Star Trek: Discovery — Desperate Hours
{4.5/5} “Burnham headed for the transporter room, where her next official duty would be to welcome to the Shenzhou the one person in the galaxy she had hoped never to see again, and who would now be coming aboard at her invitation. I get the distinct impression this constitutes a working definition of irony.”
Star Trek: Discovery — Desperate Hours by David Mack, published in 2017
Captain Georgiou and the Shenzhou have arrived at a Federation colony where a mysterious ship has arisen from the sea and attacked the colonists. Soon after Captain Pike and the Enterprise arrive, and he has new orders from the admiralty — destroy the ship before it can make its way off planet. Michael Burnham asks for time to form a better plan — and she asks to work with her adopted brother, Spock.
This is the first original novel based on the new TV show Star Trek: Discovery.
This is the Discovery story we’ve been waiting for — it feels more like Star Trek than what we’ve seen in the TV show so far. The TV show is too dark for my taste, and unnecessarily so (just because other franchises have gone dark doesn’t mean that Star Trek has to).
The insight into the characters of Michael Burnham, Saru, and Captain Georgiou is invaluable. It’s always delightful to see Captain Pike, Commander Una — and Spock.
It’s about people working together to solve the problems thrown their way, even when they don’t agree on everything. It’s the story of Burnham becoming 1st officer.
Even though we know what happens later, as in Apollo 13 a great sense of danger is created.
Spock and Burnham were both raised by Sarek and Amanda but they don’t know each other particularly well — they get to know each other much better during this mission. Astonishingly, Mack manages to make this not only a turning point for Burnham — but also for Spock.
Mack is one of the best of the current Star Trek authors, and this story fits in beautifully with everything we know from Discovery as well as The Original Series.
I previously reviewed Mack’s Star Trek: Legacies — Best Defense.
October 23rd, 2017 at 4:35 pm
Hi Dave,
I have to say, I was excited about the show at first, but I lost steam pretty quickly. I agree with you that it’s too dark.
Cheers,
James
October 24th, 2017 at 4:30 pm
On the other hand, it’s growing on me. The latest episode “Lethe” is my favourite so far. I just saw this quotation from Star Trek writers: “We are telling the story of finding hope and light during a dark time in the Federation’s history, over the course of the season/series.” I’m on board.