Rating: 
Summary: This book is wonderful. I highly recommend it.
Review: For all of us who have ever been persecuted for being different, or fighting for the things we truly love, this is the book for you. It demonstrates perfectly the philosophy behind Star Trek, that of Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, and how a deadly problem can be overcome by such diversity. It also demonstrates the power of myth, of every culture, and how it can be inspirational even in an extremely advanced technological culture like the Federation, or even Rampart, where only the rebels seem to appreciate it. The book keeps you on the edge of your seat, wondering when they'll be rescued, with a fantastic (literally!) climax that is spectacular.
Rating: 
Summary: STNG #11 - Gulliver's Fugitives - A good early STNG novel!
Review: Given the complexity and thought provoking nature of this particular novel it is hard to believe that this is not only the only Star Trek novel written by this author is it the only novel one can find written by Keith Sharee. I found this novel to be in very good keeping with Gene Roddenberry's principals and ethos of Star Trek as it tells a well told tale that is capable of the "suspension of disbelief" within the Star Trek universe as it is a real future possibility and reminds one of Hitler's attempts to do the same.The premise: The Enterprise finds itself on the mission to find the USS Huxley, a starship that has been missing for over ten years, what they did not expect to find is a forgotten human colony named Rampart. Here is where the story takes an unexpected twist as this colony of humans has sought fit to ban fiction of any sort and it is considered to be the ultimate crime. As history proves proper, whenever there is a government that bans something harmless, or proves itself a dictatorship in any way, there is an underground movement and ultimately a civil war. It is that civil war in which Captain Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise suddenly find themselves inextricably in the middle of and must find an acceptable way of extricating themselves and solving this planet's problems... What follows is certainly one of the better early Star Trek The Next Generation numbered novels that is well worth the time to locate and read for you will certainly not be disappointed. I highly recommend this early STNG novel to any and all Star Trek fans, casual or die hard alike! {ssintrepid}
Rating:
Summary: Standing up for creativity!
Review: I believe that as consumers of mass media, we all value our freedom to choose to read, watch, or listen to whatever we desire. But what would happen if the planet we call Earth became a totalitarian state where the expression of creativity is utterly forbidden? That is the premise of "Gulliver's Fugitives." In the first Next Generation audio book ever made, read by Jonathan Frakes (Riker), the away team encounters an underground movement of individuals, much like that found in the movie "Demolition Man", who seek to restore the imagination to its proper place of value. This story is an excellent take on censorship and First Amendment issues.
Rating:
Summary: Standing up for creativity!
Review: I believe that as consumers of mass media, we all value our freedom to choose to read, watch, or listen to whatever we desire. But what would happen if the planet we call Earth became a totalitarian state where the expression of creativity is utterly forbidden? That is the premise of "Gulliver's Fugitives." In the first Next Generation audio book ever made, read by Jonathan Frakes (Riker), the away team encounters an underground movement of individuals, much like that found in the movie "Demolition Man", who seek to restore the imagination to its proper place of value. This story is an excellent take on censorship and First Amendment issues.
Rating:
Summary: very good
Review: I really think "Gulliver's Fugitives" is one of the better novels of the lot. IMO it wipes the floor with about 95% of all ST novels. Actually, it's one of the very few 'message' novels in the whole bunch. This is a book about the power of man's imagination and his right to dream. Imagination as one of the most powerful forces that man possesses. It's full of delightful references to mythology and literature. This author sure knows his classics. And since Star Trek is often called a modern myth, I'm pretty sure the author actually intended this novel to be about Trek fans and their right to like the series without being ridiculed, as sadly often is the case. These are the kind of messages that Star Trek has always stood for, and it's something that nearly all of the novels have forgotten. Really, there are only a few which have that kind of messages ("Spartacus" & "Metamorphosis" come to mind). I read this book when it first came out, nearly 10 years ago, and I don't remember much of the goings-on, but that powerful statement is still strong in my memory. Sure, it was not very easy to read and I do understand that it could be confusing if you don't recognise all the references. But some effort on the reader's part reveals lots of stuff that really is very interesting food for thought. So, have your "ABC of Mythology" and "Encyclopedia of Literature" near at hand and read this one...
Rating:
Summary: very good
Review: I really think "Gulliver's Fugitives" is one of the better novels of the lot. IMO it wipes the floor with about 95% of all ST novels. Actually, it's one of the very few 'message' novels in the whole bunch. This is a book about the power of man's imagination and his right to dream. Imagination as one of the most powerful forces that man possesses. It's full of delightful references to mythology and literature. This author sure knows his classics. And since Star Trek is often called a modern myth, I'm pretty sure the author actually intended this novel to be about Trek fans and their right to like the series without being ridiculed, as sadly often is the case. These are the kind of messages that Star Trek has always stood for, and it's something that nearly all of the novels have forgotten. Really, there are only a few which have that kind of messages ("Spartacus" & "Metamorphosis" come to mind). I read this book when it first came out, nearly 10 years ago, and I don't remember much of the goings-on, but that powerful statement is still strong in my memory. Sure, it was not very easy to read and I do understand that it could be confusing if you don't recognise all the references. But some effort on the reader's part reveals lots of stuff that really is very interesting food for thought. So, have your "ABC of Mythology" and "Encyclopedia of Literature" near at hand and read this one...
Rating:
Summary: Can you imagine ?
Review: It takes no imagination to come up with this storyline. Just look at all the people around you stuck in dead end jobs who aren't allowed to think for fear of doing or saying the wrong thing. This storyline is out of place in a galaxy that makes I.D.I.C. its golden rule.
For those of you who don't know, I.D.I.C. stand for Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant anti-censorship tale in ST:TNG style.
Review: Some of the best Star Trek episodes were usually 20th century social commentary thinly disguised as 23rd/24th century science fiction. Gulliver's Fugitives continues that same ST storytelling as social commentary tradition.
Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking in a different sense
Review: Think about your closest friends; are they real to you? If you didn't know them in the first place, would they still be real? Now think about your favorite fiction characters; are they real? Think of a world without them; would YOU be real? After Troi makes an intriguing contact with an "alien" life form from another dimension, thinking that this may be related to the disappearance of USS Huxley a long time ago, Picard decides to investigate inside a nebulae cloud where all subspace communications are blocked by natural sources. They are more than surprised to find a planet named Rampart inhabited by humans inside the cloud. Although human, Rampartians do not like the Enterprise's intrusion because it represents everything they tried to keep away from their society. The fiction in Rampart is a crime and the punishment is death. Since they were departed from the earth, Rampartian science is only excelled in one area: To read and cleanse minds; thus, not only actively involving in creating or consuming fiction is crime, but even thinking of it is... However there is a group of rebels - Dissenters - fighting against the dictatorship with the single weapon they have: Fiction! And Enterprise crew find themselves in the middle of this fight. While the basic promise of the book seems to tell a simple story of rebels fighting against a dictatorship, the author manages to create a compelling storyline by combining some action and nice characters into it, Trek style. Most importantly you are asked what happens if you're ripped off all fiction, and Troi's dreams and the presentation of Dissenters give you a memorable sensation of how actually valuable your fiction characters to you than you've thought. A nice touch is added with Wesley's revelation that "he" is a part of a bigger "It", and the books ends with a nice twist. I am almost sorry that this is a Trek book, because otherwise this would lead to a very nice Saga; How and why the colonists left earth, why are they greedy about fiction, how did they developed the technology and so on. By the way, if you read and like this book, I recommend Ray Bradburry's Fahrenheit 451 too.
Rating: 
Summary: You must be kidding
Review: This book has the distinction of being the worst Sci-Fi related novel I have ever read. It combines mediocre writing with a staggering number of cliches, even for a Star Trek novel. It is also a prime example of the early attempts to justify Troi's existence as something other than eye candy, and like most falls into the trap of trying to "prove her mettle" as an adventure heroine. She's an empath, and a counselor. Think the psychologist (Dr. Friedman) from M*A*S*H, not Xena, space-warrior princess.
The entire society of Rampart is unstable, and as presented could not possibly have existed for 200 years. The level of technology given to the Rampartians is inconsistent, both internally and with their alleged backstory.
The one-eyes are supposedly built with "post-Atomic" era technology, but have abilities that surpass those of the modern Federation, except for when they don't. They are capable of deep-scanning an unconscious mind in order to mine O'Brian's transporter knowledge, but can only read surface thoughts when Sharee wants to impress us with Shibiko's "Zen archery" approach to security. Even then, they react to "visual input" to dodge a beam that travels at lightspeed, showing Mr. Sharee understands physics less well than he understands Zen.
It is established early on that the one-eyes communicate using radio frequencies, and all communication planetside uses these same frequencies. It has long been established that Starfleet communicators do *not* use "primitive" radio frequencies. Yet, the one-eyes can jam all communicator frequencies, and can even jam transporter frequencies, an ability which has previously been established to be a function of *shield* technology, not communications. Furthermore, they can jam with sufficient power, using only a small internal power source, that a Starship cannot overpower the jamming, even with a tight point-to-point beam. That would make the power source in a one-eye at least equal, actually somewhat superior, in output to the main anti-matter engines of the Enterprise.
Furthermore, allthis adaptability and creativity is possessed by a computer constructed by a civilization that has banned imagination and creativity. This, by itself, completely undercuts the supposed central message of the book - that creativity and imagination are a necessary part of human intelligence. Instead of being stagnant, the Rampartians are sufficiently adaptable to seriously challenge the Enterprise when, by all rights, they should have been instantly overwhelmed.
The behaviors of the crew as a whole are incredibly inconsistent with the Star Trek Universe background. As a lsot colony of Earth (actually, of the federation, since the colony is only 200 years old), the prime directive does not apply, and all the "we must be careful not to interfere" handwringing of the early chapters is so much foolishness. Of course, so is the ability of the one-eyes to get free in the first place.
All they have to do is lock them in and set up a containment field, something that can be done in all transporter rooms. Even if you choose to believe that the one-eyes can instantly learn everything O'Brian knows about the ship, they still don't have the necessary tools to override. in order for the weapon-systems of the one-eyes to not be detected during transport, and therefore be a surprise later, both O'brian and Worf have to have been on some kind of severely intoxicating drug when the devices were first transported. In order for the crew not to have noticed when monitoring communications that there was no fictional or speculative programming, the entire communications section would have to be criminally incompetent - this is a key part of the pattern any alleged contact team would be trained to look at.
I could go on, but I've already wasted far more energy than this book deserves. The idea of a world where all fiction is banned is interesting, and I'm sure a rebellion against such an oppressive regime would make a fascinating series of stories. This isn't one of them. It isn't even a good addition to the Star Trek canon, since it more inconsistent and more poorly executed than even a typical episode of Star Trek: Voyager.
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