Margaret Clark (3)

It’s been a long time since I have read Star Trek book beyond the ones I own. I found this book while browsing the shelves at the library and was glad to find it. I’ve always been a fan of the mirror universe episodes and books. It’s interesting to see what my favorite characters would have been like if they took a different path in life or grew up in a different environment. This book is made up of 12 short stories that take place at different times and involve characters from each of the Star Trek series. I will admit I did not read the ones about the classic Star Trek characters. Some of the stories were just ok but Nobunaga by Dave Stern, Bitter Fruit by Susan Wright and A Terrible Beauty by Jim Johnson in particular really left me wanting more. I’m going to have to check to see if any of those were fleshed out into full length books. Nobunaga involves the crew of the series Enterprise and centered around Trip (my favorite of the crew) and imagine an evil empress Hoshi. Bitter Fruit is filled with the Voyager crew. It sounds like Kes may have a darker plan in mind for the world. A Terrible Beauty seems to have a mix of characters from various series. We see Riker, Tuvok and Deanna Troi’s father. This was definitely another great addition to the mirror universe books and I can only hope some of them were or will be developed into full length books.… (mehr)

After the success of 2007's Mirror Universe novellas, Pocket wisely commissioned this, a collection of short stories also set in everyone's favorite decadent alternate reality. It's a decent lineup of stories, showcasing mirror versions of a lot of characters who had previously gone undepicted, from Captain Robert April to Christine Vale. There's a lot of overused character types in these stories-- the sadistic tyrant (Imperial or Alliance), the noble Imperial who tries his best under a corrupt government, and the noble rebel (against either the Empire or Alliance)-- which gets wearying after a while. The standouts are Dave Stern's "Nobunaga", which is a nicely surreal tale that though you can cotton on to the general idea easily enough keeps you guessing about the specifics (and wraps them up in an effectively jumpy style) and Rudy Josephs's "The Sacred Chalice", which gives us some well-rounded, recognizable yet still quite different versions of the Troi family, as well as some typically harrowing mirror universe events.… (mehr)