Rating: 
Summary: Good- If you read the first books
Review: I strongly recommend that you read the first two books (The Romulan Way, and My Enemy, My Ally). This book deals with the characters introduced in these books and refers to the events depicted in them on a regular basis. There is also a caution--- The Romulan Way and My Enemy, My Ally were written BEFORE the airing of The Next Generation. Many of the speculations about Romulan culture that these books make have since been contradicted on The Next Generation.
Rating: 
Summary: 1/3 of a book at 100% of the price
Review: I'll start by saying that I thoroughly enjoy Ms. Duane's writing style and her ST books in particular. In my humble opinion, only her and John Ford's books actually could stand on their own as good reads without the Star Trek name. Good, inventive characters, good plots, well written, entertaining; she's got them all covered.That said, I'm rather peeved at Pocket for these books. When your first $xx book ends at chapter 4 and the next $xx book starts at chapter 5, you know that you're getting ripped off. This is one book at best split into two so that suckers who either want to see how the story turns out, like me, or those who just mindlessly buy every ST book will spend twice as much money. Then, after spending $xx, you find that it ends in "To be continued". These books are simply setting the stage for the actual story. Nothing much happens in them plot-wise that makes them worthwhile, rather they set up a premise for us to buy the book about later. Had these books been put together as one paperback, I'd give them a 4 out of 5. Since they took one book and split it into two, with a third to come, I give it a 1. The book's a cheat. Matt
Rating: 
Summary: Here's the thing...
Review: In reading this and the follwing book, I was a bit confused and disturbed by both the pacing and the lack of focus in the plot. I've read much of Ms. Duane's work ("My Enemy, My Ally" remains one of my favorite books of all time, even fifteen years after I read it and ten since outgrowing Star Trek fandom), and have come to expect a higher standard than these books are written to. Then I suddenly realized that this and "Honor Blade" appear to have been a single book (or two-thirds of one, as there's a "To Be Continued" at the end of the latter one) at some time, but for some reason were serialized and rushed into publication. This has a very disruptive effect on these two books, making them read disjointedly and awkwardly. The main plot and myriad sub-plots do not tie in together at the end, leaving the pair of books feeling very unfocused. Aside from that...the thing that's always impressed me about Ms. Duane's writings is that she doesn't write about plots or characters so much as themes, and the plot and characters are merely vehicles by which she explores the themes. Sadly, this is lacking in these two books, which read more as straight adventure books. But still, they're not entirely unentertaining, and a light read.
Rating:
Summary: To be continued
Review: It is clear that most of us are unhappy with the way Pocket split these books up. Swordhunt is nothing without Honor Blade, and even that is continued with no publish date known to us readers. Packaging a group of books as a series is one thing, even though it doesn't thrill me, but not providing the completion at the same time is an insult to our intelligence. It greatly detracts from reading a story when you have a year's intervention where your memory of details fades. Having said that, the story is outstanding. I detract a star from the rating because of the way it's split up.
Rating:
Summary: A real disappointment
Review: The first two books in what is now, apparently "The Rihannsu series" were excellent. Doing for the Romulans what _The Final Reflection_ (John M. Ford) did for the Klingons, the first two tightly-plotted books described Rihannsu history and culture: both books were good enough to be fanfiction, and have been treated as source material by many Star Trek fans. I suspected, from the no-enthusiasm that was apparent in Trek fandom, that books 3 and 4 weren't as good. But I bought book 3 anyway, out of a completist instinct. That was a mistake. Book 3's plot plods along: we not only find nothing new about the Rihannsu, the information we already had is used in no interesting way: and finally, the supreme cheat, it turns out that "book 3 and book 4" are actually two halves: at the end of book 3, "the story continues in - ". As my reaction while reading book 3 was somewhat "Why did I bother?" I shall certainly not be buying book 4, but I feel cheated - The Romulan Way was a sequel to My Enemy My Ally, but both were self-contained novels. Books 3 and 4 are really Part 1 and Part 2, and honestly: not worth the price of one book, let alone two. I am disappointed in Diane Duane, because I know she is capable of much better. I am disappointed in Paramount, which seems to have given up on the concept of *good* Star Trek novels. If there was a rating for less than 1 star, that's what I would have given this book.
Rating:
Summary: A real disappointment
Review: The first two books in what is now, apparently "The Rihannsu series" were excellent. Doing for the Romulans what _The Final Reflection_ (John M. Ford) did for the Klingons, the first two tightly-plotted books described Rihannsu history and culture: both books were good enough to be fanfiction, and have been treated as source material by many Star Trek fans. I suspected, from the no-enthusiasm that was apparent in Trek fandom, that books 3 and 4 weren't as good. But I bought book 3 anyway, out of a completist instinct. That was a mistake. Book 3's plot plods along: we not only find nothing new about the Rihannsu, the information we already had is used in no interesting way: and finally, the supreme cheat, it turns out that "book 3 and book 4" are actually two halves: at the end of book 3, "the story continues in - ". As my reaction while reading book 3 was somewhat "Why did I bother?" I shall certainly not be buying book 4, but I feel cheated - The Romulan Way was a sequel to My Enemy My Ally, but both were self-contained novels. Books 3 and 4 are really Part 1 and Part 2, and honestly: not worth the price of one book, let alone two. I am disappointed in Diane Duane, because I know she is capable of much better. I am disappointed in Paramount, which seems to have given up on the concept of *good* Star Trek novels. If there was a rating for less than 1 star, that's what I would have given this book.
Rating:
Summary: This book has no reason to exist
Review: Virtually nothing happens in this book. The Enterprise and Bloodwing rendezvous in preparation for a summit between Federation and Romulan forces and have a space battle with Romulan ships sent to capture Bloodwing's commander. There is much discussion of a powerful new doomsday weapon and many vignettes featuring characters that we have never seen before, do not see again (at least not in this book), and which amount to nothing at all. The ridiculous ending reveals that this is the first installment of a continuing story, but author Diane Duane has not even provided a provocative cliff-hanger to interest us in reading the next installment. Rest assured, if I ever decide to read any further (doubtful), it will be a used edition so that the publisher doesn't see any profit from this sorry excuse for a book.
Rating:
Summary: This book has no reason to exist
Review: Virtually nothing happens in this book. The Enterprise and Bloodwing rendezvous in preparation for a summit between Federation and Romulan forces and have a space battle with Romulan ships sent to capture Bloodwing's commander. There is much discussion of a powerful new doomsday weapon and many vignettes featuring characters that we have never seen before, do not see again (at least not in this book), and which amount to nothing at all. The ridiculous ending reveals that this is the first installment of a continuing story, but author Diane Duane has not even provided a provocative cliff-hanger to interest us in reading the next installment. Rest assured, if I ever decide to read any further (doubtful), it will be a used edition so that the publisher doesn't see any profit from this sorry excuse for a book.
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