I will start this review off by saying that I am not a Klingon fan, I'm a Vulcan fan. I read this book right away, because it was a find at a local used bookstore and I had to have it. But for any Klingon fan, this book lives up to the species very well. You have the temper of the Klingons and then you have the deceit that threatens to dishonor the very nature upon which the Klingon Empire bases itself on. Either Dave Galanater or Greg Brodeur must have been Klingon fans, because they understood the species all the way through. They also understood that it's "human" nature to hate someone that is almost too much like you to be able to co-exist peacefully. That is the conflict that starts this book off. The Hidran race has lived in the shadows of their sworn enemies, the Klingons, for years. The race is considered weak and dishonorable in the way they fight according to the Klingons. That's all Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew really have to go when they pick up a party of Hidrans and Klingons for a hopefully diplomatic ending. Like any other diplomatic run for the poor Enterprise crew it doesn't go right. A Hidran ambassador mysterious dies after things were going a little too smoothly and the victim kills a Klingon delegate with the last of his strength. Now they have two murders and two different species who are bent on exterminating the other before they even reach the planet of supposed delegation. If it wasn't for the un-Klingon like ambassador, things probably would have ended up like that and Worf learns a hard lesson that your heroes aren't always what they are made up to be. Before they find out where the delegation's quarters are, the Enterprise crew must clear the two murders before a war breaks out where peace was supposed to begin. As the book goes on, you see more and more of the Klingons in the Hidrans. You want to believe that they have just been treated horribly and the Klingons got the better end of the deal, but their ambassador kind of ruins it with a plan of deceit. And for once, Wesley Crusher isn't saving the ship. He's more worried about saving his friend. It's a side of dedication we haven't really seen in this young man and the side of personal dedication suits him well, but his friend lets the reader down in his decision to put himself in front of the ship. The story of Wesley and his friend, although a side plot that eventually meshes with the main one, was more interesting to me. The book overall was a great Klingon book for all those "honorable" fans, but if the episodes of Worf's heritage were enough to last you an entire lifetime then skip this one. All Wesley Crusher fans should pick this one up though. He's pushed the same intelligence and dedication that has made him annoying to many into saving a friend for almost an selfish purpose. If this book isn't about "human" nature, then I'm not sure what else you could get out of it.
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Title: Foreign Foes
Author: AUTHOR
Review by: Amanda Sielu Paris
2-17-05
