Picard has lost his ship, the Stargazer. His expected routine, run-of-the-mill court-martial turns vindictive, with his lover turning almost vengeful - as if out for his blood. Despite the vitriol he is acquitted, but the experience has left him unwilling to resume his Starfleet duties. So he turns to his other passion and become an archaeologist, and sets off on an expedition to uncover the secrets of a lost age.

The story is more interesting that a tale of archaeology would suggest. You certainly wouldn't expect danger in your average archaeological dig.

Ever wondered what Jean-Luc Picard did in the years between losing the Stargazer and taking control of the Enterprise? No? Me neither, to be honest. In all my years I had not ever been curious about this. So I guess you could say that this book's biggest selling point is completely lost on me. The book has a little bit of a hurdle to overcome then.

A second negative point before I even opened the book (i.e. from reading the blurb on the back page of the book) is that the story here takes place outside Starfleet. I read these books as escapist fun, I want spaceships, aliens, intrigue and battles. So to remove this left me concerned about just what awaited me inside.

Mind you, on the plus side, the writing style is highly readable, and Bennett has even managed to include an amount of character development for Picard. Given that it's been twenty years since Star Trek: the Next Generation debuted and those years have seen 150 episodes, a handful of films and dozens of tie-in novels, actually managing this is very impressive.

A second major plus for the novel is the author's use of the familiar. He manages to introduce characters we all know (Guinan, Troi, Data etc) into the tale without it seeming all that contrived. Okay maybe a little contrived but not too bad.

The one thing you can guess from all this is that not reading this book will not make your life any the less rich. But reading it will be entertaining, and in a Star Trek book that's all you should expect.