Just as a report about war crimes during the occupation of Bajor is published on Cardassia, Pulaski and Alden come to visit - and are embroiled in internal politics, kidnapping and the attempt at defamation of Natima Lang, the next hopeful for head of the Cardassian Union's university.

I love McCormack's Cardassia, it's rich, well-nuanced, and her Garak is to die for, pure and simple. 15 years have passed since the end of the Dominion War and Cardassia is on a good way to becoming a lasting democracy. One important step is facing its own role in past events, like the occupation of Bajor, and its consequences - in this case putting criminals on trial. But the situation is still unstable enough that accusations against a popular figure might put democracy as a whole in danger. And this knife's edge comes through beautifully. However, ultimately, as long as Garak's in power I simply don't quite see any serious threat to Cardassia's fledgling democracy. He's too vigilant and circumspect - but after his term, I guess all hands are off. For we know a young democracy is most in danger of falling back into old authoritarian patterns when people begin to feel safe and stop paying attention.

Garak's own position is, of course, rather unique; he was a member of the Order back on Bajor, did his own share of criminal acts, has always frowned upon democracy and the rule of law - but keeps steering Cardassia on the right path. Of course, he has his agenda, of course, he keeps secrets, and I think Garak wouldn't be Garak if he didn't, but he's the one character who has changed most consistently throughout TV and treklit, and having him as the strongest supporter of democracy now feels right and true. One thing I find really extraordinary is how drawn he seems to be to doctors, as in Parmak, as in Bashir who have always acted as some sort of moral compass for him. Just one thing: How long is the castellan's term? And can't Garak be reelected for another term?

As for Bashir: Since I haven't yet read "Section 31: Control" I don't know what happened there, but just the few little scenes (the last one with Garak especially moving) have moved that novel up quite a few spots in my to-read list.

As much as I love McCormack's portrayal of Cardassia, I really can't relate to her Pulaski who smells conspiracies and shows prejudice whereever she goes. She's annoying as hell, and even if she doesn't care about diplomacy she's old and experienced enough to realize when to speak and what to say (and in what way). So her blunder with Garak and the media is a bit tiresome. But I like Alden - so he should keep popping up in McCormack's novels, but please spare me Pulaski!

Overall, another solid entry about Cardassia - nowhere near Never-Ending Sacrifice or Crimson Shadow, but still an entertaining glimpse into Garak's reign as castellan.

As a sidenote: Apparently, this novel is meant to be set 3 years into Garak's term as is mentionned multiple times within the narrative (which makes sense, given the various changes and developments Garak's pushed through since), but the historian's note has it set one year after Crimson Shadow... well, since TrekLit doesn't have the license to move beyond 2387 (the Romulan supernova), they've certainly hit a bit of an obstacle here.

The art wasn't bad, but recent printing choices in comics make them so slick I think I've just gotten used to that quality and a bit snobby about it all.   Even without the benefit of glossy paper, or the coloring systems used now, the pencils weren't the most fantastic I've seen, not even in Star Trek comics. 

But my fears that the stories wouldn't be good based on some poor photograph choices and the early art choices were unfounded.   The art quality stayed the same - better than mediocre, not the best I've seen - but the stories were phenomenal, getting at some of the best conflicts in Deep Space Nine: how to resolve the conflict between Bajorans and Cardassians given the recent, and traumatic, history between the two people, and who has rights, and the way the characters interact.   

This all seems to be before Odo finds his people, so the earlier DS9 years, but that's okay: I enjoyed those when I finally got into this show, so I appreciated all these stories. 

I'm ready for more Trek.  I figure in a day or two, I'll revert back to Turner's bundle, but for now?  These volumes are so excellent they just make me want to read more Trek. 

While Ro is approached by Odo to act as an intermediary in the question of missing Cardassian prisoners of war in Romulan space, first contact is made with a new species, the People of the Open Sky, laid back, friendly, with lots of children. Meanwhile, Katherine Pulaski has joined the Federation ship Athene Donald dedicated to exploration, and crewed by a multitude of species, even non-allied ones like a Tzenkethi. In the last moment, SI commander Peter Alden joins the crew to Pulaski's displeasure. He was supposed to be accompanied by another Tzenkethi, but somehow she missed their departure just as a robbery occurs on DS9. And within days they make first contact with an advanced species, the Chain.

Suspicions, prejudices, secrets and spies could be the tags to this novel. Everyone is suspicious of everybody else, especially Pulaski of Alden, Alden of the Tzenkethi crewmember, Blackmer of the missing Tzenkethi on DS9 etc. That gets tiresome quite fast because even if some of the suspicions are warranted, they don't influence the main story. And then there's the Chain who after learning about the People's presence on DS9 demand their extradition based on prejudice. That Starfleet even considers that demand without any kind of proof is ridiculous at best and perpetuated prejudice at worst. Frankly, I could have done without the waxing about war orphans and the history-lessons about the Romani on Earth because common sense and an adherence to the rule of law where evidence is needed before any kind of claims are heard, would have sufficed to solve that issue - even if, of course, the Chain ship was superior in force to the Athene Donald. But why does no one suggest to just accompany the Chain ship to DS9? That would have removed the immediate threat and offered the opportunity to deal with the issue directly.

What I enjoyed very much was Odo's portrayal, his sense of justice coming through again, be it in dealing with the PoW-issue (and Garak) or with the missing Tzenkethi Corazame who is somehow groomed by Alden to return to Ab-Tzenketh as a spy for the Federation but finds herself for the first time making a stand for herself. Alden himself turns out to be quite an interesting character, a scientist turned spy. I'm curious to find out more about him, especially his background with the Tzenkethi, and whether or not he really can shed his ties to Starfleet Intelligence as he's trying to do by the end of this novel following a conversation with Corazame

Crusher's interim stay on DS9 as CMO remains rather bland, as do her issues with returning to the Enterprise and Picard that tie back to "Silent Weapons" when Picard protected her instead of the president. I don't know, perhaps it's because it's been years since I read the Data-trilogy, and in the Fall novels the rift between Picard and Crusher was more of a pretense for outside observers so that her leaving the Enterprise makes sense... but all that introspection here doesn't work for me. And DS9 itself suffers from a lack of interesting crewmembers. The only ones that actually get some kind of "screentime" are Ro and Blackmer, with appearances by O'Brien, Tenmei and Nog (though the latter two are absent here), so I wonder: How can a space station so vast be led by just 2 or 3 officers? Where is the rest of the crew?

Overall, "The Missing" leaves me feeling ambivalent. There are a few things I'd like to follow up on, but those were unfortunately few and far inbetween.

This novel picks up right where "Ascendance" left off with Kira reemerging from the Wormhole.

And hers is by far the most interesting part of the novel. First of all, she reunites with Altek Dans, and then returns with him to Bajor where she's faced with a schism within the clerical community - ones who like her believe the Prophets to be gods, and others who deny that fact, backed up by the artifact found on Bajor's moon. Once again her trust issues come forward, trust issues concerning her superiors, in this case the kai and her management of the situation. Granted, Kira's been burned quite often, but this becomes a bit tiresome because it renders her character stagnant if she's faced with the same problems whereever she goes, be it as an officer or as a vedek.

I enjoyed the Altek twist. It's obvious now and mind-boggling that this option didn't even occur to me. But in this case the endless repetition about him being from the distant past succeeded in pulling the wool over my eyes. I'm curious to see where this plotthread on Bajor is going next. I'm glad that the love-triangle with Ro and Kira wasn't really an issue, although I hoped for a better resolution with Ro because despite her (then) unsolved relationship with Quark, what she shared with Altek rang true.

Absolutely loved Kira's short reunion with Odo. Their relationship felt so real within the series, and George managed to rekindle that with just a few phrases. I'm also curious as to where Odo's is going next with the Dominion-refugees. I just hope that despite all the difficulties on Bajor and with the refugees, Kira and Odo are allowed to spend some time together.

But unfortunately all this marked just a third of the novel, the other 2 thirds didn't work so well for me as I'm simply not interested in either Vic or Morn. On the other hand, those plotthreads are led to a (temporary?) conclusion, so that's something at least. Quark and Ro's relationship is over. Wouldn't have minded them being a couple, but not if Ro keeps cheating on Quark and/or their goals for the relationship continue to differ. I could have done without the endless repetition of how hurt Quark is, or how sorry Ro is for hurting Quark... again, the situation is not that complex. Nog's obsession with restoring Vic was heart-felt, given that he in a way owes his recovery to Vic. But the situation within the programme dragged on way too long, and I'm not sure I like the sentient/non-sentient-conundrum. First of all, what's the agenda of the scientist? And secondly, we already had such a question with Data, the Doctor and with Moriarty. I'm not sure I need this issue on DS9 as well.

So overall, I really hope the next novel will focus on Bajor, DS9 (the crew still needs fleshing out after all), Odo, bring back Sisko... now that all those loose sideplots with Vic, Morn, and the Ascendants (in previous novels) have finally been resolved.

Ascendance continues the story right from where "Sacraments of Fire" left off, so you should have read at least that one before starting this.

The focus here lies on finishing up the Ascendants-storyline that was begun during the pre-Destiny relaunch books and picked up in Sacraments. Now we know what happened with Taran'atar and a bunch of Ascendants... and, although the Ascendants' attack takes place 6 years in the past, it still comes full circle in the end. I guess this is one of the perks of this story, its construction because the parts which seemed quite without connection, the attack and the events at the scientific research outpost suddenly come together. Otherwise, while I quite enjoyed the one-on-one scenes with Ro and Taran'atar and Kira and Ascendant respectively, this part of the story didn't touch me all that much - but I don't blame that on the book itself, but rather that I don't have the background of having read the earlier parts of the relaunch where the Ascendants and Ghemor first appeared.

The other, to me more interesting part of Sacraments, namely the upheaval after the discovery of alien technology on one of Bajor's moon and its ramifications for Bajor were unfortunately a bit sidelined. At least marooned Altek Dans finally is allowed to actually step foot on Bajor - after becoming romantically involved with Ro (who hasn't told Quark yet - cowardice? Or trying to keep a fall-back option?)... and this is threatening to become an interesting triangle with the final paragraph of this book. But I really don't understand the investigation into Altek's story. Given that he hails from the distant past, from a time where Bajor wasn't yet united, isn't it possible that the names of places could have changed? Instead of just reiterating that there are no places with the names Altek gave on Bajor... why not try to narrow the search by looking for landmarks or approaching the issue via geographical site rather than name. For instance my home town had quite a few different names throughout history, so why shouldn't that be the case for Bajoran cities as well? And speaking of which: If Altek studied Bajor and DS9's history, did he never come across a picture of Kira, his lover in the distant past?

Overall, much of Ascendance feels like tying up loose ends, and it was good to see Captain Kira and Commander Vaughn again as the leading officers of DS9, or get a glimpse of Vic Fontaine (although I hope he just remains a background story, and won't get a book of his own. I'm not that interested in Fontaine after all - although I appreciated the nod to The Light Fantastic). Much of Ascendance also deals with life changing decisions, such as Dax's being restless on DS9 (and malcontent and all-knowing after one course on advanced tactics...) and eventually pursuing a command for herself, such as Kira joining the clergy, or Odo deciding to return to the Gamma Quadrant (albeit at a time before Kira's return), even Taran'atar and the Ascendants finding peace and a purpose. Although each of these character-moments could have been fleshed out more. They feel a bit squeezed in among all the war-mongering of the Ascendants and jumping between the different locations, more like an afterthought of putting to paper what had already been inferred in previous books (especially concerning Dax who we know assumes command of the Aventine eventually, and Kira). I quite like the status quo on the station now, I like the new crew, and definitely liked that Blackmer was appointed First Officer. But I have to admit, save for Blackmer the other characters do need some background as well. But for those little character moments, however, Ascendance was a rather average book.

Fortunately, there's still much to look forward to, upheaval on Bajor, Sisko's mission into the Gamma Quadrant, Odo's wish to return to the Founders... a bright new future ahead for DS9, after the, I guess, necessary clean up of past events. Bring it on.