To Defy Fate

Star Trek: Picard #6

by Dayton Ward, Robert Petkoff (Narrator)

A thrilling new adventure based on the acclaimed TV series Star Picard!

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Media Tie In, Time Travel, Fiction

16 pages, Audio CD

First published April 28, 2026

About the author

Dayton is a software developer, having become a slave to Corporate America after spending eleven years in the U.S. Marine Corps. When asked, he’ll tell you that he left home and joined the military soon after high school because he’d grown tired of people telling him what to do all the time.

Ask him sometime how well that worked out.

In addition to the numerous credits he shares with friend and co-writer Kevin Dilmore, he is the author of the Star Trek novels In the Name of Honor and Open Secrets, the science fiction novels The Last World War and The Genesis Protocol, and short stories which have appeared in the first three Star Trek: Strange New Worlds anthologies, the Yard Dog Press anthology Houston, We’ve Got Bubbas, Kansas City Voices Magazine and the Star Trek: New Frontier anthology No Limits. Though he currently lives in Kansas City with wife Michi and daughters Addison and Erin, Dayton is a Florida native and still maintains a torrid long-distance romance with his beloved Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Reviews

[Jonathan Koan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dayton Ward deliver his first hardcover book, and it is a timey-wimey good time!

This book takes place in that year long blip of time during the denoumont of the Picard Finale "The Last Generation" and features a significant portion of the Picard cast. Wesley Cursher shows up when some temporal issue occurs, and our characters split into groups to try and solve the problems that have been created.

Through and through, this is a Wesley Crusher book. Even in the Litverse, we never really got to see a ton from the Travelers' perspective, so it was really intriguing getting to see how the time-travelers live. We do get some connections to the Department of Temporal Investigations, which I enjoyed.

This book also has some fantastic thematic elements, which to go into specifics would spoil some things. Suffice it to say that this book serves as an excellent bookend to the first Picard novel "The Last Best Hope" by Una McCormack. That book explores similar themes and issues from a very straightforward, serious perspective, but this book deals with it from a more fun, timey-wimey perspective.

We do get to revisit some important moments in history of the Star Trek universe, due to the nature of the story. It was fun to see those events from a new perspective.

There were some subplots I didn't love. Guinan shows up in this book, and unfortuantely, I thought her story was really unnecessary and didn't add much to the story. And sadly, I felt the same way about Seven of Nine. (I was also frustrated that the book seemingly reverses the decisions made in Picard Season 3 while also following them).

I thought the climax of the book was good, but not amazing. I think some retooling of it would have really beefed it up.

[Do want to add some clarity to some reviews I've seen. I've seen reviews discussing connections to the Litverse of books, but outside of a few VERY MINOR connections, I really didn't catch much, so you absolutely do not need to be well versed in the books to enjoy this one].

Overall, I did really enjoy this book, and especially loved the themes and the fun nature of the story. However, it's not a favorite Trek book of mine, nor is it my favorite Dayton Ward book (that remains From History's Shadow). But still very much worth your time if you're a fan of Trek, Picard, and the books. I'll give this one an 8 out of 10!

[Matthew Rushing · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book that pays homage to the litverse and The Picard series. Well done Mr. Ward!

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stayed up all night to finish this. The time travel portion isn't exactly original...but it's part of a larger effort to tie in and address many dangling threads from all 3 seasons of Picard...and it somehow manages to do it all with uncanny, addictive brilliance. By rights this should be a house of cards fanwank that explodes under its own weight...instead, it's a massive gift to all TNG and Picard fans...it even manages to incorporate Discovery and the Kelvin timeline. This is ridiculously epic.

[Frank Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Production of ST novels seems to have slowed down considerably, so it's a very good thing that this was excellent.

If I've guessed it correctly, then this story squeezes in right between seasons 2 & 3, but perhaps don't take my word for it.

In any case, Wes shows up to help figure out who and what is screwing with the timeline, after Rafi and Seven and Guinan experience some temporal shenanigans.

"Oh, no!" - I immediately thought, here is another book that is going to try to up the scale of mayhem again, again, (again, again... ad infinitum). Thankfully, it wasn't at all that asinine. In fact, it's really a classic ST time travel story in many ways.

We actually do find out who is messing around with the timeline pretty early and then we spend quite a lot of time with them, so we also get fed a lot of their motivations. I guess the biggest mystery then, is just how far the culprit is prepared to go to achieve their desired outcome.

As with any good ST time travel story, this one tries to acknowledge all of the methods that have been discovered over the last six and a half decades of writing. And on top of that, this one does include some of the far future information that we've been given from the more recent iterations of the franchise. Excellence on both accounts.

It's a great addition to the PIC portion of the universe.

[Caleb Dorsch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great Star Trek book that feels like it has the magic of the post-Nemesis novelverse while effectively using many aspects of the new Kurtzman era characters. It effectively utilizes Wesley the Traveler in ways that are inspired by both Prodigy and Picard shows. There are many cool and unexpected characters from throughout the canon that are integrated in unique ways and to say more would spoil the fun. It’s a timey wimey book that delivers in a way that Picard season 2 could not for me. The time travel gives me a headache that would make Janeway proud but I had a lot of fun while doing so. This scratched a Star Trek itch that I had desperately needed. Great work Dayton!

[Susan L · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really fun read for this Trekkie. Nice to have Wesley back in the action and actually spending time with his mother. This time travel/multi-verse adventure is the perfect read to add to your Star Trek 60th Anniversary celebration.

[Michael Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: This review was originally published at FanFiAddict.

Set between the climax and the “one year later” epilogue of Star Trek: Picard’s series finale, To Defy Fate finds the titular Starfleet Admiral and associates lying low for some much-deserved rest after having saved the galaxy from annihilation once again. Of course, galaxy-threatening apocalypses are never too far away when you’re the captain of the Enterprise… or at least, a former captain of said ship in one case, and soon-to-be-captain in another.

Former Borg drone turned captain, Seven of Nine, and her partner, Raffi Musiker, are enjoying some much-needed shore leave together when they’re caught in a temporal anomaly that leaves Seven in a coma. This draws together not only Admirals Picard and Crusher, head of Starfleet Medicine, but Crusher’s long-absent time-traveling son, Wesley. Since we last him departing the Enterprise with an alien being known as the Traveler, Wesley has become something of a temporal cop, jumping across time and multiverses to fix whatever various paradoxes and reality-twisting moments whatever bad guy of the day has introduced into the timeline to alter reality for their own nefarious purposes.

Said bad guy this time around is actually bad woman, Romulan time-traveler Likara. And really, she’s not that bad, all things considered. Her goals are understandable and genuinely sympathetic, even if she goes about trying to achieve them in the wrong way, and to too many disastrous ends, most of which either plunge the universe into war or outright spell the end of both Starfleet and the Federation.

Dayton Ward draws on the vast breadth and depth of Star Trek history, touching on several key moments likely known very well by this franchise’s intense fandom. If you’re new to all things Trek, To Defy Fate is probably a poor starting point. However, if things like Wolf 359, First Contact, the Dominion War, Prime and Kelvin timelines mean anything to you, you’re certainly in the right spot.

The crux of To Defy Fate bends around Likara’s attempts to save her family from certain death amidst the implosion of the Romulan system’s sun. It’s a key moment that bridges not only the fate of the universe, but the background of both the Star Trek: Picard series and 2009’s Star Trek reboot movie. Likara attempts to change the fate of her world by changing key moments in the past. And so begins a race through and against time as Wesley, Picard, Raffi, and others chase down Likara’s various incursion points and resultant splintered timelines.

By and large, it’s a fun romp through Trek’s future-past and with plenty of “Hey, remember when…!” moments, but it’s also not as Multiverse of Madness or Sliders crazy as it could potentially be. The majority of Ward’s alternate timelines feel kind of samey-same, with one neat spot – an Earth that has been conquered by Klingon forces – being little more than a brief stopover between more consistent realities that involve war between the Romulans and Starfleet. As a fan of Seven, I was also a bit disappointed to see her sidelined in a coma for the bulk of the book’s page count.

Given the squirrely requirements of tie-in fiction, we also don’t get much in the way of either canon-breaking or canon-expanding concepts given the small window To Defy Fate is forced to exist within. We don’t get to read about the Enterprise-G’s first mission with Seven in the captain’s chair and her partner, Raffi, in the first officer’s seat beside her, as it’s still the Titan here and undergoing repairs. Those hoping for some kind of continuation of those 25th Century adventures promised in Picard’s third-season finale will still be pining away at the end of this one and left waiting for IDW Publishing’s relaunched Star Trek comic this fall (sans Raffi, who’s getting her own separate spin-off comic series), in time for Trek’s 60th anniversary. Here’s to hoping Trek’s line of lit-fic, and its lineup of authors, is given a chance to craft their own future legacy with the G’s unwritten history. All good things in due time, I suppose.

Rather than dwell on what To Defy Fate isn’t, one must meet it on its own terms for what it is. The bottom line is, it’s a fun, pulpy, time-hopping adventure. Ward handles the characters well, which should be a given as he’s spent decades writing them across a slew of bookish adventures, and it’s lots of fun to see familiar characters pop up in unexpected ways. Perhaps most importantly, though, Ward and To Defy Fate provide those moments that are most important throughout Star Trek’s long and prosperous life: hope. While there’s certainly plenty of commentary on Earth’s struggles of the 21st Century – for the characters involved, it’s with the foreknowledge of the Eugenics War to come, but for readers, particularly Americans, it’s certainly in keeping with our own travails down the path of eugenics under RFK Jr.’s Department of Health and Human Services, the Trump team writ large, and conservatives attempts to rewrite and/or banish history and undo every shred of progress made in this country – Ward smartly reminds us that eventually things do get better, and that the arc of the moral universe genuinely does bend toward justice, even if it is a long road getting to there from here. Things may get worse before they get better, but they do indeed get better, eventually.

[Erick M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

And just like that, one of the best Star Trek novel series of the recent years comes to an end (again, at least for now). What a joy to conclude it with an adventure through space and time!

I absolutely loved To Defy Fate from beginning to end! A story as captivating in its plot as it is electrifying in its pacing. Plots involving multiple realities and time travel are nothing new to the franchise, but I certainly think Dayton Ward presents the best version of this concept, finding a balance between the nostalgia of revisiting the past and looking forward to the future with optimism.

If there's one thing I must also praise, it's the great follow-up given to Wesley Crusher and the Aegis/Travelers lore. We had already seen their activities in Prodigy Season 2, and it's a real treat to see more of the organization in charge of protecting the sacred timeline (where have I heard that before?) as well as Wesley's role as a Traveler. If we really don't get a new audiovisual product in the near future, I'm all for a series of novels focused on Time Lord Wesley's travels through space and time. Definitely one of New Trek's greatest achievements.

What can I say about the characters? I thoroughly enjoyed most of them. I loved Raffi and Seven (thank you, Mr Ward, for retconning that nonsense about them not being able to be together because of Starfleet protocol); it was a pleasant surprise to see Kore Soong again, who, along with Guinan, gives the story greater synergy, making it feel more connected to the first two seasons; finally, the family bond between Wesley, Beverly, and Picard is unique, completely winning me over with the emotional father/mother and son moments. It would have been great to have Jack around too, but I guess there were already enough characters.

Additionally, I must highlight the book's main antagonist: Likara. I found her as an ingenious way to bring the Rumulan evacuation storyline full circle, given the interesting motivations she has behind, which the novel does a great job of plausibly developing. I would have liked to spend more time with her, but I certainly found her great and her conclusion as melancholic as it was satisfying.

Perhaps my only reservations are that, while I commend the way the conflict is used to revisit several iconic moments from the saga, I feel these are concentrated in only one era: the 90s. This makes sense initially, but later on I would have liked (SPOILER) to see some action in the TOS era with Kirk and Spock, in ENT and see Archer (Mestral doesn't count), or even Michael and the Discovery. Additionally, while I appreciate Guinan's presence, I feel that she and (SPOILER) Kovich are the weakest parts of the book. Initially, I was excited to see him there, but they don't do much; they just chat for a loong time in the timeless room until they're rescued. Yes, that was somewhat disappointing.

In conclusion, this was a fantastic novel, very solid and a fitting farewell to the Picard novel series (for now), a series that has earned its place on my bookshelf as one of the best Star Trek books I've ever read!

[Louie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Someone's messing with the timelines..(god dammit Barry Allen!)
We must find out who's messing with the time lines..(Barry?)
Oh no it's a pissed off Romulin..(99% of the time it's a pissed off Romulin tbh)
We must fix the timelines.
Fixed em.
Job done.

Five stars because Wesley Crusher's in it.

Love, Wesley Crusher's number one (and probably only) fan.

[Sean Randall · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to enjoy this, but I couldn't quite work out what it was supposed to be.

On the one hand, you have an interesting view into Wesley, but on the other, all the fluff of old TNG-era visits.
Picard felt like he was there just for the name, and unlike the Dark Veil it didn't work here.

So not overly impressed, unfortunately. There also seemed to be a fair bit of overlap with the Voyager episode Relativity, which is one of my favourites.

[Alejandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Trek: Picard continues!


This book is a tie-in original prose novel of “Star Trek: Picard”. This story is set three weeks after the finale of the TV series and one year before the epilogue of the TV series.


WESLEY CRUSHER, MASTER OF TIME

Wesley Crusher is a Traveler (who is a kind of people with access to technology and natural understanding of how to manipulate time) and he asked for help of Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, Admiral Beverly Crusher and Commander Raffaela “Raffi” Mussiker to track down a time agent (not a Traveler but an agent recruited by the Aegis (Travelers’ bosses)) who is manipulating time to alter dramatically the timeline and provocked changes in the parallel universes and the main timeline.

Wesley isn’t aware at first that it’s a rogue agent of the “Travelers’ Family” but eventually he will find out since he knows well Likara, the female Romulan who is changing in multiple points history.

Captain Seven of Nine will be in comma (due one of those time changes) during most of the story, which is a real bummer, there will be an alternate Seven of Nine, but it won’t be the same.

Likara even will capture Guinan and Kovich (from Star Trek: Discovery) to avoid intervention of them in the changes that she’s looking for.

Likara’s intentions are just too similar to Annorax (a villain from the episode “Year of Hell” Parts 1 & 2 of Star Trek: Voyager) which is a bummer since I found a lack of originality.

Likara’s time incursions will take Wesley and company to different key moments in Star Trek’s history like “Yesterdays’ Enterprise” (TNG), “In the Pale Moonlight” (DS9) and even the “First Contact” TNG movie, but also you’ll have a lot of references to several spin-offs of the franchise like The Original Series, Enterprise, Discovery and the Kelvin Timeline (Abramsverse), therefore this novel isn’t for the newbie reader in Star Trek or the newbie in general about the franchise, since the narrative is presented expecting that you know about what history’s moments they’re talking about.

I felt that while Wesley is a great character that I like a lot, here, since he’s a Traveler, he’s like too powerful or at least the villain (more like a person in grief with access to dangerous technology) and the threats presented are solved more or less without much trouble or difficulty.

I enjoyed a lot the reading of the book, but definitely it could be better or at least it didn’t take advantage of the whole potential of the premise, but it works alright as a worthy continuation of Star Trek: Picard where easily it could served as a “Fourth Season” if the TV series would go on.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was excited that Seven of Nine was supposed to be in this book, especially as the new captain of the ship with her first officer Raffi Musiker. Then I heard that she & Raffi got attacked and Seven of Nine was left in a coma. I was worried that Seven of Nine would not wake up until the adventure was over and she had been missing for most all of the book.

The good news is that this indeed is a Wesley Crusher book. I had not seen much of Wesley since he had finally left the Next Generation crew in Season Seven to go with the Traveler. Turns out that he DOES have Traveler abilities and now he is a valued member of that group. This is the first time we've seen the grown-up Wesley, too.

[We did see Wesley briefly at the end of Star Trek Picard Season 2 when he recruits Kore Soong to join him with the Travelers. He looked just like the last time we saw him, so not his full mature self. I had recalled that Wesley came for the remaining twin, but I had totally missed that THIS was the Kore Soong in the current To Defy Fate book. So, it was very good to see that things had worked out for Kore, as well!]

And the news is not all bad on the Seven of Nine front, either. She pops up in the narrative a few times, so she is not entirely missing in action. For it not being her book, I can't complain that we did not really get to see her.

What this book DOES have is multiple versions of reality. Multiple alternate timelines. So, I do recommend that you pay attention. We also get to meet new aliens, which I always enjoy, as well.

All told, I definitely do recommend To Defy Fate to all Star Trek fans, series fans, fans of alternate history/alternate timelines, and especially Star Trek Next Generation & Picard fans!

[Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know several others have recently finished this book and I just want to say how much I enjoyed it as well. If you want to avoid ANY spoilers, then read no further. But what I mention will only be mild spoilers.

The highest compliment I can give a book is that I find the ending to be highly satisfying. That can sound a little lukewarm to some, but it is a high compliment for me. That means the author has given me a payoff that I find both intellectually and emotionally satisfying. And that’s exactly what this book was for me. Here are just a few ingredients of the recipe…Borg, the Metrons, Romulans, the Romulan supernova, touchbacks to In the Pale Moonlight (DS9), and The Best of Both Worlds (TNG), two of the strongest episodes from those shows. Sometimes there are too many ingredients for the recipe and the chef needs to simplify. That is not the case here. Dayton Ward makes it all work together to give you a very satisfying meal. Even if we get really lucky and the powers that be DO end up making a Star Trek Legacy series with Captain Seven…there is still a lot of story to play with in novels set in the year between the end of Picard and the start of a new show. I’m less hopeful that a Legacy show will happen but I hope they let authors continue writing other post-Picard stories.

Two final points. I think that the author does a fantastic job at nailing Raffi’s voice…for a character we have had limited screen time with, he really nails her personality and how she speaks. Finally, I LOVE the little wrap up that is given to Spock and that’s all I’ll say about that.

[Jeremy Campbell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m really mixed on this book. I can’t say I was looking forward to it even though I like Dayton as an author. If you’re a Trek fan you know Picard season 3 ended terrifically (for the most part) and there were talks of a series to come that never emerged (and probably won’t). It seems as if once again trek fans will have to rely on book series to continue the adventures of these characters.
This story though just felt like a recycled idea from previous Trek episodes. I’m not sure if authors have permission to actually go further or if they are like Star Wars and are restricted to what they can tell in certain timelines.
Essentially this book is a retelling of Relativity from Star Trek Voyager just told with Picard characters and Wesley in place of the DIT. We see a “best of the series” sort of time travel while chasing down a villain trying to alter history. Unfortunately, we also see a continuation of the Kurtzman era Trek here with characters using more modern 21st century language that already dates this book that just came out. We continue to see the “relationship” between 7 and Raffi (these characters had no actual chemistry in the shows breaking up twice but we get reminded in this book they were “great” together).
Overall, I wish we got a story that propelled the characters forward with a new adventure to tell but it’s just not here for me.

[B.J. Burgess · Rating 2 out of 5]

*Disclosure: I received a free review copy from the publisher.

At times, To Defy Fate feels like a lackluster clip-show, a patchwork of fan-favorite moments, yet these events are altered—instead of evoking nostalgia, they foster confusion. Haven’t we already seen this play out on screen? Oh, right—it's the 60th Anniversary, which seems to be the flimsy reasoning for revisiting familiar territory.

And then there’s the cover: Why is Seven of Nine featured so prominently when her role is minimal at best? She’s comatose for much of the story, turning her inclusion into a mere marketing ploy. Where are Riker, Geordi, Worf, and Data? Their 2401 counterparts are absent from this narrative, replaced by the flimsy presence of Jack Crusher, or should I say, Jack Picard.

In the end, Star Trek: Picard: To Defy Fate emerges as a tedious mesh of time-traveling antics, surprisingly well-crafted by a talented author but lacking a coherent plot. While I didn’t despise it, nor did I fall in love with it, rather, I found myself in a state of ambivalence. If you consider yourself a Trekkie, approach this one with caution. ╌★★½✰✰

Read my full review at https://www.coffeeaddictedwriter.com/....

[Rei Smoak · Rating 5 out of 5]

The thing with Star Trek novels is that they generally go one of two ways. The poor ones are overwritten, drowning in technical jargon and making references to stories and episodes that no one remembers. The great ones are filled with technical jargon, making references to stories that are remembered fondly and haven't been made mention of in far too long. Dayton Ward's latest is one of the good ones.

With references to Discovery, to Gary Seven and the Temporal Cold War, to the Metrons, even to the Abramsverse and the now sadly deceased expanded universe of novels, it would have been all too easy for this story to be drowned in that nostalgia. Instead it took each of them and used them to form a narrative that was impossibly high stakes, easily readable, and an excellent denouement to one of the best Star Trek series ever made. If it's meant to be the last of the Picard tie ins, which I hope it's not because someone still owes me a proper Captain Seven of Nine story, then I'm grateful that it was such a fun read. Can't recommend highly enough.

[Daniel Pitterman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Star Trek books are few and far between compared to 20-30 years ago when there were 2 a month. Thus each one is more significant than they used to be. Unfortunately that makes it that much more disappointing when they are not fantastic. To Defy Fate is decent. It might have hit harder had it not followed so closely to the Coda trilogy which covered very similar territory. I used to absolutely love the time travel and multiverse stories. However, the multiverse idea has become a grossly over used trope in star trek and entertainment as a whole. I think it is time to give it a rest. It is also time to put Wesley Crusher back in the drawer. He has been around too much lately between Coda, Picard and Prodigy. Stop trying so hard to redeem a character that was not likable to begin with!
Bottom line:
A decent read but felt like one of those old clip show episodes that padded out tv series.

['Nathan Burgoine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a four-star read with unfortunate two-star issues with the performance. They use the same man for every audiobook these days, and while he’s not a favourite, this was the first time he just kept mispronouncing multiple character names: Nechayev, Sela... For an IP of it’s size, it astounded me that this got through the cracks, and it made me twitch quite a bit.

That said, as a wibbly-wobbly time story, it was solid, enjoyable, was obviously written with the notion of invoking the same "aw, nostalgia!" vibe Season Three of Picard offered on the regular, and delivered on all those fronts. While there was a choice with Seven of Nine that left me honestly flummoxed me—I’m unsure what the goal was there—it also pulled from DS9, ENT, and VOY, the Kelvin Timeline, in ways that made me smile throughout.

So, I guess I’d say go grab yourself a copy, but maybe avoid it in audiobook.

[Lori · Rating 1 out of 5]

An entire book about time travel (which even references the Kelvin timeline) that features characters from all three seasons of Picard (plus one from Discovery), and yet there is not so much as even a single passing mention of Agnes Jurati. I understand if the showrunners haven't decided what to do with her and her new Borg faction post-Picard, but this basically pretending she never existed is seriously bizarre. (The main characters even sneak onto a Borg cube at one point!) If it wasn't for The Last Starship comic series I would seriously think she was being retconned.

I have loved the Borg since I was a little autistic kid watching Trek in the '90s and was so excited for this fresh new direction for them. Star Trek has a long history of making enemies into friends, so it was a natural progression, and one with tons of creative potential. So where is it?

Also, the plot itself was a kitchen sink mess, and Seven is barely in it despite being on the cover. But that little shit Jack Crusher is in it even less, so there was one saving grace.

(Got to read this early thanks to a friend who owns a bookstore.)

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shortly after the Changeling/Borg incursion that almost devastated the Federation, Captain Seven of Nine and Commander Raffi Musiker witness a temporal event aboard Seven's new command, the 'U.S.S. Titan', knocking them both into a coma. Admiral Picard and Dr Crusher rush to their friends' aid, only to find that they are reunited with Wesley, now an Aegis Traveler, who tells them that someone is trying to change history.

A very readable novel, considering that the timeline keeps changing throughout, this is well structured by Ward and ties all of the various iterations of 'Star Trek' together. The motivations of the antagonist are sympathetic and the characters are true to their television counterparts.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

First off, this book is a lot of fun, especially if you love time travel. Secondly, Author Dayton Ward, after 20 years of writing Star Trek novels, perfectly captures the voices of all the characters we know and love. For me, when an author can make those characters' voices ring true in my head, it lets me really immerse myself in the story, which is what happened in To Defy Fate. I truly enjoyed the Star Trek Picard TV series and am glad they are continuing that storyline in the books now. I don't want to spoil anything other than to encourage you to pick it up, especially if you're a TNG and Picard fan. This was a great book to read during Star Trek's 60th anniversary.

[Russell Thiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was ironic that I read this book a short time after I had read the first 2 books in the Department of Temporal Investigations, as it reminded me of those books except for the characters. This story was very good.

I hope that one of these Star Trek authors takes up writing about Star Fleet Academy. I believe that they would all do justice to those characters.......

[Scott Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is kind of in the vein of “All Good Things…” or “Shattered”. It gives us the opportunity to revisit some pivotal points from the past. Ward does a good job weaving together 60 years of Trek history, with elements from almost every series. It feels like wall to wall fan service which is generally very entertaining.

[Francis X · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is great fun, we get to see Wesley as a Traveler and having those galactic adventures. I’m only mildly disappointed that we didn’t get to see a certain guest star who is often referred to (and we all know who that is!) but the story is very well constructed and the tasks are very complicated and challenging, Well done!

[Matthew · Rating 1 out of 5]

poor effort

I cant say anything good about this book. It goes back to the well and comes up dry. You would think the opportunity to make the picard spinoff better would be a cake walk. This book is about on par with season 2 and thats probably being too fair. The only thing worse about the book is the price I had to pay for it.

[Donavan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arguably the most fun I’ve had with a Star Trek book in a while. It’s a fun compact multiverse adventure that doesn’t overstay its welcome, nor does it trash what came before like with a lot of NuTrek. This feels like a solid continuation of Picard season 3. Just fantastic all around

[Susan Rubinstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say that Star trek novelists often have a better handle on what Star Trek is than the show runners. This was a homage to all the series, characters, etc. And as one who actually didn't mind Wesley Crusher's character in TNG...I loved this and was happy to see him featured.

[Craig Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book. Tying together elements from Picard, TNG, DS9, TOS and Prodigy with a dash of Discovery and even a hint of the Kelvin timeline. So well written. Highly recommended.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now THAT is how you wrote a Star Trek novel. A romp through time that rewards longtime fans for their attention. Recommended.

[Craig R Mitton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great adventure with old friends

There were a few opps in the book but not enough to affect my enjoyment of it. Highly recommended especially if you're a Wesley Crusher fan