Star Trek, The Next Generation: I, Q

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Summary: A rambling of Q-life experiences
Review: I purchased this book mainly because I collect all Star Trek hardcover novels and plus I love David's work. However I was really disappointed in the way the plot was built. It seemed liked everything was tossed in your lap at the end. Maybe it the was the first-person storytelling for me and the out-of-character way Data and Picard was protrayed. Better luck next time John De Lancie. I am now awaiting the New Froniter books in October/November.

Rating:
Summary: Well, he lost a little steam at the end but overall...
Review: Well, he lost a little steam there at the end but overall, it WAS a decent book. I laughed all the way through it and I love the Inconcievable quote he snuck in there from "The Princess Bride" it had me in stiches. His views on humanity make me wonder just how much of it is Q and how much of it is John. It was a very good book, but the ending could have used a lot more punch! But hey, you can't be good at everything, right? Four stars for dialouge and content. Very funny and enlightening stuff! Love ya John!

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Summary: I,Q A different sort of Star Trek novel
Review: I must disagree with the reader from California. This Q novel was very entertaining. The entire story is told in the first person by Q. It the plot was subtle but it was there. The book captures the essence of Q. It involves Q trying to find his wife and son and solving a mystery that could destroy the universe. One should not judge a book by its length but by the story it tells. This book is in it's on unique way the equal to Q-Squared and Q-in-Law. It is much superior to the Q Continuum trilogy. Fans of Q should definately buy this book.

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Summary: Such potential, but what happened?
Review: I love all the Peter David "Q" novels, so when I saw this one I ordered it immediately. What a disappointment. The book goes off on so many tangents and trails that lead nowhere that it could have been about half the length it was. Such a good storyline, such great potential, then it all comes crashing down. Sorry, but this is not at all in the same league with the other "Q" novels. Let's hope there's some good ones in the works for the future.

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Summary: A glimpse into Q's diary
Review: While on a "deep sea" fishing trip, Q stumbles across something even he cannot control. When he becomes seperated from Lady Q and q, he enlists Picard's and Data's help to find them. This book reads like a diary and is told entirely from Q's viewpoint. It's written in the first person and some people may not like that. Picard and Data may seem a bit out of character but you have to remember that this is how Q views them. I found this to be a refreshing change from alot of the Star Trek books. Overall its an amusing read.

Rating:
Summary: Was there a plot?
Review: This book is a waste of money, even at Amazon's reduced price. The book is only 249 pages, and it feels padded at that length. The book doesn't have that much of a plot, and it lacks the wit of Peter David's other books like Q-Squared & Q-in-Law. I just kept waiting for the book to end. The book should never have been published, let alone as a hardcover. The book does give you a glimpse into Q's mind, but if you want Q read Greg Cox's Q Continuum Trilogy. If you read Dyson Sphere earlier this year, I,Q is like that book, only worse. I want my money back.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, amusing, and well-written book.
Review: The character of Q is well-suited to Peter David's writing style, so this book works quite well. I'm not always fond of stories that include Q, but Peter David handles him as well as anyone. If you enjoy the character of Q, you should probably consider this a 5-star review.

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Summary: The one Q novel you must read!
Review: If you are a "Q" fan, this is the one novel you must read! This was in fact the first Star Trek novel I read (I always thought it was dorky to read such stuff), and I enjoyed it so much that I have now read seven or eight more! This one however remains the most memorable. John De Lancie and Peter David nail the characters perfectly and you cannot help laugh out loud at some of the passages and conversations. The story is gripping and appropriately surreal given the Q-involvement. In my opinion, stories involving Q really need to be other-worldly to grip/thrill you fully, and this has one of the best reality-suspending stories out there. My only little grouse is that the ending seemed a little abrupt. At first I felt a little cheated at the swiftness of it all, but on second thoughts I think it may be completely deliberate to force the reader to think about what he/she has just read. It takes a few minutes for it to sink in.





Rating:
Summary: The Best Star Trek Novel I've Ever Read
Review: I haven't read as many Star Trek novels as many Trek fans probably have, but of the ones I have read, "I, Q" is easily the best, the first trek novel to fully equal the very best installments of any of the television series or the best movies. Though I'd read good Treks before, to be honest before reading this I was almost tempted to give up on the novels as a whole, with some of the recent ones I'd read having been major disappointments. There have been some very good ones over the years, but there have also been those that introduce tremendous concepts and then steadily peter out over the course of ensuing chapters, or books that read like very promising first drafts but appear to have been published prematurely, without the extra reworkings required to make them truly well-realized stories. That's just my personal opinion; I know there are readers who devour trek novel after trek novel voraciously and are very pleased with all of them, but a number of them just haven't done much for me. Just personal preferences, I guess. Besides, with literally hundreds of Star Treks published, it would be unrealistic to expect every single one of them to be a gem.

"I, Q" is a gem though. It's narrated first person by Q, which is a risky venture. Done poorly, this could have been a blight on one of Star Trek's greatest characters. And how could it really be done well? Onscreen appearances are one thing, but how can a novel get inside the head of a pretty-much-omniscient character in first person format and hope to do justice to their inner workings? A built-in safety device is present with Q - he's an embellisher and an exaggerater (or a liar to call a spade a spade, albeit a charismatic and entertaining one), he simplifies certain things for the sake of readers whose minds he feels don't approach his own (throughout the narrative he speaks to the reader directly and manages to toss out insults and be hilarious at the same time) and he, by his own admission, makes certain changes for dramatic effect. Thus, anything he says that doesn't strike the individual reader as faithful to established Trek tendencies can be easily written off as the entertaining ramblings (or boastings) of one of the universe's ultimate showmen.

Personally, I think everything fits in perfectly. This is the story of the dawn of an ultimate universal catacyslm, one even the Q-Continuim seems powerless to intervene against; disaster on an epic scale - imagine the Next Generation 2-parter "All Good Things Must Come To An End" taken to the Nth level for an idea of the magnitude. Starting off light and witty, giving Q a chance to offer his perspective on everything from the nature of the universe to the human condition to the individual characters who populate the Star Trek universe - witness his introduction to the reader of Picard (this isn't giving anything away, it happens on page 14) - 'he is a middle-aged, bald, oddly accented man who oversees activities aboard the Starship Enterprise. The Enterprise is a vessel belonging to an organization called Starfleet, and the Enterprise is the flagship of the fleet, which makes it the most advanced ant on the anthill.' Hardly a typical introduction to Picard and Enterprise, but perfectly fitting coming from Q, and like the rest of the narration so easy to hear in Q's own voice. We also witness a friendly debate between Picard and Data on the pros and cons of a goldfish's limited memory capacity, which presents a very surprising and thought-provoking way of pondering such matters, the kind of non-nihilistic philosophising one often finds in the best Treks and seems to go right over the heads of all the critics who dismiss the series as pap.

Once the initial wit and boat-top verbal meanderings are over though, the cataclysm hits with startling tension, and the metaphysical adventure begins. Q's acidy but humourous commentary continues, but it's now altered. Much of the time, it's not what he says but what he doesn't say that is most intruiging, and at other points we find Q asserting certain points (like the fact that since he's omnipotent, he has nothing to fear) and certain things that he believes and doesn't believe, that it becomes very telling how he repeats these things more and more as the situation becomes more dire; initially it seems that he's trying to make sure that the reader is certain of his (Q's) convictions, but it later seems more likely that he's trying to convince himself. Although this is a "Next Generation" novel, characters from elsewhere in the Trek universe make welcome appearances. Also, the tale sums up the relationships between Q and Picardn (less antagonistic than one might think), Q and Data, and Picard and Data, better than anything I've encountered. Q's surprisingly insightful take on the Picard/Data relationship in particular is compulsory reading for Trek fans, and Picard himself might be highly surprised were he privy to Q's take on the dynamics between he and Data.

Star Trek has been called by some mindless entertainment. I'll agree that it's highly entertaining, but mindless? (Sidestepping the question that never seems to occur to professional critics that doesn't one Need a mind to be entertained by anything in the first place?) This novel of epic metaphysical imagination rips the mindless arguement to shreds. (Doubters should also view, to name two, the Next Generation episode "The Survivors" and the Deep Space Nine episode "Marritza") Trek's had a few rough patches lately, but reading this book a few months ago and the unexpected dramatic improvement of "Enterprise" (after a number of bumps it's suddenly consistently hitting Season One levels of quality again) has got me all fired up about the Trek mythos again. "I, Q" is pure gold.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful !!
Review: This is the best book of Star Trek kind I ever read. From the beginning to the end, very philosophical and interesting.