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Star Trek: Enterprise #14
The Romulan War: To Brave the Storm
The Romulan Star Empire engages in all out war against Earth, determined once and for all to stop the human menace from spreading across the galaxy.Earth stands alone. The Coalition of Planets has shattered, with Vulcan, Andor, and Tellar abrogating the treaty. Their pledge to come to the mutual defense of any power that is attacked has been shunted aside. Horrified by how easily the Romulans can seize control of their advanced starships, turning them into weapons, Andor and Tellar have joined Vulcan on the sidelines. Humanity is now the only thing that stands between the Romulan Star Empire and total domination of the galaxy. To drive humans from the stars, the Romulans employ ruthless and murderous tactics...and even dare to strike on the Vulcan homeworld with the hopes of demoralizing their Vulcan brethren. Heartened by their victories, the Romulans carry their all-out war assault closer to the heart of humanity—Earth. But the tattered remains of Starfleet stand unwavering, with the resolution that never again would any enemy strike ever reach Earth. On the front lines of the Earth- Romulan War is the United Earth flagship, the Starship Enterprise. Her captain, Jonathan Archer, has seen his vessel of exploration become a battleship. Once hailed for his work bringing the Coalition of Planets into existence, Archer is now a pariah. Undaunted, the captain keeps fighting, searching for allies and determined to do his to save Earth and forge a new federation of planets.
356 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2011
84 people are currently reading
615 people want to read
About the author
Michael A. Martin
92 books53 followersMichael A. Martin's solo short fiction has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. He has also coauthored (with Andy Mangels) several Star Trek comics for Marvel and Wildstorm and numerous Star Trek novels and eBooks, including the USA Today bestseller Titan: Book One: Taking Wing; Titan: Book Two: The Red King; the Sy Fy Genre Award-winning Star Trek: Worlds of Deep Space 9 Book Two: Trill -- Unjoined; Star Trek: The Lost Era 2298 -- The Sundered; Star Trek: Deep Space 9 Mission: Gamma: Vol. Three: Cathedral; Star Trek: The Next Generation: Section 31 -- Rogue; Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers #30 and #31 ("Ishtar Rising" Books 1 and 2); stories in the Prophecy and Change, Tales of the Dominion War, and Tales from the Captain's Table anthologies; and three novels based on the Roswell television series. His most recent novels include Enterprise: The Romulan War and Star Trek Online: The Needs of the Many.
His work has also been published by Atlas Editions (in their Star Trek Universe subscription card series), Star Trek Monthly, Dreamwatch, Grolier Books, Visible Ink Press, The Oregonian, and Gareth Stevens, Inc., for whom he has penned several World Almanac Library of the States nonfiction books for young readers. He lives with his wife, Jenny, and their two sons in Portland, Oregon.
His work has also been published by Atlas Editions (in their Star Trek Universe subscription card series), Star Trek Monthly, Dreamwatch, Grolier Books, Visible Ink Press, The Oregonian, and Gareth Stevens, Inc., for whom he has penned several World Almanac Library of the States nonfiction books for young readers. He lives with his wife, Jenny, and their two sons in Portland, Oregon.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
June 29, 2012
The Earth-Romulan War of a century ago (or a century hence, depending on your temporal POV) is one of the iconic “historical” events of the Star Trek universe. As Mr. Spock explains to the Enterprise crew in “The Balance of Terror,”* it was a war fought “with primitive atomic weapons, and in primitive space vessels, which allowed no quarter, no captives. Nor was there even ship-to-ship visual communication.”
That latter fact is hedged quite a bit in this novel and its predecessor as the Vulcan’s know precisely who Earth is fighting and Earth’s Starfleet Intelligence knows from whence the Romulans come.
To Brave the Storm follows on from the story told in Beneath the Raptor’s Wing and the reservations I had about that book continue here, with a few additions:
1. In this novel, the Romulans’ computer virus that allowed them to take over enemy ships in the first book has become largely useless. I remember from Beneath the Raptor’s Wing that Earth had very nearly overcome this handicap but I don’t recall that they had resolved it by the end of that novel so its absence in this one comes as a shock.
2. I never bought the idea that Trip could pass himself off as a Vulcan or as a Romulan for any length of time. Kirk could get away with it in “The Enterprise Incident” because he only had to pretend for the time it took him to find the cloaking device and get off the flagship with it. Trip, however, has to spend years on Vulcan and months among Romulans. He doesn’t even appear to be trying to be Vulcan as he continues to use English idioms in his conversations. And where is he getting the drugs that keep his blood looking the proper Vulcan green?
A much more realistic (if I can use that term) depiction of a deep-cover Federation agent can be found in Diane Duane’s The Romulan Way (Star Trek, #35).
3. It was established in “The Balance of Terror” that the Romulans do not surrender and would rather blow their ships up than suffer capture but in To Brave the Storm they are genocidally suicidal. Not once but three times does a Romulan commander slam his ship into an inhabited planet at translight velocities.
I can’t imagine that the Romulan government would be supportive of a policy that rendered so many potentially useful worlds useless. Take out as many of your enemies as possible? Sure. But leave the real estate intact.
4. Too many last minute rescues. At the climactic Battle of Cheron, the Earth fleet is saved twice by the sudden appearance of allied ships. I think it would have been a much stronger story if Earth could have won the battle on its own or the Klingon, Andorian and Vulcan allies had arrived before the battle (it still would have surprised the Romulans).
4b. In a related vein, I don’t like the fact that the canonical ST universe introduces the Klingons so early in the chronology. Granted, it’s ambiguous in the original series when they were first encountered by humans but I subscribe to the idea that it occurred after the Earth-Romulan War.
In general, Martin is a competent, if not great, writer but I do have to highlight one of the worst similes I’ve ever read:
All is not complaint, however.
Two things that I thought Martin dealt with reasonably well (though not as fully as I would have wanted) are Archer’s misgivings about his role in the war and T’Pau’s struggle with reconciling Surak’s teachings with events in the real world. Archer wants to be an explorer and diplomat above all else and it pains him to find himself in the role of soldier. And T’Pau reluctantly recognizes that the Romulans are not amenable to discussing peace. Vulcan either aids Earth now or it too will stand alone when its cousins finish with the humans.
I cautiously recommend this book and it’s prequel to the Trekkies amongst my GR following. It’s not great but if you need something to read before bedtime or you’re decompressing after a particularly hard book, it may do.
* When I went to Ireland in the mid-'90s, I was part of a tour group that included Paul Schneider and his wife, who wrote that episode (though his wife didn't get any of the credit).
That latter fact is hedged quite a bit in this novel and its predecessor as the Vulcan’s know precisely who Earth is fighting and Earth’s Starfleet Intelligence knows from whence the Romulans come.
To Brave the Storm follows on from the story told in Beneath the Raptor’s Wing and the reservations I had about that book continue here, with a few additions:
1. In this novel, the Romulans’ computer virus that allowed them to take over enemy ships in the first book has become largely useless. I remember from Beneath the Raptor’s Wing that Earth had very nearly overcome this handicap but I don’t recall that they had resolved it by the end of that novel so its absence in this one comes as a shock.
2. I never bought the idea that Trip could pass himself off as a Vulcan or as a Romulan for any length of time. Kirk could get away with it in “The Enterprise Incident” because he only had to pretend for the time it took him to find the cloaking device and get off the flagship with it. Trip, however, has to spend years on Vulcan and months among Romulans. He doesn’t even appear to be trying to be Vulcan as he continues to use English idioms in his conversations. And where is he getting the drugs that keep his blood looking the proper Vulcan green?
A much more realistic (if I can use that term) depiction of a deep-cover Federation agent can be found in Diane Duane’s The Romulan Way (Star Trek, #35).
3. It was established in “The Balance of Terror” that the Romulans do not surrender and would rather blow their ships up than suffer capture but in To Brave the Storm they are genocidally suicidal. Not once but three times does a Romulan commander slam his ship into an inhabited planet at translight velocities.
I can’t imagine that the Romulan government would be supportive of a policy that rendered so many potentially useful worlds useless. Take out as many of your enemies as possible? Sure. But leave the real estate intact.
4. Too many last minute rescues. At the climactic Battle of Cheron, the Earth fleet is saved twice by the sudden appearance of allied ships. I think it would have been a much stronger story if Earth could have won the battle on its own or the Klingon, Andorian and Vulcan allies had arrived before the battle (it still would have surprised the Romulans).
4b. In a related vein, I don’t like the fact that the canonical ST universe introduces the Klingons so early in the chronology. Granted, it’s ambiguous in the original series when they were first encountered by humans but I subscribe to the idea that it occurred after the Earth-Romulan War.
In general, Martin is a competent, if not great, writer but I do have to highlight one of the worst similes I’ve ever read:
Abandon ship? So that our enemies can swoop in and pick off our escape pods like so many lobe-finned in’hhui along the northern Apnex shore? (p. 288)
All is not complaint, however.
Two things that I thought Martin dealt with reasonably well (though not as fully as I would have wanted) are Archer’s misgivings about his role in the war and T’Pau’s struggle with reconciling Surak’s teachings with events in the real world. Archer wants to be an explorer and diplomat above all else and it pains him to find himself in the role of soldier. And T’Pau reluctantly recognizes that the Romulans are not amenable to discussing peace. Vulcan either aids Earth now or it too will stand alone when its cousins finish with the humans.
I cautiously recommend this book and it’s prequel to the Trekkies amongst my GR following. It’s not great but if you need something to read before bedtime or you’re decompressing after a particularly hard book, it may do.
* When I went to Ireland in the mid-'90s, I was part of a tour group that included Paul Schneider and his wife, who wrote that episode (though his wife didn't get any of the credit).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 14, 2016
I seemed to enjoy this novel more than most, but I still very much found it lacking due to the rushed nature of the narrative. I really wish that we had gotten our trilogy, and while I enjoy Michael A. Martin's writing, the story suffered horribly from the editorial decisions. I also really worry that this spells the end of the Enterprise novel line, which is unfortunate as there is still a rich history to cover and many gaps to fill. Perhaps a resurgence of some sort of "Lost Era" line would be in order?
Full review: http://treklit.blogspot.com/2011/11/t...
Full review: http://treklit.blogspot.com/2011/11/t...
April 30, 2018
3.5 stars.
This duology seems rushed is the first thought that crossed my mind.
For all the build-up(the idea of the Romulan War has been teased since TOS) the payoff just doesn't seem to have the weight/impact I felt it should.
This duology seems rushed is the first thought that crossed my mind.
For all the build-up(the idea of the Romulan War has been teased since TOS) the payoff just doesn't seem to have the weight/impact I felt it should.
February 18, 2012
To start i'm a little disappointed that the coordination and the will to construct a proper time line seems to be so poorly at Simon and Schuster that the great Romulan War that has accompanied us since 1967 and the early TOS stories is only "worth" two not too long volumes and especially this second installment feels quite rushed and forced with it's many temporal jumps. I'd think that the story that could have been told and the willingness of the Enterprise fans to buy such books would have justified at least a five parter and maybe even a whole series like the "Time to" or Gateway titles - if need would have been there even with installments in the nearly related series for TOS, Vanguard or SCE dealing with aspects and persons that would reach further than only the ENT cast and landscape. But enough with this point, let's have a look at the action itself...
Which is the next disappointment... Where the war started in Beneath the Raptor's wing as a coalition effort and everybody pulled their weight here rapidly the Earthers are left alone and have to bear the brunt of the force of the vastly larger Romulan Star Empire, that way losing quickly whatever ground the desperate allied efforts might have won in the opening stages of the conflict. It's a small wonder that Starfkeet even lasts five years throughout this long despearate series of almost pyrrhic victories and abysmal losses. It's nearly massacre after massacre and you have to wonder where Earth might have got so many ships to lose from, during five seasons of Enterprise there certainly was no 150 ship strong Daedalus Class in service that was used here heavily to bolster the ranks (Not that i didn't like the Daedalus, it's a very cool retro Design out of the golden Days of Scifi and in most other contexts i would have been happy to see her in such a prominent role, but this? It's a bit much to swallow after ENT only showed us a handfull of triangular Warp three ships as Earths Defense or Starfleets reaction forces... But then, without them Earth wouldn't have the chance of a snowball in hell on a hot summer's day!
While Earth is stopping the unbreakable tide of onrushing romulan warships by damming them with expendable ships of their own the Romulans try to bring their dangerous Warp 7 Project to life, desperately relying on the provess of a certain Cunaehr... better known as Trip Tucker in his secret Vulcan/Romulan deep cover personality. While Trip tries to stay alive at the same time he is aware that with a whole fleet of Warp 7 able ships Romulus would be invincible and the war would be lost for earth so he stalls for time and seeks every opportunity for sabotage. But will it be enough?
Some fast forwards later that show just more of the same we finally arrive at the great showdown... through the mental link Trip has instructed T'Pol of the staging Area for the Romulan attack on Earth that shall decide the course of the war in the mind of Admiral Valdore. It's the fifth world of Leonis 83 A, better known as Cheron and both sides gamble the core strength of their fleets on this adventure. Archer's fight seems to be hopeless, he's outnumbered if not outmatched three to one and the battle quickly deplores his forces to half their initial strength, when finally the cavalry arrives. Shran of Andoria and Kolos of QonoS have assembled outlaws, pirates, smugglers and Mercenaries to deliver an inofficial auxiliary force where their governments still keep back. This 31 ships almost balance the numbers of the two fleets still smashing at another with all they've got.
Then the tides of war turn once again, as romulan reinforcements arrive and the smaller and not so heavily armed vessels fo the rag tag armada get quickly devastated, just to give a last glimmer of hope to the Coalition warriors when Lazarus (the secret service tag for Commander Tucker) sends a secret code meant to weaken the attacking romulan vessels. After some experimenting with the right commands to use the aggressors finally start exploding from breaching warp cores and their numbers dwindle. But still they're the stronger foorce in the system and any fight of attrition must leave the Allies annihilated and the Romulans with a free flight path to the Core worlds. In this moment the missing fleets from the unwilling Coalition Planets do arrive, Dozens and dozens of Vulcan, Tellurian and Andorian battle ships turning the tides of war definitely in favor of the Coalition. The Romulans turn to flee and whatever ships are no longer able to go to warp destroy themselves. It's over and the war is won.
A year later Admiral Valdore reports that peace negotiations are under way that will lead to the installation of a neutral zone and the chance for the Empire to rebuild its strength and keep a sharp eye on it's now united enemies on the coalition front. An enraged first consul executes him for this cowardice, only to be killed herself by teh present Commander of Valdore's staff (And i've already a big grunt against the darned Klingons with their stupid knife games and murerous honor-intrigues now the Romulans turn out just the same... D'Oh!)
The treaty is negotiatec through Subspace radio on the demand of the Romulans that fear like their Vulcan brethren that uncovering their relation would only threaten the blossoming peace, Commodore Archer and Prime Minister T'Pau are present at the asteroid based Earth Outpost 1 for the final signing of the treaty. Vulcan will seek redemption for their part in the war (which T'Pau sees as very un surakian acting) by demilitarising their world and using the hulls of their main battle ships as ground structue for several new outposts for the neutral zone where the Earth and her Colonies will deliver the personnel (just like TOS shows us with the fleet ;))
Next we see Archer as the Signing of the Federation Founding Charter and witnessing when T'Pau declines President Samuels offer to become the first Vulcan representative to the Council, stating that she doesn't see her place in life as a leader anymore and instead proposing a surrogate that finally gets accepted. (T'Maran, not that i think it will be of much importance for future stories)
A last scene sets on 2186, on the day before the 25th birthday of the federation. A young newswoman has flown to Vulcan to finish a series of interviews with the old ENTERPISE veterans and the only story left from the senior officers is that of T'Pol. An astonished reporter meets a human male in the house's garden and is then politely sent away by two kids, recognizing that against all odds and in spite of all rumors Commander Tucker has returned to the side of his T'Pol.
Well with that short recollection of the story put down i must say that i've not been the greatest fan of ENTERPRISE while it ran under its first producers Braga and Berman. But this book is far more in the tradition of the single Manny Coto Year 5than the other three so it's more to my gusto and i already liked the two books before. In general i must say this book is NO exception, it's telling a solid story and it's full of small hints and mentions of stuff from all the Star Trek series of course with the main focus on the Enterprise television stories, but to count all this little easter eggs would take days of cross referencing on- and offline and end in something like the annotations indutrious fans have published for the Diskworld books or similar works of fiction... THAT part of the book is more than excellent and would have justified even a full five stars. Sadly there's also the part where the author is forced through five years of a dire and grim war and for a large part we only get the perspective of an Enterprise that's banned from the front lines much like the sixth of her offsprings will be during the Dominion War and Borg invasion two hundred and ten/fifteen years later (First Contact). In the light of his famous reputation as amurderer gained through the Kobayashi Maru incident Archer is involved in a goodwill initiative that aims to win a bit of cooperation of the lesser powers in the quadrant that have yet not decided on a position in the Earth-Romulan war. That's nice for any general book from any of the ongoing series, but as the second part of a war time chronology it's rather poor. The few looks at the concurring front battles we get are rather sketchy and far in between, the few actions involving the Enterprise itself are rather devastating and do not tend to raise much hope for the outcome. Lastly through all this sketchiness, rapid scene jumping and hasty counting down of the years of this war we get cheated quite a bit of our most important good as readers of an ongoing series... any character development. Essentially we get three characters with enough inner view to speak of even a rudimentary development: Captain Archer that is heavily burdened by his guilt about the Kobayashi Maru, the high casualty count on the front and his not so active role in the war effort (which is not really countered by successes in his sideline jobs...), T'Pol which is slowly breaking under the combination of Stress and the continuing influence of her bonding with Trip that's not too well going to truly cheer her up [close to two years Trip is trapped inside a warp incapable vessel going high sublight speed and thus falling under the laws of time dillation messing with the time synchronization of the bond] and of course suffering from the constant stenches of unwashed humans, farting dogs and aromatic aliens and finally Charles Tucker III himself who's most of the time in a cell or under interrogation. Most of these conditions do not change over the course of the book and so don't the characters living through them.
as a final conclusion: It's a nice book in the best tradition of the illustrious last Enterprise Season and 50 years of Star Trek Story telling. But it's also not everything it could have been and as the main representation of one of the most monumental moments in Trek history it's doing a pathetically poor job of inspiring awe with this historic events. The writing and the care with the original research are well over average which is the main reason for my good grading of the book, but it would not have taken magic to turn a well written book intro an extraordinary one and much of this missing impact is IMO to charge towards the editors which have decided that a single book of 320 pages would be enough to cover this wide field. J'Accuse!
Which is the next disappointment... Where the war started in Beneath the Raptor's wing as a coalition effort and everybody pulled their weight here rapidly the Earthers are left alone and have to bear the brunt of the force of the vastly larger Romulan Star Empire, that way losing quickly whatever ground the desperate allied efforts might have won in the opening stages of the conflict. It's a small wonder that Starfkeet even lasts five years throughout this long despearate series of almost pyrrhic victories and abysmal losses. It's nearly massacre after massacre and you have to wonder where Earth might have got so many ships to lose from, during five seasons of Enterprise there certainly was no 150 ship strong Daedalus Class in service that was used here heavily to bolster the ranks (Not that i didn't like the Daedalus, it's a very cool retro Design out of the golden Days of Scifi and in most other contexts i would have been happy to see her in such a prominent role, but this? It's a bit much to swallow after ENT only showed us a handfull of triangular Warp three ships as Earths Defense or Starfleets reaction forces... But then, without them Earth wouldn't have the chance of a snowball in hell on a hot summer's day!
While Earth is stopping the unbreakable tide of onrushing romulan warships by damming them with expendable ships of their own the Romulans try to bring their dangerous Warp 7 Project to life, desperately relying on the provess of a certain Cunaehr... better known as Trip Tucker in his secret Vulcan/Romulan deep cover personality. While Trip tries to stay alive at the same time he is aware that with a whole fleet of Warp 7 able ships Romulus would be invincible and the war would be lost for earth so he stalls for time and seeks every opportunity for sabotage. But will it be enough?
Some fast forwards later that show just more of the same we finally arrive at the great showdown... through the mental link Trip has instructed T'Pol of the staging Area for the Romulan attack on Earth that shall decide the course of the war in the mind of Admiral Valdore. It's the fifth world of Leonis 83 A, better known as Cheron and both sides gamble the core strength of their fleets on this adventure. Archer's fight seems to be hopeless, he's outnumbered if not outmatched three to one and the battle quickly deplores his forces to half their initial strength, when finally the cavalry arrives. Shran of Andoria and Kolos of QonoS have assembled outlaws, pirates, smugglers and Mercenaries to deliver an inofficial auxiliary force where their governments still keep back. This 31 ships almost balance the numbers of the two fleets still smashing at another with all they've got.
Then the tides of war turn once again, as romulan reinforcements arrive and the smaller and not so heavily armed vessels fo the rag tag armada get quickly devastated, just to give a last glimmer of hope to the Coalition warriors when Lazarus (the secret service tag for Commander Tucker) sends a secret code meant to weaken the attacking romulan vessels. After some experimenting with the right commands to use the aggressors finally start exploding from breaching warp cores and their numbers dwindle. But still they're the stronger foorce in the system and any fight of attrition must leave the Allies annihilated and the Romulans with a free flight path to the Core worlds. In this moment the missing fleets from the unwilling Coalition Planets do arrive, Dozens and dozens of Vulcan, Tellurian and Andorian battle ships turning the tides of war definitely in favor of the Coalition. The Romulans turn to flee and whatever ships are no longer able to go to warp destroy themselves. It's over and the war is won.
A year later Admiral Valdore reports that peace negotiations are under way that will lead to the installation of a neutral zone and the chance for the Empire to rebuild its strength and keep a sharp eye on it's now united enemies on the coalition front. An enraged first consul executes him for this cowardice, only to be killed herself by teh present Commander of Valdore's staff (And i've already a big grunt against the darned Klingons with their stupid knife games and murerous honor-intrigues now the Romulans turn out just the same... D'Oh!)
The treaty is negotiatec through Subspace radio on the demand of the Romulans that fear like their Vulcan brethren that uncovering their relation would only threaten the blossoming peace, Commodore Archer and Prime Minister T'Pau are present at the asteroid based Earth Outpost 1 for the final signing of the treaty. Vulcan will seek redemption for their part in the war (which T'Pau sees as very un surakian acting) by demilitarising their world and using the hulls of their main battle ships as ground structue for several new outposts for the neutral zone where the Earth and her Colonies will deliver the personnel (just like TOS shows us with the fleet ;))
Next we see Archer as the Signing of the Federation Founding Charter and witnessing when T'Pau declines President Samuels offer to become the first Vulcan representative to the Council, stating that she doesn't see her place in life as a leader anymore and instead proposing a surrogate that finally gets accepted. (T'Maran, not that i think it will be of much importance for future stories)
A last scene sets on 2186, on the day before the 25th birthday of the federation. A young newswoman has flown to Vulcan to finish a series of interviews with the old ENTERPISE veterans and the only story left from the senior officers is that of T'Pol. An astonished reporter meets a human male in the house's garden and is then politely sent away by two kids, recognizing that against all odds and in spite of all rumors Commander Tucker has returned to the side of his T'Pol.
Well with that short recollection of the story put down i must say that i've not been the greatest fan of ENTERPRISE while it ran under its first producers Braga and Berman. But this book is far more in the tradition of the single Manny Coto Year 5than the other three so it's more to my gusto and i already liked the two books before. In general i must say this book is NO exception, it's telling a solid story and it's full of small hints and mentions of stuff from all the Star Trek series of course with the main focus on the Enterprise television stories, but to count all this little easter eggs would take days of cross referencing on- and offline and end in something like the annotations indutrious fans have published for the Diskworld books or similar works of fiction... THAT part of the book is more than excellent and would have justified even a full five stars. Sadly there's also the part where the author is forced through five years of a dire and grim war and for a large part we only get the perspective of an Enterprise that's banned from the front lines much like the sixth of her offsprings will be during the Dominion War and Borg invasion two hundred and ten/fifteen years later (First Contact). In the light of his famous reputation as amurderer gained through the Kobayashi Maru incident Archer is involved in a goodwill initiative that aims to win a bit of cooperation of the lesser powers in the quadrant that have yet not decided on a position in the Earth-Romulan war. That's nice for any general book from any of the ongoing series, but as the second part of a war time chronology it's rather poor. The few looks at the concurring front battles we get are rather sketchy and far in between, the few actions involving the Enterprise itself are rather devastating and do not tend to raise much hope for the outcome. Lastly through all this sketchiness, rapid scene jumping and hasty counting down of the years of this war we get cheated quite a bit of our most important good as readers of an ongoing series... any character development. Essentially we get three characters with enough inner view to speak of even a rudimentary development: Captain Archer that is heavily burdened by his guilt about the Kobayashi Maru, the high casualty count on the front and his not so active role in the war effort (which is not really countered by successes in his sideline jobs...), T'Pol which is slowly breaking under the combination of Stress and the continuing influence of her bonding with Trip that's not too well going to truly cheer her up [close to two years Trip is trapped inside a warp incapable vessel going high sublight speed and thus falling under the laws of time dillation messing with the time synchronization of the bond] and of course suffering from the constant stenches of unwashed humans, farting dogs and aromatic aliens and finally Charles Tucker III himself who's most of the time in a cell or under interrogation. Most of these conditions do not change over the course of the book and so don't the characters living through them.
as a final conclusion: It's a nice book in the best tradition of the illustrious last Enterprise Season and 50 years of Star Trek Story telling. But it's also not everything it could have been and as the main representation of one of the most monumental moments in Trek history it's doing a pathetically poor job of inspiring awe with this historic events. The writing and the care with the original research are well over average which is the main reason for my good grading of the book, but it would not have taken magic to turn a well written book intro an extraordinary one and much of this missing impact is IMO to charge towards the editors which have decided that a single book of 320 pages would be enough to cover this wide field. J'Accuse!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 16, 2020
This was a very easy read, with loads of fanwank goodies...but it's also very disjointed. This was supposed to be part of a trilogy, and you can very much feel the beats of its truncated nature. Too much is packed into too small a space...the trilogy would have certainly let the plot points breathe with more life and depth than this second half of a duology. A wistful sigh for what could have been...
September 9, 2016
I struggled a lot with this one. Parts of it where fine, such as the Archer POV chapters. I confess I was skimming and later skipping non-Enterprise main crew chapters by the mid-way point. I just didn't care about them. I was really disappointed because I was engaged in some chapters...and others didn't appeal at all. It really killed the enjoyment of the book.
December 9, 2014
Yay! It is finally here *dives on in*
---finishes ---
Ala Stephen there will be images..
Ok.. I'm not certain there is much I can write a review upon that will not give out major (massive?) spoilers. I can say that this is a novel that has A LOT packed onto it, it does feel like it should have been perhaps three separate volumes for all the ground/territory it covered. Which is not to say that it was not good.. cause it was. I think it could have gone into more depth and still been just as readable.. and given the author a chance to tell everything they were bursting to write.
There is something for every Star Trek fan in this. Literally. No I mean it. Next Gen Fan? well how about a little background and history of some of your favorite characters? Deep Space Nine? Hi Dax! The Original Series? well.. you'll just have to read those bits.. ;) We get some time on Vulcan too. Plenty of Aliens, lots of action, Mystery, Suspense, a smidge of various Romances. Romulans! Did I mention the Romulans?
Oh and a major hat-tip for including Young Owen Salazar-Tucker [Trip's nephew for those of you wondering] as a new MACO and how he joined them. (Hint: His fathers were not pleased he joined up so young!)
I have no idea who this man is.. he is cute however. Apparently he was on his way to Paris. Where is a transporter when you need one. :D But I needed something to post instead of a picture of the main character.. (cause that'd be a spoiler) :D
Oh and the main star of the novel. We get a resolution to that tale too. Mr. Martin how deliciously evil of you to leave us hanging right at the end of the story and up until nearly the VERY LAST PAGE of the epilogue! I was literally turning the pages asking.. "But what happened to [censored]!! You cannot kill [censored] after ALL THIS!!" Yes sadly I was that wrapped up in the story... *deep breath*
Isn't that pretty? no I'm not going to let on what happened. But there are flowers and other plants at the end too! =)
I sincerely hope that this will not be the last Enterprise novel. I so looked forward to this one and would deeply enjoy having more stories from this series.
To the publishers and authors of this series...
---finishes ---
Ala Stephen there will be images..
Ok.. I'm not certain there is much I can write a review upon that will not give out major (massive?) spoilers. I can say that this is a novel that has A LOT packed onto it, it does feel like it should have been perhaps three separate volumes for all the ground/territory it covered. Which is not to say that it was not good.. cause it was. I think it could have gone into more depth and still been just as readable.. and given the author a chance to tell everything they were bursting to write.
There is something for every Star Trek fan in this. Literally. No I mean it. Next Gen Fan? well how about a little background and history of some of your favorite characters? Deep Space Nine? Hi Dax! The Original Series? well.. you'll just have to read those bits.. ;) We get some time on Vulcan too. Plenty of Aliens, lots of action, Mystery, Suspense, a smidge of various Romances. Romulans! Did I mention the Romulans?
Oh and a major hat-tip for including Young Owen Salazar-Tucker [Trip's nephew for those of you wondering] as a new MACO and how he joined them. (Hint: His fathers were not pleased he joined up so young!)
I have no idea who this man is.. he is cute however. Apparently he was on his way to Paris. Where is a transporter when you need one. :D But I needed something to post instead of a picture of the main character.. (cause that'd be a spoiler) :D
Oh and the main star of the novel. We get a resolution to that tale too. Mr. Martin how deliciously evil of you to leave us hanging right at the end of the story and up until nearly the VERY LAST PAGE of the epilogue! I was literally turning the pages asking.. "But what happened to [censored]!! You cannot kill [censored] after ALL THIS!!" Yes sadly I was that wrapped up in the story... *deep breath*
Isn't that pretty? no I'm not going to let on what happened. But there are flowers and other plants at the end too! =)
I sincerely hope that this will not be the last Enterprise novel. I so looked forward to this one and would deeply enjoy having more stories from this series.
To the publishers and authors of this series...
April 25, 2015
This book redeemed the finale of Enterprise for me!
February 25, 2021
Kind of feels like the whole Romulan War arc needed four or five books to play out over. I'm not sure that the flow of time was that well communicated, and events sometimes felt rushed or happened off-screen. Definitely more focused than the previous Romulan War novel, though.
The Picard-ancestor cameo can absolutely yeet, and even though I'm a huge simp for Dax, the Tobin bits are on thin ice and don't really go anywhere. Too bad Travis returns to the Enterprise. I think it was more interesting having him off elsewhere actually being a character in his own right. And T'Pau was just super annoying.
Overall, it's definitely flawed, but still an improvement over the previous book in the series.
The Picard-ancestor cameo can absolutely yeet, and even though I'm a huge simp for Dax, the Tobin bits are on thin ice and don't really go anywhere. Too bad Travis returns to the Enterprise. I think it was more interesting having him off elsewhere actually being a character in his own right. And T'Pau was just super annoying.
Overall, it's definitely flawed, but still an improvement over the previous book in the series.
November 28, 2019
While this was much better than part 1 it was not what I was expecting. There was too much going on simultaneously that I was often confused and lost in the story. Too bad, was very much looking forward to this Romulan War and learning about this time in federation history but feel it was a flat story. Could have been done much better.
April 8, 2021
I’ve finally come to the end of the Romulan War. The verdict is...
Things pick up right after the events of the previous book, Beneath the Raptor’s Wing, which I throughly enjoyed. This time around we begin by finding out the Klingon Council’s answer to Earth’s request (delivered by Archer) for assistance in the war. As one can guess by the book’s title, things don’t go well for Archer. In fact, we watch as the Captain (and one of the most complex characters in the Star Trek Universe) has to fight his demons and against his perceived bad reputation throughout. One of the toughest parts about the book is watching Archer beat himself up for something that wasn’t his fault.
To aid in this fixing of sorts, but not specifically for helping Archer, Starfleet has Enterprise pull a menuever from a classic novel and they gather information in their patrolling sector in exchange to rending aid to other alien race’s ships (sometimes being overly helpful). All of this, to say the least, pays off later in the book.
While some people criticize Beneath the Raptor’s Wing, like I said earlier, I loved it. However, To Brave the Storm elevates everything to being even better. Even though the story is a quick read, it carries a lot of weight on its shoulders and proves to be worthy of any of the great Star Trek novels or stories.
One of the great parts about this book is finding out how certain threads from the previous entries pan out. From T’Pau struggling to be a leader for the future of her people, to Tucker behind enemy lines, it’s all there. This book packs a lot, but gives even more.
I won’t spoil the ending, but I will say that I found it to be satisfying, and until I can get my hands on the Federation books, I’m content. Even though Archer is usually looked down upon when compared to the other captains (he’s my second favorite after Kirk) of the Star Trek property I really feel that the books have pushed and have succeeded in helping shine more light on the character. Plus, the strong relationship between T’Pol and Archer, not only as Captain and Commander, but as friends. The loyalty that they showed towards one another is a testament to the characters (and the writer).
I’m thrilled that I’ve finally come to the end of one chapter of the Enterprise crew and I’m looking forward to the next one. Enterprise has always gotten a bad rap that it doesn’t deserve. Sure, the runners of the tv show made many mistakes (the 3rd and 4th seasons made up for those, especially the latter), but it survived and it still endured until today. I fully recommend this book on many of the aspects that are aforementioned, but also because it’s damn good.
Things pick up right after the events of the previous book, Beneath the Raptor’s Wing, which I throughly enjoyed. This time around we begin by finding out the Klingon Council’s answer to Earth’s request (delivered by Archer) for assistance in the war. As one can guess by the book’s title, things don’t go well for Archer. In fact, we watch as the Captain (and one of the most complex characters in the Star Trek Universe) has to fight his demons and against his perceived bad reputation throughout. One of the toughest parts about the book is watching Archer beat himself up for something that wasn’t his fault.
To aid in this fixing of sorts, but not specifically for helping Archer, Starfleet has Enterprise pull a menuever from a classic novel and they gather information in their patrolling sector in exchange to rending aid to other alien race’s ships (sometimes being overly helpful). All of this, to say the least, pays off later in the book.
While some people criticize Beneath the Raptor’s Wing, like I said earlier, I loved it. However, To Brave the Storm elevates everything to being even better. Even though the story is a quick read, it carries a lot of weight on its shoulders and proves to be worthy of any of the great Star Trek novels or stories.
One of the great parts about this book is finding out how certain threads from the previous entries pan out. From T’Pau struggling to be a leader for the future of her people, to Tucker behind enemy lines, it’s all there. This book packs a lot, but gives even more.
I won’t spoil the ending, but I will say that I found it to be satisfying, and until I can get my hands on the Federation books, I’m content. Even though Archer is usually looked down upon when compared to the other captains (he’s my second favorite after Kirk) of the Star Trek property I really feel that the books have pushed and have succeeded in helping shine more light on the character. Plus, the strong relationship between T’Pol and Archer, not only as Captain and Commander, but as friends. The loyalty that they showed towards one another is a testament to the characters (and the writer).
I’m thrilled that I’ve finally come to the end of one chapter of the Enterprise crew and I’m looking forward to the next one. Enterprise has always gotten a bad rap that it doesn’t deserve. Sure, the runners of the tv show made many mistakes (the 3rd and 4th seasons made up for those, especially the latter), but it survived and it still endured until today. I fully recommend this book on many of the aspects that are aforementioned, but also because it’s damn good.
November 3, 2019
With their coalition allies taking a neutral stance, Earth and Alpha Centauri are left to fend off the rising Romulan treat alone. Desperate battles are fought as the Romulans continue to take systems closer and closer to Earth. A final assault is massing and Earth has few defenders but a beleaguered Starfleet with few resources left to fight.
My disappointment with these books continues. I was so excited to read about the Romulan War only to be let down. The storytelling in these last two books features so much "tell, don't show" attitudes that I feel I'm reading Cliff's Notes or something. There is little depth to most of the encounters in the war that everything feels like an anecdote or a textbook compared to a novel. Martin may have been going for a sort of newspaper account kind of feeling, but it really fails if that's the case.
In the last book at least, we were treated to some world-building that showed us areas of the Star Trek universe we hadn't really been exposed to, but here that is all but tossed aside. Martin does visit the Martian colony again in a sequence that starts out really interesting, but is quickly written off and he wraps up the sequence in a few brief and hurried few paragraphs. A major let-down to a section of the book that I was finally enjoying.
The last hundred pages or so returns to traditional storytelling as the final battle of the war is played out in detail. We get to experience some drama and tension in the narrative instead of a fairly bland outline. This proves to be the best section of the book by far - wrapping up the current story and setting up a future for the series. It just seems to be "too little, too late" for me to say I had much enjoyment of the book.
This entire two-book set seemed very rushed and disjointed. Martin did these novels after parting ways with Andy Mangels, his former writing partner. Maybe that accounts for some of it, but if so, Pocket really needed to have an editor step up and make these books a bit more workable.
Such terrible treatment for such a seminal moment in Star Trek history. I'd only recommend this to a fan who wanted an overview of the war, but not necessarily a compelling novel.
My disappointment with these books continues. I was so excited to read about the Romulan War only to be let down. The storytelling in these last two books features so much "tell, don't show" attitudes that I feel I'm reading Cliff's Notes or something. There is little depth to most of the encounters in the war that everything feels like an anecdote or a textbook compared to a novel. Martin may have been going for a sort of newspaper account kind of feeling, but it really fails if that's the case.
In the last book at least, we were treated to some world-building that showed us areas of the Star Trek universe we hadn't really been exposed to, but here that is all but tossed aside. Martin does visit the Martian colony again in a sequence that starts out really interesting, but is quickly written off and he wraps up the sequence in a few brief and hurried few paragraphs. A major let-down to a section of the book that I was finally enjoying.
The last hundred pages or so returns to traditional storytelling as the final battle of the war is played out in detail. We get to experience some drama and tension in the narrative instead of a fairly bland outline. This proves to be the best section of the book by far - wrapping up the current story and setting up a future for the series. It just seems to be "too little, too late" for me to say I had much enjoyment of the book.
This entire two-book set seemed very rushed and disjointed. Martin did these novels after parting ways with Andy Mangels, his former writing partner. Maybe that accounts for some of it, but if so, Pocket really needed to have an editor step up and make these books a bit more workable.
Such terrible treatment for such a seminal moment in Star Trek history. I'd only recommend this to a fan who wanted an overview of the war, but not necessarily a compelling novel.
January 15, 2024
This book continues the previous book in the series and is just as bad.
The best I can say about this book is that it is (blessedly) not as long as the preceding book. And the Enterprise crew, they actually DO stuff in this one. That’s always great.
The rest of it really is quite bad.
1- So, Trip. He’s apparently able to live as a Vulcan for YEARS and no one catches wise? That includes undergoing a LOT Romulan torture, and always talking like a human.
2- Speaking of Trip, the book sort of left us with a cliffhanger suggesting that he may not have survived the last battle with the Romulans. Except he did. The epilogue shows he’s alive, married to T’Pol, has kids, and is still living in secret. How exactly did he survive? The author is totally uninterested in explaining. And why is his existence still a secret? The general population clearly still thinks he bit the dust on the Enterprise, and his survival is just a conspiracy theory. Why would he choose to let everyone still think he was dead? Does that mean he continues his association with Section 31? Why exactly? Again, the author doesn’t care to explain ANY of that.
3- Why exactly are we supposed to care about that reporter lady? Why bring her back for one chapter at all?
4- We never find out exactly who killed Surak’s katra person. It’s always implicated to be that Terix fellow, but we never find that out for certain. What could have been a very interesting mystery is utterly squandered.
5- What are the Andorians and Tellerites doing during the war? We never find out. They are barely mentioned.
6- How about that Romulan starship virus everyone was so worried about in the first book? Apparently that problem was solved off screen and is barely brought up.
7- Speaking of Trip again. Remember how in the previous book T’Pol mentioned that he and her other Vulcan friends have some gaps in their memories? That’s never explained.
8- What was the point of Tobin and Picard? Were they really just there to be name drops?
The problems that the previous book had are all replicated here. There’s no coherent plot. It’s a bunch of mostly unconnected events loosely strung together by virtue of them being responses to what the Romulans are doing.
The best I can say about this book is that it is (blessedly) not as long as the preceding book. And the Enterprise crew, they actually DO stuff in this one. That’s always great.
The rest of it really is quite bad.
1- So, Trip. He’s apparently able to live as a Vulcan for YEARS and no one catches wise? That includes undergoing a LOT Romulan torture, and always talking like a human.
2- Speaking of Trip, the book sort of left us with a cliffhanger suggesting that he may not have survived the last battle with the Romulans. Except he did. The epilogue shows he’s alive, married to T’Pol, has kids, and is still living in secret. How exactly did he survive? The author is totally uninterested in explaining. And why is his existence still a secret? The general population clearly still thinks he bit the dust on the Enterprise, and his survival is just a conspiracy theory. Why would he choose to let everyone still think he was dead? Does that mean he continues his association with Section 31? Why exactly? Again, the author doesn’t care to explain ANY of that.
3- Why exactly are we supposed to care about that reporter lady? Why bring her back for one chapter at all?
4- We never find out exactly who killed Surak’s katra person. It’s always implicated to be that Terix fellow, but we never find that out for certain. What could have been a very interesting mystery is utterly squandered.
5- What are the Andorians and Tellerites doing during the war? We never find out. They are barely mentioned.
6- How about that Romulan starship virus everyone was so worried about in the first book? Apparently that problem was solved off screen and is barely brought up.
7- Speaking of Trip again. Remember how in the previous book T’Pol mentioned that he and her other Vulcan friends have some gaps in their memories? That’s never explained.
8- What was the point of Tobin and Picard? Were they really just there to be name drops?
The problems that the previous book had are all replicated here. There’s no coherent plot. It’s a bunch of mostly unconnected events loosely strung together by virtue of them being responses to what the Romulans are doing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 20, 2021
This second volume felt a lot tighter than the first book. We had a bigger focus on the progression of the war itself and not as many perspectives of different people around this part of the galaxy. Maybe there was room to move some stuff from the previous book to this one to balance it out, but I understand the decision on where to split the narrative. It still makes sense.
The challenge our heroes are facing is the increasing isolation of humanity as allies from the coalition fo worlds all decide to pull back from the war due to losses on their side. The ship-hijacking technology is no longer as big a problem as it used to be given countermeasures developed by the United Earth Starfleet, but the losses experienced by all sides has forced governments to be more conservative with their commitment to the war.
But I really appreciated how the book guides the different character arcs to have everything come together. It's all all about big space battles and individuals dying on both sides. Instead there's a healthy ebb and flow to the story and we experience different parts of phases of the conflict and the endless maneuvering of both sides to try to gain an advantage.
This whole arc was crafted with a known ending - that Earth will negotiate a truce and a neutral zone will be established between the factions. Plus there's the weird caveat that the Romulans will largely remain a mystery and the first time that they'll actually been "seen" by humanity would be during the TOS era. But Martin crafted his story to meet these "objectives" in a manner that still makes sense with the Enterprise timeline and I wish we had seen something like this had the TV show continued on.
The challenge our heroes are facing is the increasing isolation of humanity as allies from the coalition fo worlds all decide to pull back from the war due to losses on their side. The ship-hijacking technology is no longer as big a problem as it used to be given countermeasures developed by the United Earth Starfleet, but the losses experienced by all sides has forced governments to be more conservative with their commitment to the war.
But I really appreciated how the book guides the different character arcs to have everything come together. It's all all about big space battles and individuals dying on both sides. Instead there's a healthy ebb and flow to the story and we experience different parts of phases of the conflict and the endless maneuvering of both sides to try to gain an advantage.
This whole arc was crafted with a known ending - that Earth will negotiate a truce and a neutral zone will be established between the factions. Plus there's the weird caveat that the Romulans will largely remain a mystery and the first time that they'll actually been "seen" by humanity would be during the TOS era. But Martin crafted his story to meet these "objectives" in a manner that still makes sense with the Enterprise timeline and I wish we had seen something like this had the TV show continued on.
July 15, 2025
Coming off of a dense and intricate predecessor, To Brave the Storm takes a different approach in its examination of the conclusion of the Romulan War. Beneath the Raptor's Wing was not the most accessible, and it seems like big changes were made editorially. The book covers a much larger stretch of time, but is much shorter, leaving many adventures implied. I am okay with this decision as the numerous battles can get repetitive. What the reader really needs to know is the direction of the war and the thoughts and feelings of the thankfully smaller cast of characters. It does feel as though the author charted course too far in the other direction; some stabilizing chapters would have been fine. It's also odd with the contrast in density that one would have to slow down their reading of this book so that they could better understand the passage of time. That would have required me to put it down, which I was not going to do.
I did appreciate the continuing character work with Shran and Soval, as well as Archer's post-ego death personality, which helped me stay invested. The book does a good job of closing off the Romulan drama that began in their three-parter in Season Four. T'Pol is very good. Her and Trip's development, both together and as separate people, is compelling. My praises for the previous books are applicable as well.
With an author and subtitle change, I have no idea how the series will look next, but I am interested in finding out and I feel positive about what I have read and what I will be reading.
Cover: meh
References to other literary works, including that of Martin Neimoller and Dylan Thomas: very cool, and always timeless and important.
I did appreciate the continuing character work with Shran and Soval, as well as Archer's post-ego death personality, which helped me stay invested. The book does a good job of closing off the Romulan drama that began in their three-parter in Season Four. T'Pol is very good. Her and Trip's development, both together and as separate people, is compelling. My praises for the previous books are applicable as well.
With an author and subtitle change, I have no idea how the series will look next, but I am interested in finding out and I feel positive about what I have read and what I will be reading.
Cover: meh
References to other literary works, including that of Martin Neimoller and Dylan Thomas: very cool, and always timeless and important.
November 24, 2023
Part two of the Romulan War series is a lot more fragmented than the first half.
Surprisingly, given the original 'fifth season' nature of the idea, only a small part of the book continues with 2156, where part one left off. Then, a fair chunk of the book skims over three years, and then comes in for a big climax in 2160.
That last is a good, well done, action-packed gigantic space battle, that definitely ties things up decisive battle style, with... some of the subplots coming together to help out. Others seem to have been largely forgotten. There was some resolution to them all, but not always very good ones.
The 'summary era' has Enterprise away from the action, effectively doing a "charm offensive". I suppose, if you want to envision what this would have been like from a TV series standpoint, you'd have a season of more-or-less regular Star Trek exploratory adventures, with the Romulans off in the background.
In general, the idea of a protracted (five year, long in 'on screen' history) war works out. The idea of Earth being on the back foot, with the Coalition slowly dropping out around her as losses mount is good. But, Martin hasn't studied war as much as some. It is often the case that both sides are having trouble in any war, and the problems are piling up faster for the side that seems to have all the momentum. If it was me, I'd go for a structure where things go from grim to grimmer for Earth, but meanwhile the Romulans are having mounting problems of logistics and things less flashy than a 'warp seven' project (why are we skipping a warp six engine in the first place?), and they come apart because they just can't feed their own fleets with personnel and parts, and suddenly they have little left and have to sue for peace.
But that's me.
What we have is good enough, and well enough done on the character side. Well, in the first book. This also feels a bit rushed in that it feels like there's not as much time spent on the characters here.
Surprisingly, given the original 'fifth season' nature of the idea, only a small part of the book continues with 2156, where part one left off. Then, a fair chunk of the book skims over three years, and then comes in for a big climax in 2160.
That last is a good, well done, action-packed gigantic space battle, that definitely ties things up decisive battle style, with... some of the subplots coming together to help out. Others seem to have been largely forgotten. There was some resolution to them all, but not always very good ones.
The 'summary era' has Enterprise away from the action, effectively doing a "charm offensive". I suppose, if you want to envision what this would have been like from a TV series standpoint, you'd have a season of more-or-less regular Star Trek exploratory adventures, with the Romulans off in the background.
In general, the idea of a protracted (five year, long in 'on screen' history) war works out. The idea of Earth being on the back foot, with the Coalition slowly dropping out around her as losses mount is good. But, Martin hasn't studied war as much as some. It is often the case that both sides are having trouble in any war, and the problems are piling up faster for the side that seems to have all the momentum. If it was me, I'd go for a structure where things go from grim to grimmer for Earth, but meanwhile the Romulans are having mounting problems of logistics and things less flashy than a 'warp seven' project (why are we skipping a warp six engine in the first place?), and they come apart because they just can't feed their own fleets with personnel and parts, and suddenly they have little left and have to sue for peace.
But that's me.
What we have is good enough, and well enough done on the character side. Well, in the first book. This also feels a bit rushed in that it feels like there's not as much time spent on the characters here.
December 5, 2018
An entertaining conclusion of the Romulan War. This is a good read for anyone who is a fan of the Star Trek: Enterprise series. I know a few other Star Trek books have touched and gone in depth with Romulan War, but this is mostly from the point of view from the Enterprise NX-01.
Much of the background information has been built up in the previous novel, though the author does a good job recapping anything important. There are a few things that don't quite make the transition though. For instance, the earlier novel highlights the Romulan's telecapture system. This does not make a big impact here. In fact, it does not come up until the end of the novel.
The scope of the book is very big, but at the same time, the author is confined to a certain timeline. And I feel that this was a bit of a constraint, keeping him from expanding the story in certain areas. There was also large leaps in time, which if you're not careful, can be a bit jarring.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book and the continuing adventures of the Enterprise NX-01 crew. It is a great read for anyone interested in Star Trek, and the two book Romulan War series is entertaining for anyone who wants a good sci-fi read.
Much of the background information has been built up in the previous novel, though the author does a good job recapping anything important. There are a few things that don't quite make the transition though. For instance, the earlier novel highlights the Romulan's telecapture system. This does not make a big impact here. In fact, it does not come up until the end of the novel.
The scope of the book is very big, but at the same time, the author is confined to a certain timeline. And I feel that this was a bit of a constraint, keeping him from expanding the story in certain areas. There was also large leaps in time, which if you're not careful, can be a bit jarring.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book and the continuing adventures of the Enterprise NX-01 crew. It is a great read for anyone interested in Star Trek, and the two book Romulan War series is entertaining for anyone who wants a good sci-fi read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 13, 2025
Wellllllll, I liked it more than book one but I still was underwhelmed. I think my main take away is that this spent too much time on what Trip was doing while avoiding delving into the conflict on any deep level. This series was lacking depth. And another point about wasting page space - the diversion about the investigative reporter covering the war amounted to nothing. Zip. Nada.
I stand by that this should have been set into a much longer series which could have zoomed in on the emotional turmoil and on the relationships between the key players. What we got instead was a collection of polaroids. I'm struggling to remember exactly how long a period of time is covered by this duology, but I think it was quoted as "over 5 years" OR "over 7 years" at one point.... which is longer than all 4 seasons of the show, and is probably a good indicator of how crammed in this would have to be, to fit into two books.
End rant. Onto the next one. Actually I looked recently and there are only about 4 or 5 books left in the 'ENT' range, but they are all by Christopher L. Bennett so they'll be amazing. I had been enjoying Michael A. Martin's Trek novels until 'The Romulan War', so no disrespect intended.
I stand by that this should have been set into a much longer series which could have zoomed in on the emotional turmoil and on the relationships between the key players. What we got instead was a collection of polaroids. I'm struggling to remember exactly how long a period of time is covered by this duology, but I think it was quoted as "over 5 years" OR "over 7 years" at one point.... which is longer than all 4 seasons of the show, and is probably a good indicator of how crammed in this would have to be, to fit into two books.
End rant. Onto the next one. Actually I looked recently and there are only about 4 or 5 books left in the 'ENT' range, but they are all by Christopher L. Bennett so they'll be amazing. I had been enjoying Michael A. Martin's Trek novels until 'The Romulan War', so no disrespect intended.
April 3, 2023
Challenging, emotional, funny, hopeful, inspiring,
reflective, sad, and tense.
Medium-paced
Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5 ⭐
I'm having SO much fun in this Pocket Book's universe of Star Trek: Enterprise novels. The TV series ende three years TOO early, so these stories are ones that we would've had on the small screen...and OH, they should've been there. Ugh.
Loved the way that this book ended. We know, but we really don't know for sure...but actually we do. Yes!
Loved how the war played out. Loved the action scenes. Loved the abiguity of Trip/Sodok.
Loved how Captain Jonathan B. Archer worked his magic on the fleet and against the Romulan Star Empire.
The last scenes with the Romulans were epic, too. So much story, there.
Vulcan and its leadership has an interesting future ahead of itself. The idea that it is NOW Ambassador T'Pol. Yeah, that tracks. Two kids. Okay, I can get on board with that. What kind of future will they have?
All in all, this was a great arc. Now I'm wondering what the next arc will bring. Interesting.
reflective, sad, and tense.
Medium-paced
Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5 ⭐
I'm having SO much fun in this Pocket Book's universe of Star Trek: Enterprise novels. The TV series ende three years TOO early, so these stories are ones that we would've had on the small screen...and OH, they should've been there. Ugh.
Loved the way that this book ended. We know, but we really don't know for sure...but actually we do. Yes!
Loved how the war played out. Loved the action scenes. Loved the abiguity of Trip/Sodok.
Loved how Captain Jonathan B. Archer worked his magic on the fleet and against the Romulan Star Empire.
The last scenes with the Romulans were epic, too. So much story, there.
Vulcan and its leadership has an interesting future ahead of itself. The idea that it is NOW Ambassador T'Pol. Yeah, that tracks. Two kids. Okay, I can get on board with that. What kind of future will they have?
All in all, this was a great arc. Now I'm wondering what the next arc will bring. Interesting.
August 21, 2021
3.5 stars
Overall it was a compelling story, enough to hold my attention to the end, but it definitely felt as though this were meant to be part of a larger series rather than a duology. Contributing to this were the (often massive) time jumps and seemingly random characters and story lines that would be brought in, only to never be mentioned again after a single chapter. It actually took me going back and looking through some other reviews to even remember that Trip's nephew and Tobin Dax were in this book.
The big battle that was built up to all throughout both this book and the first lasted only for a single chapter, which while well written, felt a bit anti-climactic for me. And the sequence around what happened to Trip upon his 'grand escape' left me wanting more of that thread. However, I did have a chuckle at the Stargate: Atlantis reference at the end of the book. Excellent choice of fake name Trip, I tip my hat to you.
Overall it was a compelling story, enough to hold my attention to the end, but it definitely felt as though this were meant to be part of a larger series rather than a duology. Contributing to this were the (often massive) time jumps and seemingly random characters and story lines that would be brought in, only to never be mentioned again after a single chapter. It actually took me going back and looking through some other reviews to even remember that Trip's nephew and Tobin Dax were in this book.
The big battle that was built up to all throughout both this book and the first lasted only for a single chapter, which while well written, felt a bit anti-climactic for me. And the sequence around what happened to Trip upon his 'grand escape' left me wanting more of that thread. However, I did have a chuckle at the Stargate: Atlantis reference at the end of the book. Excellent choice of fake name Trip, I tip my hat to you.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 15, 2024
Enterprise #13: the Romulan War: To Brave the Storm
This was an upgrade from the previous book imo. Wasn’t as dense, less POVs and a rip roaring battle in the end. It also helps set up TOS a lot and the future of Trek with cameos from Picard’s ancestor to many more. I felt it said it needed to say within the right amount of pages. Although; I can understand why people wanted a whole trilogy out of this as it’s the granddaddy to the Dominon War. It was the original war that defined the Federation and lead to its creation.
I would say this book does still feel rushed and could have benefited from a third volume but I’m happy with what I read. Also the ending with Trip and T’Pol was a nice touch
7/10
This was an upgrade from the previous book imo. Wasn’t as dense, less POVs and a rip roaring battle in the end. It also helps set up TOS a lot and the future of Trek with cameos from Picard’s ancestor to many more. I felt it said it needed to say within the right amount of pages. Although; I can understand why people wanted a whole trilogy out of this as it’s the granddaddy to the Dominon War. It was the original war that defined the Federation and lead to its creation.
I would say this book does still feel rushed and could have benefited from a third volume but I’m happy with what I read. Also the ending with Trip and T’Pol was a nice touch
7/10
May 13, 2020
Much better than the last one. Most of the book moves too much from story to story without much happening. However, the last 40% of the book was very good and I really liked how they used Trip and T'Pol and how they wrapped up their story arc. I think this book tied up Enterprise for me. I started reading the books because I felt so unsatisfied with the stupid ending to the TV series. This book wrapped things up nicely but I think I will not be reading the other Enterprise books. We'll see...
June 4, 2023
This one is a bit of a mixed bag for me. The idea is great, heading into a Romulan war, trying to create allies but facing it alone. There are sections that felt kind of rushed. This story would have benefited from being more than one book, I think.
I like Michael Martin's writing style, but there are some editorial concerns. There were a lot of over used and repeated phrases and spelling mistakes.
I liked the book, but it didn't feel like it got all the time and attention the story deserved.
I like Michael Martin's writing style, but there are some editorial concerns. There were a lot of over used and repeated phrases and spelling mistakes.
I liked the book, but it didn't feel like it got all the time and attention the story deserved.
June 20, 2025
The book moves through time in a quite unsettling way, not backwards and forwards, but leaping through the months and years. As I said, it's as if they were bored and wanted it finished. There's very little commentary about what has happened during the elapsed time, although hints in the text like people re-appearing with a promotion or in a different place. There's lots of politics and fallings-out. It's not a great book to read at a time of global turmoil However, there is a happy incident at the end, which made me smile.
February 24, 2018
Really loved this book. I mean, I'm a gigantic fan of Star Trek: Enterprise - it's tied for my favorite along with TOS. Certainly this book is better than any of the reboot movies or the godawful STD on CBS right now. But this book was absolutely ENT at its prime. Archer's strategies, the Romulans more fierce and interesting here than they have ever been on screen or in movies, *ever*, and the finale... oof wow. Great book.
April 23, 2019
A satisfying end to the Earth-Romulan war. When all is said and done Trip is still out in the shadows, Archer is now a commodore, and the Vulcans, Telaraties, and Andorians finally came back to the table. Archer is hinted at becoming president of the Federation one day. There was also a nice little epilogue years down the road hinting at potentially Trip and T'Pol getting together. I am still surprised that a 6 year war was done in two books. Overall, a fun read.
May 31, 2021
En riktigt bra och rafflande spännande avslutning på Enterprise-sagan (så långt...). Den beskriver många viktiga delar i kriget mellan Jorden och det romulanska stjärnimperiet och slutet, där man får se många år framåt i tiden där vissa saker avslöjas på ett riktigt snyggt sätt, är riktigt bra.
Jag hoppas att det blir en fortsättning på bokserien, men efter det här har jag svårt att se att det blir något om kriget mot Romulus eftersom det viktigaste redan verkar ha sagts.
Jag hoppas att det blir en fortsättning på bokserien, men efter det här har jag svårt att se att det blir något om kriget mot Romulus eftersom det viktigaste redan verkar ha sagts.
September 10, 2022
After reading this book, my money would definitely be on the Romulans. They seemed smarter, stronger, and more willing to fight the war than the Terrans, who seemed sluggish, stupid, reticent to fight for their own survival, and just trusting in dumb luck to succeed. What a limp bunch of weasels the coalition was. Also, too many dangling threads at the end. I suppose we will have to read five more books to perhaps get any resolution.
February 14, 2018
Yeesh. All of my minor complaints about part 1 just blossomed into the entirety of part 2 :( I finally got to the point where I just gave up on this book. Which is frustrating because I really want to know how things turned out. Oh, well. Everyone seems to agree that the Rise of Federation stuff is much better than anything that came before, so I'll be curious to give it a shot.
November 22, 2017
A book in the middle of the series of Star Trek Enterprise books. Plowing through this book, so we can get to the end of the Romulan War and back onto developing the 'Federation' as an organization. Had to read this to get to the next one.
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