By James Swallow from a story by Dayton Ward, James Swallow and David Mack

Gallery Books, out now

The threat posed by the Devidians is becoming clearer – but not everyone sees the truth…

I’m assuming that anyone who’s reading a review of the second book in a trilogy that is designed to bring to a close twenty or so years of a shared literary universe is aware of what happened in the first book, and, indeed, has hopefully read it. (If not, go and do so – we’ll wait.)

Jim Swallow picks up the baton from Dayton Ward, starting this middle volume as he means to go on, putting characters that we’ve known for a very long time in dire peril with absolutely no guarantee that there’s any escape. For reasons that become clear, this part of the story focuses more on the characters of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine than the other 24th century series, and their considerable progress over the years is swiftly summarized so we don’t expect this to be the Julian Bashir or Kira Nerys of the TV series, for instance. Sacrifice and loss, and what makes such things the right things to do, are at the heart of this trilogy, and we get some very moving moments – one particular pairing’s last actions definitely brought a tear to the eye.

It’s not just the DS9 folk in action – there’s plenty for Picard, Riker and others from the days of the Enterprise-D to do, with some well-written character moments, in particular, for Worf and Riker. Each of them has been affected in the past by alternate versions of themselves, so it’s appropriate that they respond to a multiverse-threatening situation more keenly.

Swallow juggles the plot strands well, with politics juxtaposed with personal conflicts, and action sequences that have the added edge of never being sure if you’re reading a character’s last moments. (And you are. More regularly than you probably ever wanted in the Star Trek universe.)

There’s still everything to play for, as far as the survivors are concerned – but even the cover of David Mack’s conclusion suggests that the end truly is nigh…

Verdict: Continuing the very high standard of the opener, this is essential reading for fans of the 20th century Trek shows and its literary continuation. 9/10

Paul Simpson

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