legacies-3By Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore

Pocket Books, out now

Captain Kirk is determined to rescue everyone affected by the Transfer Key…

Veteran Trek authors Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore wrap up this trilogy with some strong action sequences, effective character work and a keen ear for the way in which the crew of the USS Enterprise interact – as well as adding more depth to the characters created in the first two books. There a number of surprises in the sequences with Sarek, Gorkon, Joanna McCoy and Una (Number One to most people) but all the characters’ reactions are highly appropriate.

Added into the mix this time around to compound Kirk’s woes is a Klingon with a certain, shall we say, sense of entitlement. As P.G. Wodehouse might have said, “It has never been hard to tell the difference between a Klingon with a grievance and a ray of sunshine,” and there are some great moments among the Klingons as assorted agendas are played out.

The trilogy has been a great pleasure to read, and for once in such things, not plagued with minor internal continuity errors (a tip of the hat to copy editor Scott Pearson as well for this). It’s inevitably One of These Things That We Will Never Mention Again (it doesn’t even come up when Kirk, Spock and Gorkon meet again a couple of decades later!) but as a self-contained story, it’s been a worthy celebration… Long long ago we got some jointly written novels in the Trek line – let’s have another single book or team-up like this long before the 60th!

Verdict: A worthy celebration of Star Trek. 9/10

Paul Simpson