Rating: 
Summary: Best Star Trek Novel Ever
Review: My Star Trek (and indeed Science fiction) fan days are over, but I have to make an honorable mention for this book.
Most Star Trek novels are McBooks: disposable junk. Not _The Final Reflection_. I read it when it first came out in the mid-80s and it still stands the test of time.
FASA corporation adopted it's background for their Star Trek game in the mid-80s, much to everyone's delight. If only Gene Roddenberry and the rest of the NG did the same, we wouldn't have the "caffeine-free" Klingons we see today in this post-NG world we live in.
Star Trek's famous villains are depicted as a much more sophisticated people rather than the loudmouths you see on TV nowadays. Ford's Klingons strive for the "khomerex zha" and have an interesting after-life mythology, believing in "the black fleet." Ruthless yes, but not mindlessly so.
Ford, you have my vote as best ST novelist ever. (Loved your Gurps stuff too :-) )
Rating:
Summary: The must-have book for students of Klingon culture
Review: One of the few truly good STAR TREK novels with any appeal to a non STAR TREK audience. Ironic since the novel does not deal with the familiar STAR TREK cast of characters at all, but is set approximately 40 years before the time of the original series.The story focuses on Krenn, a young Klingon Commander who is a practitioner of "that least Klingon of arts...strategy" and his relationship with Emanuel Tagore, an ambassador sent to the Klingon Empire to represent the United Federation of Planets. Skillfully crafting the interactions between these two characters, Ford allows for an exploration of human nature on a general level, as Krenn struggles to understand the alien concepts of morality and humanism while Dr. Tagore tries to assimilate the Klingon's more Darwinistic philosophies and conception of honor. The novel builds to a suitably satisfying climax where Krenn must think several moves ahead of events in order to secure himself, Dr. Tagore and their two respective Empires. All in all, a tight, fascinating exploration of what the Klingons refer to as the Komerex Zha (The Perpetual Game) that represents life itself wherever it thrives in the universe.
Rating:
Summary: Old School Klingons
Review: Sometimes it is very hard to remember that there was a time when Klingons were guys with a tan, long moustaches, and vaguely Mongol attire, as opposed to the samurai-vikings with lumpy foreheads. John Ford's book was the best thing to come along about Klingons until TNG, Marc Okrand, and later movies changed our image of them and their society. In many ways, I still love this old school vision. These are not the Klingons of Worf and Gowran. Warriors names still all begin with the letter "K". Why? Well, because that is how you know someone is in the Imperial Klingon Navy. These Klingons are massively paranoid because the Imperial Intelligence Service pokes into every aspect of life, public and private. Also quite importantly this is a society that thinks in binary terms. There is "komerex" (that which grows, lives, expands, fights) and "keterex" (that which shrinks, dies, contracts, is defeated). To be a true klingon means to fight and expand the empire. A stable-state government is just not in the picture. Captain Krenn, a klingon suddenly without a House, is sent to learn more about the latest adversaries of the Empire, the United Federation of Planets. The humans make little sense to him and he is wary, but he is also wary of his own government -- he knows there is a plot afoot, one that he thinks is there to destroy him; on the other hand, it might just be a plot to start a war. The komerez zha (the Klingon game, their "equivalent to chess") is deadly and everyone plays. Especially those who claim not to play. No, this is not what the klingons are "really like" anymore. I find that a pity as the book is intriguing. But if you are a Trek fan, do yourself a favour and read this book with an open mind. Maybe its another parallel universe, like the Mirror Universe we have seen in other episodes. Or perhaps the komerex zha is still being played behind your backs.
Rating:
Summary: A must-read for any Trek fan.
Review: The Final Reflection is set on a Klingon ship, and the entire adventure is told from the Klingons' point of view. A lot of Klingon culture and history is disclosed here for the first time. A young Spock makes a brief cameo appearance
Rating:
Summary: It's my all-time favorite book
Review: this book is absolutely beautifulif not flawless. The Klingon game of Klin Zha and Krenn's mission to Earth are the icing on the cake. If you want to buy a sequel to Final Reflection, I suggest you buy Peter Morwood's Star Trek: Rules of Engagements. Yes, indeed, Peter Morwood did include the Klingon culture based on John M. Ford's depictions in the book. Ford's depictions of the Klingons is essentially different from pseudo-bushido vikings of TNG and DS9 and stereotyped soviet clones of the original series.
Rating: 
Summary: An interesting piece of Star Trek pre-history.
Review: This book within a book tells how the truce between the Klingons and the Federation was formed. It takes place some forty or so years before the first Trek television series and features the main characters (Kirk, Spock, and McCoy) only in small, yet highly important, cameos. I read this novel around the time that Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was released in theaters and found the distinct parallels between the two, if you can pardon the pun, fascinating. I'm not a huge fan (i.e. constant reader) of the Star Trek novels, but am always willing to give anything a try once, this is one time I am glad I did. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Good? Yes. Star Trek? No.
Review: This is a good novel. The reader should be warned, however: it is not, except in name, a Star Trek novel. Ford ignores the normal ST cast almost entirely, focusing instead on characters of his own invention. This allows him to write characterization with more depth and originality than any other Star Trek novel. Gone, too, is the shining optimistic future that fans are accustomed to. Ford's Federation is a squabbling, Balkanized mob of worlds that seems to stand little chance against the well-organized and ruthless Klingons. I almost wish that Ford had simply written a mainstream SF novel; it was clearly what he had in mind. But then, in that case I'd probably never have read this fine novel.
Rating:
Summary: a winner
Review: This is a must-read book not just for trekkers but also for everyone. You'll keep wanting to reread this fantastic story. the depth is Klingon charadter is not only intriguing but also it's unquestionable.
Rating:
Summary: excellent
Review: This is a sort of Star Trk book that makes you really think! It is about the kind of Klingons you never see any more. Not the smooth-headed ones from the original series, and not the ones from Next Gen and DS9 either. But the ones with the single anterior ridge and the canine fangs, the ones you see on the first ST movie. Their society and their home planet were different, but their customs especially the sense of honor is similar to the modern ones. In this story a young Klingon, Vrenn, is 10 years old and beginning his military career. Yes, this race of Kingons has a short lifespan and grows up as quick as we saw Alexander grow up. And Vrenn quickly becomes captain of his own ship and is sent on an important mission. You'l be surprised at who the villians are in this story! Let's just say it is a very unusual ST tale! I would give 10 stars if I could!
Rating:
Summary: (Arguably) the only Star Trek novel to count as literature.
Review: This is about a Klingon orphan that is adopted by an admiral, becomes an officer, looks for his past, saves the Federation, and befriends a human. It is brilliant and transends the genre. You actually care for Kreen (our Klingon hero) and the book immerses you in Klingon culture. The last book to make me feel and think in an alien culture was Shogun, and this book is about a thousand pages shorter.
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