Rating: 
Summary: As DS9 fan from childhood
Review: DS9 is the first series that I watched from the start after I became obsessed with star trek. I came into half way through NG and was excited at the prospect of a new series. Over the ensuing 7 years I wavered between it and Voyager but found in the end that I enjoyed DS9 more than anything else. The character that intrigues me the most was Dr. Bashir and his ongoing relationship with Jadzia. When finally in season 7 Bashir had a chance with Ezri I saw it as the beginning of a truely wonderful relationship, one we had all be waiting to happen for the doctor. This book explores the new developed realtionship between the good Doctor and Ezri in a way that no book or episode did. I truely loved this book and would read it a thousand times over. It has great character, a fast moving plot and the ever ominous Section 31 so what more could you ask for. I definately recommend this book to any star trek fan.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good for DS9; could've been better; ends too easily
Review: For the first few seasons on the show Dr. Julian Bashir chased around Jadzia Dax and Kira Nerys as a horn dog but then halfway through the series it was revealed that he was genetically enhanced as a child and had been dumbing himself down for others. One of the things that always impressed me about DS9 versus the other shows was it's organic ability to grow and shift, there were no guarantees that these people would be the same from one season to the next(can anyone out there explain to me why Voyager was trapped halfway across the galaxy? I mean, in the end, did it really matter/did anyone care or miss them?) On to the book, it picks up a few days after Avatar ends and Section 31 wants Julian to match enhanced skills against another enhanced man who is breeding rogue Jem'Hadar to launch a Khan-esque takeover of the universe. The set-up is good, the premise tight, the new characters blending well to the point of fitting in and being compelling and even Ezri Dax comes off---plucky with room for growth, for lack of a better word. The only problem with this novel is that it's about 100 pages too short. By the time the Away Team is really in the thick of it, up to their necks in personal and physical threats from this new Khan, it's quickly resolved and over. Ro Laren comes off nicely as does Taran'atar and Kira makes a nice commander of them all but it ends too quickly, too neatly. Section 31 wins because it's plotted this whole thing from the get go to merely get the Khan's research---a good twist but it happens so obviously that you can't help but feel bad for the new Khan---he had great villainous potential but lacked the elbow room to show off a little. In order for a villain to be good you have to get the feeling that yeah, s/he might win---like Seska or Kai Winn so that their anger at defeat was real too. These new DS9 novels should be read as a group---say 4 or 5 at a time to get a real sense of an epic as the stories unfolding from one book to the next, however this does leave each book a little wobbly to stand alone. I am awaiting exactly what happens to Jake Sisko who's trying to find his father in the wormhole---that resolution should be good.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Read About a Heavy Subject
Review: Having been a fan of Star Trek since the original TV series, I have to admit that one of the things I enjoyed about the series was that it usually showed off the best side of the human race. This series defintely shows the darker side. I like to see Trek books that feature different characters and their personal thoughts and feelings. Julian Bashir has always has a difficult time with his "special gifts" and it is easy to imagine his frustration at having then exploited for a shadow organization that appears to answer to no one. You need to be familiar with the cast of DS9 to really understand the history of the Dax symbiont and Julian's relationship with its current host.
The Section 31 series is definitely the Trek way of getting us to look at society's ills. Is this what happens when we give up some personal freedom to feel safe?
Rating:
Summary: Section 31: Abyss
Review: Hot on the heels of "The Avatar," the re-launch of the DS9 novels continues in Book #4 of SECTION 31. Dr. Julian Bashir faces the greatest crisis of his life when Section 31 compels him to undertake a mission to stop renegade agent Dr. Ethan Locken before Locken can realize his dreams of power & conquest.
Rating:
Summary: A great sequel to "Avatar"
Review: I had become very disappointed with the quality of "Trek" books recently, but the last few DS9 novels have been very impressive. "Abyss" picks up where the two "Avatar" DS9 books left off, and answers some of the questions raised by the previous novels. Interesting new characters fit right in, and although the plot sounded campy at the beginning, the end result was a good read. Even though fan responses to the whole "Section 31" subplot have been mixed, that shouldn't dissuade anyone from giving this book a try.
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Summary: A great follow up to "Avatar" but problems exist ...
Review: I really wanted this book to be an excellent book, and seeing as it was the frontrunner to the entire Section 31 saga, it didn't seem like an impossible wish. For all the greatness that the novel attempts to reach and to create, it keeps striving and reaching, and almost gets there, but doesn't quite make it. Here's why. There's nothing wrong with the premise, mind you. Doctor Julian Bashir (now Lieutenant Commander, about damn time) has been contacted yet again by Section 31 through a Sloan follow-up known only as Cole. We learn of Doctor Ethan Locken, a Kahn worshipper (to put it lightly) who seems to be a large potential problem not only with the Federation, but the entire Alpha Quadrant. This raises a few interesting points, and the initial conversations between Cole and Bashir are fascinating in all the knowledge they contain. Now that the Dominion War is over, and the next cycle of war is about to start, who will be the players? Included are even a few references to Voyager through the Pathfinder Project, although it's never made clear if this is before or after "Endgame" (I tend to think it's before). Getting back to DS Nine, however, we see the inevitable crack in the premise. It quickly becomes a "let's-save-the-quadrant-from-this-crazy-person-before-he-does-something-really-bad" cliche, although it is extremely well done. Throw in typical Bashir musings ("I was tempted to join him ...") and you've got yourself a typical DS9 episode: thought-provoking, exciting, and as always intelligent. The action on DS9 moves along nicely as well as a B-story, however. The novel ends incredibly well, leaving the door open to more upcoming adventures. You'll love the final exchanges between Vaughn and Bashir, I guarantee it. Now for the problem. For such an advanced premise (Section 31 and all its undercover agents and powers) there seems to be an almost insular feeling to the story. While it might have been almost impossible to do this story on a larger scale, I felt that the setting for most of the book (a desolate planet in the Badlands) and the almost forced inclusion of a local species that seems only too eager to help made the book a bit too cliche. Had it been simply Bashir and Locken, wits and intelligence blazing mind-versus-mind, pitting themselves against each other, THAT would have been something to read and something which would have made the book truly one of the best out there. Overall, an excellent read that falls just short of one of the best. The writing style is incredibly easy to read, and you should, if interested in it, whip through it in a day or two. Highly recommended.
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Summary: Section 31: Conspiracies in the Trek universe
Review: I should start this review by saying at the outset that I didn't believe in Section 31. That is to say I didn't believe that an extragovernmental agency was tasked *from the founding of the Federation in 2161* to circumvent rule of law, to commit murder, to interfere in scientific research, to be accountable to no one but themselves in order to preserve the Federation's utopian culture. What I wanted to believe was that there was a relatively small cell of Federation officials and Starfleet personnel whose perspective was so skewed that they felt no restraints on their actions in order to preserve a particular vision of what the Federation and Starfleet should be. (To use a movies analogy, more "Seven Days in May" than "The Manchurian Candidate." Or, in science fiction terms, a combination of the Cigarette-Smoking Man and his cronies from "X-Files" with the ARM from Larry Niven's stories.) In May and June of 2001, Pocket Books released four novels that showed Section 31 in action and noted incidents cited in aired Star Trek (even prior to the DS9 episode, "Inquisition," which introduced the shadow organization). Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin's _Rogue_, set six months before the events of "Star Trek: First Contact," reintroduces Jean-Luc Picard's Academy classmates Marta Batanides and Corey Zweller. Batanides is now a vice-admiral with Starfleet Intelligence while Zweller is now chief science officer on the USS Slayton. One of those old friends is assigned to interfere with the Federation's negotiations with Chiaros IV so that the latter world will go over to the Romulan Empire. In _Shadow_ by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Seven of Nine meets with a series of accidents while Voyager's officers and crew race to save millions from the explosion resulting from three suns colliding. In _Cloak_ by S.D. Perry, set during the original Star Trek's third season, the Enterprise crew is present at a scientific station's efforts to synthesize an Omega particle. At the same time, Dr. McCoy is secretly dealing with the revelation that he may not live for long. _Abyss_ by David Weddle (author of "Inquisition") and Jeffrey Lang, Dr. Bashir is recruited by Section 31 to actually stop one of their own. Like Bashir, Ethan Locken is genetically enhanced. Unlike Bashir, Locken wants to create a new culture in the style of Khan Noonien Singh, the Eugenics Wars dictator. All four of the novels make a good case for Section 31's tendrils reaching farther than just the "relatively small cell" I thought plausible. Section 31's existence does explain the actions of such people as Admiral Cartwright and Col. West in "Star Trek VI," or Admiral Dougherty in "Star Trek: Insurrection." As well, Janeway's discovery of Section 31's existence -- and how it offends her sensibilities and ideals -- explains the anger with which she pursued Captain Ransom in "Equinox." Of the four, I enjoyed _Rogue_ and _Abyss_ the most. In the former, Mangels and Martin (who will be writing an Excelsior novel to be released in 2002) take a character from "Star Trek: First Contact," the doomed Lieutenant Hawk, and develop an interesting background and love interest for him (from the description, I suspect the love interest of being based physically on Mangels). In _Abyss_, we get inside Bashir's head as he struggles with Locken and realizes that *he* could easily have grown up to be his enemy. After reading all four, I came away both entertained and thinking about the issues in a utopian society that a Section 31 calls into question. There was a period in the early 90's when I could read a Trek novel and "not inhale" -- i.e., forget it as soon as I'd finished reading it. If the Section 31 novels (and the Avatar novels I reviewed recently) are any indication, I think that time is long past.
Rating:
Summary: interesting new beginning
Review: I will begin this review by saying something sure to offend and maybe even shock most of the Trekkers who would bother reading it: I know next to nothing about "Deep Space Nine." I stopped watching the show about midway through the second season and I have only seen about half a dozen episodes since. Thus, when I began reading this book, it was with more than a little confusion. I had heard that Sisko had died, but where were O'Brien, Odo, and Worf? I began to wonder if I had made a mistake. Boy, was I wrong! Despite the fact that much has happened since I had stopped watching "Deep Space Nine," "Section 31: Abyss" featured such a great story that my confusion disapppeared. I wouldn't go so far as to say history of the show is unimportant, but I would argue that the story is more important than the backstory -- and I mean that as a high compliment. The interaction between Doctor Ethan Locken and Doctor Julian Bashir was fascinating, the references to "Star Trek"'s past were intriguing, and the characters -- most of them unfamiliar to me -- were fun to read about. I'd guess that if you are a more loyal "Deep Space Nine" fan than I am, you should probably up this star rating to a five.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Trek Read!
Review: I would recommend reading this book 3rd, following the sequence of Trek series--Cloak (TOS), Rogue (TNG) and now Abyss. The book is not only an excellent read, but it dives into character development, using the hints from DS9 to truly explore Bashir, Ezri, and a few others. I think Bashir's character was enormously expanded in this book alone. I couldn't put it down. The entire Section 31 series has been outstanding--the best series of Trek books I've read. In each book of the series, the organization Section 31 evolves. This book is no different, and perhaps shows 31's evolution even more. I highly recommend this book to any Trek fan.
Rating:
Summary: Deep Space Nine..... What We Have Now
Review: I'm not going to go greatly into the plot of this book,or discuss the fine job that Jeffrey Lang and David Weddle have done,as the reviewers before me have done an excellent job of that.All I'm going to say is this: If you're a fan of Deep Space Nine,you MUST buy this book.
If you're a fan of Star Trek in general,and would like to learn more about the infamous Section 31,again, this book is a MUST read!
If you've never bought,or read a DS9 adventure,NOW is the time to start.
Abyss continues the story of Deep Space Nine where the Avatar titles left off,and does so brilliantly.While all the characters,and the plot,are very well developed,I feel the most important thing that Abyss does,is develop the character of the new Jemm Hadar "observer",who we met in Avatar. The new series of DS9 books have a very bright future ahead if they can continue in the vein of Abyss.
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