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Star Trek: The Next Generation #63
Maximum Warp: Book Two
Beyond the Federation's boundaries, Picard and his Romulan allies discover the source of the subspace crisis: an alien mechanism suspended between a black hole and a nearby inhabited planet--preventing the planet from disappearing forever. But its effects are eroding subspace at speeds faster than light.
240 pages, ebook
First published March 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 10, 2025
Wasn't quite as good as the show--which I am in the process of watching--but still fun and entertaining for what it was.
April 8, 2023
This novel takes a galactic, and even universal, Star Trek-flavored bird's-eye view of existence, space and time, and tries to make sense of it all as seen through our beloved Next Generation characters. But of course, they are but human (well, most of them) and so they can't quite grasp what is happening, once it is finally revealed what is causing the dead zones in space that they encountered in Book One, and continue to deal with in this Book Two.
I thought Picard's characterization was a bit off. He seemed much more angry and touchy-feely than the Picard of television and even other novels, constantly shouting, grabbing people's shoulders, even barging in with phasers drawn. Maybe he's getting grumpy in his old age?
I loved the presence of one of the original series' main characters. He was conversationally maddening and brilliant, just as we expect him to be!
The side plot with Riker, Troi, Data and the Romulan civilian was one of the most enjoyable parts of the novel. Maybe I just appreciate a good sold-into-slavery side plot that allows Riker to flex his mix of seriousness and humor, which featured a lovable Romulan matriarch who of course ends up being wiser than she lets on.
The final chapters with the exposition of was definitely mind-bogglingly and enjoyably over the top, but par for the course given the television series finale and other episodes featuring galaxy-wide and existence-saving plots, so why not?
I'm not sure why Pocket Books decided to stop numbering the novels with this installment, but it was kind of cool reading the "last" numbered one, and of course I consider it required reading for those reading all the books in the interconnected Trek-Lit Reading Order!
Shelf-Talker summary: an action-packed Trek adventure full of theoretical science, three dimensional starship battles, alien antagonists and allies we expect from Star Trek (Vulcan, Romulan, Klingon, and of course a made-up race just for this book), cameos from other Trek franchises, with just a smattering of Trek tropes to make you smile: Data saving the day, Riker charming the ladies, Klingons defying logic due to honor, chief engineers constantly trying to fix things under pressure, and of course, plot necessary but comic relief aliens!
Final rank: 4 out of 5 dimensional measurements!
I thought Picard's characterization was a bit off. He seemed much more angry and touchy-feely than the Picard of television and even other novels, constantly shouting, grabbing people's shoulders, even barging in with phasers drawn. Maybe he's getting grumpy in his old age?
I loved the presence of one of the original series' main characters. He was conversationally maddening and brilliant, just as we expect him to be!
The side plot with Riker, Troi, Data and the Romulan civilian was one of the most enjoyable parts of the novel. Maybe I just appreciate a good sold-into-slavery side plot that allows Riker to flex his mix of seriousness and humor, which featured a lovable Romulan matriarch who of course ends up being wiser than she lets on.
The final chapters with the exposition of was definitely mind-bogglingly and enjoyably over the top, but par for the course given the television series finale and other episodes featuring galaxy-wide and existence-saving plots, so why not?
I'm not sure why Pocket Books decided to stop numbering the novels with this installment, but it was kind of cool reading the "last" numbered one, and of course I consider it required reading for those reading all the books in the interconnected Trek-Lit Reading Order!
Shelf-Talker summary: an action-packed Trek adventure full of theoretical science, three dimensional starship battles, alien antagonists and allies we expect from Star Trek (Vulcan, Romulan, Klingon, and of course a made-up race just for this book), cameos from other Trek franchises, with just a smattering of Trek tropes to make you smile: Data saving the day, Riker charming the ladies, Klingons defying logic due to honor, chief engineers constantly trying to fix things under pressure, and of course, plot necessary but comic relief aliens!
Final rank: 4 out of 5 dimensional measurements!
October 19, 2018
... the extraneous character from book one serves a purpose here, basically in the first chapter, and is tossed aside pretty quickly. Which is a little less than awesome, but it worked.
I remember part two being a little harder to get through, but the ... sheer insanity of the climax of the book and the way things are resolved was enjoyable enough that I forgive it. A novel of gigantic, galaxy-shaking events that still manages to feel personal - like the best of the Trek events.
I remember part two being a little harder to get through, but the ... sheer insanity of the climax of the book and the way things are resolved was enjoyable enough that I forgive it. A novel of gigantic, galaxy-shaking events that still manages to feel personal - like the best of the Trek events.
March 4, 2015
This book was more exciting than the first one and it definitely keeps to the feel of the show. The last paragraph was my favorite part.
December 23, 2023
Authors Dave Galanter & Greg Brodeur bring us the last part of the tale of Maximum Warp. As the Enterprise is being bordered, Captain Picard and Spock have devised a plan to have the borders transport into the holodeck. As this is going on Riker, Troi, and Data along with their Romulan friend sell Riker and Troi in order to get a type of plasma that would mask the Enterprise while in Romulan space. Before the Enterprise makes it to the location where everything began they sent Captain Spock in his Romulan shuttle ahead to see if the way was clear. But Spock is taken aboard a Romulan warbird under the command of a former Tal Shair agent who knows that they need to stop the dead zones from happening. She tells her crew that under penalty of death that they have to follow her orders and those orders are to fire on an already disabled warbird. The Enterprise arrives and it's T'start that helps to convince Picard that they have to travel through null space to where a sphere lies at the center. Spock agrees and they enter it. I won't give away the ending but just say this it's worth the read. I highly recommend this book and the one prior to all Star Trek fans and science fiction fans too.
September 9, 2022
An incredibly quick, yet enjoyable, read.
Great opening as Picard is being beaten on the bridge by a Romulan hired group of mercenaries led by a Klingon. I was able to quickly discern how Picard was able to fight the Klingon, with the reveal being particularly enjoyable.
The crew of the Enterprise is able to discover what has been causing areas of "dead space" and go to confront. I didn't remember reading this book at all, which I did when it first came out, but I really found the solution and discussion that followed the climax very cosmic. I haven't encountered an ending like this since Star Trek: The Motion Picture. So, a big thumbs up to the authors for making this ending believable, unique, and unquestionably cosmic.
As with the previous book, I found Riker, Troi, and Data's side trip unnecessary to the larger plot, with the aliens they dealt with as being uninteresting. However, that's a minor quibble with all else being better than most Trek books. Especially it went where other Trek books haven't gone before.
Great opening as Picard is being beaten on the bridge by a Romulan hired group of mercenaries led by a Klingon. I was able to quickly discern how Picard was able to fight the Klingon, with the reveal being particularly enjoyable.
The crew of the Enterprise is able to discover what has been causing areas of "dead space" and go to confront. I didn't remember reading this book at all, which I did when it first came out, but I really found the solution and discussion that followed the climax very cosmic. I haven't encountered an ending like this since Star Trek: The Motion Picture. So, a big thumbs up to the authors for making this ending believable, unique, and unquestionably cosmic.
As with the previous book, I found Riker, Troi, and Data's side trip unnecessary to the larger plot, with the aliens they dealt with as being uninteresting. However, that's a minor quibble with all else being better than most Trek books. Especially it went where other Trek books haven't gone before.
December 14, 2019
About the same level as book one: still a strangely detached and lackadaisical epic. That said, I'd push book two to roughly 3.5 stars, thanks to the surprising resolution to book one's cliffhanger, a few more interesting character beats, and a mind-blowing climax. Overall, I wish this entire endeavor had been...just a bit more.
March 27, 2025
Full of epic world building from the outset, daring do right from the beginning, pulse pounding adventure from the start and epic edge of the seat action right from the start keeping your on your toes!
February 15, 2022
Alright finale, the first half was quite slow. Lots of technobabble I'm the second half that was confusing.
March 28, 2012
See my comments on Book One of Maximum Warp for the concept behind the books.
In the second book, everything set up in the first book is set in motion as the Enterprise attempts to find out who or what is behind the bubbles appearing in space and interrupting technology to a massive extent. Cut off from Starfleet, Picard and crew attempt to inflitrate Romulan space, where the mass murderer T'sart claims the origin of the bubbles exists. But will they find the cause of the bubbles in time to stop technological civilizations from collapsing entirely?
The second part of this duology has some great parts . . . and some not so great parts. In order to infiltrate Romulan space, Picard sends Riker, Deanna, and Data on a mission to find a substance that will mask their warp trail. This entire side-plot derails and everything that happens to Riker and crew feels out of place in comparison to the rest of what's going on. It came across to me as . . . uninteresting. I thought the time spent here should have been used instead on expanding the much more interesting plot revolving around Picard and T'sart. That plot line is what kept me reading and engaged.
And the end of that plot--the cause of the bubbles--was intensely interesting and scientific and what good SF novels are all about. I can't go into it in too much depth, since that would spoil the book, but the theory involved and the resolution of the plot was certainly something that will cause readers to think and is the real reason to read these books. I wanted to know more about the concepts behind the problem. I realize that a Star Trek book shouldn't be a textbook on current spatial theory and such, but I would have liked to have Picard and crew explore the concepts a little more as an active part of the plot. The ideas here are reminiscent of the plot behind the first Star Trek movie: our science extrapolated and grown to something other, something that we perhaps don't quite understand as yet.
So, ignoring Riker's little subplot, I liked these two books, especially the concepts sort of explored at the end of this second book.
In the second book, everything set up in the first book is set in motion as the Enterprise attempts to find out who or what is behind the bubbles appearing in space and interrupting technology to a massive extent. Cut off from Starfleet, Picard and crew attempt to inflitrate Romulan space, where the mass murderer T'sart claims the origin of the bubbles exists. But will they find the cause of the bubbles in time to stop technological civilizations from collapsing entirely?
The second part of this duology has some great parts . . . and some not so great parts. In order to infiltrate Romulan space, Picard sends Riker, Deanna, and Data on a mission to find a substance that will mask their warp trail. This entire side-plot derails and everything that happens to Riker and crew feels out of place in comparison to the rest of what's going on. It came across to me as . . . uninteresting. I thought the time spent here should have been used instead on expanding the much more interesting plot revolving around Picard and T'sart. That plot line is what kept me reading and engaged.
And the end of that plot--the cause of the bubbles--was intensely interesting and scientific and what good SF novels are all about. I can't go into it in too much depth, since that would spoil the book, but the theory involved and the resolution of the plot was certainly something that will cause readers to think and is the real reason to read these books. I wanted to know more about the concepts behind the problem. I realize that a Star Trek book shouldn't be a textbook on current spatial theory and such, but I would have liked to have Picard and crew explore the concepts a little more as an active part of the plot. The ideas here are reminiscent of the plot behind the first Star Trek movie: our science extrapolated and grown to something other, something that we perhaps don't quite understand as yet.
So, ignoring Riker's little subplot, I liked these two books, especially the concepts sort of explored at the end of this second book.
July 29, 2011
As anyone who has read more than a few of my reviews knows, I ALWAYS complain about a book that is missing either a beginning or an ending; I don't mind multi-part stories, so long as they have enough of a minor conclusion that they can, in fact, be read individually, even if a major plot-thread remains to be completed in the second book. (For example, most of the Harry Potter books had an internal plot that was completed within the book, even if the ongoing storyline remained unresolved; similarly, the Narnia books can all be read as individual stories, even though there is a continuing thread throughout.) But what I DO truly hate are books that follow the pattern of the old-fashioned movie serials: a cliffhanger ending, followed by "to be continued". This story does in fact suffer from this flaw. The preceding book ended with a cliffhanger, which was trivially resolved at the beginning of this book. In addition, the actual ending seemed a bit forced and cheap, which is why I only rate this one at three stars, while I rated the previous offering at four. If you like "tune in next week, same bat-time, same bat-channel" stories, then feel free to consider this a four-star review. And to be fair, it at least didn't feel that there was padding to make the story long enough to stretch to two books; I can't suggest anything that could have been cut, and the books are long enough (although just barely) that I suppose it would have been hard to fit the entire story between two covers.
June 9, 2012
After the first "Maximum Warp" book, the second half of the duology starts off promisingly. The story holds together much better than in the first book, there are more interesting situations and even some sufficciently deepened character moments with both new and familiar characters.
But soon begins a downhill as plot gives it all away to action as long and uneventfull space battles and other action-packed scenes take over the story. The plot gets predictable and characterization is nearly forgotten. It's not bad, but there would have been potential for more. The ambitious but messy ending of the book is also a of an odd choice as it stumbles on sci-fi clichés and an overly melodramatic climax.
But soon begins a downhill as plot gives it all away to action as long and uneventfull space battles and other action-packed scenes take over the story. The plot gets predictable and characterization is nearly forgotten. It's not bad, but there would have been potential for more. The ambitious but messy ending of the book is also a of an odd choice as it stumbles on sci-fi clichés and an overly melodramatic climax.
November 16, 2013
The Enterprise is still trying to stop the dead zones. This is the 2nd book in the series, and you do need to have read the 1st to get what is going on. It is quite a short novel, kinda fun but very inconsequential. Riker, Deanna and Picard all have some nice character moments. Spock is still in it and shows off his scientific logic. A good read.
May 18, 2015
Only "decent" fare, this duet has an interesting premise, but the tension is achieved rather artificially. There are a few too many cameos (a failing of many trek novels), but it is done fairly plausibly.
Basically "dead zones" of null power are popping up all over the galaxy, and it's up to the Enterprise to save everyone! Can they possibly do it? Well, duh.
Basically "dead zones" of null power are popping up all over the galaxy, and it's up to the Enterprise to save everyone! Can they possibly do it? Well, duh.
December 20, 2010
The first book was a little slow, but necessary to appreciate the second one. I loved the character of Tobin. He reminded me of the cosmonaut from the movie Armageddon".
January 23, 2013
All resolved happily - a bit contrived but I enjoyed meeting Spock again
March 28, 2015
3.5/5
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews