Rating: 
Summary: Abyss Star Trek Deep Space Nine
Review: This is the last of the series of Section 31 books. The villian Dr. Ethan Locken is also genetically enhanced as is Dr. Julian Bashir the hero.This is a typical cloak and dagger, good verses evil with a Star Trek theme. Section 31 professes to be the self-appointed protector of the Federation, but what do they do when one of their own decides to go it alone and make the galaxy his own. Who do they call? Well of course the hero. This is a very fast read and enjoyable, but Section 31 is out there... beware. If you read the Avatar series first it will fill in a few blanks along the way as this book is written after that series and eludes to it. Section 31 is a resilient, I'm sure we will hear of them again. They make good villians from within.
Rating:
Summary: A very strong effort in the "Section 31" series.
Review: This third installment of the "Section 31" series is back on par with "Rogue," the Next Generation installment. Set with the new and updated crew from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's relaunched "Avatar" series, this time we focus on Julian Bashir as he is recruited, yet again, to work a mission Section 31 has set out for him. The characterizations in this novel are dead on. Bashir comes off entirely believable, without resorting to stale rehashings of things we've already seen in the series, and Ezri Dax, in particular, shines. I'm really enjoying the new direction they're taking Dax in, and it has yet to reveal any real faults. Fans of the Jem'Hadar will get a little more out of Taran'atar, and fans of Ro Laren are in for some very good "in her head" passages, which I found particularly well written. The plotline from Avatar with Jake is briefly glossed over (something I wish had been given more time, but I understand the notion of raising tension levels), and you get a little bit more out of Commander Vaughn, and why Ensign Tenmei hates the new second officer. The plot itself is quite intricate, with Julian being pitted against an enemy even he has to admit he is perfectly suited: another genetically enhanced individual. This man, Dr. Locken, is setting himself up as the new Khan, and it's up to Julian to stop it before it causes another war between the major powers of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. The pace is well set, and despite the inclusion of an extraneous "fuzzy/cute" alien race, it is a great read. I highly reccommend this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Unputdownable - even if you don't like SECTION 31
Review: We have a winner for the best ST novel of 2001 (so far; I haven't read EUGENICS WARS yet): ABYSS. I don't even like the concept of SECTION 31, but what Lang and Weddle did is great. Hey, they created SECTION 31, they should know it best. ABYSS pits Bashir against another genetically-enhanced person who has set himself up as a new Khan. Think HEART OF DARKNESS (or APOCALYPSE NOW for you younger folks). What makes the book so good is the subtlety of characterization. We get shades and exploration of personality and events that rarely appear in ST novels. And we get humor. Both ABYSS and CLOAK did a masterful job of dropping bits of humor here and there that reminded me of what we used to see on TOS. You really can't have all that much character development with classic characters because they have to end each adventure pretty much as they began (The Reset Button tm). But you can explore, which is what the authors do. And I supposed the glory of having new characters like Vaughn and The Observer is that we will be able to see them develop. ABYSS features a lot of exploration into the minds of Jem'Hadar. Very nice.
Rating:
Summary: Good book
Review: Well I found this book to be "adequate." The reason is because the plot was well developed, the author was meticulous in some areas and there were new, dynamic characters added to the plot line (Commander Vaughn, Shrell, etc.) who were all learning more about themselves later on in the book. However there was one thing that I did not like. I noticed that some things that Bashir said were contradictive because the Bashir in the TV show would have said something totally different. The personality of Bashir could have been better matched with the one in the TV show but the author did an adequate job. Overall, it was a good book, I suggest purchasing it.
Rating:
Summary: The best of the miniseries
Review: What sets this one apart from the rest of the Section 31 miniseries is that it's coauthored by the DS9 writer who invented Section 31, and that everyone already knows about Section 31 and is trying to figure out how to bring it down. There's also heavy discussion of the ethics of eugenics, as Bashir rails on about how he's had to hide his own genetic upgrades all his life and Locken saying that eugenics is necessary to prevent the Federation from going in the same direction as Rome.
The subplots that were brought up in AVATAR are continued in here: Kira is finding a little acceptance about her excommunication in the form a Security deputy and Shakaar, who is also questioning her fitness for command of DS9. Commander Vaughn got to revel in his Fonzie-esque air of cool mystery some more; while this was technically a Bashir-focused book, I really want to see more of Vaughn. And the verdict on Ezri's transfer to the command track is in: red is definitely not her color.
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