In many ways this book could have been a been-there, done-that kind of Star trek adventure. Run-of-the-mill fodder, rehashing old characters, familiar plots hacked together just in the name of selling a few books and making a little bit more money out of the franchise. The back-cover blurb even suggests something of this kind by comparing the contents to the very first Next Generation episode "Encounter at Farpoint". But does it manage to become more than this?

Picard and co are on a "routine" mission to survey a planet named Gorsach IX, a hoped for source of dilithium for the Federation. It's the ideal mission to undertake to try to forge a bond between new and old crew members, and to give Worf a chance to settle into the First Officer role.

Now as this mission is the subject of this novel you know it anything but routine - 300 pages telling the tale of scientific surveys, mineral analysis and maybe (prepare for a shock now) some engineering would not be the most thrilling read. So we know something is not going to be quite what they might expect. And it isn't.

Gorsach IX is too regular, features are mathematically precise and life forms appear to exist where readings suggest they shouldn't. Add Q into the mix and you know the Enterprise's time in the Gorsach system is going to be anything but dull.

Well I mentioned at the top that the author had an uphill battle to make this interesting, to convince me, as his reader, that this book was worthwhile. To a certain degree he has managed this. De Candido writes as a fan, he feels for these characters and writes them in a convincing way - and you are quickly involved in their lives.

Also he has the advantage of introducing us further to the crew's newest members and building the relationships, good and bad, between themselves - as well as between them and the Enterprise's old guard. The most striking of these relations is between Picard and his new counsellor. When Troi left Picard requested another Betazoid for ship's counsellor, what he got was a headstrong Vulcan - one he instantly seems at loggerheads with.

As a bridging book this is effective, it serves it's purpose to truly start the transition from the Trek of the Next Generation series and films into the post Nemesis book-based Trek Universe. As a standalone it is a little disappointing, the action is familiar, the calm efficiency of the series we all know is shattered replaced with a fair degree of edginess and discord.

But this is not a standalone book in the truest sense. By accident I have read this out of order, I know what comes next and so have the understanding of what this needed to do. Viewed as part of a series you get the most of out this - serving as it does to build the platform for other missions.

Synopsis
Few of Star Trek's recurring characters have made such an impact as the mercurial, capricious and frequently menacing Q. A seemingly all-powerful being who nevertheless came naked and vulnerable to Captain Jean-Luc Picard for help; cosmic joker, judge and arbiter of the universe; this is an entity to whom humanity apparently means nothing, yet who learns lessons in humility, tolerance and hope from his interactions with Captain Picard and his crew. Now top genre writer Keith R.A. DeCandido conjures him vividly to life as his path and that of the USS Enterprise cross once more, and, in typical Q fashion, he presents Picard and his crew with a deadly challenge to solve the secrets of an enigmatic planet. If they fail, the universe will end...