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: STNG - I, Q - Simply genius!
Review: As we learned in Peter David's first Q novel, STNG #18, "Q-In-Law" and his later and even more brilliant hardback, "Q-Squared," he knows Q and he writes Q with nothing but perfection. With I, Q, Peter David raises that level of perfection to a new height as this narrative story, written almost entirely from Q's perspective is nothing short of brilliant, witty and extraordinarily intriguing. Of course, this novel is made even better by the fact that Q himself, John De Lancie co-wrote this masterpiece. While some may have found the style in which this novel was written somewhat distracting, I found it to be "dead on" with the character of Q and his personality.The premise: We begin this story with a character that by all appearances seems to be superior to Q and the Q-Continuum. In this beautifully well written beginning, we learn that this "supreme" being has decided that the multiverse is no longer of any value and that it should literally be run down the drain. Just as this process begins, this "supreme" being discovers a bottle with a narrative in it, written by you know who. This is where the story gets extremely interesting as Q takes us through his narrative as he takes Captain Picard, Data and us, the readers, through multiple planes of existence, on a search to find his wife and son. While the story advances along, he also regales us with tales from his past that at times are utterly intriguing, humorous and a bit telling of his character. In no uncertain terms, I, Q is a purely brilliant story as Peter David takes us through Q's trials and tribulations along the way to finding his wife and son while the multiverse is crumbling around him. While there are many absolutely great Star Trek authors, Peter David work stands above the rest, as does I, Q. I highly recommend this Star Trek novel to any all fans of Star Trek, whether you're a die hard fan or a casual fan that has only seen one or two episodes with Q, you will thoroughly enjoy this outstanding Q novel. I would also recommend the audio book or CD, as it makes for a wonderful way to pass three hours on the highway, made even better by the fact that this story is read by Q himself, John De Lancie. {ssintrepid}
Rating: 
Summary: something to stretch your mind around
Review: Did you ever notice the bad reviews never seem to have names? Anyway. The makings of a good story: Tight concise plot, focused narration, great conclusion. Introduce characters, building action, climax and denoument. If this is an unbreakable law to you, do not pick up this book. If you can, however, stretch your mind around something different, to new places, challange yourself to allow something OTHER than the ordinary, pick it up. Consequently, if you suffer from accute attention deficit disorder, you love it, too. What you have here is a narrative put forth by that omnipotent, omniscent, trickster, Q, chronicling his attempts to save the universe and his family, with Jean Luc Picard and Data by his side. The narrative jumps from one place to another, and often completely OFF story as Q digresses into some farflung largle irrelevant, but always entertaining, story from his past. And in the end, well...lets just say in the end you may or may not be sure what to make of it. And that is the books greatest strenght, for which most will damn it. It leaves you not knowing what to expect from one minute to the next, not entirely sure how to grasp what you're reading. It's always challenging, always involving, and, as told by Peter David (writer of stuff) and John De Lancie (Q, himself) always entertaining...well worth the trip it takes to get there. The one minor flaw is that much of the book seems too familiar, too humanizing, though, that too is explained in the pages. So, give it a chance. Or, if you've already purchased it, give it another one. Allow your mind into new possibilities and see where they take you...after all, isn't that what Trek's been about all along?
Rating:
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: "I'm not a demi-god but I play one on TV"
Review: It definitely took John DeLancie, the man who plays Q, to know more about what Q does and does not do than any author could manage on his own. If co-author Peter David had not joined DeLancie in this book's writing and wrote it himself, he still have would have needed to put DeLancie on his speed dial. That notwithstanding, all this book has going for it is the fact that it's the only one with the Great Omnipotent Smartass himself as main character. Apart from that, it's fairly mediocre as stories go, particularly Peter David material. There are all sorts of borrowed cliches here. The part where the Universe As We Know It begins to come to an end in a humongous whirlpool? Poe's "Descent Into the Maelstrom" gets raided there. The freight train that's been loaded with Good Guys by Bad Guys who are taking them to be exterminated? Any Holocaust story, particularly "War and Remembrance" by Wouk. You get a mental picture of Cardassian stormtroopers bellowing "LOS!....LOS!" as they throw people into the boxcars. Even an in-house cliche--Q can't understand why Data wishes he were human when he's already superior to us. Know what I can't understand? Why that question is still important to Q when Trek writers for both the screen and the page realized it was getting old along about the third season? The Data we know now has outgrown that old Scarecrow Of Oz dilemma. I'm glad I waited for the paperback edition.
Rating:
Summary: one of the best Q books ever
Review: It is one of the best Q books ever it is about how the univers almost endes thats all I am goingto say hope you like
Rating: 
Summary: ennui
Review: Make sure you know the definition of "ennui" before you read this novel, because it is repeated throughout. There is very little that is more annoying than someone, who thinks they are funny, when they are not. Such is the case with this novel. The reader is subjected to such hilarious comedy such as "Q, go stand in that queue." Makes one want to double over with laughter. Most serious, the story is told by Q but there are so many metaphors that are strictly human that the reader is unable to maintain any "suspension of disbelief." More often than not the reader is stopped cold wondering why Q would be making comments about "needles in haystacks." The worst was a half-chapter devoted to the letter "Q". Q discusses the symmetry of the letter...apparently the reader is suppose to accept that the Q-continuum uses human English as its designated alphabet, or that by some fluke the letter is the same from human to Q. Yet another annoyance was the cardboard cutout characters. Picard's entire role in this novel is to yell at Q about how smug he is. The universe is collapsing and this Picard is worried about whether Q is "belittling" him. One would think that such pettiness would be best saved for, say, when the universe isn't collapsing. There are two good points I can make for this novel:
1) It is an excellent example of why writers should be very careful when choosing to write in first person narrative. The use of first person here hinders the story and is very annoying after the first few chapters.
2) If the author had removed about 200 pages there would have been a pretty good idea for a novel. If interested in reading about Q, try "Q-Squared" instead.
Rating:
Summary: Call me Ishmael, well on second thought...
Review: Q is a great Star Trek character that Jon De Lanice plays brilliantly. The fact that he co-wrote a book is a real treat.
These types of books are best if you don't take them too seriously and just enjoy the ride. Q's anecdotes and asides were more entertaining than the story being told which at times seemed like an attempt to pack as much action as possible onto every page. Often times it felt like television channlels flipping too rapidly. However the humorous tone of the book makes it worthy of a rather enjoyable if thoughtless afternoon. Picard and Data seem to be thrown into the action for no reason but I guess they had to be there since it's a Next Generation book and all. Picard isn't very noble in this book functioning mainly to yell at Q. He sounds like a bitter old man. Ah well. Other than that I think people will enjoy it if they like the Q character and aren't expecting Moby Dick.
Rating:
Summary: Call me Ishmael, well on second thought...
Review: Q is a great Star Trek character that Jon De Lanice plays brilliantly. The fact that he co-wrote a book is a real treat.
These types of books are best if you don't take them too seriously and just enjoy the ride. Q's anecdotes and asides were more entertaining than the story being told which at times seemed like an attempt to pack as much action as possible onto every page. Often times it felt like television channlels flipping too rapidly. However the humorous tone of the book makes it worthy of a rather enjoyable if thoughtless afternoon. Picard and Data seem to be thrown into the action for no reason but I guess they had to be there since it's a Next Generation book and all. Picard isn't very noble in this book functioning mainly to yell at Q. He sounds like a bitter old man. Ah well. Other than that I think people will enjoy it if they like the Q character and aren't expecting Moby Dick.
Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Viewpoint From An Omnipotent Being
Review: The above people are likely Trekkie fans, and read this book solely because it was in the Star Trek section. Believe me, this book is one of the best I have ever written, and definitely is one I recommend to anyone seeking to understand the universe better. The entire story (almost) was written by Q, as a narrative. Some people apparantly did not like this. I did. It showed a lot of wit, philosophy, and just plain good writing. Some of the jokes were incredibly funny, like the one about the man complaining to god. And I spent much of the book wondering about the hidden jabs against both religion and atheists. But which one is truly being supported? I cannot say. This book however, is really a funny view on life in general with the camoflage of being just another dull Star Trek adventure. I hope to see more books from Q's viewpoint written as well as this in the future.
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