Double Helix Omnibus (Star Trek)

Rating:
Summary: A great Omnibus for a great series!
Review: "Infection" by John Gregory Betancourt

The Enterprise is called to Archaria III, a planet jointly colonized by humans and Peladians. A new disease has cropped up and is only treatable (the double helix), in a temporary fashion. The Enterprise supposed to deliver the drug, quarantine the planet and see what help they might render. What follows is an excellent story, primarily using Dr. Crusher in her quest to find the cure. The author set everything up very well and wrapped up his portion beautifully.

"Vectors" by Dean Wesley Smith & Kristin Kathryn Rusch

Finally we have a story using Dr. Pulaski, who was unceremoniously dumped from the show. Not that she was anywhere near a replacement for Dr. Crusher. It is particularly interesting to see "Terok Nor" during the occupation and have the interaction with Gul Dukat. I felt the character development was very good and the Ferengi portions were written very well. The only true complaint is that the author's seemed to have done a poor job of closing out Kira's story.

"Red Sector" by Diane Carey

Red Sector is a fantastic story. It's very refreshing having a book that concentrates almost primarily on a non main character in John Eric Stiles. The character is extremely well thought out and written. The author nailed Spock and a hundred and thirty something Dr. McCoy perfectly. I'm dying to find out who the voice is at this point. Hopefully the next three in the Double Helix series will be as good as this one and the other two were.

"Quarantine" by John Vornholt

John Vornholt kicks out another fantastic story. Quarantine gives us a good idea of how "Tom Riker" ends up joining the Maquis. As is par for the course with John Vornholt, he goes into great detail describing a beautiful planet and all of its surroundings. Not a lot of Trek authors do that. I thought Torres seemed a little soft, considering her personality, but that can be explained away.

"Double or Nothing" By Peter David

This is another great installment to the New Frontier and the Double Helix series. Not having read the last of the Double Helix books yet, it seems that this one pretty much finishes the Double Helix storyline???? A favorite quote from the book, Riker - "I've got to get off this ship." Peter David did an excellent job of integrating Picard and Riker into the New Frontier. It's really interesting and well done how he brought Riker and Shelby together again. That portion was done very well and even better than I'd expected in another meeting of those two.

"The First Virtue" by Michael Jan Friedman & Christie Golden

The First Virtue is an excellent conclusion. It pretty much wraps up the reasoning to everything we learned in "Double or Nothing." In the First Virtue, we learn why Gerrid Thul wanted to create the Double Helix virus and why he wanted so much revenge for the loss of his only child. Both authors did a great job with their portions. The plot is well thought out, especially the portions of the book with Commander Jack Crusher and Lieutenant Tuvok. I felt that they captured Tuvok's personality quite well and gave a precursor to some of the decisions and general personality we saw on screen in Voyager.

Overall, I would recommend this Omnibus to any fan of good Star Trek fiction.

Rating:
Summary: An Ok Series
Review: This is the omnibus for the Star Trek: Double Helix series about a mysterious villain who has been releasing biological agents across the Alpha Quadrant over a period of years.

Book One reads the most as a medical thriller, as one of the Enterprise-D's first missions is to stop a plague killing people of mixed descent on a Federation colony troubled with racial tensions. Book Two has Dr. Pulaski, of TNG's season two fame, travel to Trek Nor to stop a plague killing Bajorans and their Cardassian overseers alike. Book Three is supposed to be about Spock and McCoy taking care of a virus assassinating the Romulan royal family, but it's actually about a young Starfleet officer coming to terms with his past as a POW and insecurity about not measuring up to his ancestors and old heroes such as Kirk. Book Four has Tom Riker team up with Chakotay's Maquis crew to fight a plague on a world populated by people of interspecies descent. Book Five concludes the series with Captain Mackenzie and the crew of the 'Excalibur' teaming up with Picard and Riker to stop the villain from destroying the Federation in one blow. Book Six is a prequel that sets up the series by showing how Picard, then captain of the Stargazer, drove the villain to plot his diabolical plan to destroy the Federation.

There's a little bit of something for everybody here: New Frontier and Stargazer adventures, cameos galore, and details on how Dr. Pulaski left the Enterprise and how Tom Riker joined the Maquis. By themselves, the books are pretty good. However, overall as a series it's a bit of a dud. The medical thriller aspect which is supposed to be the basis of the entire series is not used much, and in some books is totally absent. The mysterious villain started off with promise but by the end of the series became nothing more than your typical madman. And the prequel did nothing to explain just how the villain turned to biological weapons, let alone became so powerful. Other than that, it's ok.