Rindis.com

Published thirteen years after The Romulan Way, it takes place a couple of months after that novel. There’s a lot effectively unsettled after that, and this book picks up on all the threads, and even brings in K’s’t’lk from her novel The Wounded Sky.

Past all that, other forces are in motion. Duane’s Romulan (sorry, Rihannsu) Empire is struggling economically, and with recent events, the Klingons are preying on outer colonies. The government is tightening its grip on colonies, which are getting more restless, while concentrating on Ael, who took one of the most unimaginably priceless relics of the Empire, and the Federation, which is sheltering her.

It’s a big story, which Duane tells very well. There’s a lot going on, and sadly, it does take a while to start cohering into a solid shape. There’s a good mix of action and setup at the beginning, which then settles down to get the main plot going.

Unfortunately, the determination of Pocket to keep all its Star Trek novels short gets solidly in the way here, as this is literally the first half of the book, even though the full version would be ~400 pages, which is a merely moderate sized post-70s novel. The second part was the next one released (#96), and it picks up with chapter 6. So at the end, we’re still in the setup phase.

Duane’s second Romulan (excuse me: Rihannsu) novel is also, or maybe more of, a follow up to Spock’s World.

Like that book, which dived into the history of the most prominent member of the Federation after Earth, every other chapter of this book gives the history of the Romulans, starting with their original split from Vulcan society, and self-imposed exile among the stars.

This alternates with a far better, but very unusual plot centered around the head servant of a Rihannsu household that has seen better days. Other things intrude on this setting, including Ael from the first book near the end, but the only regular cast member who has a presence is McCoy. Rihannsu and Federation covert plots get involved, and what starts as a fairly sedate focus gets shaken to pieces. I don’t buy some of how the Federation op is put together, but once that’s accepted, everything els falls into place very well.

As such, much of the book is fairly actionless, and is a decidedly slow burn. Thankfully, the characters are well-done, and keep a creaky opening going. Things heat up over the course of the book, for a fairly epic conclusion, featuring, among other things, ‘a good ol’ southern fillibuster’. Duane doesn’t do as much violence to the setting as some other novels, but this is an event that would go down in the history books.

The professional fan fiction of Star Trek novels are useful for finding new authors, and the biggest find I’ve ever had from them is Diane Duane, who had written many very good books outside that universe. This is where I first discovered her, and it is also one of the best Star Trek novels I’ve read. Thirty years after I last read it, several scenes still stand out in my memory.

There are, perhaps, a few too many MacGuffins floating around. There’s artificial ion storms, 4D chess (with a mini-transporter to ‘time’ pieces in and out), and the big problem of the book, a Romulan project to enhance psionic potential. But all of them relate to the plot fairly strongly.

Part of the main point of the book is to take a closer look at the Romulans. About half the book is from the viewpoint of Ael t’Rlailiiu, a Romulan starship commander who feels that the Empire’s latest project will only lead to ruin, and so makes common cause with one of her gravest enemies. An interesting touch is that Romulan dialog is given untranslated, with only a character’s reactions and internal thoughts providing a sense of what is being said. Thankfully, it isn’t done much as it would get wearying, but it is an interesting device for what we do get.

There’s plenty of action, and it’s all well done, but there’s plenty of build-up and planning before that. Duane introduces a number of new characters here, including Ensign Nahraht (the only Horta in Star Fleet), which have been fan favorites since. The characters are smart, and generally act like it (there’s an amount of ‘but of course I planned for this’ that borders on the excessive), and of course there’s the wonder of early Star Trek unburdened by special effects budgets. Recommended for all TOS fans, and action-adventure fans.