Rating: 
Summary: Loving the slug inside you
Review: One of the more interesting characters in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a Trill named Dax. Trills are humanoids who are hosts to slug-like being called a symbiont. In a process called "the joining," Trills have the symbiont implanted and they become not just the person they were, but also a sum of memories that can go back hundreds of years. There were two "Dax" characters in Deep Space Nine, with Jadzia Dax being killed in season 6 and Ezri serving as an emergency host. It's a great honour to be a host, but not everybody is anxious to be one.I've always been fascinated by the Dax character, even when the actresses weren't quite up to the part. The show would occasionally have references to previous hosts through the centuries, and I often wondered what some of their stories might be, especially during the time of the original series and movies. Marco Palmieri shared this feeling, and he decided to create a short story anthology addressing this issue. He gathered some of the big names in Trek fiction and created The Lives of Dax. Each of the previous Dax hosts gets one story, showcasing their personality and a little bit of their history. The stories are pretty good, though none of them are particularly earth-shattering. It's a nice, cozy tome that will bring a bit of nostalgia to any DS9 fan. Some of the more interesting stories take place early in Dax's life, before Trill became acquainted with the outside universe. The first one (not counting the beginning of the framing story) is about Lela Dax, a new member of the Trill council and one of the advocates for opening Trill up for trade with other galactic races. A ship has approached Trill and sent a message that the Trill are having trouble translating. It appears that the ship is in trouble, and they are ignoring all warnings from Trill that they must leave orbit. Lela decides that she has to help, despite what the council says. She discovers, and demonstrates to the rest of the council, that knowledge is not only power, but that the lack of it can be deadly as well. "First Steps" is by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and starts the anthology off with a bang. Once this story is off the ground, though, the book suffers from one of my main criticisms of the Trek books (though I think many fans disagree with me, which is why it will never change). Each story brings in some known element of Trek lore (usually a character or a race), ostensibly to give some sort of identification to the reader (like we don't know already that it's a Trek book?). These elements are usually contrived and really drag the book down in my estimation, unless they're used well. Unfortunately, that's not usually the case here. Tobin Dax's story ("Dead Man's Hand" by Jeffrey Lang) brings in the Romulans. Emony Dax's story ("Old Souls" by Michael Jan Friedman) has Dr. McCoy from the original series (though it is actually established in the television series that Dax had an encounter with him, so at least it's not coming out of left field), Audrid's story ("Sins of the Mother" by S.D. Perry) has Captain Christopher Pike, of the old Enterprise. Finally, Torias's story ("Infinity" by Susan Wright) has Captain Styles and Cadet Saavik, from Star Trek III. While I applaud the fact that these aren't just name references but actual characters used, they still feel shoehorned into the stories for name recognition. There's no reason for Saavik to be in "Infinity", as she's never shown any inclination for experimental warp drives. The only one of the above stories where it actually makes sense to include the character is Friedman's, and that suffers from its own blandness. That's not to say the anthology isn't worth reading. With the above caveat, it actually is quite an entertaining read. The stories are interesting (especially the Curzon story, "The Music Between the Notes," by Steven Barnes) and the framing sequence is really good. Ezri spent the entire final season of the television show very unsure of herself and her role as a joined Trill (she never wanted to be joined, and had no preparation) and her heart-to-hologram talk with Vic Fontaine (the holographic lounge singer) is very well-done. His holographic sentience gives him a unique perspective on her problems, and it's a very good lead-in to the story of Dax through the years. There was even an intriguing use of Verad, the Trill who stole the Dax symbiont from Jadzia for a few hours. There really isn't a bad story in the bunch, though a couple of the stories suffer from being relatively uninteresting. It's a shame that Friedman's story is one of those, as it had the most potential. Seeing Dax's meeting with McCoy should have been wonderful, but instead it was "ok." The writing was a bit stiff and it didn't really fit into the conceit of Ezri telling a story to Vic. Instead, it was a lesson for McCoy about dealing with interstellar species (this is in his Academy days). Also, it is told from McCoy's point of view, going directly against the concept of the anthology. I greatly enjoyed The Lives of Dax, and I think it would be a wonderful addition to a Trek book collector's shelf. If you've ever wondered about Dax and her past lives, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up. If you're thinking of starting some of the Trek books, it's a good place to get a sampling of some of the big names in Trek today and to see if they're writing is your cup of tea. My previous host's memories tell me that you'll like it. David Roy
Rating: 
Summary: ST: The Lives of Dax
Review: Star Trek: The Lives of Dax edited by Marco Palmieri is a most intriguing work about on of the most incredible characters to come along in the Star Trek Universe... a symbiotic pairing of two distinct life forms creating a joined pair. As the symbiont, Dax lives on in different hosts bodies and as such seen a lot and has an incredible tale to tell. This book covers Dax's tale from one host to the next over a course of three hundred and fifty years. A life time that spans many different hosts and the personalities. Nine differnt hosts tales are being told in this book, all linked to Dax. Ezri, Lela, Tobin, Emony, Audrid, Torias, Joran, Curzon, and Jadzia are the hosts for this unique and compellling life form. The stories are written by different authors so you get the feeling that each new host is telling the story of the life shared with Dax. The authors are Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Jeffrey Lang, Michael Jan Friedman, S.D. Perry, Susan Wright, Robert Simpson, Steven Barns and L.A. Graf. Each of these authors lends their respective storytelling ability and gives the book a unique capacity of one life being woven throughout the theme of the book. This makes an engrossing and engaging anthology told well encompassing personality, personal triumphs and dreams. Also, we see the diverse hosts and some of the tragic consequences associated with the joinings. This gives the book a cohesiveneess as we leave one host and go to the next. This is a character driven book with a story to tell as the flowing narrative continues sprinkled with intrigue. A through fleshing out of the Dax character is found here and leaves us with a better appreciation and knowledge. If you like the Dax character, you have to read this book as the memories of each host are past to the next. Fascinating...
Rating:
Summary: "The Lives of Dax" : a Wonderful Addition to Trek Lore
Review: The anthology format is perfect for the Dax symbiont's story, because each time the symbiont was implanted into a new humanoid host, one would expect a change in the way the Trill thought, acted, and spoke. Thus, there's no problem with the fact that the different authors have different styles of writing. In fact, it's much better that each of the hosts has his or her own distinctive "voice." I really appreciated that detail. The other reason is that since each author had what amounted to a short story to write, I suspect they could hone their prose in a way that they might not have had a chance to if they were writing a full length novel. For those who didn't follow DS9, the Trill is a conjoined species, with a very long lived worm-like critter living and mentally linked with a shorter-lived humanoid host. In 300 years there has been one Dax symbiont living inside Lela, Tobin, Emony, Curzon, Jadzia, and Ezri, to name a few of the more notable ones. Once joined, the whole being is known by the host's first name, with the symbiont's name replacing the last name. Hence, Ezri Tigan became Ezri Dax. Tobin Dax's story, "Dead Man's Hand" was my favorite of the volume. I don't recall Tobin's strengths mentioned by Jadzia or Ezri when they referred to him in the series, but if the ones presented in the story were mainly of the author's invention, they were perfectly logical from what we do know of him. Tobin was rather mild-mannered and not known to be the heroic type, but there had to be something special about him for him to be one of the 1% of Trills (I think that's the number) who get to be joined. In the course of the story, the reader realizes that Tobin truly was worthy of this honor. Author Jeff Lang used what was known about Tobin and his "quirks" from the DS9 episodes very well indeed. I also really appreciated how the continuity with all of Trekdom, not just DS9, was respected in this story. As for the other stories, I can't say there was a true dud among them. I was very partial to Emony's story because I loved imagining a very young Leonard McCoy before he even knew he was going to follow in his father's footsteps and become an "old country doctor," let alone that he was going to be practicing in outer space. (Certainly gives a new meaning to "Big Sky Country," doesn't it?) Michael Jan Friedman contributed Emony's story and did his usual fine job. The Joran story was chilling because we become privy to the twisted mind of Joran Dax, serial killer. His history was compelling in the two episodes I saw concerning him on DS9, and this story is, if anything, more unsettling because of the way we are privy to the man's sociopathic thoughts and manipulative behavior. The device of using Ezri's reminiscences to Vic Fontaine as a frame for the rest of the book worked very well. The character of Vic has always been a favorite, so it was nice to see him again here. Ezri's own story fleshed out what was mentioned on DS9 about Ezri's being joined, though she never sought it and therefore had never been trained to referee the memories of her eight previous hosts, as is normally required. The only story that had a flaw that seriously distracted me was Curzon's story, even though I enjoyed the plot--a real Star Trek story about responsibility and sacrifice. While telling it from a young Ben Sisko's POV would have worked well in a normal anthology of short stories, it didn't work for me in the context of the frame story. I kept wondering how Dax knew Ben's most intimate thoughts, close friends though they were. Personally, I'd rather have seen Curzon's view of the future captain of DS9. I have to admit that I've had trouble getting through a lot of Trek novels lately, with Christie Golden's books and Michael Jan Friedman's being among the exceptions. Too many times facts or characterizations have been so obviously wrong in the books that they suggest the authors never watch the shows their books are based upon. (Yes, we do notice.) That certainly was not the case with "The Lives of Dax." I thought Marco Palmieri, the editor, did an excellent job. His matching of authors to Dax host was excellent, and I enjoyed finding references to other characters from Trek lore, including the symbiont Odan (with whom we were introduced to the Trill species in TNG), as well as Admirals Janeway and Kirk. If there were any breaks in continuity, I didn't notice them. I zipped through the book and was sorry when I'd finished. This one makes me want to read another Trek book. How about maybe even "The Lives of Dax, Continued"? There's a lot more to most of the lives than the one epsode told in this volume. Wouldn't mind a little more of Lela, Tobin, Emony, Audrid, Torias, Curzon, Jadzia, and Ezri Dax. I've had enough of Joran--although come to think of it, maybe finding out how he became twisted enough to be a murderer would be worthy of another story at that.
Rating:
Summary: Not a bad story in the bunch
Review: THE LIVES OF DAX was quite worthwhile, its quality surprisingly consistent for an anthology. It also lacked the gross continuity errors and misinterpretations that routinely show up in the ST novels these days. (Well, they did use the 24th-century warp scale in a 23rd-century story, but that may have been necessary to avoid confusing casual fans.) Palmieri did a good job as editor, and the authors all did well too. There were a few proofreading glitches in the Steven Barnes piece, and Curzon's dialogue was too stiff, but otherwise it was one of the best stories. Overall, the anthology is intriguing both as a biography of an infinitely complex character and as a cross-section of Star Trek history. My only complaint is that I wanted to write a book about Dax's past lives, but Palmieri and company beat me to it!
Rating:
Summary: A very enjoyable read.
Review: The reason I got this book is that Jadzia Dax is my favoriteDS9 character, and the Trill species is interesting. Although it'snot the best trek book I've ever read, I only have one real problem with it and it was never boring at all. The problem I have with it is that in the Jadzia part, the author portrays her in the flashbacks as pretty much the same as she is on the show, and not at all shy and naive like she was supposed to be before joining. It had very interesting stuff about Trills, and complied with the show pretty well. But before you judge trek books based on this one, read the Invasion series, the Dominion War series, and Q-Squared.
Rating:
Summary: Dax is my favorite character from DS9
Review: The stories were really good. Some had cliches and the worst was probably with Sisko and Kurzon. Otherwise a nice tie in with the show and greater understanding of Dax the symbiote and how the experiences would develop a whol being.
Rating:
Summary: An Intriguing Approach
Review: This anthology builds up the character of Dax (the symbiont)in all the forms shared with the various humanoid hosts. The concept of the Trill as an alien is in keeping with the best science fiction so both my fourteen-year-old son and I shared the reading of this anthology. The stories were enjoyable for both of us and each contributed to the overall development of the central character. Some of the stories were based on specific incidents referenced by Dax in the DS9 series and others were tied less closely to the show. At any rate, this is a very successful and unusual approach towards Star Trek commercial fiction. Suitable for ages 12 and above.
Rating:
Summary: Dax's incredible lives
Review: This book was incredible. I just loved reading every one of Dax's lives. I thought Lela's story was really interesting, as was Audrid's. Tobin's story really gave you insight into his personality. Torias's was good, but not great. Joran's was rather confusing and dark, but intriguing. I found that Emony's and Curzon's didn't give you much insight into what kind of people they were, but the stories were still interesting. Jadzia's was the best by far. I loved her reflections and memories about her sister - it was just really well done. The way the stories were set up with Ezri talking to Vic Fontaine was also really good. It was great to learn about what each Dax was really like.
Rating:
Summary: Dax rules :)
Review: This book was very interesting. Something I haven't seen in awhile in the Trek book collection. I like a lot anthology especially if they have a commom thread. The last one I can think of was the Kobayashi Maru. There you had different stories but all connecting them. Anyway this was a good one we learn a lot more of the hosts that were mentioned in DS9. We get to see their unique experiences and some interesting people they met. I especially enjoyed the first host Lela and the second one Tobin. They are all pretty cool though. This book is definately very good. My only regret is that they didn't go more into the Klingon connection that Curzon has. But it's o.k. his story was pretty unique!!!
Rating:
Summary: The great stories of the amazing Dax
Review: This collection of stories tells parts of each Dax's hosts. With many different authors, some Star Trek veterans, and others new to the show (so to speak), this book has amazing details to it. Almost every story has at least one familar name in it. If you like Dax in general, or of its hosts, then this incredible book is a must.
|
