Star Trek: The Next Generation: Destiny Trilogy book review

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The epic Star Trek: Destiny trilogy is finally upon us. This three-book, litverse crossover will shape the enter Star Trek shared continuity for years to come. David Mack has promised a truly epic, game-changer event with these books. This is a clash of civilizations: The Borg v The Federation. Who will win?

Spoilers ahead!

History

David Mack was approached by Pocket Book editors Margaret Clarke and Marco Palmieri with a very specific request. Write a truly epic crossover trilogy. It had to be huge. It had to be an event. It had to be a statement piece.

After pitching a few ideas, Mack was told “sorry, not epic enough.” Finally, he asked them what sort of books they had in the pipeline. At the time, since books a written a year or two in advance, they had a lot of Borg stories on the agenda. “Aha!” said David Mack, who then pitched, sold, and wrote the Destiny trilogy.

It is interesting to note that the previous books were not specifically leading up to Destiny. It was more that Destiny was written to fit around them! It goes to show there wasn’t exactly a clear vision on where the post-Nemesis timeline would go. It was still, somewhat, in flux.

Mack was told to keep Voyager and Deep Space 9’s role in the books limited. This was because they had their independent post-TV stories going, and they wanted to ensure the Destiny books wouldn’t conflict.

Since I read these books a little while ago, I’ve decided to review all three at the same time, as my memories of the specific parts are a little hazy.

Story

A mysterious wreck is found by some of the Deep Space 9 crew, which turns out to be a long lost Federation ship. Fast forward 8 years and the Borg have launched their devastating attack in the Alpha quadrant. Captain Dax eventually figures out the wrecked ship is linked to the Borg incursion.

Rewind a century or two, and the early Starfleet vessel Columbia is going about its merry way, until some Romulans show up and, long story short, they kept captured by the Caeliar. These guys love their privacy, so leaving is a no go.

Eventually, Titan finds the Caeliar too, and they’re also captured. Except that a long time has passed and now former Columbia captain Erika Hernandez is now in possession of some seriously Jedi like powers. She helps the Titan crew escape. Meanwhile, Federation President Nan Bacco gets an intergalactic Borg fighting band together, and they march off to fight the Borg.

Finally, the power Erika Hernandez poses as the Borg queen, in an attempt to liberate, rather than destroy the drones. We also find out, far into the past, the very first Borg is born… a bitter, angry, sick and confused Caeliar assimilates its first victim.

Opinion

A lot of people say that the Destiny trilogy is a great jumping-on point for new Star Trek readers interested in the post-Nemesis literary timeline. Personally, I disagree.

Don’t get me wrong, Destiny is some of the best Trek out there, at least in book form. But man it’s complicated. While it’s sold as a crossover series, when I first read it I thought it would be a crossover in the style of Star Trek: Generations; something akin to “Kirk and Picard team up to fight the bad guys”. But Destiny is a litverse crossover. That means a lot of new characters. A lot of details outlined in the preceding books.

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Mack holds the huge, twisty, timey-wimey story together will impressive skill

That aside, Destiny is just about everything it promised to be. The trilogy does not pull any punches. It was a gutsy move, exploring both the origin of the Borg and, in the end, defeating them for good. That’s right, we know how the Borg came about and we see the Borg threat neutralised once and for all.

Like a lot of people, I found the Enterprise era story, featuring Hernandez, Inyx, and the MACOs, the most interesting. The story constantly shifts viewpoints, and some things that seem unrelated eventually come together. There were a few points where I found myself a little lost, or a bit impatient to get back to a more critical part of the story.

But Mack holds the huge, twisty, timey-wimey story together will impressive skill. And things come to a very satisfying conclusion in book 3. Mack also does a great job translating the feel of Star Trek from the screen to the page. Little, innocuous details help create a vivid sense of Trekkyness, without trying too hard.

Reception

The Destiny trilogy received positive reviews online. All three books hold an “excellent” rating on TrekBBS. TrekLit described Gods Of Night as being, “[…] an incredibly strong start to the Destiny trilogy.” While Trek Core said it was, “[…] an excellent trilogy.” Trek Movie described the trilogy as achieving, “a startling transformation of the Star Trek universe.” While The Discriminating Fangirl described the trilogy as, “A masterpiece.” Needless to say the general reception was positive.

Mack said in an interview that the book did, and continues to, sell very well.

The Final Verdict

The Destiny trilogy is big, bold, gutsy and well written. But best of all it’s a lot of fun. While I wish I had read a few more of the preceding books first, but I still enjoyed it. There is no question that the Star Trek Litverse will never be the same.

Score

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