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Star Trek: The Janus Gate #2
Future Imperfect
Capt. James T. Kirk's historic voyages have seldom been recorded fro, the vantage point of those who served "below deck" on the Starship Enterprise™ NCC-1701. This new trilogy reveals the courage and dedication of the men and women who constitute Kirk's crew, as well as the unearthly dangers faced by any who dare to explore the final frontier!
THE JANUS GATE
book two of three
FUTURE IMPERFECT
On a desperate rescue mission to recover their missing captain, the shuttle Copernicus and its crew have become lost in time and space, transported by a powerful subspace vortex to a hellish future time line where the brutal Gorn Hegemony has all but conquered the United Federation of Planets. Stranded on a transformed Federation colony, now a Gorn mining world worked by oppressed human slaves, Helmsman Hikaru Sulu meets an older version of a man he barely knows, Pavel Chekov, who now leads a ragtag band of freedom fighters against the Gorns.
Teamed together for the first time, Sulu and Chekov must struggle to survive in a future that should never have happened!
THE JANUS GATE
book two of three
FUTURE IMPERFECT
On a desperate rescue mission to recover their missing captain, the shuttle Copernicus and its crew have become lost in time and space, transported by a powerful subspace vortex to a hellish future time line where the brutal Gorn Hegemony has all but conquered the United Federation of Planets. Stranded on a transformed Federation colony, now a Gorn mining world worked by oppressed human slaves, Helmsman Hikaru Sulu meets an older version of a man he barely knows, Pavel Chekov, who now leads a ragtag band of freedom fighters against the Gorns.
Teamed together for the first time, Sulu and Chekov must struggle to survive in a future that should never have happened!
252 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 2002
21 people are currently reading
305 people want to read
About the author
L.A. Graf
25 books40 followersL.A. Graf reportedly stands for Let's All Get Rich and Famous. Its a pseudonym used by authors Karen Rose Cercone and Julia Ecklar.
They have co-written some eleven Star Trek novels. Their first Star Trek novel came out in 1990.
They have co-written some eleven Star Trek novels. Their first Star Trek novel came out in 1990.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 16, 2024
While Book 2 features everyone perfectly in character, it's simply too talky for its own good. It feels too much like it's treading water, which makes me feel this trilogy should have been a duology, considering the amount of plot (or lack thereof).
May 10, 2020
The second book in this trilogy opens with Sulu above a world not his own, encountering attacks from a base below his shuttle. He evades capture but crashes, only to be discovered by Chekov, who's twenty years older than he is. Back on Tlaoli 4, The older Sulu wants to return to his timeline (in the future), as does fourteen-year-old James Kirk. Spock comes down to the planet to help the trapped team understand how the alien time transporter works. Back in the future, Sulu agrees to help Chekov blow up a Gorn stronghold before they can invade Vulcan.
The book jumps between the present and the Gorn infested future, with the latter being much more interesting. I grew tired of all the hypotheses bandied about and tests done to the alien device. Yes, there were necessary for the characters to understand how the device worked, but for the reader they are drier than Vulcan's deserts. The possible future of the Gorn Hegemony at war with the Federation for eighteen years (and winning!) made for a much tenser reading. How the Gorn were able to travel about was a stroke of genius by Graf. If only the present was as engaging.
I have the final book ready to read, but I'm not expecting much of it.
The book jumps between the present and the Gorn infested future, with the latter being much more interesting. I grew tired of all the hypotheses bandied about and tests done to the alien device. Yes, there were necessary for the characters to understand how the device worked, but for the reader they are drier than Vulcan's deserts. The possible future of the Gorn Hegemony at war with the Federation for eighteen years (and winning!) made for a much tenser reading. How the Gorn were able to travel about was a stroke of genius by Graf. If only the present was as engaging.
I have the final book ready to read, but I'm not expecting much of it.
May 12, 2019
Author L.A. Graf brings us the second tale in the Janus Gate trilogy with Future Imperfect. Picking up where book one left off we see Lieutenant Sulu meet an older version of Chckov who has had to go through 20 years of war with the Gorn. The older Chekov decides that he is going to teach the young lieutenant how to fly a Gorn fighter in order to ram it into the Tesseract fort and stop the impending invasion of Vulcan. But along the way Commander Spock finds out how to use the Janus Gate to partially transport Uhura into the future to find the young Lieutenant. Once she is seen by the Gorn they capture her and take her to the same location deep blow the fort where they are holding the key to their ability to move from planet to planet. This is an interesting look into a war and how desperate Starfleet and the former crew of the Enterprise have become in the years since it began. I highly recommend this book to all Star Trek fans.
October 9, 2025
For how the first one set this up I expected a bit more and this one seemed middling. I liked the inter-crew interaction and Spock taking command but certain struggles just seem hand-waved away. How this Gate works is kind of silly as well. Anyway I have an idea of how this will all resolve but everyone's minds will need to be wiped to prevent spoilers.
November 15, 2022
Very enjoyable book presenting an alternate future although it raises some major continuity issues such with the Romulans, Gorn and Metrons. Really good time travel story still though and an improvement over the first book. Looking foward to the next
August 10, 2024
Lots of Uhura and great characterization.
July 3, 2014
“Future Imperfect” by L.A. Graf is the second book in “The Janus Gate” trilogy, a series of novels set during the Star Trek Original Series. The novel picks up from the cliff-hanger ending of the previous book with Lieutenant Sulu finding himself swapped in time with an older version of himself from a future where the Federation is at war with the Gorn. Meanwhile, Captain Kirk has been sent back in time to a critical point in his life with his teenage self now stranded in the present day on Tlaoli-4 with the crew of the Enterprise.
As with the previous novel the synopsis on the back cover didn’t actually match the story itself which was a bit irritating as there was no excuse for it being wrong. I really couldn’t believe they hadn’t tried to ensure the summary was correct this time after it being so wrong on “Present Tense”. In the end it probably doesn’t matter as most people will be reading this book because they read the first novel and they probably didn’t even bother checking the synopsis.
In regards to the writing itself, I felt that this book was better than “Present Tense” with Graf using the set-up from the previous novel expertly to ensure the reader can quickly get engrossed in an exciting adventure. The previous novel could feel a bit slow at times but this wasn’t an issue here as all the initial plot building and character introduction had already been dealt with. Although of course this means that the book doesn’t really have a beginning at all so it really is a no go for anyone who hasn’t read “Present Tense”.
Whilst the story continues to feel like standard Star Trek fare I still found it fun and enjoyed reading following the interplay between Sulu, Chekov and Uhura. Graf has done such a good job with these characters that I really didn’t mind the very minimal amount of time given to Kirk, Spock and McCoy. One thing that I did really like in the story is the alternate future that Graf has managed to construct. It is well thought and uses established characters, episode plots and aliens in a rather interesting way.
Overall this series continues to be an enjoyable enough read that showcases some of the more “minor” Star Trek characters. If you have read the first novel in the series and enjoyed it then you should pick up this sequel as it ramps up the pacing and action to provide a fun read.
As with the previous novel the synopsis on the back cover didn’t actually match the story itself which was a bit irritating as there was no excuse for it being wrong. I really couldn’t believe they hadn’t tried to ensure the summary was correct this time after it being so wrong on “Present Tense”. In the end it probably doesn’t matter as most people will be reading this book because they read the first novel and they probably didn’t even bother checking the synopsis.
In regards to the writing itself, I felt that this book was better than “Present Tense” with Graf using the set-up from the previous novel expertly to ensure the reader can quickly get engrossed in an exciting adventure. The previous novel could feel a bit slow at times but this wasn’t an issue here as all the initial plot building and character introduction had already been dealt with. Although of course this means that the book doesn’t really have a beginning at all so it really is a no go for anyone who hasn’t read “Present Tense”.
Whilst the story continues to feel like standard Star Trek fare I still found it fun and enjoyed reading following the interplay between Sulu, Chekov and Uhura. Graf has done such a good job with these characters that I really didn’t mind the very minimal amount of time given to Kirk, Spock and McCoy. One thing that I did really like in the story is the alternate future that Graf has managed to construct. It is well thought and uses established characters, episode plots and aliens in a rather interesting way.
Overall this series continues to be an enjoyable enough read that showcases some of the more “minor” Star Trek characters. If you have read the first novel in the series and enjoyed it then you should pick up this sequel as it ramps up the pacing and action to provide a fun read.
April 14, 2015
I want to start off by saying the back of the book was wrong again, but not quite as wrong as the back of book 1. This time the cover was very misleading, too. The first cover was just Kirk with a phaser or something, so it wasn't really specific to the story, but was okay. This one, however, is Scotty and Spock (who is in that ridiculous astronaut uniform) looking (I think) at transporter controls...Scotty wasn't even IN this book. He was mentioned, and actually we did hear his voice over Uhura's communicator, but this picture has NOTHING to do with the book. It's just a still from the series made to look like a painting, but come on! They could have easily found a better-suited picture for the cover of this book.
I also found a typo that was just ridiculous. The following sentence appeared at the end of a chapter:
Core imploison immanent.
Versus what she MEANT:
That really irked me.
But besides all that! I did enjoy this book. The story moves very quickly, and I didn't want to put it down. I wanted to find out what was going to happen next and how they were going to solve the big problems they were facing. Yet, once again, I knew they wouldn't solve them all because there is a third book in the series.
Based on what I already know about the first 2/3 of the series, the 3rd book is likely to be what the back describes. However, because I know how poorly the first two cover blurbs were written, I'm not counting on it being anywhere near entirely correct. But I am still looking forward to reading it.
Seriously, though, despite the glaring inconsistencies between the back of the books and the contents, I would still recommend these books to anyone who might like some more adventures with the crew of the Enterprise.
I also found a typo that was just ridiculous. The following sentence appeared at the end of a chapter:
Core imploison immanent.
im⋅ma⋅nent
–adjective
1. remaining within; indwelling; inherent.
2. Philosophy. (of a mental act) taking place within the mind of the subject and having no effect outside of it.
3. Theology. (of the Deity) indwelling the universe, time, etc.
Versus what she MEANT:
im⋅mi⋅nent
–adjective
1. likely to occur at any moment; impending.
2. projecting or leaning forward; overhanging.
That really irked me.
But besides all that! I did enjoy this book. The story moves very quickly, and I didn't want to put it down. I wanted to find out what was going to happen next and how they were going to solve the big problems they were facing. Yet, once again, I knew they wouldn't solve them all because there is a third book in the series.
Based on what I already know about the first 2/3 of the series, the 3rd book is likely to be what the back describes. However, because I know how poorly the first two cover blurbs were written, I'm not counting on it being anywhere near entirely correct. But I am still looking forward to reading it.
Seriously, though, despite the glaring inconsistencies between the back of the books and the contents, I would still recommend these books to anyone who might like some more adventures with the crew of the Enterprise.
June 2, 2010
This was a great follow-up to book 1. The action heightens as the mysteries are solved. I can't wait to read the conclusion.
Even though these books aren't canon, I'm a bit sad the end will have to result in some sort of reset. Far too much of the future has been revealed for anything else to make sense.
Even though these books aren't canon, I'm a bit sad the end will have to result in some sort of reset. Far too much of the future has been revealed for anything else to make sense.
January 21, 2017
A different point of view on timetravel, refreshing, possible but (obviously) not proven. Science, drama, mystery and a lot of tension, excitement, action with a touch of romance and humor. All the best Star Trek ingredients for another great adventure. Second in the trilogy but a semi-independant story s all 3 parts are.
February 2, 2017
FASCINATING!!!
I love time travel and alternate realities! This book (series) is a great read! This has to be among the top rated Star Trek stories. Great cliffhanger! I can't wait to read book 3.
I love time travel and alternate realities! This book (series) is a great read! This has to be among the top rated Star Trek stories. Great cliffhanger! I can't wait to read book 3.
April 20, 2010
Star Trek is best when they quit messing with time travel and alternate universes. Still a fun read.
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March 30, 2018You would think a story featuring time travel and the Gorn conquering the Federation would be exciting. But this story gets confusing and bogged down in technobabble. So you'd be wrong.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews