Writen by V.E. Mitchell Imbalance (Star Trek: The Next Generation #22) is an interesting book to say the least. Sadly this book was one of those written before the TV took off and a lot of secondary characters were fleshed out. I think that is the danger element for any older TNG novels. Everything the author does in this book doesn’t fit or line up witht he characters we know and love now. Sadly this causes the book to lose it history and luster rather quickly.
Nothing new was brought to the table with this book and it shows. A lot of the crew in the story are off having their own adventures and every so often interact with each other, and it’s slow and lackluster.. Again nothing new added to the story.. Main story line is Crusher’s and there is one that takes place on the ship.. For 200 pages of a long choose your own adventure that you have no control of haha. What is odd those the whole story was quickly resolved in the last chapter. Almost like the author got bored or ran out of ideas and wanted to end everything.
The Jarada are a mysterious race of insectoid beings with an extreme devotion to protocol. When this usually reclusive race offer to open diplomatic relations with the Federation, Captain Picard and the U.S.S. Enterprise are quickly ordered to Jarada to negotiate the exchange of Ambassadors.
When the ship arrives, the Jarada seem uncharacteristically friendly. They invite Picard to send down members of his crew and negotiations proceed both quickly and smoothly. Suddenly, however, the Jarada change. They cut off Commander Riker and his away team from the U.S.S. Enterprise and initiate an unprovoked attack on the ship. Now Picard must unravel the aliens’ mystery before it’s too late for the away team – and the U.S.S. Enterprise.
This is a classic case of someone having a decent idea for a novel and then never really being able to expand it beyond a small novella. It’s a quick, mindless read, but even at that, it’s mostly a waste of time. But if you had Crusher as the main focus of the book, it would have been a lot better..
Home of the Nerdy Viking 