Rating: 
Summary: The Best Star Trek Novel I've Ever Read
Review: I haven't read as many Star Trek novels as many Trek fans probably have, but of the ones I have read, "I, Q" is easily the best, the first trek novel to fully equal the very best installments of any of the television series or the best movies. Though I'd read good Treks before, to be honest before reading this I was almost tempted to give up on the novels as a whole, with some of the recent ones I'd read having been major disappointments. There have been some very good ones over the years, but there have also been those that introduce tremendous concepts and then steadily peter out over the course of ensuing chapters, or books that read like very promising first drafts but appear to have been published prematurely, without the extra reworkings required to make them truly well-realized stories. That's just my personal opinion; I know there are readers who devour trek novel after trek novel voraciously and are very pleased with all of them, but a number of them just haven't done much for me. Just personal preferences, I guess. Besides, with literally hundreds of Star Treks published, it would be unrealistic to expect every single one of them to be a gem.
"I, Q" is a gem though. It's narrated first person by Q, which is a risky venture. Done poorly, this could have been a blight on one of Star Trek's greatest characters. And how could it really be done well? Onscreen appearances are one thing, but how can a novel get inside the head of a pretty-much-omniscient character in first person format and hope to do justice to their inner workings? A built-in safety device is present with Q - he's an embellisher and an exaggerater (or a liar to call a spade a spade, albeit a charismatic and entertaining one), he simplifies certain things for the sake of readers whose minds he feels don't approach his own (throughout the narrative he speaks to the reader directly and manages to toss out insults and be hilarious at the same time) and he, by his own admission, makes certain changes for dramatic effect. Thus, anything he says that doesn't strike the individual reader as faithful to established Trek tendencies can be easily written off as the entertaining ramblings (or boastings) of one of the universe's ultimate showmen.
Personally, I think everything fits in perfectly. This is the story of the dawn of an ultimate universal catacyslm, one even the Q-Continuim seems powerless to intervene against; disaster on an epic scale - imagine the Next Generation 2-parter "All Good Things Must Come To An End" taken to the Nth level for an idea of the magnitude. Starting off light and witty, giving Q a chance to offer his perspective on everything from the nature of the universe to the human condition to the individual characters who populate the Star Trek universe - witness his introduction to the reader of Picard (this isn't giving anything away, it happens on page 14) - 'he is a middle-aged, bald, oddly accented man who oversees activities aboard the Starship Enterprise. The Enterprise is a vessel belonging to an organization called Starfleet, and the Enterprise is the flagship of the fleet, which makes it the most advanced ant on the anthill.' Hardly a typical introduction to Picard and Enterprise, but perfectly fitting coming from Q, and like the rest of the narration so easy to hear in Q's own voice. We also witness a friendly debate between Picard and Data on the pros and cons of a goldfish's limited memory capacity, which presents a very surprising and thought-provoking way of pondering such matters, the kind of non-nihilistic philosophising one often finds in the best Treks and seems to go right over the heads of all the critics who dismiss the series as pap.
Once the initial wit and boat-top verbal meanderings are over though, the cataclysm hits with startling tension, and the metaphysical adventure begins. Q's acidy but humourous commentary continues, but it's now altered. Much of the time, it's not what he says but what he doesn't say that is most intruiging, and at other points we find Q asserting certain points (like the fact that since he's omnipotent, he has nothing to fear) and certain things that he believes and doesn't believe, that it becomes very telling how he repeats these things more and more as the situation becomes more dire; initially it seems that he's trying to make sure that the reader is certain of his (Q's) convictions, but it later seems more likely that he's trying to convince himself. Although this is a "Next Generation" novel, characters from elsewhere in the Trek universe make welcome appearances. Also, the tale sums up the relationships between Q and Picardn (less antagonistic than one might think), Q and Data, and Picard and Data, better than anything I've encountered. Q's surprisingly insightful take on the Picard/Data relationship in particular is compulsory reading for Trek fans, and Picard himself might be highly surprised were he privy to Q's take on the dynamics between he and Data.
Star Trek has been called by some mindless entertainment. I'll agree that it's highly entertaining, but mindless? (Sidestepping the question that never seems to occur to professional critics that doesn't one Need a mind to be entertained by anything in the first place?) This novel of epic metaphysical imagination rips the mindless arguement to shreds. (Doubters should also view, to name two, the Next Generation episode "The Survivors" and the Deep Space Nine episode "Marritza") Trek's had a few rough patches lately, but reading this book a few months ago and the unexpected dramatic improvement of "Enterprise" (after a number of bumps it's suddenly consistently hitting Season One levels of quality again) has got me all fired up about the Trek mythos again. "I, Q" is pure gold.
Rating: 
Summary: Ha, Ha.
Review: Verry funny, and a good storyline as well. See a "human" side to Q, and great tangents as we would expect.
Rating:
Summary: STNG - I, Q - Simply genius!
Review: As we learned in Peter David's first Q novel, STNG #18, "Q-In-Law" and his later and even more brilliant hardback, "Q-Squared," he knows Q and he writes Q with nothing but perfection. With I, Q, Peter David raises that level of perfection to a new height as this narrative story, written almost entirely from Q's perspective is nothing short of brilliant, witty and extraordinarily intriguing. Of course, this novel is made even better by the fact that Q himself, John De Lancie co-wrote this masterpiece. While some may have found the style in which this novel was written somewhat distracting, I found it to be "dead on" with the character of Q and his personality.The premise: We begin this story with a character that by all appearances seems to be superior to Q and the Q-Continuum. In this beautifully well written beginning, we learn that this "supreme" being has decided that the multiverse is no longer of any value and that it should literally be run down the drain. Just as this process begins, this "supreme" being discovers a bottle with a narrative in it, written by you know who. This is where the story gets extremely interesting as Q takes us through his narrative as he takes Captain Picard, Data and us, the readers, through multiple planes of existence, on a search to find his wife and son. While the story advances along, he also regales us with tales from his past that at times are utterly intriguing, humorous and a bit telling of his character. In no uncertain terms, I, Q is a purely brilliant story as Peter David takes us through Q's trials and tribulations along the way to finding his wife and son while the multiverse is crumbling around him. While there are many absolutely great Star Trek authors, Peter David work stands above the rest, as does I, Q. I highly recommend this Star Trek novel to any all fans of Star Trek, whether you're a die hard fan or a casual fan that has only seen one or two episodes with Q, you will thoroughly enjoy this outstanding Q novel. I would also recommend the audio book or CD, as it makes for a wonderful way to pass three hours on the highway, made even better by the fact that this story is read by Q himself, John De Lancie. {ssintrepid}
Rating: 
Summary: Call me Ishmael, well on second thought...
Review: Q is a great Star Trek character that Jon De Lanice plays brilliantly. The fact that he co-wrote a book is a real treat.
These types of books are best if you don't take them too seriously and just enjoy the ride. Q's anecdotes and asides were more entertaining than the story being told which at times seemed like an attempt to pack as much action as possible onto every page. Often times it felt like television channlels flipping too rapidly. However the humorous tone of the book makes it worthy of a rather enjoyable if thoughtless afternoon. Picard and Data seem to be thrown into the action for no reason but I guess they had to be there since it's a Next Generation book and all. Picard isn't very noble in this book functioning mainly to yell at Q. He sounds like a bitter old man. Ah well. Other than that I think people will enjoy it if they like the Q character and aren't expecting Moby Dick.
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