Rating: 
Summary: creepy and intriguing yarn
Review: This is one of my most favorite DS9 novels ever written, for many reasons. If you've read the plot summary above, then you know that the gist of this book is as follows: strange ship comes through wormhole from Gamma Quadrant with incredible technology, Bajor/Federation and Cardassia dispute ownership, crew of ship is dead killed by ship, ship is sentient, takes over station. Okay, now that the plot summary is out of the way, let me tell you why I like this book. This is vintage DS9. The station is still rather run-down and defenseless and every once in a while the Cardassians come to pester them and there's not much they can do about it. I loved that era, because I'm one of the true DS9er's who was loyal to the series from day one, before Worf and wars and all that. Another thing is the "pup" that one of the reviewers on this page was so confused about. The "computer pup" in the book is actually a sentient computer program that pestered the crew in the DS9 episode "The Forsaken" (fans may not remember it well because its presence in that episode was rather overshadowed by Lwaxana and Odo's being stuck in an elevator together). I love it when a writer puts stuff from the TV show in the books. It's a rewarding experience for fans to be able to recognize these moments, and besides that it lets you know that the writer is himself a fan, which boosts your opinion of them and also your enjoyment of the book. Plus, the ship comes from the Gamma Quadrant. We saw little enough of the Gamma Quadrant in the early seasons of the show anyways, but when the Dominion came in we were almost entirely cut off. This gave us a peek into some of the mysteries that lay across the galaxy. This book also reminded me of a second season TNG episode, "Where Silence Has Lease." In that episode, a powerful entity known as Nagilum toys with the crew, and wishes to understand the concept of death and so starts killing crew members, treating them as lab rats. It ended up that no one was actually killed and Picard and Nagilum developed an understanding of one another (making the show end with a reminiscent tip of the hat to the TOS episode, "The Corbomite Maneuver"). However, to get back on track, in this book the ship mirrors Nagilum, killing crewmembers to gain an understanding of death, but the deaths in this case are real. It's a hard-hitting book, action-packed and very complex, working on many different levels. Nathan Archer has a very fresh and exciting writing style. It's definitely one of the best stories DS9 has to offer, TV series included. If you're a DS9 fan, you owe it to yourself to read this one.
Rating:
Summary: creepy and intriguing yarn
Review: This is one of my most favorite DS9 novels ever written, for many reasons. If you've read the plot summary above, then you know that the gist of this book is as follows: strange ship comes through wormhole from Gamma Quadrant with incredible technology, Bajor/Federation and Cardassia dispute ownership, crew of ship is dead killed by ship, ship is sentient, takes over station. Okay, now that the plot summary is out of the way, let me tell you why I like this book. This is vintage DS9. The station is still rather run-down and defenseless and every once in a while the Cardassians come to pester them and there's not much they can do about it. I loved that era, because I'm one of the true DS9er's who was loyal to the series from day one, before Worf and wars and all that. Another thing is the "pup" that one of the reviewers on this page was so confused about. The "computer pup" in the book is actually a sentient computer program that pestered the crew in the DS9 episode "The Forsaken" (fans may not remember it well because its presence in that episode was rather overshadowed by Lwaxana and Odo's being stuck in an elevator together). I love it when a writer puts stuff from the TV show in the books. It's a rewarding experience for fans to be able to recognize these moments, and besides that it lets you know that the writer is himself a fan, which boosts your opinion of them and also your enjoyment of the book. Plus, the ship comes from the Gamma Quadrant. We saw little enough of the Gamma Quadrant in the early seasons of the show anyways, but when the Dominion came in we were almost entirely cut off. This gave us a peek into some of the mysteries that lay across the galaxy. This book also reminded me of a second season TNG episode, "Where Silence Has Lease." In that episode, a powerful entity known as Nagilum toys with the crew, and wishes to understand the concept of death and so starts killing crew members, treating them as lab rats. It ended up that no one was actually killed and Picard and Nagilum developed an understanding of one another (making the show end with a reminiscent tip of the hat to the TOS episode, "The Corbomite Maneuver"). However, to get back on track, in this book the ship mirrors Nagilum, killing crewmembers to gain an understanding of death, but the deaths in this case are real. It's a hard-hitting book, action-packed and very complex, working on many different levels. Nathan Archer has a very fresh and exciting writing style. It's definitely one of the best stories DS9 has to offer, TV series included. If you're a DS9 fan, you owe it to yourself to read this one.
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