Rating: 
Summary: Is this the 24th century?
Review: After reading this book, I honestly wonder if these are 24th century characters. I'll give you a few examples of the characters: (Spoiler warning)
-The captain is a divorcee who lost the child custody battle. She drinks too much and has severe problems in delegating responsibility to junior officers, probably due to unresolved grief over the death of her former XO and lover.
-The science officer has been horrifically scarred by a shuttle accident and also bear significant emotional scars, yet is made acting XO of the ship.
-The current XO has a shady background, which he covered up to enter Starfleet. In this story, Starfleet Intelligence and criminal organisations use his background as leverage against the man. Is this the sort of man who should be on the Federation flagship?
-The captain's son has a suicidal friend.
-The book also goes into the horrible details of the illicit drug trade at the fringes of the Federation. I thought that those things didn't happen in the Federation.
-The characters frequently lie to each other, and also frequently use coarse language.
The above points sum up my problems with this story. I found it to be laboured, disjointed and drawn out. The characters didn't resemble 24th, or even 23rd century character that we saw in the TV series.
I understand the principles of dramatic writing, and, for the purposes of creating drama, characters must fail, but what Bick has done here is too much.
On the plus side, the book was well written in a technical sense. The Starfleet details were spot on, and the scientific details were particularly good. Blick's treatment of the protostar formations showed that she obviously has a deep understanding of stellar physics.
Also, with regards to the characters, the one character that I did like was the psychiatrist, Dr Tyvan. I found Bick's treatment of him to be excellent, essentially he was a different take on the Deanna Troi character (who I also liked).
But overall, I found this book to be mediorce, and unreflective of 24th century values and qualities. Ilsa Bick certainly deserves more outings in the Trek universe, but I hope that next time she write a novel, the characters are a little closer to those on the TV series.
I only recommend you buy this book if you wish to complete the Lost Era series, otherwise look for something else to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Patience, folks...worth taking the time
Review: As has been mentioned before, the last third of this book is great. However, I would go further and say that it as exciting as anything ever presented in Star Trek lore-- print OR screen. The threads of the story come together nicely and provide a most satisfying payoff.But I feel that some of the other reviews here are giving the rest of the book short shrift. Halak's story is a mystery hidden in an enigma, and I followed it raptly through ALL its twists and turns. Likewise, the Garrett/Ven, Bat-Levi, Ven, and Jase/Pahl plots-- these are flawed, full-bodied characters that enable us to care ABOUT them as well as what HAPPENS to them. Even though there is an abundance of plot here (especially the Halak/Batra/Orion/Qatala/SI etc.etc. angle), this is a character-driven story, and as such is not compelled to offer up as much action as we may be accustomed to with Star Trek. This is not a bad thing! One of the great thing about the Star Trek books (besides the fact that they can present visuals [aliens,worlds]that would be hard to portray on film) is that they can take more time with the story and character development. So as long as you're not looking for an out-and-out actioner, Well of Souls is "well" worth a read.
Rating: 
Summary: Psycho-Babble as a Techno-Babble Substitute
Review: Boring and banal, the characters in this book are some of the most introspective, self-centered Star Trek characters ever. Garrett is so annoying and immature that she ALMOST makes Archer look good. Like Archer, and unlike most Star Trek captains, I would not have followed Garrett through a revolving door. Too long, too convoluted, and even at nearly 500 pages, attempted to do too much in too little space. Reading this novel was WORK until the last 100 pages or so. Where I typically have spent 2-3 days reading each of the Lost Era novels to date, I spent well over two weeks on this one. (I even preferred household chores to reading it.) Had I not been flying a great deal, I probably would still be reading it. Read it only if you feel compelled (as I did) to read the entire series.
Rating: 
Summary: Enterprise C's Captain Garrett finally gets her first novel
Review: Enterprise C finally gets a chance as full length novel! Captain Garrett and her crew are fighting the notorious Orion Syndicate. We get to learn more about the Captain and her crew. Making a single episode appearance in Next Generation's "Yesterday's Enterprise" Garrett left an indelible impression on many fans as a great leader in the tradition of Janeway and Kirk. This Lost Era novel should be the start of an Enterprise C series. I found Ilsa J. Bick's portrayal of the characters to be just as inspired as any of the other novels in the series.
Rating:
Summary: New Saga?
Review: Excellent first novel. Started a little slowly but, I was fully caught up by the middle of the book. The characters have been developed so well, there really could be a future for them. I'm looking foward to more from Ms. Bick.
Rating:
Summary: FINALLY! WAY TO GO, BICK!
Review: Finally, someone gives us Trek characters with real problems, real emotions, and real foibles. I loved this book, not just because I love Trek but because Bick's written some terrific short fiction including "A Ribbon for Rosie" (a prize-winner which always makes me cry), "Shadows, in the Dark" (another prize-winner that thought of putting Seven of Nine together with Chakotay before they became an "item"). She just did a great story in NO LIMITS, a New Frontier anthology, and she's got stories on SCIFICTION. Bick really knows how to put dialogue in the mouths of her characters so they sound like real people. I don't think I've ever read a Trek book where people were in real anguish and didn't always make the right choices, or like the ones they made. I loved that Bick was brave enough to make Garrett less than perfect, and have her know it, too. Yet Garrett was a hero, too. All Bick's characters were terrific, and it's hard to pick my favorite because I wanted to see more of just about all of them. In particular, I wanted to see what happened to Kodell and Bat-Levy. The way Bick handled their love affair was terrific and had me in tears. And, wow, the way she showed the psychiatrist character was super. Usually, counselors sound too canned, or silly, and personally I hated Deanna Troi because she always said things that were so obvious. But Tyvan was right on. He made mistakes, too, and in a way that made him human and not just a talking head.
I've loved all the Lost Era books. But I hope this is the beginning of a series of Enterprise C books, with Bick at the helm. She's a great writer.
Rating:
Summary: A good start
Review: For a first novel, this was a good story and a great start to a blooming career. Unfortunately, I fought my way through the book often finding other things to do rather the read. I truly enjoyed the creative use of internal dialog of the point of view character. Seeing these similar discussions that I often have with myself, immediately brought me into the characters. I was distracted since each character was written in a different style. The story felt labored. The prologue was not tied to until very late, and every sub-plot came together perfectly, almost too perfectly. It would have been better to see some be resolved at different times rather then all at once. I loved the story and the idea. I have to recommend the book. It was good, but not perfect. I am looking forward to other novels by Ilsa Bick.
Rating:
Summary: And here is yet another great "Star Trek" book!
Review: God how I love "Star Trek" in all it's incarnations! Even though I grew up with the Original Series Star Trek, I also came to love TNG as well and, later, VOYAGER and ENTERPRISE. Being an avid fan of sci-fi in general, however, it would be an injustice on my part not to mention the many other old and new sci-fi works that both led me to Star Trek and which have forever forged my love for all sci-fi works: "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Puppet Masters", "Foundation", "2001", "2010", "Rendezvous with Rama", "Ringworld", all the "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" books, as well as books as new to the genre as "Advent of the Corps" and others.
Rating:
Summary: And here is yet another great "Star Trek" book!
Review: God how I love "Star Trek" in all it's incarnations! Even though I grew up with the Original Series Star Trek, I also came to love TNG as well and, later, VOYAGER and ENTERPRISE. Being an avid fan of sci-fi in general, however, it would be an injustice on my part not to mention the many other old and new sci-fi works that both led me to Star Trek and which have forever forged my love for all sci-fi works: "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Puppet Masters", "Foundation", "2001", "2010", "Rendezvous with Rama", "Ringworld", all the "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" books, as well as books as new to the genre as "Advent of the Corps" and others.
Rating:
Summary: As bad as an episode of Voyager
Review: I found this book extremely difficult to get through and very much a disappointment following my delight at the first two books in this series. It drags on and in my opinion works too hard to put people where the need to be for the ending. Garrett was nothing like the character seen in Yesterday's Enterprise. Instead, she was more like Janeway. I was hoping for a stronger character like Kira (DS9).
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