This was a mixed bag. I liked both "The Embrace of Cold Architects" and "The Tears of Eridanus," especially the latter—seeing that view of Vulcan was amazing. But "Honor in the Night" I bounced off of really hard. I just didn't have it in me to care about Koloth, Kang, and whatever the heck the other old Klingon is named, who were central in this universe. I guess now I know I like Vulcans better than Klingons, even though I taught my dog Klingon...

After finishing the first of the Star Trek "Myriad Universes" collection, [b:Infinity's Prism|2316918|Infinity's Prism (Star Trek Myriad Universes, #1)|William Leisner|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1346688700s/2316918.jpg|2323435] (which I enjoyed immensely), I decided to read another in the series. While also a fun read, it wasn't quite as good, for reasons that I'll explain in my summary of the three novellas contained in this volume.

"The Embrace of the Cold Architects" by David R. George III — This story is based on a divergence in two episodes from the third season of Star Trek: The Next Generation: "The Offspring" and "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I" Data's daughter, Lal, survives her cascade failure and Picard dies in the Enterprise-C's encounter with the Borg. While the resulting developments are interesting, George just has too much going on in this to unpack within the space of a novella.

"The Tears of Eridanus" by Steve Mollmann and Michael Schuster — In the 23rd century Earth belongs to an Andorian-dominated "Interstellar Union," and Hikaru Sulu commands the Interstellar Guard's Kumari. When he learns that contact is lost with the observation post on Erdanus (also known as Vulcanis) where his daughter is stationed, Sulu orders his ship there to investigate.

This is the most interesting of the three stories in terms of its premise. It's divergence is a radical one — what if the Vulcans never embraced logic? This plays out on two levels: the consequences for the Vulcans and the shape of an Alpha Quadrant without their (and the Romulans') presence in it. There's a lot to like, but it doesn't gel quite as effectively as it might have.

"Honor in the Night" by Scott Pearson — Based on the classic Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Trouble with Tribbles," a engine failure prevents the tribbles from interfering with the Klingons' plan to sabotage the Federation's effort to colonize Sherman's Planet. Yet from that disaster the officious Federation bureaucrat Nilz Baris builds a career that leads to the Federation presidency and peace with the Klingons, yet Baris's death leads to a reporter's investigation that may undo his life's work.

On this surface this seemed the most unpromising of the three. After all, just how good can a novella be that's built around a two-dimensional character from a single episode? Yet this proved my favorite, thanks to it's reimagining of subsequent Klingon-Federation relations (which is different but not too different from what fans of the franchise will remember), its sympathetic take on its central character, and the role played by the Klingons in the story. The great trinity of Klingon commanders from the original series — Koloth, Kor, and Kang — all make extended appearances, and there's a great twist at the end of the story that caps it all off nicely.

Overall this is a story that is well worth a Star Trek fans time. Finishing it left me a little sad, as this was the final collection published and while the concept behind the series is a limited one I felt as though they hadn't quite exhausted some of the possibilities contained within it. I could even see myself reading novels spun out of the worlds the authors created for it, which is proof of the seemingly endless riches contained within the franchise. ( )

One of my favorite episodes of The Next Generation was the one where Data created a daughter named Lal. Unfortunately, that episode ended rather sadly for the android but in David R. George III's The Embrace of Cold Architects this has been rectified. However, there have been other casualties due to the Borg and now Will Riker is captain of the Enterprise. This book continues the questions raised by the episode The Offspring mentioned above such as 'Do androids have rights or are they property of Starfleet?'. Full of moral dilemmas and governmental obfuscation, this story will have you shaking your fist at 'the man' in no time. 9/10

I'm going to be honest and say that The Tears of Eridanus by Steve Mollmann and Michael Schuster was probably my least favorite book from all 3 volumes. This universe's central power is controlled by the Andorians and Sulu is the captain of one of their ships. As mentioned previously, I had little to no knowledge of this alien species but from what I read they aren't going to be one of my favorites. Sulu is tasked with visiting a planet where the residents have captured a science team tasked with observing the native peoples. The inhabitants are viewed as primitive and dangerous with little chance of their being admitted into the Interstellar Union. Sulu has a vested interest as his daughter is one of the members of the captured team. This book ended without any kind of real conclusion and with a barely discernible plotline. It was pretty meh in my opinion. 5/10

And finally there's Honor in the Night written by Scott Pearson. This covers the events of Tarsus and the conflict between the Klingon Empire and the Federation. Dr. McCoy (yay Bones!) is a minor player in this book but it's really Nilz Baris who steals the show...and a certain man named Arne Darvin. A reporter is trying to piece together the story of Nilz Baris and his role in the Klingon-Federation alliance by interviewing key players in his past. There are a lot of flashback scenes and many, many secrets are revealed. It read just like an episode of Trek and felt totally believable as canon to me. 9/10 ( )

Shattered Light is a collection of 3 alternate universe Star Trek stories, set up by 3 very different changes in the history of the Federation. The Embrace of Cold Architects, by David R. George III, starts with Riker ending the Borg conflict by destroying the Borg Cube with Locutus on board. The story going forward though doesn't really make clear how the absence of Picard influenced the changes the story focuses on: the creation of Lal and how Star Fleet wants to use the knowledge of how to create more androids. The second story, The Tears of Eridanus by Steve Mollmann & Michael Schuster, is clearer about the connections. The natives of 40 Eridani A-II had nearly destroyed themselves and their civilization centuries ago, and never maintained a space-faring culture, so the Vulcans weren't the ones to make contact with Earth and eventually form the Federation. The Andorians, Telerites and humans formed an Interstellar Union and Hikaru Sulu is captain of a ship with a mostly Andorian crew, patrolling the border with the Klingon Empire. His daughter Demora is in the security force with an expedition studying 40 Eridani A-II that includes Dr. Amanda Grayson. When the expedition is attacked by the natives, Capt. Sulu is sent to resolve the situation. AU versions of familiar characters turn up in unexpected places. My favorite story was the third, Honor in the Night by Scott Pearson. This one starts with a much smaller change to the canon - a trade freighter explodes in a landing accident on a space station, the trader is killed and his unidentified cargo is destroyed. The trader was Cyrano Jones, the space station was K-7, and without the tribbles to reveal the altered quadrotriticale, the Sherman's Planet colony is lost and the Klingons control the planet. The future from that point is very different for Nils Baris, Arne Darvin and pretty much every Klingon with a major speaking role in a TOS episode. ( )