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Book Review – The Star Trek: Coda Trilogy

Over the last few months, Treksphere’s Chris Cantley has been taking us through the events of the post Nemesis literary continuity. That all round-up with the trilogy titled Star Trek: Coda. A new continuity was inevitable as soon as Star Trek: Picard was announced, and the authors who had crafted the “Litverse” started considering the implications for their work.

Chris has done a great job taking us through the events of these novels and you should read his piece here for the whole story. But, what about the books themselves? Can you read them without first reading a hundred other books? Have they done justice to the characters and the writers who have nurtured them over the last twenty years?

While Chris’ exploration of the events of the Coda books must be spoiler filled by its nature I will try and avoid too much in the way of spoiling here, but I can’t avoid them all. Be warned…

The names Dayton Ward, James Swallow or David Mack on a book cover have become reason enough to buy and read it. Along with Una McCormack, Christopher L Bennett, Keith R. A. DeCandido, and others they have created a series of interlinked books that are some of the best Science Fiction, of any sort, this century.

Star Trek has always dealt in multiple universes and time streams, from the Mirror Universe to episodes like TNG’s ‘Parallels.’ That makes the concept easier to work with than it may have been in Star Wars, where consigning forty years of books to “legends” status was really the only option once a new Canon was decided on.

The fact that Canon resides strictly onscreen in the Star Trek universe makes the wiping away of an entire continuity just another aspect of the rich tapestry that makes up Trek.

While each novel has one name on the cover interviews the three authors have been at pains to say that all three were a collaborative effort. While book one, ‘Moments Asunder,’ has Ward’s name on the cover the style it sets is consistent across the whole trilogy. The two prologues, one setting out a marker for the way things will be by wiping away a major piece of Trek property, and the other showing Picard family life build a sense of tension and anticipation.

The subsequent chapter with Worf up for promotion and LaForge considering a career change add to that. At this point some of the Litverse only characters are brought in. LaForge’s love interest is Dr Tamala Harstad, and one of my favourite newer crew members T’ryssa Chen. The handling of these scenes where no assumptions are made about the reader’s past understanding is well judged.

With just enough explained to work in the context of the current book, but with hints at past events that will make those new to this crew want to dig into the back story. This is typical of the care that has been lavished on not just the Coda books but overall Litverse. You can read each book as a standalone, but nothing is over-explained to ruin the flow for long-time fans.

By halfway through the first book, the fact that something is eating away at entire realities has become apparent with the culprits identified as the Devidians from the TNG episode ‘Time’s Arrow’. Wesley Crusher would naturally be a major part of a story shifting between universes, and his development as a character is hinted at in a reference to the TNG novel ‘Cold Equations novel: The Body Electric’, and various versions of him play a key role in uncovering the truth.

As readers, we know this is the end one way or another. The writers tasked with pulling down the shutters on this timeline seem to have chosen to write a love letter to Trek, their colleagues and their readers. It must have been very freeing to know that were no rules, no one needed to be saved, and they could tell any story they wanted to. For instance, the first book is an explanation of how LaForge went from holding the steering wheel to being Chief Engineer back in Season Two of TNG. I can picture one of the writers saying, “this has always bothered me, let’s tie it up.”

With the major characters in Star Trek (as in any long-running series) being mostly immune from a visit by the Grim Reaper, being able to dispose of a couple of major canon characters early on, including one version of Wesley adds to the shock and awe factor of the books. The body count in Book 2 – Ashes of Tomorrow is even higher. With the premise established in the first book, James Swallow can get on with wrapping up some loose ends from previous stories. The action shifts to Bajor to pick up the effect of the changes to reality on Sisko and Kira.

The middle book of a Trilogy often must do the heavy lifting, building on the tension created in the first book and setting the scene for the finale. Swallow does both these things but develops the story, positioning the Federation’s political and military entities as negative elements, with one of the key figures in all of Trek siding with them.

You can picture the authors having a spreadsheet of characters and incidents that they wanted to include in the credits so to speak. Chen references Lower Decks when defending a new assignment working in the second contact, Picard channelling Kirk, and a number of other lighter moments amid the destruction. The awakening of Bashir following the events of the Section 31 novel ‘Control’ with the news of Dax’ death by Garak is a brilliantly written scene and it’s only a shame that Swallow didn’t have time to linger on it to round off the Garak/Bashir relationship.

The end of Book 2 brings another apocalyptic passage, but by now the reality of the situation along with the understanding that the Litverse reality is part of the problem is emerging. A “Think Tank” put together of the finest minds, you can guess the names, identify the point at which this splinter reality branched off from the “true timeline.” This is a particularly neat piece of plotting, enabling at one stroke the introduction of the Borg (extinct in this timeline remember) as well as putting to rest one of the paradoxes of Trek, that time travel has no consequences. Christopher L Bennett’s Department of Investigations books wrestled with some of the implications of altering timelines, but now we find that the time travel event of ‘First Contact’ has led directly to the Davidian’s ability to access the timeline and caused the creation of the splintered timeline of the Litverse. This is clever, really clever.

David Mack ties up the Trilogy with ‘Oblivion’s Gate.’ In the past, he has written Trilogies all by himself. His ‘Destiny’ books are the stories around which the Litverse revolves. As a writer of action, he is second to none. I’ve heard Destiny described by other writers as “Mack’s Mess,” due to the amount of collateral damage they were left to clear up. What I don’t see mentioned often is how good he is at writing the relationships that are the key to understanding and appreciating Star Trek.

For all the technobabble and phasers on stun, Trek is about people and their interactions. While the action ramps up even further, if that is possible, the critical points in this final book are the scenes between Data and Lal, Data and Geordie, Picard with Rene, and Beverley. The best of all these scenes is the resolution of Worf’s relationship with his son Alexander. Adding in the Mirror Universe version of K’Ehleyr, Worf’s lost mate makes for an emotional last stand. As they fall K’Ehleyr says “Warriors of Sto’Vo’Kor prepare a feast a family of warriors is coming.”

The ultimate battle at Oblivion’s Gate takes place in an area that evokes, in my mind at least, some of the fights in the Death Star with its walkways and ramps. With the action switching between Kira, Data, LaForge and Picard, all in different Universes this feels like a nod to the series finale ‘All Good Things,’ Picard embraces his family and pushes the button that erases their timeline.

(CBS) Last Best Hope -  Una McCormack
(CBS) Last Best Hope – Una McCormack

The coda to Coda, briefly explores aspects of other potential lives of Picard with nods particularly to Anij from ‘Insurrection.’ The Epilogue, which I won’t spoil, and don’t skip forward to it, encapsulates everything that is great about Star Trek. It is about people and in this case one person.

That the authors’ saw fit to give a nod to Una McCormack’s Picard novel ‘The Last Best Hope’ as their closing remarks recognise that she was the main name missing from the credits in writing this series. As all good writers would they have left a loose end that doesn’t shut the door forever but with the rounding off of these stories they now sit within their own universe, much as the Kelvin timeline does. I’ve heard, I think, Dayton Ward suggests the name The Destiny timeline for it.

Books tied to TV series or films tend to be viewed with a certain amount of snobbery. These books collectively deserve to win Hugo and Nebula awards by boatload. With Science Fiction generally becoming more a literary exercise than about good storytelling, the Coda trilogy stands out, on its own merits as an exceptional story told with skill, as a reflection on Star Trek as a body of work, and as a taste of the work of three great writers at the top of their game. If you haven’t read these books do so, now. If you haven’t explored the wider Litverse, then despite this being the end it is a great point of entry.

Read The Novels That Cover These Events…
Read The Complete Beta Canon Series

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