Peter David’s Star Trek: New Frontier series is a guilty pleasure of mine. It’s vaguely embarrassing to be caught reading Star Trek stuff, but David’s wit, his great ear for characters (many of the originally secondaries from TNG) and love of using the plot elements of the STU makes each new installment a joy.
The latest (and don’t ask me what number it is — #17, I think) of the series finds things in media res, its laundry list of characters scattered to the four winds (and multiple empires, not to mention dimensions), continuing plot lines from the previous After the Fall. Alas, this is not one of the better chapters in the long series.
Missing in Action (Star Trek: New Frontier) by Peter David (2006)
| Overall |  | Story | |
| Re-Readability |  | Characters | |
Story: David tends to write multi-volume arcs in his series — essential, given a cast that keeps growing. By coming right in on the unexpected conclusion of the previous book (don’t worry, no spoilers here), David runs the risk of confusing folks. And, honestly, that’s what happened to me. Who was this? Ah, I remember that happening, vaguely. But where was — oh, okay, I guess I recall that.
The story arc here — the creation off the New Thallonian Name-TBD and the intervention of some Mysterious Nasties in same — is not one of the better ones of the series, especially as it drags the characters in a multitude of different directions. Like most of David’s work, a lot of the best parts of the story come in-between the action sequences, with folks talking. Unfortunately, here the PoV shifts around so often, we lose a lot of those moments. In fact, a couple of key scenes are rushed through, mentioned in retrospect, and given an odd short shrift — including the death of a key, long-term character. It’s an strange, underplayed moment in a very busy book.
By the time the novel is over, the current loose ends are fairly cleaned up, with the setup of some elements for the next book. Which is fine, but in the course of doing so, this book feels way too much like we came in on the last act, and one that was a bit hurried, even at 400 pages.
Characters: This is where David’s strengths usually lie, with spot-on (yet witty) dialog for his various characters. But he’s managed to build something of a monster here, with all of the normal cast of dozens, and more — the crew of two starships (present and past), the crew of another ship, some alien leaders, a shapeshifter or two, various other major alien antagonists, etc. That means most of the characters are liable to be noteworthy just for a few quips and the like. Unfortunately, David spreads things even thinner, giving us very little to chew on with the vast majority of the characters. It’s still rollicking fun and action, but anyone who picked this bookup as their first volume would be completely lost as to who these people are, why they’re doing what they’re doing, or why others are reacting the way they are.
Re-Readability: It’s a fast read and tolerably entertaining. At such time as I do my beginning-to-end series reread I’ll include this volume — but I won’t go out of my way to pick it up just to read it on its own.
Overall: I think the above pretty much says it all. Missing in Action is too fast, too full, too middle-of-the-action to showcase David’s strengths with character, and the plot is, if not poor, not as inspired as many of his other arcs.
I was jazzed to see the book on the shelves. I was less jazzed by the time it was over. But … I’m looking forward to the next. ‘Nuff said.