Product Description: It's been said that for any event, there are an infinite number of possible outcomes. Our choices determine which outcome will follow, and therefore all possibilities that could happen do happen across countless alternate realities. In these divergent realms, known history is bent, like white light through a prism -- broken into a boundless spectrum of what-might-have-beens. But in those myriad universes, what might have been...is what actually happened.
A Less Perfect Union: More than a hundred years after the Terra Prime movement achieved its dream of an isolationist Earth, humanity is once again at a fork in the river of history...and the path it follows may ultimately be determined by the voice of a single individual: the sole surviving crewmember of the first Starship Enterprise.™
Places of Exile: Midway through Voyager's journey across the galaxy, Captain Kathryn Janeway and Commander Chakotay must choose whether to brave a deadly war zone or abandon their quest for home. But an attack by Species 8472 cripples the ship, and the stranded crew must make new choices that will reshape their destinies...and that of the Delta Quadrant itself.
Seeds of Dissent: Khan victorious! Almost four centuries after conquering their world, genetically enhanced humans dominate a ruthless interstellar empire. But the warship Defiance, under its augmented commander, Princeps Julian Bashir, makes a discovery that could shake the pillars of his proud civilization: an ancient sleeper ship from Earth named the Botany Bay.
If Star Trek were Babylon 5 You folks have read the publishers review so I am not going to repeat it. My opinions of the three stories are as follows: A Less Perfect Union is what Star Trek would look like if it were Babylon 5. The Enterprise crew is an amalgamation of both TOS pilot episode crews. It feels like Strangers From the Sky by Bonnano. If you liked that book, you will like this story. The second story was not so good. I just didn't buy the argument that the Voyager crew would be allowed such high access in the Coalition Military. Chapter 12 is brilliant, though. It gives a glimpse of fighting a war in several realities at once. That chapter made me think of Coming of the Quantum Cats by Pohl. I liked that the third story did not come off as brutal as the Mirror Universe stories. I like that only a few of the familiar characters are present. That shows the effect of temporal drift. I didn't buy the argument that most people could trace lineage to the original supermen. That smacks of inbreeding. The story also makes a reference to Strangers From the Sky and it also brings in the son of John Christopher. I can just imagine the war that would be fought if a permanent gate formed between Dark Mirror Universe and this universe.
I hope that sales are good enough to warrant publishing a lot more of these anthologies. This one is a fun read.
A Review of "Infinity's Prism" Star Trek: Myriad Universes - 'Infinity's Prism' is an ambitious project that's been in the works for years. This is the 'what if' series of novellas exploring all the avenues and paths not taken in the various Star Trek series and movies. The question is, does "Myriad Universes" please the audiences or does it fall victim to being over-the-top, glorified fan fiction? For me, was by far one of the stronger anthologies and mini series put out in the past few years. Usually, there is one story included that feels far weaker and unworthy of print and makes me regret purchasing the book. That wasn't the case with "Myriad Universes: Infinity's Prism". It has some minor flaws that keep it from being perfect but in all, it's a wonderful work of fiction that definitely makes you wish the shows had been willing to take these bold chances and directions with plots and characters.
You'll enjoy how each story tends to capture the spirit of the original series. Each story, to me, comes with a lesson or moral that the writer is putting out for the audience to pick-up on. I was beside myself with the greatness of 'A Less Than Perfect Union'. This story is a blend of Star Trek: Enterprise and the Original Series. This was your classic original series episode with a twist; what would have happened if Starfleet and the Star Trek universe had not been as open minded and in turn was xenophobic? An elderly T'Pol (seen on the cover) is the last surviving member of Archer's Enterprise and through her, we see the alternate history of Enterprise and Pike/Kirk dealing with an Earth that isn't so great. The last novel, 'Seeds of Dissent' takes on a similar theme of exploring the question of 'who writes the history?' as Khan manages to reign over Earth and a rather interesting group of people threaten Khan's legacy and force a genetically enhanced Bashir to re-evaluate the past. Both of these stories, for me, were on the epic scale and a fun read with an actual lesson.
What you may not like is the quick-pace of many of the stories. While it worked for "A Less Than Perfect Union" and "Seeds of Dissent", it didn't work as well for "Places of Exile". The Voyager story came off as the most fan-fiction of the novellas. This was more like a different take or spoof of "Year of Hell" as there are few lessons to be learned and this was just pure entertainment. It wasn't bad but by the end, the story felt rather forced and cheesey. I also felt that even with this being a 'different view' of Star Trek: Voyager, the characters felt very off and unbelievable. This problem also arises in 'Seeds in Dissent' as Kira and Dukat, as well as Bashir, aren't really given any foundation and read as if they are rather plain and stiff, if not over-the-top.
In all, a good read. Yes, there is a fan-fic lining to some of the stories but that's to be expected. What made 'Infinity's Prism' such a good read was that it accomplished the goal of exploring some interesting 'what if' situations in Trek and as you're reading it, your mind begins to run wild with your own ideas of other stories that could be told. I liked that some stories, such as "A Less Than Perfect Union" weren't just entertaining - it was thought provoking and a great allegory to modern times. I enjoyed the 'dark' theme seen in 'Deep Space Nine' running throughout "Seeds of Dissent" which features a host of DS9 characters. Definitely worth your time and money.
Not bad at all All three stories in this collection were enjoyable, and I read it in a day and a half. Of the three, my favorite was the Voyager story, "Places of Exile." The characterizations are spot-on, and in my opinion, the developments that take place for each of the characters (the ones who make it, anyway) are more interesting and fulfilling than what actually happened on the show.
The other two stories are equally good, but are much more reference-heavy (especially "Seeds of Dissent"; make sure you've read Greg Cox's Khan books and seen "Tomorrow is Yesterday" (TOS), "11:59" (VOY), and "Future's End" (VOY)) and the casual fan may not get it. Still, great stories.
I like the whole Myriad Universe idea, especially now that the Mirror Universe stuff is about at mined-out as it can be. Good read, can't wait for the sequel next month.
Uneven, but Pretty Good Last year, six short novels exploring some of our favorite character's Mirror Universe counterparts were published in two volumes. While I thought the consistency of the novels was greatly uneven, the format's success has allowed the publishers of Star Trek fiction to develop similar projects, and this summer two more volumes of short novels are being released, this time each being created in some sort of altered reality we as an audience have never seen before. The first volume of Myriad Universes includes entries from Christopher L. Bennett, James Swallow, and my friend Bill Leisner.
Leisner's A Less Perfect Union comes first, and explores a universe in the era of TOS had the Terra Prime movement a hundred years before succeeded and aliens had been banished from Earth. By setting his point of divergence so far in the past, characters like Kirk and Pike noticeably different than the ones we know. Yet their biases and personalities make them feel that they are essentially the people we know, only transformed by the context of their universe. Despite the ease with which the human Starfleet after Terra Prime could have been characterized as ruthless and bigoted, Leisner goes the other route and shows humans at different stages of dealing with the bigotry endorsed by their society and striving to move past it. I felt the resolution for one of the main characters was a bit pat, and at times I felt the author overindulged in showing counterparts of less well known characters, but in the end I felt Leisner succeeded in what I imagine his objectives were: tell an entertaining and interesting story, while also contrasting and connecting this new universe with the one we know so well.
In contrast Places of Exile seems to me to be quite its predecessor's opposite. The point of divergence here is set in the middle of an episode of Voyager, making the differences between the characters very slight. A different approach, yet it doesn't seem to work as well. For instance, it seems to me unlikely that the mere death of a couple of key crewmembers would have sent others on such destructive paths. The crew manages to forge an alliance with others after becoming stranded in the Delta Quadrant. Bennett's major weakness as a writer is in creating characters who speak and act like real people. His tend to wear their hearts on their sleeves, and are too quick to profess their feelings or accept the feelings of others. No one would respond as well to the brush off Kes gives a boyfriend as this one does; those undergoing `epiphanies' about love rarely emerge with decisions well formed, never to be changed. And those having sex for therapeutic purposes are almost never aware at the time that it is the case. It's as though the author has based these relationships on poorly written television shows, and this failure to make characters believable makes it difficult for a reader to really care about what happens to them. As always, Bennett does a good job with explaining away some of the scientific questions the series left with us, the poor characterization leaves this novel a little short. This is becoming a recurring problem with Bennett's work, and recent reviews of a newer novel don't leave much hope that he is adapting. It's a shame because he does have some real talent.
James Swallow sets the breaking point of Seeds of Dissent during the Eugenics Wars, where Khan emerges victorious and a band of non-enhanced humans board the sleeper ship Botany Bay. The story takes place in 2376, aboard the warship of Princeps Julian Bashir. He encounters the Botany Bay so there is friction on that front, throw in a plot about rebels and it isn't hard to se how the story will play out. The three-pronged nature of the plot lets Swallow avoid the basic good v. evil stance we see in a lot of these types of stories, but it was all too clear halfway through how things would have to proceed to get to the conclusion any intelligent reader could see coming. There are some nice twists, but I can't help thinking that the opposite ending might have been more effective. I also wish that Swallow had spent more time contextualizing the broader universe in which his characters reside. Of the three novels, I would only really want to see another story in this universe.
Taken as a whole, the collection is almost certainly worth your while, with only one truly weak story among the three. Of course, if you aren't one to seek verisimilitude in Star Trek books, you might end up liking that one best.
best anthology yet! WOW! I love this "alternate uni" bit! Writing this when only half way through the book. That is how GOOD this is. I have been collecting/reading every pocket ST title since the mid 80's, and this is by FAR the best thing to come along in ages. Tight charactrization,and a muy cool mishmash of different senarios ST style. I see another one of these next month. If it is as good as this one,I can't wait.Check it out, you won't be dissapointed!
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