Rating: 
Summary: Does Kevin Ryan hate the band Yes?
Review: After all, he gave the name of the group's leader Jon Anderson to a Klingon spy. But seriously, this trilogy as a whole is unique in terms of the Star Trek body of work as a whole. Although the characters in the other Trek settings have more depth as people, Kirk & Co tend to remain standard TV sci fi Buck Rogers types--as the old Beatles number "Bungalow Bill" lyric says: "the all-American bullet-headed Saxon mothers' sons". Necessarily so, I suppose--... The complexity of Spock is merely the exception that proves the rule and always has been. The dogmatic "loyalty" of the TOS zealots notwithstanding, I think Star Trek reached adulthood with Picard and the TNG people, and reached its full maturity with Sisko's DS9 crew. That's what makes this trilogy so unique--it brings to the original cast even more character development than they achieved in the feature films. The main story here is of the Klingon operative Kell, aka "Jon Anderson". Raised and trained with his culture's propaganda about the "earthers", the biggest thing this guy experiences is the scales falling from his eyes about how much bull he's been fed all his life about the subklingon "vermin" of the Federation. He gets involved in an affair of the heart with a fellow officer on the Enterprise, breaks up with her to avoid getting "too close"--after all, he is a deep cover spy--then feels guilty about it. ... Then Kell/ Anderson starts to admire the man he's been sent to assasinate--Kirk. This dude he has the duty to whack has as much moxie as the greatest warriors he knows from his own people! And to top it off, he begins to see the "enemy troops" he's serving with as comrades--he has no qualms about fighting alongside them. The combat sequences thoughout this trilogy are as gritty as war stories should be--non of this sanitized-for-prime-time pseudo-action we saw this cast get involved in on the tube. Were it not for the fact that it would have been longer than a Wouk, Clancy or King epic, the whole trilogy should have been one book. So my advice is that you get all three books--reading just this one will only send you scrambling after the other two anyway.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best TOS books
Review: Book 1 was an awesome read. I had to read it in one sitting. The character development was excellent, the story was engrossing, seeing things from the Klingon spy Kell's point of view and contrasting it to Starfleet Ensign West's was great, there was just the right mix of lower decks characters and regulars. It has everything it needed to make it a great success. I highly recommend this book
Rating: 
Summary: Heart of the Assassin
Review: Captain James T. Kirk has been marked for death by the Klingon Empire. Kell, a throwaway warrior by Klingon standards, has undergone radical surgery to give him the appearance of Jon Anderson, a new human recruit for the Starfleet Security contingent. As a Klingon, Kell was too small for service as a warrior, but he's just right as a spy. As Anderson, Kell is assigned to ENTERPRISE, and his target is James T. Kirk. During the course of his assignment, Kell is constantly forced to reassess his estimation of the humans, "Earthers" as he calls them. The Klingon sees the human weaknesses that prevent them from being vicious warriors in their own right, but he also sees their strengths and comes to understand the human sensibility of responsibility and honor. While on assignment to defend an Earther settlement near the Klingon-Federation border, Kell finds himself and his beliefs under a constant barrage of fire. A mercenary group of Orions attacks the human settlement of Sector 1324 in what may be an effort to accurately gauge Starfleet capabilities. While Kell is involved on the ground in a running battle, Kirk and the crew of ENTERPRISE has to play hide-and-seek with a warship out in space and through a deadly asteroid field. Adding to the tension, the human settlement is a branch of the AFL, the Anti-Federation League, a group dramatically opposed to the beliefs and actions of the Federation. And most surprising of all, the Orions might have been hired by the Klingons, a move that is totally without the benefit of honor. Kell finds himself torn between the Starfleet personnel who treat him with honor, and evidence of the Klingons' lack of the same. He's trapped among the enemy and assigned to destroy Kirk.ERRAND OF VENGEANCE is Kevin Ryan's first Star Trek trilogy. He co-authored a Star Trek TNG novel, REQUIEM, with Michael Jan Friedman, and served as an editor on the Star Trek series for years. The book offers a fast-paced read with well-choreographed action. The battle between ENTERPRISE and the Orion ship is well-detailed and keeps the reader on the edge of his or her seat. Before the battle after the security team's arrival at the jeopardized settlement, Ryan establishes a good sense of the ship and the day-to-day life, using Kell's Klingon view of things to make them sharper. Although playing a lesser role in the story being presented here, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are all dead on. The Original Series crew shows their particular strengths and weaknesses. However, Kell's story really commands center stage--as it should. Since this is the first book of a trilogy, readers are going to anxiously be awaiting the next two novels. Besides Kell's growing inner conflicts about the situation and responsibility he's undertaken, the background stories include those of Karel, Kell's older brother who believes Kell fell after a cowardly attack made by the Earthers and whose own rise on his Klingon vessel has been marked in spilled blood, and Lieutenant West, a recent graduate of Starfleet Academy with an interest in xenobiology and xenosociology that is obviously going to be a major turning point of the trilogy. Only a couple things were disappointing about the book. Ensign West never seems to have a first name, nor a real background beyond being the son of a famous Starfleet officer that he doesn't get along with. Also, it would have been interesting to deepen his character with contacts and showing him using his own resources to get the information he needed without depending overly much on Admiral Justman (who also lacks a first name). If West is going to be a mover and a shaker in the overall plot, he should act accordingly. His thinking about the Klingons, though, is spot on. Fans and committed readers of the various Star Trek series (TV and novels) already know the stories of the major constituents of The Original Series. Pocket Books and Editor Ordover have re-opened Star Trek TOS in an exciting new way by telling the stories of the men and women that served with and around the usual suspects in a TOS novel. The familiar faces are still there, but the heroes written about in these novels can lose or fail or fall or succeed dramatically. The three-book packaging is also welcome, without the constant numbering that so many novels have gone on before. The two-month publishing schedule to get a trilogy out is also welcome, allowing a reader to pick up a fairly lengthy adventure in a relatively short amount of time. Recommended for Star Trek readers and fans of military SF.
Rating:
Summary: Kevin Ryan knows his stuff!
Review: Edge of the Sword is a wonderful homage to the Original Series. Kevin Ryan incorporates elements of the Original Series and his own ideas very well. The best part is that it just gets better with the two books in this trilogy that follow. Enter Klingon infiltrator Kell posing as human Starfleet Security Ensign Jon Anderson. Surgery has changed certain aspects of his anatomy as well as his face so he can pass as an "Earther". His mission is simple: KILL CAPTAIN KIRK! The only problem is that living among the humans destroys what Kell has been taught by the Klingon Empire. He learns alot about them and himself. The story develops with Federation and Klingon Empire poised to do battle. A war Starfleet doesn't think it can win! The second and third books are even better! The whole trilogy is a must read!!
Rating:
Summary: Who
Review: Excellent author. Nice balance of a fresh plot (which lends an interesting perspective) and good solid interaction between the characters. This puts me in mind of another TOS book I enjoyed a great deal...though I can't remember the title--about an angry and unreflective Klingon or Romulan boy who grows to be a wiser soldier and man. That character was almost completely isolated the main characters from the 'regular cast', but I liked the idea of viewing the situation from immersion in the 'enemy' perspective. I liked this story even more -- because it blends that other perspective more into the series. And this is accomplished by an author who (as someone else remarked) nicely blends in facts and ideas from known events in the TV series. I wondered, as I read, whether this book was completed before or after 9/11? The book lies on the fine edge of the question: "Why do they hate us so much". We are led to an examination of whether we really understand that hate. This query has risen (in the real world) to a level which we haven't seen since the mid-cold war period that was the context of the original series. The problem is back, and now the inquiry is back. If that original series was a metaphor for examining causes and perspectives in the cold war, this book certainly seems to mirror the same fundamental question in the more individual context of a individual (or small group) threatening great harm out of great anger. This is NOT launching vast arrays of missles from a great distance....What does Kell believe he 'knows' about the Federation? Who told it to him? Why? And what does he really believe about himself and his culture in relation to his enemies? Is he right about all of his beliefs...or theirs? Can his beliefs and ours co-exist (as eventually happened with both the Russians and the Klingons?) Or is there a fundamental difference that cannot be surmounted presently and therefore must, at least for the time being, be isolated or simply resisted--as was the case with the Soviet Union and M.A.D.? The author makes a great first step necessary to any epic trilogy...we've met the main character, and found some insight into why he has started his metaphorical 'journey'. Now we have to see him through both understanding of himself and others, and then the confrontation (alone or together with his enemies) of the (yet to be named) ultimate challenge. In the end I hope that fuller understanding brings at least a tense peace as it usually does in Star Trek, but even if it doesn't -- I'd like to know more about why they hate us so much and how that eventually resolves. Not all is always perfectly resolved. In the Star Trek universe we have sometimes been left with an adversary that is too different or primative or just plain nasty to allow sweetness and light...but like any good metaphor, I always come away with interesting questions and insights.
Rating:
Summary: FANTASTIC TRILOGY!!!
Review: I loved this book and the following ones! All Star Trek fans should really enjoy this story. Because I don't like "continuation" books, I was reluctant to purchase but waited instead til all three books were available and I must say these are worth the $$$ spent!!!
Rating:
Summary: Super-excellent!
Review: I wholeheartedly agree that this classic Star Trek novel is great! Not only capturing the very feel of the TV series, but propelling us into the "human adventure" created and propelled decades ago by the late/great Gene Roddenberry. But this is not just a great Star Trek novel, for it is sci-fi space opera at its best, just like: "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Puppet Masters", "2001", "2010", "Rendezvous with Rama", "Ringworld", all the "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" books, "Advent of the Corps" and others.
Rating:
Summary: Super-excellent!
Review: I wholeheartedly agree that this classic Star Trek novel is great! Not only capturing the very feel of the TV series, but propelling us into the "human adventure" created and propelled decades ago by the late/great Gene Roddenberry. But this is not just a great Star Trek novel, for it is sci-fi space opera at its best, just like: "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Puppet Masters", "2001", "2010", "Rendezvous with Rama", "Ringworld", all the "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" books, "Advent of the Corps" and others.
Rating:
Summary: A must for any and every Star Trek fan!
Review: If you're a ST fan, you're really going to like this book. If you're a hardcore ST fan, you'll love it! Mr. Ryan has so many cool ST references, it boggles the mind. Yet, if you've never even heard of Star Trek before, it is still a fantastic read. WARNING! GEEK SPEAK AHEAD! If any of you fellow Trekkies (or Trekkers) remember the "Trouble With Tribbles" television episode (I won't insult you by including the episode number), you'll remember the Klingon secret agent that was exposed at the end of the show. His Klingon features (such as they were back then) were altered so that he would appear to be human. He was on on the space station and was up to no good. And, as we all remember, he would have gotten away with it too...if it wasn't for those meddling Tribbles! Anyway, Mr. Ryan as chosen a similar Klingon "undercover" operative as the lead in this book--except now, he has infiltrated the Enterprise itself. And he only has one mission; he must kill the enemy of the Empire--Captain James T. Kirk! I highly recommend this book and I can't wait to read the last two in the trilogy myself!
Rating:
Summary: The best Star Trek novel I ever read
Review: Kevin Ryan's Errand of Vengeance is an excellent book with character development that I just did not expect from Star Trek novel. The rendering of the reluctant anti-hero Klingon Kell and his brother Karel is fantastic. It's a fascinating story of deceit and revenge and there is great tension in the four main plots. It was a very difficult book to put down. I read it nearly in one sitting. It has everything that I wanted from a Star Trek novel-- wonderfully realized Kirk/Spock/McCoy dialogue, a great sense of humor and fun about it, arresting secondary characters like Sam Fuller, and even a love interest. In addition, underneath the top layers, Kevin Ryan addresses serious themes in the guise of entertainment--questions about courage and honor, fraudulence and aggression, and individual responsibility.
All in all it's great, thought-provoking entertainment.
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