This is the second James Swallow Trek novel I've read, as well as the second Titan novel I've read. Like the other Swallow novel, the pacing is measured almost to perfection, the characters are easily distinguished and easily likeable, and there's a crazy big dumb object out there that's going to ruin everything unless our heroes put a stop to it. Like the other Titan novel, this one feels much like classic Star Trek in the sense that the whole plot more or less revolves around a big moral question. 

So, Synthesis has a lot going for it, and I think it will satisfy most Trek readers. There were a couple of things about it that I thought were particularly outstanding. First: I felt like the Titan crewmembers that this story focused on were easy to get to know and care about. That's not so easy when the majority of these characters are ones that were not ones known from the TV shows and movies. These were new characters, and establishing equity between them and the ones already established on TV (like Tuvok, Troi, and Riker) must be one of the special challenges of writing media tie-in fiction. Swallow strikes a comfortable balance and maintains it throughout. The other thing I really *really* liked was the "Minuet" character. She's featured on the cover of the novel, and she appears in the holodeck in chapter 1, so that part is not much of a spoiler... I can't say much more, though, without making it spoiler. Suffice it to say that she becomes much, much more than the Minuet we encountered in season 1 of Star Trek: The Next Generation. And she becomes incredibly interesting. Not only that, but Swallow deftly weaves her story in with that of Riker/Troi and Choblik (the half-cybernetic engineer from an uplifted species). It's too bad what happened to her at the end -- I can only say I'm disappointed, given the great potential that her existence gives to the future of the Titan series. This last point, I feel, is grave enough that I can subtract a star from the rating, because "Minuet" could have offered so many interesting directions for Titan to take in the future... but the conclusion of this story prevents that. 

Despite what I thought about the conclusion of the "Minuet" storyline, Synthesis is a great read for any Trek fan, especially one who's read a Titan book before (or even just the Destiny trilogy). The character work, all around, is outstanding.

This is the 4th novel of the "The Fall"-miniseries. The race to catch the culprit for Bacco's assassination continues. The Titan is recalled to Earth where Riker's promoted to Admiral. He's wondering about the reason for that when he receives a transmission from Picard who tells him that the Tzenkethi aren't responsible for the assassination, that it was Cardassians. So Riker starts snooping since the Ishan-administration still maintains the culpability of the Typhon Pact. And he sends Vale on a mission to find out the truth about what happened with Bashir and the Andorians. Meanwhile, Tuvok is recruited for a covert operation to capture the assassins, together with Nog and Tom Riker.

So, the story is pretty much divided into 4 plotthreads. All of them advance the plot surrounding the assassination, but unlike the other 3 novels of the Fall, this one isn't really a stand-alone novel. You definitely need to have read the "Revelations..." and "A Ceremony of Losses". 2 of the plotthreads, namely Vale's and Troi's are about uncovering the Andor-story... which is interesting in and of itself because the Ishan-administration managed to practically bury Bashir in a secret facility, just to shut him up. And they aren't really willing to listen to the Andorians, either. So, no one except for those directly involved (meaning Ishan, Bashir, Dax) really knows what happens, and what the administration did and knew. Therefore while it is important to take those steps within the narrative to uncover the conspiracy, for someone who read "Ceremony", who therefore knows what happened, these parts of the story are a bit repetitive, despite questions of loyalty by Vale's temporary crew etc.

That leaves Tuvok (and Nog and Tom Riker... I still don't really understand why he had to be included, to be honest) being part of a mission that ever gets more immoral when the perpetrators are delivered to a Klingon torture base instead of to Earth so that they can stand trial. Will Riker finds out about the mission and who ordered it, and eventually comes to the rescue... unfortunately, all evidence pointing towards Ishan is lost. The mission is quite straight-forward and predictable, that leaves Riker's part as the only actual plotthread holding some suspense because why was he promoted? And who's spying on him?

I think the last question is the most interesting one because as it turns out, Ishan apparently has a wide network of operatives who are willing to do anything, moral or immoral, to further their cause. And he himself as a Bajoran is willing to ally himself with isolationist Cardassian splinter groups to get rid of enemies. So, while the Fall is a pretty engaging mini-series so far, the Poisoned Chalice itself didn't impress me as much as its predecessors, unfortunately, because it suffers a bit from the "penultimate part of series"-syndrome, paving the way for the conclusion, but not actually leading any of the plotthreads there itself. Which is a bit frustrating perhaps.

Mixed feelings on this one....the story is fantastic, and I really enjoy reading about Sanguinius and the Blood Angels. The problem for me here was I hit one of my dreaded reading slumps around the holidays while trying to read about 10 pages a night or so. Also, Swallow lavished in a period of what I felt was redundant, way overblown writing after the Blood Angels' main ship crashed on Signus Prime. This is the portion of the story where the legionaries and their primarch Sanguinius battle the evil forces of the warp, having been led there by the traitorous warmaster Horus in the first place. The first half of the book and the last 10% or so I think flow really well, and make for some compelling reading. However, getting through the above mentioned slog on Signus Prime was tough for me. A re-read of this may be in order, or I need to read simpler books around the holidays.

This book covers the years 2318 to 2328 - or rather, the day of official first contact between peace loving, religious Bajor and expansionist, war-torn Cardassia, up till the official start of the occupation.

It all starts when a Cardassian ship returns a lost Bajoran trading ship to Bajor. What is first seen as a friendly gesture by a race that some district ministers have contact with, leads to settlements of a persecuted religious minority (which bears similarities to Bajoran faith) and the presence of Cardassian military forces in Bajoran space. But Dukat and the Obsidian Order won't rest until Bajor is firmly under Cardassian jurisdiction.

This is a gripping account of the beginnings of Bajor's occupation, of how Cardassia slowly gains influence using puppets, sycophants, infiltrators and agitors and the actual occupation is practically a fait accompli even years before. It's a fascinating tapestry Swallow weaves about a forbidden religious minority that finds sanctuary on Bajor (but is used as a stepping stone in every way imaginable), about Dukat who abhors Bajor's richness in food (especially considering that his family is practically starving and immersed in civil unrest), its complacency, its strong religious foundation, about a kai who was shown in a vision an emissary would come, about the Obsidian Order's modus operandi and about the friendship of 3 Bajorans who are directly and indirectly affected by Cardassian presence on Bajor.

There are a few questions that remain, such as why Cardassia doesn't just invade, because Bajor has practically no defense ressources and invasion (or turning Bajor into part of their Union) was the goal from the start. At first Cardassia's still tied up with other military operations, so I'll grant them the first 5 years. But then? Perhaps it's the fact that although Bajor's in fact a conquered territory, that the Order managed to use their assets in a way that in the end it looked like the Bajoran government sanctioned, even asked for Cardassian troops to keep the peace. At least that's the reason (among others) why the Federation doesn't interfere. Bajor, after all, is an independent planet who decides its own fate - only that it doesn't really here.

But it's an intriguing tale about what it takes to make overt military action practically unnecessary, to destabilize a planet's government so that it practically asks for invasion. Compelling, and a bit frightening (especially given the recent talk about outside influence on elections) to think that one only has to manipulate a few spokes in order to get the whole wagon to tumble down. Definitely recommended - even if there are few better known characters in it, such as Dukat or Kotan Pa'Dar whose enmity with Dukat is explored a bit here. It just takes a while to really get going, but once it does it's difficult to put this book down.