Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining - But Essentially A Filler
Review: This story, the second of the "Mirror Universe Trilogy", continues right where "Spectre" (the first book in the series) left off. The story takes place in 2374 initially and then jumps forward about eight months later into 2375, placing it at least after the events of the movie "Star Trek: Insurrection".
Here we have Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Picard (and his crew), and the "Mirror Universe" counterparts setting off to save the day. And this highlights some of my issues with this book: there are a lot of characters and a lot going on. You have secretive Starfleet organizations in this universe and two fighting factions in the "Mirror Universe" plus various members of both the Original Series and the Next Generation showing up (not to mention a few Deep Space Nine and Voyager personnel) and I just get this feeling of not really caring about the plot, per se - just letting the story carry me forward.
And that brings up another point for me which is that a lot is happening here from a human angle. Dealing with counterparts from another universe; the possible death of loved ones; the loss of limbs and abilities; the chain of command and when it should and should not be followed; different command styles for different time periods; being out of place in a new time period; bitter regret at apparent betrayal after services rendered in the line of duty. All these things are alluded to, in passing, but none are really explored. They are subsumed under the general plot. Whole areas where human angst would come into play are usually glossed over in a page or even just a paragraph. I know that in-depth exploration of these issues is not the point of the story: but then the brief focusing on each of them is, to me, more distracting than engaging.
"Spectre", in my opinion, was saved from avoiding many of these same kinds of issues by the pace of the action *and* by the continuity of the action. To be sure the same sense of pace is in "Dark Victory" and that pace is just as fast in some ways, but, for me, not as continuous. Too much of the action struck me as episodic to the point of being a bit too fragmented. Certain events just seemed to happen without a lot of context behind them, the idea being just to keep the pace going. Characters would just turn up or say things or know things and, again, sometimes a context seemed to be lacking. What saved the book for me is that it is the second of a series. So if you are reading it you are (presumably) already curious about how the story continues and thus a little more forgiving than you might be with a stand-alone story. Overall, "Dark Victory" was a moderately interesting story for me in the Star Trek mythos but I really only found myself plodding through it to make sure I would have a context for the third in the series ("Preserver"). I would prefer a story that is not trying so hard to interweave so much Star Trek history and instead explores the characters in a given setting that allows us to come to understand them and their motivations better.
I gave this three stars because it kept me reading - but only by rote. It was not a boring read by any means but a lot of characterization was subsumed under the plot as the mysteries and secrets kept piling on leading to the inevitable cliff-hanger that would take us to the final book of the series.
Rating: 
Summary: If I know my Spocks...
Review: Arguably the best of the 6 ST books. Taken from the original Star trek TV series episode MIRROR MIRROR, Kirk's double - twin has not been defeated by spock as we hoped. "Spock is logical and the mirror universe is illogical. If I know my Spocks, he'll..." well he didn't. The Kirk Twin is now Emperor Tiberius (ET) and he has enslaved humans and Vulcan alike. ET has left home and found a way to our universe and has bad things planned for the federation. Only kirk can stop him. But kirk has a lot of friends to help. Shatner has two Spocks, McCoy and Scotty, and Picard & crew to help. But how do we know which Picard is a mirror or not? This is the second book of the second trilogy (5th of the double trilogy) written by Shatner and friends for the star trek galaxy. I had long been disappointed in ST books, because they often read as if throw together. Shatner's ST is clearly the best that ST has to offer. If started with ASHES OF EDEN which turned into a trilogy, with the second book being THE RETURN. So, you want to kill off James T. Kirk huh? If you haven't read at least SPECTRE, you will want to because it starts this story arch. The story doesn't end with this book, and continues with PRESERVER. This is great sci-fi and great ST stuff.
Some have called DV the weakest of the trilogy which can happen to the middle book for a series, because things end "up in the air". But for shear entertainment this was a lot of fun to read. You have to read PRESERVER for the ending. Do it. Shatner is a great story teller. Since I am now boycotting Star Wars NJO with the killing of Anakin, I truly hope that the Star Trek people will do a better job giving us more high quality books that are fun to read. Shatner is great. But I recently read the Dominion War 4 book set and was disappointed. I read these for the familiar characters and especially like what Shatner has done, reviving kirk and putting him with TNG characters.
Rating:
Summary: *Picard Should Have Edited This One*
Review: "Dark Victory" is the second, but weakest novel in William Shatner's Mirror Universe trilogy. Solid enough for true believers, the book lacks the punch shown in the first and third volumes. It makes good airport reading material, but you probably won't lose sleep staying up late because you can't put it down, unlike the other two novels in the series which are riveting works. Basically, the reader follows James T. Kirk through the recovery of his injuries from book one, "Spectre", which was an excellent book. The other main theme is the wedding of Kirk and his beloved Teilani. Frankly, Shatner may have wanted to pay tribute to love and humanize Kirk, but it just doesn't work. The bigger than life Federation hero doesn't play so well with such a weakness in his middle-to-old ages. Don't kid us, Kirk is a ladies man, period. In this aspect, Kirk's Mirror Universe counterpart Tiberius plays better than the original protagonist. There are key characters and underlying foreshadowing that lend importance to the trilogy as a whole, and the writing partners put words on paper rather nicely. These elements make the book worth the effort, but it is honestly not their best work. As so often happens, writers planning out trilogies just don't have enough juice to make it last three full books. In this case, it is "Dark Victory" that suffers as opposed to the excellent bookends that surround it in the series. I rate this work at a moderate 3.00 out of 5.00 stars, for good style and a great job with ongoing continuity. You have to read "Dark Victory" to bridge "Spectre" to "Preserver" (book three), both of which are terrific pieces of Star Trek fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth your time
Review: Although I'm unsure how much of any of these novels Shatner did, but that doesn't take away from the fact that all 3 books in this trilogy (Spectre and Preserver being the other 2) are great reads. The books are great with staying with the science and story of Star Trek. The books are follow ups on the original series episode "Mirror, Mirror", and Deep Space 9 episodes "Through the Looking Glass" and "Shattered Mirror." More great character development between the Kirk and his evil mirror universe counterpart known as Tiberius. Kirk is forced into an unthinkable position and it leads you right into Preserver.
Rating:
Summary: Wake me when it's over
Review: How do you take a long story and turn it into a trilogy? You write a book of filler! Tiberius, who makes a surprise appearance at the end of Spectre, puts in a wonderful cameo here at the beginning and end of the book. In the middle, we are left with Kirk's life, and a hint of something strange happening on Deep Space 9 with Dr. M'Benga. In all honesty, there's really nothing in this book that demands an entire volume. Yes, Kirk's wedding is in here (who would have thought THAT could happen?), but it just sort of gets fuzzy from there. The mirror Picard and NextGen crew put in a brief appearance at the beginning, and then they are gone too. It's like the whole concept of the mirror universe loses it's appeal after the first book, and they decide to try something different. Janeway, who played such a big part of the first book, is quickly used here and then doesn't even show up in "Preserver". All in all, not a big winner, in my opinion.
|
