The events of the Mission: Gamma series have taken their toll on both the crews of Deep Space Nine and the USS Defiant. The future of Bajor in the Federation is now very much in doubt, even as its people face a severe crisis of faith as their world's theology is fractured as never before. Defiant's mission in the Gamma Quadrant has suffered its own set of setbacks, leaving the crew weary and several individuals, including Elias Vaughn, emotionally battered. Now, as Defiant returns home, an ancient conspiracy sets its sights on first Bajor, then on countless other worlds, casting doubt on the very future of the Federation itself. Faith will be tested, old demons will be confronted both within and without, and lives and their directions will be altered...one with the help of Opaka Sulan, an Orb experience, and a change in perspective. And in the midst of chaos, a child is about to be born... S. D. Perry, whose Avatar books relaunched DS9 in print, skillfully ties up a number of loose ends raised by previous novels while tantalizingly leaving others dangling, barely hinting at what's to come. She at once leaves the reader sated while making him or her ache for more. Her writing is vivid, thoughtfully paced, urgent where it needs to be and introspective where it needs to be, almost as if one is watching rather than reading an incredibly well-executed DS9 story, the culmination of seven years of televised and three years of printed work coming together at last. The payoff is gratifying, made even more so by the fact that although a major plotline has at last been resolved, there's still more to the story than just this... One reviewer writes that "in these pages, DS9 truly lives again." Amen. Here's to at least seven more years, especilly if it lives up to the caliber of Unity.
Title: Unity |
5/15/05
