This is a stunning Trek noel – it has all of the strengths of Star Trek.

The third novel in the Titan series sees Captain Riker and the crew of his new command the USS Titan encounter more of the space-faring creatures seen from time to time in the Next Generation series – including Star-Jellies, the shape-changing aliens that had been enslaved in the very first NG episode, forming the station Farpoint, and more Crystalline Entities.

In this book colossal Star-Jellies are hunted by the Pa'haquel, and once killed their bodies converted to the becomes the ships the Pa'haquel use. Following the involvement of the Titan, and the actions of several of the crew give the Star-Jellies the knowledge they need to resist the hunt. But this action was not entirely deliberate, the crew members being overwhelmed by the psychic cries of distress the Jellies emanate.

However the results of their actions may well have a damaging effect on the local region, as without their ships the Pa'haquel cannot take their part in the great hunt against other space-faring creatures such as Crystalline Entities that threaten the local planets.

So Riker and co need to find a way of restoring the balance so that their influence in the region does not lead to the demise of countless civilisations.

Okay I thought that this author would struggle to maintain the high standards set by Michaels & Mangels in the first two Titan novels, but I really need not have worried, Christopher L. Bennett has delivered the goods here, this is totally absorbing stuff.

I always felt that when the TV series went backwards in time for Enterprise it was a mistake, losing a great deal of the suspense of the show because you knew that things had to turn out a certain way - how can you have a credible threat to the future of Earth if you've seen it surviving in the Next Generation episodes, a couple of hundred years later in the Trek timeline. This is what they should have done, move onwards whilst taking a couple of familiar folk with you to maintain the continuity in the way DS9 did with first O'Brien and then Worf joining the ranks of station personnel.

But for anyone who misses new Trek episodes (include me in this list) there are the books to keep Trek going and ensure we get out latest fix of Star Trek.

This is a series going from strength to strength – now I want more.