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Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Takedown
An all-new novel of Star Trek: The Next Generation—one of the most popular Star Trek series of all-time, featuring the adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise!
When renegade Federation starships begin wreaking destruction across the Alpha Quadrant, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise are shocked to discover that the mastermind behind this sudden threat is none other than Picard’s protégé and friend: Admiral William T. Riker. The newly minted admiral is on board the U.S.S. Aventine as part of a special assignment, even as the mystery deepens behind his involvement in the growing crisis. But the Aventine is helmed by Captain Ezri Dax—someone who is no stranger to breaking Starfleet regulations—and her starship is by far the faster vessel…and Riker cannot yield even to his former mentor. It’s a battle of tactical geniuses and a race against time as Picard struggles to find answers before the quadrant’s great powers violently retaliate against the Federation…
™, ®, & © 2015 CBS Studios, Inc. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
When renegade Federation starships begin wreaking destruction across the Alpha Quadrant, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise are shocked to discover that the mastermind behind this sudden threat is none other than Picard’s protégé and friend: Admiral William T. Riker. The newly minted admiral is on board the U.S.S. Aventine as part of a special assignment, even as the mystery deepens behind his involvement in the growing crisis. But the Aventine is helmed by Captain Ezri Dax—someone who is no stranger to breaking Starfleet regulations—and her starship is by far the faster vessel…and Riker cannot yield even to his former mentor. It’s a battle of tactical geniuses and a race against time as Picard struggles to find answers before the quadrant’s great powers violently retaliate against the Federation…
™, ®, & © 2015 CBS Studios, Inc. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
354 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 1, 2015
126 people are currently reading
602 people want to read
About the author
John Jackson Miller
344 books986 followersNew York Times bestselling author John Jackson Miller has spent a lifetime immersed in science fiction. His Star Trek novels include the Discovery – Die Standing, the acclaimed novel Discovery — The Enterprise War, the Prey trilogy, and Takedown. His Star Wars novels include A New Dawn, Kenobi, Knight Errant, Lost Tribe of the Sith, and the Knights of the Old Republic comics, available from Marvel as Legends: The Old Republic.
He’s written comics and prose for Halo, Iron Man, Simpsons, Conan, Planet of the Apes, and Mass Effect, with recent graphic novels for Battlestar Galactica, Dumbo, and The Lion King. Production notes on all his works can be found at his fiction site.
He is also a comics industry historian, specializing in studying comic-book circulation as presented on his website, Comichron.. He also coauthored the Standard Catalog of Comic Books series.
He’s written comics and prose for Halo, Iron Man, Simpsons, Conan, Planet of the Apes, and Mass Effect, with recent graphic novels for Battlestar Galactica, Dumbo, and The Lion King. Production notes on all his works can be found at his fiction site.
He is also a comics industry historian, specializing in studying comic-book circulation as presented on his website, Comichron.. He also coauthored the Standard Catalog of Comic Books series.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
January 6, 2016
One of the best Star Trek novels ever! An instant classic!
READER’S LOG
The best way to escape a bad day was to start the next.
I have been lucky to read previous material by John Jackson Miller, the author, as he put it, published in another galaxy, that I enjoyed a lot, and I was able too to read his first step into the Final Frontier with a short story published some months ago that I think it was excellent.
And now, I am totally astonished about this great book that it deserves to be side-by-side along with the best Star Trek novels ever written. I am not exaggerating, honestly I enjoyed so much with this book as I’ve been while reading the other Star Trek novels written by the already established regular authors in this franchise.
Certainly I do hope that John Jackson Miller will write more Star Trek in the near future, since if the following one would be as good as this one, he will become a highly valuable addition to the roster of writers in Star Trek.
Takedown is all you want to be in a good Star Trek novel. It’s smart, with great concepts of science-fiction, exciting action, good dialogues, well balanced use of all characters, valuable addition of new characters, excellent knowledge of Star Trek’s history, etc...
There are been some arguing that some of the newest Star Trek novels in recent years, in the “Relaunch” era, have too much political babble and not enough action, but in here, you will find a fair amount of political issues with a fair amount of action too. I believe that turning too much to any extreme of those elements indeed can affect a good reading experience of a Star Trek novel, so it’s truly great seeing whena the perfect balance is acomplished.
Obviously the commanding officers like Admiral William Riker, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Captain Ezri Dax have good development, but you will see that the crews of each one have a very good exploiting on the narrative, maybe the USS Titan’s crew seems to be less used, but they have their good moments too and they are indeed an integral part of the developing of the story. (Also, maybe that’s why he wrote a short story focused to the Titan’s crew, noticing that they will kinda diminished in this novel). And even, John Jackson Miller, created new characters with good development and totally justified why they are there.
Also, you don’t perceive any favoritism to any commanding officer, every one has their very fair time on the story, everyone is pivotal and everyone is able to shine a lot. And certainly each of them are well back up by their own crews.
John Jackson Miller shows a master management of the history of the 24th Century’s TV series on their aired seasons, but also the expanded “Relaunch” era, and even a wonderful skill to know how to integrate the Original Series to the story, as any Trekker, we love to read our novels.
READER’S LOG – SUPPLEMENTAL
You can’t fix the past, but you can try to make things better in the future…
This story is a test of friendships, a trial to loyalties, a proving to alliances, an exam of doing what’s right, an experiment to trust and faith.
Also, it’s a great example of how easy what you give as granted can be taken by the less suspected, not matter the reasons.
How incredibly easy, the communications acomplished in huge expanses of space can be lost causing chaos and fear.
A priceless chance for the commanding officers to evaluate their careers and how they have been so far, and to analyze if their past choices were the right ones.
Sometimes, some writers tend to find ways to “re-introduce” the present dark nature of human beings into the futuristic bright future designed by Gene Roddenberry, and some darkness here and there certainly is useful to the evolution of the franchise, but certainly, one always can admire and celebrate in novels like this one, when the human being can show how truly deserve to boldly go where no one has gone before, acomplishing a critical positive impact, in the galactic community, to improve the social evolution of all.
READER’S LOG
The best way to escape a bad day was to start the next.
I have been lucky to read previous material by John Jackson Miller, the author, as he put it, published in another galaxy, that I enjoyed a lot, and I was able too to read his first step into the Final Frontier with a short story published some months ago that I think it was excellent.
And now, I am totally astonished about this great book that it deserves to be side-by-side along with the best Star Trek novels ever written. I am not exaggerating, honestly I enjoyed so much with this book as I’ve been while reading the other Star Trek novels written by the already established regular authors in this franchise.
Certainly I do hope that John Jackson Miller will write more Star Trek in the near future, since if the following one would be as good as this one, he will become a highly valuable addition to the roster of writers in Star Trek.
Takedown is all you want to be in a good Star Trek novel. It’s smart, with great concepts of science-fiction, exciting action, good dialogues, well balanced use of all characters, valuable addition of new characters, excellent knowledge of Star Trek’s history, etc...
There are been some arguing that some of the newest Star Trek novels in recent years, in the “Relaunch” era, have too much political babble and not enough action, but in here, you will find a fair amount of political issues with a fair amount of action too. I believe that turning too much to any extreme of those elements indeed can affect a good reading experience of a Star Trek novel, so it’s truly great seeing whena the perfect balance is acomplished.
Obviously the commanding officers like Admiral William Riker, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Captain Ezri Dax have good development, but you will see that the crews of each one have a very good exploiting on the narrative, maybe the USS Titan’s crew seems to be less used, but they have their good moments too and they are indeed an integral part of the developing of the story. (Also, maybe that’s why he wrote a short story focused to the Titan’s crew, noticing that they will kinda diminished in this novel). And even, John Jackson Miller, created new characters with good development and totally justified why they are there.
Also, you don’t perceive any favoritism to any commanding officer, every one has their very fair time on the story, everyone is pivotal and everyone is able to shine a lot. And certainly each of them are well back up by their own crews.
John Jackson Miller shows a master management of the history of the 24th Century’s TV series on their aired seasons, but also the expanded “Relaunch” era, and even a wonderful skill to know how to integrate the Original Series to the story, as any Trekker, we love to read our novels.
READER’S LOG – SUPPLEMENTAL
You can’t fix the past, but you can try to make things better in the future…
This story is a test of friendships, a trial to loyalties, a proving to alliances, an exam of doing what’s right, an experiment to trust and faith.
Also, it’s a great example of how easy what you give as granted can be taken by the less suspected, not matter the reasons.
How incredibly easy, the communications acomplished in huge expanses of space can be lost causing chaos and fear.
A priceless chance for the commanding officers to evaluate their careers and how they have been so far, and to analyze if their past choices were the right ones.
Sometimes, some writers tend to find ways to “re-introduce” the present dark nature of human beings into the futuristic bright future designed by Gene Roddenberry, and some darkness here and there certainly is useful to the evolution of the franchise, but certainly, one always can admire and celebrate in novels like this one, when the human being can show how truly deserve to boldly go where no one has gone before, acomplishing a critical positive impact, in the galactic community, to improve the social evolution of all.
October 5, 2023
Takedown is a non-stop thriller, fueled by the mystery of what could compel Riker to go rogue and seemingly betray the Federation, his family and friends. And of course, if anyone knows Riker and could possibly stop him it's Picard.
Miller's characterizations are spot on, doing a particularly good job with Riker, Picard and Ezri Dax, now captain of the Aventine. Along with the thrills and chills he manages to evoke pathos as Riker seemingly torches his relationships with everyone closest to him, perhaps permanently, and yet balances that well with more lighthearted moments, mostly thanks to Dax and one member of her crew in particular, a perpetual ensign and screwup named Nevin Riordan. Miller knows his Trek canon, and surprisingly ties the story into some events from several TNG and TOS episodes. It's always a real treat when an author can do that well and so seamlessly.
Riker's always seemed like a pretty dull character to me, but it turns out that when he actually can be interesting. Though certainly not necessary, it helps to be familiar with the ST TNG episode The Nth Degree as this story is essentially a sequel.
Miller's characterizations are spot on, doing a particularly good job with Riker, Picard and Ezri Dax, now captain of the Aventine. Along with the thrills and chills he manages to evoke pathos as Riker seemingly torches his relationships with everyone closest to him, perhaps permanently, and yet balances that well with more lighthearted moments, mostly thanks to Dax and one member of her crew in particular, a perpetual ensign and screwup named Nevin Riordan. Miller knows his Trek canon, and surprisingly ties the story into some events from several TNG and TOS episodes. It's always a real treat when an author can do that well and so seamlessly.
Riker's always seemed like a pretty dull character to me, but it turns out that when he actually can be interesting. Though certainly not necessary, it helps to be familiar with the ST TNG episode The Nth Degree as this story is essentially a sequel.
June 3, 2025
This is a surprisingly good tie-in book in the Star Trek universe. Set long after the last movie in the francise, Nemesis, it brings about the confrontation that every Star Trek fan secretly wanted to witness: between Jean-Luc Picard and William Riker. It has mistery, action, adventure and, most important, originality.
August 9, 2016
There wasn't really a whole lot of meat to this book; it wasn't one of those Star Trek books that makes you think, or that is so riveting that you'll rave about it to anyone who will listen. But it was definitely a fun read if you enjoy the genre, and if you don't, why are you reading this review? The characters were handled well, the pacing was good, the plot more or less held together (no worse than most, anyway) an in general, it was just a good, solid example of the genre.
July 5, 2016
I didn't enjoyed this nearly as much as I wanted to. I liked having the combination of Ezri and Riker working together and as opponents, but I really struggled. I found the descriptions heavy and often unnecessary, and the interaction between the characters to be very stiff and robotic.
November 24, 2018
An unexpected, and bonkers-level sequel to a TNG episode. It pushes forward at a ridiculously crazy pace, but somehow manages to hold together...and ends with a gentle coda that I'm surprised other Trek authors haven't managed to think up ages ago. My only caveat is that Dax didn't seem quite as engaging as I expected her to be...but it's a small problem when everyone else manages to sing from the pages. A sequels go, this certainly takes the cake in the picking-up-where-they-left-off department.
September 4, 2017
4.5 stars. I first found this a little worrying, at least based on what was happening to one of my favourite characters in the canon, but when the big bad was revealed, I was relieved, since it meant things would work out. The action did pick up nicely, and thinking through the consequences was fascinating, and I loved how the author managed to tie in multiple episodes from the TV series as well as into the greater tapestry that has grown in the book relaunch.
May 19, 2019
Though I actually purchased this book when it was first published more than four years ago, you can tell that I'm incredibly far behind in my reading when it comes to the various Star Trek prose novel books.
That said, I'd generally consider myself a fan of what is essentially the Star Trek Expanded Universe. I really like how Pocket Books has moved forward from the end of the individual television series and told some bold stories that advanced not only the characters we have all come to know and love but change them, sometimes in fundamental ways. And the plots have been pretty darn interesting too.
I don't know if it is my time away from the series or not, but I have to say that "Takedown" by John Jackson Miller was a bit of a disappointment. That's not to say it was a bad story but I found myself having a hard time getting into the story at times.
Will Riker, now an admiral, is sent on a diplomatic mission that will feature four major members of the Federation and four major members of the Typhon Pact powers. That meeting ends and soon each ambassador begins displaying massive changes in their behaviors. Commandeering the starship Aventine, captained by Ezri Dax, Riker sets about destroying various communications arrays that are infected with a virus code that can take over anything that comes in contact with it.
The other members of the diplomatic meeting are doing the same thing. But the targets are of both their rivals and allies and their actions threaten to destabilize the entire galaxy.
Jean-Luc Picard and the Enterprise are sent to stop Riker's actions and find out what has caused him to go renegade.
I was a bit confused as to what was going on to make these changes happen to the various members that attended the meeting but when the parties responsible are revealed, it made sense from a plot standpoint. But it didn't really lend itself to be all that fascinating an ending.
Of course, that's just what I thought. Depending on your level of engagement with this story, you may find it drawing you in more than I did.
That said, I'd generally consider myself a fan of what is essentially the Star Trek Expanded Universe. I really like how Pocket Books has moved forward from the end of the individual television series and told some bold stories that advanced not only the characters we have all come to know and love but change them, sometimes in fundamental ways. And the plots have been pretty darn interesting too.
I don't know if it is my time away from the series or not, but I have to say that "Takedown" by John Jackson Miller was a bit of a disappointment. That's not to say it was a bad story but I found myself having a hard time getting into the story at times.
Will Riker, now an admiral, is sent on a diplomatic mission that will feature four major members of the Federation and four major members of the Typhon Pact powers. That meeting ends and soon each ambassador begins displaying massive changes in their behaviors. Commandeering the starship Aventine, captained by Ezri Dax, Riker sets about destroying various communications arrays that are infected with a virus code that can take over anything that comes in contact with it.
The other members of the diplomatic meeting are doing the same thing. But the targets are of both their rivals and allies and their actions threaten to destabilize the entire galaxy.
Jean-Luc Picard and the Enterprise are sent to stop Riker's actions and find out what has caused him to go renegade.
I was a bit confused as to what was going on to make these changes happen to the various members that attended the meeting but when the parties responsible are revealed, it made sense from a plot standpoint. But it didn't really lend itself to be all that fascinating an ending.
Of course, that's just what I thought. Depending on your level of engagement with this story, you may find it drawing you in more than I did.
February 24, 2021
It's a John Jackson Miller novel, could you expect it to be any less than 4 stars? It's a breezy read and having recently watched "The Nth Degree" I was fully up to speed on the groundwork layed out for this novel. Personally I loved getting to watch Titan, Aventine and Enterprise share the stage and the ensemble cast of characters was delightful. However as I've found with other Miller novels I can't quite award 5 stars. His breezy and quick writing style tells effective stories but there is a slight lack of depth I find. Though he has perfectly characterized the trek cast we know and love.
March 27, 2022
Judging by the author's acknowledgements this appears to be his first Star Trek novel. It has a noticeably different feel to others by him that I have read, although I have only read a handful. This is a less dark scenario however the central feature of the plot is of a Riker-gone-rogue, which is dark enough in itself.
We start by finding Riker in a manufactured captivity, which we return to briefly throughout the story. It is a nice red herring of a sort in that it partly gives away the main plot secret but it also cleverly disguises a part of it, with the reader always looking in slightly the wrong direction. It's all tied up rather neatly at the end and we get a look at how Starfleet deals with alien abductions and any related psychic possessions. If you think I've given up the secret in this paragraph you're looking at the red herring, dear reader.
What actually has occurred, is a recurrence of events seen in a Next Generation episode. All of the clues are there but even though I've probably watched the whole series more than half a dozen times, I didn't guess at who was involved. It's only after the reveal that you go "ohhh". I do have a notoriously bad memory but I think this is more related to the fact that so many Star Trek storylines are similar enough to muddy the details of distinction between events.
Well, I thought this was a great deal of fun. JJM is one author that I've always been impressed by. The characters are all written very well, aside from Riker playing a badass which is of course intentionally unfamiliar.
I'm not a super fan of stories which play the have-they-gone-mad card, we always know there will be a justification waiting to drop and it kind of dulls the excitement for me. In this one we spend comparatively less time with "Evil Riker" who does control the manic events but hides out of sight for a large part of the narrative. Thus we get to spend more time with the people affected by his uncharacteristic decisions and this was a good move that kept the story alive for me.
The end of the story is a little bit underwhelming, but it does all wrap up very neatly. And overall it was a fine read from start to finish.
We start by finding Riker in a manufactured captivity, which we return to briefly throughout the story. It is a nice red herring of a sort in that it partly gives away the main plot secret but it also cleverly disguises a part of it, with the reader always looking in slightly the wrong direction. It's all tied up rather neatly at the end and we get a look at how Starfleet deals with alien abductions and any related psychic possessions. If you think I've given up the secret in this paragraph you're looking at the red herring, dear reader.
What actually has occurred, is a recurrence of events seen in a Next Generation episode. All of the clues are there but even though I've probably watched the whole series more than half a dozen times, I didn't guess at who was involved. It's only after the reveal that you go "ohhh". I do have a notoriously bad memory but I think this is more related to the fact that so many Star Trek storylines are similar enough to muddy the details of distinction between events.
Well, I thought this was a great deal of fun. JJM is one author that I've always been impressed by. The characters are all written very well, aside from Riker playing a badass which is of course intentionally unfamiliar.
I'm not a super fan of stories which play the have-they-gone-mad card, we always know there will be a justification waiting to drop and it kind of dulls the excitement for me. In this one we spend comparatively less time with "Evil Riker" who does control the manic events but hides out of sight for a large part of the narrative. Thus we get to spend more time with the people affected by his uncharacteristic decisions and this was a good move that kept the story alive for me.
The end of the story is a little bit underwhelming, but it does all wrap up very neatly. And overall it was a fine read from start to finish.
August 2, 2018
I read this book coming off both the Typhon Pact and The Fall story arcs...I was looking forward to this book, as I love the Aventine and her crew. I was extremely disappointed. This author is not one of the normal Star Trek authors, and writes these characters as though he's not only never read the other books, but has never seen more than a few episodes of the shows. Captain Picard, for example, is very specific in the way he speaks and acts, and you could've replaced him in this novel with any random crew member, and I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. The characters were poorly done to the point of pulling you out of the story, and it was downright uncomfortable to read after the flawless entries in the previous story arcs. I'm a collector, and struggling as to whether or not I'm even keeping this book as I'll likely never read it again, and I doubt the other authors in this series have any desire to reference this work.
September 9, 2015
Although the story is good, I had a very hard time getting into this book. It took me forever to finish because I would read a couple chapters, then put it down to read something else, them come back to it only to put it down again after a few more chapters. After I got through the first half of the book, I started to like it and was able to finish it rather quickly. I'm not sure if it was the author's writing style or just that the first half of the story was rather confusing. 8 different species are invited to a peace summit at an unknown embassy and then start acting totally out of character and started destroying communication's arrays without killing anyone just didn't make sense to me, but by the end of the story is made a little bit of sense. Anyway, I'd give this a 3.5 rating if I could, I rounded up because I do enjoy Star Trek so much.
May 17, 2021
My full review will be up on Roqoo Depot soon. Suffice it to say, this was the first Star Trek book I read in 2017, and it launched a long period of reading Star Trek. Even now, I think that this is THE BEST Star Trek book I've ever read. Quite Amazing in every way. 10 out of 10!
Full Review: https://roqoodepot.wordpress.com/2021...
Full Review: https://roqoodepot.wordpress.com/2021...
February 8, 2015
A fun and exciting entry into the post-The Fall continuity of Trek novels. It was great to see the continuity touchstones that John Jackson Miller used to craft this story, including the reintroduction of a species from TNG that I've always been curious about (I won't include that particular spoiler here as I feel it guts the story to know it in advance). A definite improvement over Miller's previous foray into Trek literature, and hopefully a portent of many more great stories to come!
Full review: http://treklit.blogspot.com/2015/02/t...
Full review: http://treklit.blogspot.com/2015/02/t...
February 13, 2015
I struggled to click with the writing style a little. Clicking combadges stuck out (you don’t click them. Really) and it was evident that Miller is new to the genre.
Still, for the first time Post nemesis, I felt as if I was reading something I’d like to see onscreen, the sort of story that would’ve fit well into a feature-length episode. I enjoyed it for that, even if the story was already done on television and little new was added. It was a solid, episodic adventure for the continuing voyages.
Still, for the first time Post nemesis, I felt as if I was reading something I’d like to see onscreen, the sort of story that would’ve fit well into a feature-length episode. I enjoyed it for that, even if the story was already done on television and little new was added. It was a solid, episodic adventure for the continuing voyages.
July 28, 2015
This was a pretty good read. As a nitpicker I have to give a shout out to the editor who let Wolf 357 pass as the location of the battle against The Borg Cube. Seriously how many real Star Trek fans don't know it was Wolf 359?
December 30, 2017
This is a nice little "Star Trek" story that the fans should enjoy. The conflict, pacing and resolution are just as would happen on a typical television episode.
June 30, 2015
Not good.
May 25, 2017
Wieder eine omnipotente Macht in Star Trek Universum...
Admiral Riker wird zu einer Konferenz zwischen der Förderation und dem Typhon Pact zu der "Fernen Botschaft" gerufen. Als er sie betritt kommt er und die anderen Konferenzteilnehmer verändert wieder heraus, sie beschaffen sich schnelle Raumschiffe (Riker ruft die Aventine, das schnellste Schiff der Sternenflotte under Captain Dax, und starten einen Kriegszug gegen verschiedene Kommunikationseinrichtungen der Sternenflotte und ihrer Mitglieder, aber auch gegen Einrichtungen des Typhon Pactes. Captain Picard wird schließlich gerufen, um das Rätsel der plötzlichen Aggression zu lösen, was ihm auch nach einigem Hin und Her gelingt. Hinter allem steckt die Rasse der Cytherianer, die in einer TNG-Folge aus der 2. Staffel eine Rolle gespielt hat. Auf jeden Fall wurde Riker und seine Mitverschwörer in ihrer Intelligenz angehoben, um diese Taten zu vollbringen, Warum und Wiso, dies bleibt etwas im Dunkeln. Auf jeden Fall wurde hier wieder mustergültig klargemacht, dass sich die Förderation und der Typhon Pact in einem kalten Krieg befinden, wobei einzelne Mächte, wie die Romulaner, sich bemühen, zu einem Dialog zu kommen. Ein schöner Roman, der jedoch ein Lückenfüller darstellt, da es keine weltbewegenden Neuheiten aus dem Star Trek-Universum gegeben hat. Auf jeden Fall war es schön, mal wieder was von der TITAN und der AVENTINE unter Ezri Dax zu hören...
Admiral Riker wird zu einer Konferenz zwischen der Förderation und dem Typhon Pact zu der "Fernen Botschaft" gerufen. Als er sie betritt kommt er und die anderen Konferenzteilnehmer verändert wieder heraus, sie beschaffen sich schnelle Raumschiffe (Riker ruft die Aventine, das schnellste Schiff der Sternenflotte under Captain Dax, und starten einen Kriegszug gegen verschiedene Kommunikationseinrichtungen der Sternenflotte und ihrer Mitglieder, aber auch gegen Einrichtungen des Typhon Pactes. Captain Picard wird schließlich gerufen, um das Rätsel der plötzlichen Aggression zu lösen, was ihm auch nach einigem Hin und Her gelingt. Hinter allem steckt die Rasse der Cytherianer, die in einer TNG-Folge aus der 2. Staffel eine Rolle gespielt hat. Auf jeden Fall wurde Riker und seine Mitverschwörer in ihrer Intelligenz angehoben, um diese Taten zu vollbringen, Warum und Wiso, dies bleibt etwas im Dunkeln. Auf jeden Fall wurde hier wieder mustergültig klargemacht, dass sich die Förderation und der Typhon Pact in einem kalten Krieg befinden, wobei einzelne Mächte, wie die Romulaner, sich bemühen, zu einem Dialog zu kommen. Ein schöner Roman, der jedoch ein Lückenfüller darstellt, da es keine weltbewegenden Neuheiten aus dem Star Trek-Universum gegeben hat. Auf jeden Fall war es schön, mal wieder was von der TITAN und der AVENTINE unter Ezri Dax zu hören...
July 13, 2024
Picard and Riker have always worked well together. So what happened? Did the promotion to Admiral get to Riker's head? I mean, sort of, I guess... But how is Picard supposed to stop his old protege when he's always a step (or more) behind?
Wow! Wow wow wow... wow! My friend Jonathan Koan has said this is one of his favorites by author John Jackson Miller and his favorite standalone Star Trek novel. And I can certainly see why!
This book was fantastic! It has everything you could want in a Star Trek book and it is the perfect standalone adventure. It's got a beginning, a middle, and an end. Sure, there are some elements pulled from Deep Space Nine and it's got the Starship Aventine under the command of Captain Ezri Dax. But this is a TNG novel through and through.
Basically, Admiral Riker goes a little bonkers and for all intents and purposes commandeers the Aventine. Not only that, he takes the ship on a jaunt through the Alpha and Beta quadrants to destroy communications stations and arrays. The only Riker-like thing about him is that he makes sure there are no casualties.
But that's not the same for captains of other vessels such as the Ferengi, Romulan, Klingon, and others.
Picard and the Enterprise are sent to catch and capture Rogue Agent Riker. And when they do... oh boy! Let's just say this book has a revelation that I did NOT see coming and I was so happy when it was revealed. It made so much sense and was Star Trek at its finest.
Honestly, if we were to get a fourth season of Star Trek: Picard, I think this is the story I would want to see.
I'll end this one here without saying any more If you're a fan of the Star Trek novels and haven't read this one yet, do yourself a favor and read it. If you're not a fan of Star Trek or the novels, well, thanks for reading this far...
This is now one of my favorite Star Trek books! And the second favorite that I've read this year! (The other being Pliable Truths by Dayton Ward.) This was an easy 5 out of 5 star book!!
Wow! Wow wow wow... wow! My friend Jonathan Koan has said this is one of his favorites by author John Jackson Miller and his favorite standalone Star Trek novel. And I can certainly see why!
This book was fantastic! It has everything you could want in a Star Trek book and it is the perfect standalone adventure. It's got a beginning, a middle, and an end. Sure, there are some elements pulled from Deep Space Nine and it's got the Starship Aventine under the command of Captain Ezri Dax. But this is a TNG novel through and through.
Basically, Admiral Riker goes a little bonkers and for all intents and purposes commandeers the Aventine. Not only that, he takes the ship on a jaunt through the Alpha and Beta quadrants to destroy communications stations and arrays. The only Riker-like thing about him is that he makes sure there are no casualties.
But that's not the same for captains of other vessels such as the Ferengi, Romulan, Klingon, and others.
Picard and the Enterprise are sent to catch and capture Rogue Agent Riker. And when they do... oh boy! Let's just say this book has a revelation that I did NOT see coming and I was so happy when it was revealed. It made so much sense and was Star Trek at its finest.
Honestly, if we were to get a fourth season of Star Trek: Picard, I think this is the story I would want to see.
I'll end this one here without saying any more If you're a fan of the Star Trek novels and haven't read this one yet, do yourself a favor and read it. If you're not a fan of Star Trek or the novels, well, thanks for reading this far...
This is now one of my favorite Star Trek books! And the second favorite that I've read this year! (The other being Pliable Truths by Dayton Ward.) This was an easy 5 out of 5 star book!!
October 31, 2024
Following a peace conference in neutral space, the possibility of an attack on Federation space drives Riker to commandeer the Aventine and set upon a path to establish a disruptive firebreak. However, all is not as it would seem.
A fast and enjoyable read—sometimes books glide by effortlessly and I consume them in hours instead of days or weeks, and this is one. Great characterization, action and plotting. I'm tempted to coopt the concept of Takedown as the basis for a What-If in my RPG endeavours—it's a fascinating concept which I would layer in with elements from the Southern Reach trilogy.
But, enough random rambling. I enjoyed the build up and progression through Act 2. Act 3? Well, all good things must come to an end. Not a bad thing, as such, but the plot progession was less satisfying for me than if Takedown had continued as it began. Still, I loved the callbacks and the experienced of the Romulans as counterpoint to that of the Aventine and Enterprise.
Recommended for Trek fans.
A fast and enjoyable read—sometimes books glide by effortlessly and I consume them in hours instead of days or weeks, and this is one. Great characterization, action and plotting. I'm tempted to coopt the concept of Takedown as the basis for a What-If in my RPG endeavours—it's a fascinating concept which I would layer in with elements from the Southern Reach trilogy.
But, enough random rambling. I enjoyed the build up and progression through Act 2. Act 3? Well, all good things must come to an end. Not a bad thing, as such, but the plot progession was less satisfying for me than if Takedown had continued as it began. Still, I loved the callbacks and the experienced of the Romulans as counterpoint to that of the Aventine and Enterprise.
Recommended for Trek fans.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 18, 2021
Overall a high quality Star Trek book with an engaging story that tries a little too hard to emphasize a connection to the TNG television series. Though, the story and the character development is strong, Takedown suffers the same shortcomings of many modern books and movies - predictable and overly ironic and tongue in cheek dialogue. I am already into Star Trek, I sought out the book, I am an engaged in the story line; I could do without the predictably ironic comments in the heat of battle.
June 18, 2017
Confusing, but in a good way!
There's a mystery, with Riker and seven other diplomats going off the rails. Why? How? Is it real, is her crazy or... And who is making him review it all?
I was satisfied with the solution, even more when I realized the backstory came from TV episodes, not the novels as I assumed.
There's a mystery, with Riker and seven other diplomats going off the rails. Why? How? Is it real, is her crazy or... And who is making him review it all?
I was satisfied with the solution, even more when I realized the backstory came from TV episodes, not the novels as I assumed.
April 4, 2019
This was a fun read. I enjoy stories where multiple starship crews get together and here you get Enterprise, Aventine, and Titan. The crux of the story relies on a trope we’ve probably seen a dozen times in Star Trek before but it’s still enjoyable. Overall, this reminds me of one of the old school Trek novels I used to enjoy so much as a kid.
July 16, 2024
This was my first read with author John Jackson Miller and I’m impressed and really enjoyed the story. Definitely, recommend the book to those who enjoy Star Trek. Interesting to see Will Riker became an Admiral before Jean Luc Picard but I understand the reason behind it and glad to see no squabbling behind it. Again, great book and I look forward to reading more books by JJM.
September 17, 2024
Turns out this is the first Star Trek novel written by John Jackson Miller. It’s interesting seeing Picard separated from Beverly and having the context of what she’s up to from having read DS9: The Missing. The Riker family dynamic has some fun moments. The conflict itself is familiar but different somewhat, if that makes sense.
February 15, 2025
This book was solid enough. I had spurts throughout where I loved it, then spurts where it wasn’t quite there. The thing I love most about The Next Generation is the crew, but they were all splintered across the galaxy in different places. It’s mostly a Riker book and I wanted more from everyone else. It was a serviceable book that got me through my reading slump.
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June 26, 2021Didn't finish this one. The opening chapters feel more like Star Trek than Star Trek feels. It's like he tried to cram all of Star Trek's neat features into just a few pages. Then the beginning of chapter four is an utterly unrealistic portrayal of how powerful-but-incompetent people act.
October 28, 2023
I enjoyed the story. It was an relatively easy mystery. It was more like a TNG or Strange New Worlds episode in terms of the level of intensity (not as much fear or trauma as Picard or some of the relaunch novels), which was good for me. I like that it referred to a TNG episode.
July 1, 2024
I think the book was a fun read for what it was. I kind of felt the end (the cytherians were just experimenting on species via a false meeting between races) was just a little bit of a cop out ending. I'll still give it 3 stars but I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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