Rating:  Summary: Note-Perfect Pulp for new Star Trek crew Review: If you like Star Trek, and you like Peter David, you can't go wrong with the first four books of "The New Frontier", his introduction to Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and the rest of the crew of the Excalibur. I was hooked on David's writing through his classic "Grey Hulk" series of Marvel Comics. I find his prose and wit stands out from the crowd (though they did bring in some good writers for the original Trek book series). These first books in the ongoing "New Frontier" series are classically organized, developing the characters in their individual threads and then bringing them together on the Excalibur for a unifying adventure in their new territory. There's very nice balance between characters and a breezy pace. The Star Trek comics, er books, have a little more leeway with asides that you don't get in the TV shows or movies. With Peter David writing, the often serious tone is punctuated with comic relief. The time and place is set around the time of the Next Generation, with Jean-Luc Picard and even Spock putting in an appearance. Just to be clear -- these books read like comic books, or like a Star Trek episode. It's pure pulp, but pulp of the highest order. One word of warning: these "books" are barely novella length; it takes about an hour to read each, and that's if you read the funny parts twice. All in all, just as Star Trek should be.
Rating:  Summary: A Great Book Review: It's a brilliant books filled with new and REALISTIC characters! Though there are too many words that I don't know what it mean. I had to keep a dictionary with me! Otherwise, it's great!
Rating:  Summary: Interesting Characters, But Overall a Disappointment Review: May the Great Bird of the Galaxy poop on the heads of John J. Ordover and Peter David! Although this book introduces some interesting and entertaining new characters (e.g., MacKenzie Calhoun and Zak Kebron), the book is marred by typos and careless errors of grammar, style, usage, and an ending that's just absolutely ridiculous--farce, really. My copy even has cheap paper and smeared ink! The whole thing smacks of something hastily slapped together to make a quick buck off the Star Trek concept.
Rating:  Summary: New Frontier breathes new life into the Star Trek franchise. Review: New Frontier has the most dynamic (not to mention diverse) cast of characters I've ever seen in Star Trek. Captain Calhoun makes Captain Kirk look like a pacifist in comparison. Calhoun is by far the most developed of all the characters in these books, which is a good thing. Calhoun is the no-nonsense, can't-be-intimidated, more-action-and-fewer-words captain that I've been wanting to see in Star Trek for a long time. These books offered few disappointments, and kept me reading well into the night. It's good to see some new alien races introduced into the Star Trek universe. Having the captain as a Xenexian instead of a human was definitely a good move. I like a book that can make me laugh, and these books made me laugh. I only have two gripes with these books. (1) It seemed like the character of Lieutenant Lefler was never even touched upon (character building-wise), although that may change in books five and six. (2) The ending of the fourth book left quite a bit to be desired, as well as leaving a few loose ends just hanging there, but as this a continuing series of books, I can ignore that. Niether of these gripes were enough to make me rate these books lower than five stars though. Overall, these books are a refreshing new take on Star Trek. I enjoyed reading them.
Rating:  Summary: To great for words... Review: New Frontier is brilliant, Calhoun is wonderful and the entire crew is delighting... I read a very bad reveiw of this book series on here and was horrified... Don't believe a bad word that you hear... Calhuon is great, perhaps my favorit Captain. Peter David i brilliant... Read New Frontier and see for your self....
Rating:  Summary: One of the best Trek books that I have ever read! Review: New Frontier was cool. The way Mr. David combined characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation (Dr. Selar, Robin Lefler, Commander Shelby and Admiral Jellico), characters from the young adult Star Trek books that he wrote (Soleta, McHenry and Zak Kebron) and all new characters (Captain Calhoun, Burgoyne and Si Cwan) was brilliant. I was also relieved that he was creative enough to think-up his own new races (Brikar, Xenexian, Thalonian, Danteri and Hermat) and do something with those extra "minors" from the Next Generation that didn't quite make it to the movies. All in all, I love these books and I hope they become the next TV series.
Rating:  Summary: New Frontier ruined by crossover to caassette Review: Oh, my GOD! This audio version of the popular New Frontier introduction story absolutely destroys everything the books fought so hard to achieve. To totally create a brand new series for the most popular science fiction universe ever, is no easy task, but talented author Peter David did it, and did it SO well, he made it look easy. But unfortunatly, thanks to the ever growing cash-in on the Star Trek universe, that will ultimately prove to be it's demise, (mark my words), an audio version had to be made of Davids novels. And if you appriciated the books in any way at all, then avoid this cassette version like the plague. It's THAT bad! Let me ask you a question. Who would you get to read the novel? Patrick Stewart? John DeLancie? even Peter David himself? Someone who at least has SOME familiarity with the Star Trek universe, whose interpretation of the novel might be HALF accurate. But no. Who do they hire for the job? Only MILES DYSON from TERMINATOR 2! YEAH! Think he overacts in that film? HA! You ain't seen nothing yet! JOE MORTON (his real name) destroys Peter Davids creation, even faster than David made it legendary. His interpretation of the main characters is SO FAR off the mark it becomes painfall to listen ver, very fast. And his portrayal of Calhoun? Oh dear. Unless YOU picture Calhoun as...someone...who...talks...with...a...pause...inbetween...each...and...every...word, and who sounds like a complete wimp, then you will grow to hate Joe Morton very, very quick. Want some first hand evidence of how bad he is? Well you know Admiral Neychev from TNG and DS9, the older woman who didn't exactly get on with Picard? Well for some reason, she is now Russian! Si Cwan sounds japanese, Mchenry sounds like he's on dope, Jelico sounds like he's chewing on tobacco, while Burgoyne 172 sounds like he's (sorry, s/he's) having an orgasm with every noun pronounced! Over played much! Oh yeah! The only half accurate character portrayal is Kebron, but this is with alot of voice manipulation in the sound suite, and even this drones on after a while. This audio cassette version is bad! All it represents one actor's, one BAD actor's interetation of a story he doesn't even know, let alone appriciate. Or for that matter even respect. And do you really want someone like that telling YOU how this story should be realized? I don't. And i wish i hadn't bought the damn thing. Be wise, don't let curiosity ruin this for you. save your money, and also your vision of the New Frontier franchise.
Rating:  Summary: Have to read! Review: Peter David did an great job writing this book. This book is highly recommended. After reading it I went back out and bought #5 & #6 for now. I'm not a big reader when it comes to books. So it might take me a while to read a book. I read this one in 3 days. Just couldn't put it down. Captain Calhoun is one of the great Captain's in star Fleet. Read it you will love it.
Rating:  Summary: This series does its part to fill the void left by ST:TNG Review: Peter David has done a wonderful job of creating a new crew in an already well defined universe. The characters are well developed and the story line is progresses smoothly. The crew of the Excalibur is not as polished as the crews of the Enterprise, a detail that goes a long way to help the story out. It also helps that by the end of book 4 you are really rooting for these underdogs. I also enjoyed getting all four books in one edition. To me that helped keep the flow of the storyline going. I can't wait to read volumes 5&6!
Rating:  Summary: A Great and Original Addition to the Star Trek Universe Review: Peter David is perhaps the best writer of Star Trek fiction out there -- he has written many of absolute favorite Star Trek novels, Imzadi among them. In creating the New Frontier series, David breathes new life into a stale series that has been tied to the vision of Gene Roddenberry or the producers of the television shows. Not the case here. David mixes old and new characters to create an exciting story that is both original and true to Gene Roddenberry's vision. Among the new characters introduced Captain Calhoun is probably the best captain to sit a starship since Captain Kirk. He has many of Kirk's qualities, but also the leadership skills of Picard and Sisko. Peter David surrounds Calhoun with some old ST:TNG characters and new faces like Bourgoyne-172, a Hermat (hermaphrodite). Burgoyne-172 is the kind of charactes the TV producers would have been too scared to tackle. Overall, this book is a great new addition to the Star Trek universe.
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