By Christopher L. Bennett

Pocket Books, out now

The crew of the Enterprise catch up with their former navigator, David Bailey – and become entangled in the problems of the First Federation.

When you pick up a story by Christopher Bennett, you can be pretty sure that it will have some hard science at its core – but that there will be plenty of strong characterisation of both core crewmembers and ‘guest stars’, as well as intricately described action sequences. The Face of the Unknown provides all that and more – particularly if you read it with the knowledge at the back of your mind that this was originally intended as a story for the Kelvin-verse version of the crew.

For those unversed in the backstory, four novels were commissioned to be released in the wake of the 2009 Trek movie. Stuff… happened, and the books were delayed indefinitely. Greg Cox cannibalised his for his Kirk meets Seven novel; Alan Dean Foster and David Mack’s tales will eventually see print next year; and Christopher Bennett rewrote his as this book.

Make no mistake – there’s no question that this is Shatner’s Enterprise, and the crew interactions evoke the end of the third year of the TV show (and the run-in to the animated series). But there’s certain character combinations that would be perfectly logical in a Kelvin-verse novel that are perhaps less so here, but which, thanks to some deft storytelling, work.

That’s background to the main story which sees the original series crew caught between two opposing forces – not for the first or the last time – but also engaged in exploration. The new alien races are distinctive, with their lifestyles and habits clear in the reader’s mind before all hell breaks loose in the final portion of the story.

Verdict: A highly readable excursion for Jim Kirk and crew. 8/10

Paul Simpson