One day not too long ago I was in the local Barnes & Noble and noticed a Star Trek book with a very intriguing cover. Now, having been a Star Trek fan since I was just a little guy watching reruns (that I thought were first-run episodes way back then) at 6:00pm weeknights on WPIX out of New York City, I have always been a fan of the ongoing series of books put out by Pocket Books, seemingly one a month for the past decade or so.

That's not to say that I have ALL of the books in each of the continuing series (The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and now, Enterprise), but I have my fair share of Star Trek fiction sitting on my various bookshelves. At last count, 85 to be exact. But if you take into account the more than 350 Star Trek titles currently in existence, those I have read are a mere pittance. Nevertheless, it takes more than your run-of-the-mill Star Trek book to hit the shelves these days to make me pick one up.

Such was the case with Dayton Ward's IN THE NAME OF HONOR. The cover of this book was somehow different than the rest. It was ominous, forceful, brooding and, most of all, featured a Klingon Bird Of Prey! This book had to be read, it was just aching to be!

So, I did what any red-blooded American fan of Star Trek would do and picked up a copy off the shelf, took it to the register and began to read it the next day. And it was a good thing I did. This book immediately drew me in, it sucked me deep into the guts of the plot and just wouldn't let go. This was a Star Trek book of a different kind. Sure it had Kirk and Spock and McCoy and the rest of the cast we have all come to know and love...but it had Klingons, too. And lots of them. Bad Klingons, good Klingons (surprisingly), and...dare I say it...emotional Klingons. Not just the emotion of anger, mind you, but other emotions as well.

This book deals with a Star Fleet vessel whose crew was believed killed by Klingons many years ago and those members of the crew who, unbeknownst to anyone but the upper echelons in the Klingon Council, have survived. Ok, maybe "survived" is not the best word to use because, after all, they have been living for years in a Klingon prison camp. But, survived they have and against all odds.

Now back to the story within the story. You see, this book isn't just about the prisoners of war that nobody knows about. It is also about the changes taking place in the Klingon Empire and the need for HONOR that some Klingons are wrestling with in regards to those human prisoners. This is where Kirk and company become involved. But, here again, another twist -- Star Fleet can have nothing to do with going into Klingon space to raid a prison camp when the political atmosphere is as shaky between the humans and Klingons as it is. Kirk must go it alone, with only a crew of Klingons and a small warship to make his rescue.

That's it, I'm through with the revelations for now. Go and get a copy of this excellent adventure. It is not your ordinary Star Trek tale, folks, this one is much deeper and much more revealing about Klingons and their culture than many other Star Trek books I have read. In fact, it was so much so that I did not hesitate to contact the author at the e-mail address contained in his bio and congratulate him for telling such a great adventure.

As it turns out, IN THE NAME OF HONOR is Dayton Ward's very first novel. After placing stories in each of the first three volumes of the Star Trek Strange New Worlds Contest, Dayton was given the opportunity to pen a full-length Star Trek tale and, I am glad to say, his first attempt was extremely successful. I hope for more good work out of Dayton Ward, he has been busy penning the Star Trek S.C.E. Series of E-Books with a co-author and has plans for more solo work in the near future. Go pick up a copy of this one, Star Trek fans -- you will NOT be disappointed.

This review was first published in a slightly different form on The Outer Rim Website