent marine life, this novel gives us a huge amount of backstory to this enigmatic creation in terms of its genesis, it's mission and interactions with aliens both known and unknown. We also get a very compelling plot line which deals with the Romulans holding out a potential hand of friendship (after the death of the Praetor) but of course nothing is what it seems.
I came away from this novel totally happy with the Probe storyline, in seems to fit with what little we were offered from the movie and of course does clearly indicate that the Federation and Empires are very very small and almost insignificant when viewed in terms of a million plus years of galaxy wide civilisations birth and deaths. The Romulan subplot has plenty of depth and complexity to the point where it could have been a standalone story by itself but the merging of two of the aspects through music was most satisfying in terms of scifi storytelling.
A highly recommended read for those looking for more on the Probe or just a fan of the devious Romulan Empire but with enough heart to avoid some of the cliches.

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