The agricultural planet of Acharia III is under quarantine. A virus has been deliberately unleashed on the planet by unknown people for unknown reasons. But this is no ordinary virus - it only targets people of mixed heritage.

Archaria III is a planet struggling to cope with a new human supremacist group that believes humans should come first in all things and in maintaining the purity of human blood.

Despite the best efforts of the doctors on the planet, not only does a cure elude them, but even the virus itself seems to defy definition. If the planet's doctors are to be believed, and Doctor Crusher doesn't trust them for a minute, then the virus can pass through biofilters and medical isolation fields!

It is down to Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew, who are still very early in their mission, to solve the mysteries of the plague, cure the populace, and find out who is responsible in less than an episode . . . er, book.

Any Star Trek fan will like this book

The author really knows his stuff, and the book feels like part of the Trek universe

The book tries too hard to make itself feel like a Star Trek episode. In addition to all of the medical aid missions (which are necessary to the plot and move the story along), there are two away missions that take up half a dozen chapters but don't really contribute to the story.

Now that's fine when you are dealing with an episode in a TV series, as it allows something of the characters to be revealed outside of the main plot of the episode.

It doesn't really work in this book. Those half dozen chapters could have been better used to develop the plot of the book.

As it was, the ending felt rather rushed. Again, those six chapters that I felt were wasted, could have been used to extend the ending and show a bit more detail instead of a three chapter mad dash to get the book finished.

There was also no calm down at the end of the story. It reached crescendo but then ran out of chapters to close out the story.

John Gregory Betancourt (b. October 25, 1963 in Missouri) is a writer of science fiction, fantasy and mystery novels as well as short stories. He has worked as an assistant editor at "Amazing Stories" and editor of "Horror: The Newsmagazine of the Horror Field," the revived "Weird Tales" magazine, the first issue of "H. P. Lovecraft's Magazine of Horror" (which he subsequently hired Marvin Kaye to edit), "Cat Tales" (which he subsequently hired George H. Scithers to edit), and "Adventure Tales" magazine. He is the writer of four Star Trek novels and the new "Chronicles of Amber" prequel series, as well as a dozen original novels. His essays, articles, and reviews have appeared in such diverse publications as "Writer's Digest," "The Washington Post," and "Amazing Stories."

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Created Apr 11, 2018 at 5:02pm • Submit your own review...