Rating: 
Summary: A Pleasant Surprise
Review: Normally I try to avoid multi-authored series of Science Fiction. Having read dozens of cheap stories in the Star Trek universe growing up,I came to realize that they are more about quantity than quality, and I had become disenchanted with mass-produced fiction before I graduated high-school. My experiences with Star Wars mass fiction were not much better. However, I had the oppotunity to acquire the hardcover edition of this book for a pittance, so I relented of my disdain and bought this book.
What I found was a very good piece. This book bridges the gap between the original StarTrek, and the second series. It is set early in the career of Picard, before he went bald, and is in fact before he was a Captain. (The cover shows him with a full head of hair; it makes Patrick Stewart look like Scott Bakula.)
There are also flashbacks to the Valiant, a ship lost through the barrier at the edge of the galaxy before the original Starship(original FEDERATION starship) Enterprise series. That series in fact covered it in the early episodes,where the transition through the barrier caused one of Kirk's friends to become a sociopathic madman with mind powers. The episode refered to the Valiant, which had been destroyed about eighty years before or so due to a similar empowering/loss of sanity of one of its crew. They presumed the Valiant had been lost with all hands. This book is based on the idea that only a handful of the crew actually died, and that the rest managed to find an M-class planet, and that they had developed mental abilities similar to those who went mad, though not to the same degree and without the insanity that plagued Kirk's friend. These survivors had descendants, and now these descendants have come back, warning of a threat to the Federation. The Stargazer is sent to investigate and Picard has to take command.....
The arrangement of the story, plus the reluctance of the crew to trust Picard all added to the stories merit, along with the accurate references to two episodes in the original series, both of which I have seen several times. A mutiny was mentioned, which I thought was a little over the top, but it was still well written. The only other inconsistency I found was that the Valiant was supposedly lost in the year 2069, which was the year after the setting of the movie First Contact. Given the sheer number of writers invited to fill out Gene Roddenberry's universe, such inconsistencies are inevitable. It is a good read.
Rating: 
Summary: The Stargazer Saga Continues
Review: Started in ST:TNG Reunion and continued in The Valiant, Gauntlet, and Progenitor, this particular novel is incredible. It was superior to Gauntlet and about even with Reunion. I loved the Original Series elements and the flashback to the Valiant's last mission. I was slightly confused as to the effects of Greyhorse's syrum on the psychic humans, but all in all, this story is a must-read cover-to-cover.
Rating:
Summary: The Stargazer Saga Continues
Review: Started in ST:TNG Reunion and continued in The Valiant, Gauntlet, and Progenitor, this particular novel is incredible. It was superior to Gauntlet and about even with Reunion. I loved the Original Series elements and the flashback to the Valiant's last mission. I was slightly confused as to the effects of Greyhorse's syrum on the psychic humans, but all in all, this story is a must-read cover-to-cover.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: The Valiant tells the story of Picard taking command of the Stargazer. The story begins with the crew of the Valiant from the original series Star Trek episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and fills in information on what happened to that crew. Jump 300 years ahead to the Trek era just preceeding The Next Generation. Decendants of survivors of the Valiant appear to warn the Federation of a potential enemy on the other side of the galatic barrier. The Stargazer and crew are dispatched to see if the threat is real. The ship is attacked and the captain is killed and first officer incapacitated and Picard has to take over. Picard has to deal with a mutiny, a damaged ship, gain trust of the crew he now commands, deal with a Kelvin, and the new threat to the Federation. If you like space battles and action there is plenty in this book. We see characters that first appeared in Friedmans Star Trek book Reunion and their character development in this book helps explain their actions in the previous book. For fans of Star Trek this book is a must.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: The Valiant tells the story of Picard taking command of the Stargazer. The story begins with the crew of the Valiant from the original series Star Trek episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and fills in information on what happened to that crew. Jump 300 years ahead to the Trek era just preceeding The Next Generation. Decendants of survivors of the Valiant appear to warn the Federation of a potential enemy on the other side of the galatic barrier. The Stargazer and crew are dispatched to see if the threat is real. The ship is attacked and the captain is killed and first officer incapacitated and Picard has to take over. Picard has to deal with a mutiny, a damaged ship, gain trust of the crew he now commands, deal with a Kelvin, and the new threat to the Federation. If you like space battles and action there is plenty in this book. We see characters that first appeared in Friedmans Star Trek book Reunion and their character development in this book helps explain their actions in the previous book. For fans of Star Trek this book is a must.
Rating:
Summary: Picard's early adventures
Review: This latest book was one of the better Trek books to come out recently. It's one of my favorite types where it ties an episode from the original series into a Next Generation adventure without being a sequel. It's definitely a fans-only book though but non-Trekkers wouldn't buy it anyway. Another good job by Michael Jan Friedman!
Rating: 
Summary: It was good.
Review: This was a good but but I don't think it was the best. I found the Captain, or Picard to be too trusting even though he kept getting betrayed by the same poeple. I found that to be a bit too dramatic. Then, an alien tries to kill some of the crew and the next thing you know you got Picard allowing him access to phasers to defeat another threat. I don't get it. It was still good though but I think more time could have helped in developing it into a better story.
Rating:
Summary: Audio movie earns high praise!
Review: Valiant represents the new form of audio novel like Tom Clancey's SSN which takes the audio novel to a whole new level, it is an audio movie. Valiant an intriguing story which melds the original Star Trek with the Next Generation is a really fun interesting story! The sound technicians and sound effects people do an awesome job. On these merits alone I recommend the audio version. Fantastic work by everyone all around! I look forward to your next project.
Rating:
Summary: STNG - The Valiant
Review: What an interesting book. I truly enjoyed reading this one and let me tell you why.We start out reading as to what happened to the U.S.S.Valiant and her crew... of course we all know what hapened when Kirk and his crew found that bouy with the warning. Well this gets into more detail as to what happened and the crew's struggle to survive. Captain Carlos Tarasco's decision to destroy the Valiant. Now, some might say this is a little like the Gary Mitchell episode but we have the same author and he is giving us a little more background. Now that ends Book 1 and we now proceed to Book 2. Now, this is where the meat of the story is. We have a good look into the making of Jean-Luc Picard Number Two on the U.S.S. Stargazer. We have Starfleet sending the Stargazer to the galactic barrier to investigate a new threat to the Federation, aliens called the Nuyyad. Starfleet gets this information via a couple of descendants from the ill-fated Valiant crew. The Stargazer picks up one of the survivors at Starbase 209 and her name is Santana. Now comes the interesting play... can the crew trust this newly found person? Capt. Ruhalter puts Picard in the position to find out... much to the dismay of the XO Leach. We find the making of Picard's character here... the Capt. grooming a younger officer... and the insecurity of the junior officer in his convictions. But, alas, as the Stargazer passes through the barrier the Capt dies and the XO is in a deep coma. Now we see true character of Picard begin to blossom. Jean-Luc finds that he is the highest ranking officer after crossing the galactic barrier. The Stargazer picked up a Kelvan prior to crossing the barrier to help fight the newly found Nuyyad as they have had prior knowledge of the Nuyyad's ship design and fighting capabilities. We find out that the Magnians (Valiant descendants) distrust the Kelvans. Not only that but most of the Stargazer crew distrusts the Magnians. So Picard is now trying to get the crew behind him as well as he can... but we have saboteur aboard. So we have the rather unorthodox but clever Picard trying to hold all of this together. He tells Capt. Ruhalter that Santana can be trusted over the objection of the XO. Next Picard takes the Stargazer to the Magnians' homeworld instead of back through the barrier and home jeopardizing the crew and the ability to warn Starfleet. Knowing that a trap was set after getting to Magnia, Picard still trusted the Magnians and beamed aboard several more from the planet and gave them access to strategic systems and allowed their mental powers to be enhanced. Picard also removed the safeguards from the phaser technology... taking out a single enemy installation. All of this interplays with the making of the character of what we know to be Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Mutiny, sabotage, all around distrust and a common enemy dig deep into well of Jean-Luc Picard's character. A good fast read and background information. Read it and enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: STNG - The Valiant
Review: What an interesting book. I truly enjoyed reading this one and let me tell you why. We start out reading as to what happened to the U.S.S.Valiant and her crew... of course we all know what hapened when Kirk and his crew found that bouy with the warning. Well this gets into more detail as to what happened and the crew's struggle to survive. Captain Carlos Tarasco's decision to destroy the Valiant. Now, some might say this is a little like the Gary Mitchell episode but we have the same author and he is giving us a little more background. Now that ends Book 1 and we now proceed to Book 2. Now, this is where the meat of the story is. We have a good look into the making of Jean-Luc Picard Number Two on the U.S.S. Stargazer. We have Starfleet sending the Stargazer to the galactic barrier to investigate a new threat to the Federation, aliens called the Nuyyad. Starfleet gets this information via a couple of descendants from the ill-fated Valiant crew. The Stargazer picks up one of the survivors at Starbase 209 and her name is Santana. Now comes the interesting play... can the crew trust this newly found person? Capt. Ruhalter puts Picard in the position to find out... much to the dismay of the XO Leach. We find the making of Picard's character here... the Capt. grooming a younger officer... and the insecurity of the junior officer in his convictions. But, alas, as the Stargazer passes through the barrier the Capt dies and the XO is in a deep coma. Now we see true character of Picard begin to blossom. Jean-Luc finds that he is the highest ranking officer after crossing the galactic barrier. The Stargazer picked up a Kelvan prior to crossing the barrier to help fight the newly found Nuyyad as they have had prior knowledge of the Nuyyad's ship design and fighting capabilities. We find out that the Magnians (Valiant descendants) distrust the Kelvans. Not only that but most of the Stargazer crew distrusts the Magnians. So Picard is now trying to get the crew behind him as well as he can... but we have saboteur aboard. So we have the rather unorthodox but clever Picard trying to hold all of this together. He tells Capt. Ruhalter that Santana can be trusted over the objection of the XO. Next Picard takes the Stargazer to the Magnians' homeworld instead of back through the barrier and home jeopardizing the crew and the ability to warn Starfleet. Knowing that a trap was set after getting to Magnia, Picard still trusted the Magnians and beamed aboard several more from the planet and gave them access to strategic systems and allowed their mental powers to be enhanced. Picard also removed the safeguards from the phaser technology... taking out a single enemy installation. All of this interplays with the making of the character of what we know to be Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Mutiny, sabotage, all around distrust and a common enemy dig deep into well of Jean-Luc Picard's character. A good fast read and background information. Read it and enjoy.
| 
