Sight Unseen

Star Trek: Titan #9

by James Swallow

An original spin-off novel set in the popular Star The Next Generation universe from New York Times bestselling author James Swallow!In the wake of political upheaval across the United Federation of Planets, Admiral William Riker and the crew of the U.S.S. Titan find themselves in uncertain waters as roles aboard the ship change to reflect a new mandate and a new mission. On orders from Starfleet, Titan sets out toward the edge of Federation space to tackle its latest to work with an alien species known as the Dinac, who are taking their first steps into the galaxy at large as a newly warp-capable civilization. But when disaster befalls the Dinac, the Titan crew discovers they have unknowingly drawn the attention of a deadly, merciless enemy—a nightmare from Riker’s past lurking in the darkness. Friendships will be tested to the limit as familiar faces and new allies must risk everything in a fight against an unstoppable invader—or a horrific threat will be unleashed on the galaxy! ™, ®, & © 2015 CBS Studios, Inc. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Science Fiction Fantasy, Ebooks, Horror

399 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2015

About the author

James Swallow is a New York Times, Sunday Times and Amazon #1 bestselling author and scriptwriter, a BAFTA nominee, a former journalist and the award-winning writer of over sixty-five books, along with scripts for video games, comics, radio and television.

DARK HORIZON, his latest stand-alone thriller, is out now from Mountain Leopard Press, and OUTLAW, the 6th action-packed Marc Dane novel, is published by Bonnier.

Along with the Marc Dane thrillers, his writing includes, the Sundowners steampunk Westerns and fiction from the worlds of Star Trek, Tom Clancy, 24, Warhammer 40000, Doctor Who, Deus Ex, Stargate, 2000AD and many more.

For information on new releases & more, sign up to the Readers’ Club here: www.bit.ly/JamesSwallow

Visit James's website at http://www.jswallow.com/ for more, including ROUGH AIR, a free eBook novella in the Marc Dane series.

You can also follow James on Bluesky at @jmswallow.bsky.social, Twitter at @jmswallow, Mastodon at @jmswallow@mstdn.social and jmswallow.tumblr.com at Tumblr.

Reviews

[Alejandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly great Star Trek novel!


NEW MISSION, OLD ENEMIES

Admiral William T. Riker has been an “admiral without portfolio” for some months, and now that the events of “The Fall” are behind, finally Starfleet is defining a concrete agenda for him. Riker is now Sector Commander of the Alpha Quadrant Frontier, which is certainly a big promotion giving him a lot of power.

Due his new position of sector commander and since Riker never has been confortable in a static desk, instead of other sector commanders having their bases-of-operations in space stations and/or planets’ surfaces, he will use the USS Titan as his mobile base-of-operations. However, having his flag on the ship doesn’t mean that he will stay as commanding officer of the USS Titan.

Christine Vale finally is promoted to Captain and giving the Titan as her own command.

Starfleet Command is assigning two officers to the USS Titan, Lt. Ethan Kyzak (he is from the Skagaran colony at the Delphic Expanse commonly known as “North Star”) and Cmdr. Dalit Sarai (she is a female Efrosian and former Starfleet Intelligence officer who “fell-from-grace” due her position in favor of Ishan Anjar during the polemic events of “The Fall”). Lt. Kyzak will be a relief Helm Officer and Cmdr. Sarai is surprising assigned to be the new First Officer aboard Titan.

The USS Titan, a Luna-class starship, is easily the most diverse vessel in the Starfleet in the topic of sentient species from the United Federation of Planets aboard of it, and due that, Admiral Riker is convinced that Titan will be a perfect example of what the Federation can accomplish working together.

Titan’s first mission is to contact the Dinac species, that they are the sentient dominant species of the Casroc planet, and that that life forms is beginning to test their brand-new Warp technology, also asking for a membership in the Federation, and due that the USS Whitetree, a Starfleet Academy school vessel, is having for several months, to establish socio-political relationships with the Dinac and giving assistance to the Dinac space program.

However, while the USS Titan is still in transit going to the Dinac space borders, the crew is informed that all communication was lost to both, the Dinac prototype Warp vessel, and the USS Whitetree who was escorting it.

Insidious, powerful and scary enemies from Riker’s past will rise again, not only threatening the Dinac species but also setting a new menace to the entire Federation!


BAPTISM OF FIRE

Captain Christine Vale is getting into this distinguished “club” of the Star Trek Captains, where they are the ones to make a difference as long they are in the “big chair”. She was “hanging around” for several years on the “Relaunch” (Expanded Universe) novels, appearing in various book series becoming one of the most popular expanded universe characters in Star Trek.

She served onboard of various starships, including the USS Enterprise-E as Security Chief, and Command isn’t strange to Chris, since she was First Officer of the USS Titan for six years and even she got recently a temporary command of the USS Lionheart (a Nova-class starship serving as medical vessel), during the events of “The Fall”.

However, Christine Vale will have a baptism of fire on her first mission as captain of Titan not only having to deal with Admiral Riker who is having troubles to distinguish the difference between having the USS Titan as his flag ship and being actually the captain of the vessel, testing to the maximum the friendship and loyalty that they have shared so far, along with having a new First Officer that she isn’t familiar with and Vale and Sarai are barely beginning the process of creating their own dynamics about supporting each other’s decisions, and moreover, realizing that now the hard choices are her call, she is the captain and she will have to make the hard choices about life and death, not once, but every single day.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thrilling and exceedingly dark follow-up to one of the most disturbing TNG episodes, where extradimensional aliens covertly abducted Enterprise crew members who became the helpless victims of heinous, and seemingly random and pointless medical experiments ("Schisms", S6E5). Such amazingly palpable tension, both among the crew (esp Riker and Vale, each in their new roles as Admiral and Captain respectively) and of course with the aliens that are just about the most diabolical, xenophobic and plain creepy species in the Trek universe. Swallow balances the dark aspects well, including the thirst for revenge at any cost, with an appropriate amount of Trek inspired ideals and optimism.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real page-turner that features everything that I love about Star Trek novels. There are a lot of stories out there in the wider Trek universe, but it is books like these that keep me buying Trek lit. I realize this has become a familiar refrain of late, but in my opinion this is the best of the Star Trek novels released so far this year. They just keep getting better!

If you are at all a fan of Titan or are a new fan looking for a good place to pick up the story, Sight Unseen should not be missed. Ushering in a new and promising chapter for Titan, this story has everything you could want in a Trek novel.

Full review: http://treklit.blogspot.com/2015/10/S...

[reherrma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es hat lange gedauert, bis wieder ein Roman aus der Reihe "Titan" erschien, obwohl die TITAN immer wieder Auftritte in den Star Trek-Schlüssel-Serien wie "Typhon Pact" und "The Fall" hatte. William Riker wurde im Rahmen der Handlung in der Staffel "The Fall" zum Admiral befördert, ohne jedoch sein Kommando an der Titan abzugeben. In diesem Roman bekommt er neue Befehle: Er muss das Kommando abgeben an seinen bisherigen XO Christine Vale wird Captain und sie bekommt durch Commander Sarai einen umstrittenen neuen XO, der bei der Verschwörung gegen die Förderation durch den Förderationspräsidenten Ishan Anjar auf dessen Seite gestanden hat, während die Admirale Akaar und Riker gegen diese Verschwörung angekämpft; und gewonnen haben.
Die TITAN wird das Flaggschiff von Admiral Riker und sie wird an den Rand des Förderationsraumes geschickt, weil sich dort was zusammenbraut. Eine Spezies aus einem fremden Universum gelingt durch die Schaffung eines Raumrisses den Übergang in unser Universum, dabei entführen sie ein Förderationsraumschiff und ein Schiff einer aufstrebenden neuen Zivilisation, die sich um die Aufnahme in die Förderation bemüht.
Die Nacherzählung der Handlung ersparen wir hier erst mal, natürlich wird das Problem vorerst gelöst, allerdings bleiben einige Fragen zurück, wird die Frontation mit den Solonaern weitergehen, welches Spiel spielt Commander Sarai, es hat für mich den Anschein, dass sich hier wieder eine neue Verschwörung innerhalb der Förderation oder Sternenflotte anbahnt, oder steckt die Sektion 31 dahinter ? Welche Rolle wird der TITAN innerhalb des Star Trek Universums nach "The Fall" zufallen ? Viele Fragen, die Zeit (und die weiteren TITAN-Romane) werden hoffentlich einiges beantworten...

[Jimyanni · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent follow-up to a Next generation episode, and played very well off of what new Admiral Will Riker's reflex response to discovering that the individuals that the Titan was dealing with were the same species that had kidnapped and tortured him and several other Enterprise crewmembers many years before, while newly-minted "Captain" Vale insists on living up to Starfleet ideals and refusing to pre-emptively attack. It made for an interesting if not too surprising dynamic, the characters were handled well and the basic plotline was interesting. Not the best Star Trek story I've ever read by a long shot, but well above the midpoint.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finally got around to reading this book this past week and loved it! Nice pace and character interactions! Vale getting accommodated to the captain's chair and the tough calls that come with it has really expanded her character. And how cool that she stood up to Riker, who also is adjusting to the rank of Admiral. I hope James Swallow gives us a new Titan tale that picks up from where things left off with Sarai.

[Derkanus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: Ythiss, an engineer from the USS Whitetree, is aboard a Dinac (fox-like race) vessel trying to help fix their warpdrive, when a subspace rift opens up. The rift completely swallows the Whitetree, but closes before the Dinac vessel is sucked in. Their ship failing, Ythiss detects non-carbon-based lifeforms approaching.

Riker meets with Admiral Akaar. Riker wants Titan to go back to exploring, but Akaar says all the Luna-class ships are being recalled, so the Romulans don't think the Federation is sabre rattling. With the assassination of Federation President Bacco, Akaar says they need to stop being hawkish and return to exploring, but he needs Riker to be a sector Commander.

Torvig visits White-Blue in the holodeck, where it's considered now resides. It proposes to him thar they both download their consciousness into transwarp probes so they can explore the universe; Torvig says he's not ready to leave his body just yet.

Riker returns and tells the crew of their new mission. He brings along a few new crew members, a Caitian Lt. named Ssura, and a Skagaran Lt. named Ethan Kyzak. Riker promotes Lts. Rager and Lavena to lieutenant commanders. He also promotes Vale to captain and transfers command of the Titan over to her, saying he's now just along for the ride. Effrosian Commander Dalit Sarai also steps off the shuttle and says she's Vale's new XO. Sarai is a pariah after siding with Ishan Anjar, the Bajoran who assassinated president Bacco--though she didn't know he was planning that. She sees Titan as her punishment.

Later, Riker tells Vale that Sarai as XO came from the top down, and that she was put here to watch over them, because she's an outsider.

They receive a distress call from the Dinac of planet Casroc, where the USS Whitetree was stationed. They find no trace of the Whitetree, and only the derelict remains of the Dinac vessel. When Riker notifies the Dinac council, their response is terse and they demand that Titan tow the remains of the Dinac pinnace back immediately. Riker senses something off. He decides to leave some of White-Blue's probes behind to search for the missing ship.

Pazlar's reading seem similar to that of a graviton collapsar effect, but it doesn't quite add up. She starts dating Kyzak and breaks up with Xin, as he keeps forgetting about their dates, etc. The science team manages to get an audio recording from the found tricorder of Lt. Ythiss, and it tells of unknown beings stalking the crew of the pinnace.

Titan drops out of warp when the spatial anomaly recurs near them. Titan and the pinnace are about to be pulled in and destroyed, but XO Sarai takes the conn and detonates a spread of quantum torpedoes near the event horizon of the anomaly, breaking them free.

Peya Fell and Dr. Ree both have terrible nightmares of dark, knife-like attacks that felt like they lasted moments but took the entire night. Ree notices bruising where he was restrained during the dream.

Troi calls a meeting of the senior staff to bring attention to the sleep phenomena happening amongst the crew, fearing some sort of incursion. Riker and Rager recall subspace beings called the Solanae, encountered by the Enterprise in the Amargosa Diaspora, who abducted crew members and experimented on them. They closed the rift, but not before a probe was sent into our universe. They theorize that the Dinak's unusual warp drive may be the cause of their reappearance.

They modify the shields to protect against any further invasion and immediately note a power fluctuation in cargo bay 4. The spherical objects they found on the pinnace open up and octopoidal face-huggers emerge. They attack and kill some of the crew, then spit acid to burn a hole through the wall to escape. Torvig pursues but receives a blast of acid himself.

The creatures make their way to engineering, severing vital connections and plunging the ship into darkness. This causes the forcefields on the pinnace to drop, and Kyzak is almost blown out into space, but Dakal gets the forcefield back up just in time. Kyzak's helmet is cracked however, and the pinnace is tumbling away from Titan. Dakal suggests they let out the atmosphere again to blast them towards Titan before they're too far away.

One of the creatures attacks Riker and Ranul; Ranul phasers and kills it, and they find it was carrying one of Titan's power regulators. They make it to engineer just as Xin gets the warp core working, with limited capacity.

Kyzak stays behind and blasts the others towards Titan. Melora realizes that the Titan was moving slower than they account for and they're going to miss it.

Sarai goes to the auxiliary command center and the orbs intentionally trigger the fire suppression gas to force her out. She warns the Captain that they're in the control grid, but Xin re-enables auxiliary power and the orbs start auto-replicating themselves from all the ship's replicators.

In sickbay, Ogawa spawns multiple copies of the EMH to protect them. In engineering, Torvig stops the local replicators, then Xin manages to beam the invaders swarming the warp core out into space. Keru takes a security team to where Sarai was on the auxiliary bridge, and uses a photon grenade to detonate the hundreds of orbs there. They find that the orbs were building something above the main computer core. The ships systems quickly come back online, and they beam the away team back aboard, just in time for Kyzak.

Titan returns the pinnace to the Dinac homeworld, and one of the Dinac engineers mentions that they've had peculiar phenomena happen during their warp tests before.

Analysis of the thing the orbs were building reveal it to be a subspace interplexing beacon. They reverse engineer it and have White-Blue scan for the same frequency and find a nearby comet that matches. Afterwards Vale has an aside with Riker because he keeps taking command of the crew, and he apologies for overstepping.

Titan arrives at the comet and scans reveal 10s of 1000s of Solanae inside it. Hails are met with weapon's fire that decimates the shields; Titan's weapons have no effect. In danger if losing the battle, Ranul devises a plan to beam over a security team.

The away team finds that the comet is not a military base, but a colony of civilians. Vale tells him to find someone to negotiate with, but a series of spatial rifts open and the XO, Troi, Tasha, T'Pel, and 30+ others are abducted. Riker demands that they beam a torpedo into the comet, but Vale refuses.

Riker and Vale beam over to the comet to speak with the Solanae, who say they are refugees, and only attacked because Titan powered up its weapons. They lower their shields so Titan can scan them and see the missing crew aren't on the comet. They call themselves the Ciari, Solanae dissidents opposed to the abductions. They inject a biomimetic compound to live in our space; they say Solanae subspace is rapidly decaying, and they needed samples to determine how they could survive in our universe. The Solanae developed biogenic weapons to depopulate planets so they could take them; the refugees are the only ones remaining who opposed the genocide.

Troi wakes and T'Pel tells her that the crews of the Whitetree and Dinac vessel are also imprisoned with them, and some have been killed. Ythiss from the Whitetree makes a device to short-circuit the lock on their prison using their comm badges and they escape. They find that they're in a complex built on a chain of connected asteroids in subspace. They see the Whitetree on a monitor, and posit that the Solanae are using its warp code to try and make a subspace rift.

The Ciara explain to Titan how to invert the ship's warp core to get to Solanae subspace. The elder Ciara confess to Riker then kills himself once Riker says they're under Starfleet's protection. White-Blue uses the Ciaran calculations and leads Titan into Solanae space, where they are immediately attacked by asteroidal ships firing plasma weapons; Titan's phasers have no effect. Tuvok devises a plan to use the transporters to suspend the attacker's asteroid-vessels in Titan's transporter buffer; they beam in the ships, but can only hold them there for a few hours.

They send a couple shuttles over to the asteroid base; before she can depart, Xin tells Melora that he's sorry for how he's acted, and that he will learn and grow from their relationship. Their mission is to rescue the prisoners and stabilize the Whitetree's warp core.

Ranul's team quickly finds Troi and a group of 100s of survivors. Tuvok reports larger Solanae vessels approaching, eta 40 minutes. Dakal's away team learns that the Solanae are planning to transport the biogenic weapon to the Dinac homeworld.

Without transporters or enough shuttles, they decide to crash Titan right into the station, giving the prisoners a way to board directly. Titan pulls back once everyone is aboard, but Dakal tells Vale that the only way to disable the Whitetree's warp core is for someone to sacrifice themselves to remove the dilithium matrix manually. With no other options, Vale reluctantly gives the order and Dakal detonates the core.

They beam some Solanae out of their transporter stasis and offer a truce, but the Solanae merely mock them. They beam them and their ships onto the large incoming Solanae ships, along with torpedoes directly into their drives, neutralizing them.

The Ciara, the Dinac, and the Federation engage in peace talks. White-Blue tells Torvig he is going to be off exploring in his probe form. They hold an upbeat wake for Dakal and all the others who were lost. Kyzak asks Melora to dinner, and she says she needs some time on her own.

Epilogue: XO Sarai goes back to her quarters and has a secret conversation with her superiors, expressing dislike at having to spy on Vale and Riker.

Review: 4 stars. I liked it, but it did feel a bit overlong--and yet it wrapped up almost a bit too quickly. Dakal's sacrifice at the end had more of a punch than I expected, and took me from a 3.5 to a 4 star rating.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid & exciting storytelling, that sends the crew of the USS Titan off into space with a new mission and a new sense of purpose. It's a great jumping on point for newcomers to Admiral Riker's world. It's also a thrilling adventure in its own right, but with the right amount of "Star Trek" optimism permeating the story. Very satisfying.

[John Yelverton · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a decent "Star Trek: Titan" novel, but with Riker's and Vale's promotions, neither one of them know how to handle their new situations, and neither does the reader as characters you know and love are placed in situations both in and out of their character. Throw in several new characters to boot, and all of this hampers what could have been a truly great story.

[Aron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent! Schisms was one of my favorite episodes of TNG, so I was glad to see that episode's mystery finally revealed. I always wondered who they were & what exactly it was they were doing & i think James Swallow did a fine job of showing us that. Highly recommend.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sight Unseen kicks off after the previous book with the crew of the Titan being ordered to aid in the relations between the Federation and a race known as the Dinac! :D Things are complicated by the reappearance of the alien race known as the Solanae who first appeared in the ST:TNG episode schisms and have since popped up in Star Trek Online etc! :D

At the same time Riker is busily having to adjust to his newish rank of Admiral and is placed in Sector command! :D this has the effect of reshuffling the Titan's crew including a new First Officer Sariel Rager who has a bit of a history in regards to the Bacco assassination! :D At the same time this happens with Riker promoting Vale to the captaincy of the Titan! :D We get to see throughout the book how Vale and Riker adjust to their new roles! :D To put it mildly this is more than a mite bumpy but the character moments along with the action you really sink your teeth into! :D

The conflicts in the book come thick and fast! :D Both Riker's instinctual urge to destroy a colony of Solanae exiles ( they find out there true nature in the nick of time! :D ) to Vale keeping him in line and having to invite him to the Ready Room in a neat little role reversal which work brilliantly in the story! :D You can actually feel the conflict as the two friends really have to adjust there way that they work together! :D Indeed there is a cool scene where Riker has to pitch in as Vale's First Officer Rager is off ship and Riker's points out he is a little rusty which really breaks up a lot of the tension with Vale! :D

We also get to see Rager and Troi working together independently of the ship that really gives them both the space to develop as characters and put them at the forefront of the action! :D Indeed the discovery of the Ciari also gets to show the Federation putting its best foot forward again in spite of the what there species has done (they are the Light Side version of the Solanae! :D ) in the past! :D This doesn't come easy for some of the crew but as Sight Unseen progresses you really get to see them gelling together! :D Indeed the alliance that forms between the Ciari and the Federation and Dinac is brilliantly done and you get to see the more plotlines being set up and laid down! :D It also shows the Federation at its best again as they manage to turn a potential enemy into a ally and potential Federation member again! :D

On the flip side again the Solanae themselves come across as the quintessential bad guys again! :D They really have the creep factor going for them again in every way and the restraint the crew of the Titan and the USS Whitetree and the Dirac crew shows is remarkable! :D When Riker, Vale and Troi extend their olive branch to the the race of Xenophobes they do not respond positively! :D Riker sums up their eventual fate though with 'When you sky go dark you were offered a chance' or similar but it sums up the differences between the two sides the works succinctly! :D The description of the subspace realm as as Impressionists painting is hilarious especially as it comes from Tuvok! :D At the same time though the events and what what happens does a brilliant job of not only warning the Federation, Dinac and their allies it also establishes the threat of that the Solanae represent and set things up for later adventures! :D

Sight Unseen works brilliantly in every level with characters being developed left right and centre Melora and Ra-Haveii putting a nail in it and the introduction of new/returning characters such as Rager and Akaar! In addition Rager comes across as character with issues but the scene in her quarters really has the smell of Section 31 all over it (you get the impression Riker is not so unaware of it! :D ) so that remains hanging out there that is sure to have an impact! :D

Sight Unseen flies at a terrific pace with plot twists, creepy stuff, adventure and moral choices left right and centre! :D Sight Unseen has heart and courage from start to finish putting both the Lower Decks and Senior Staff upfront and doing what they do back best in a tale the action packed throughout! :D Brilliant, highly recommended crisp high five! :D Make sure you have the next one! :D

[A.J. Blanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is only my second book of the Titan series; the first strangely enough is the next installment. So yes, I've been reading these books backwards, but both of these books were fantastic, and they've also followed up on very memorable TNG episodes. Sight Unseen picks up with Riker new to the admiralty, and some changes to the ship and crew are underway.

Overall, the story was quite exciting, barely giving you a moment to breathe, and kept me interested in what happened next story-wise. It was difficult for me to get into several of the characters and sub-plots, likely due to my backward reading strategy in this series, but continuing the story line from the episode Schisms really hit me in the right places as a Trekker.

What I didn't care for in the book were minor but worth pointing out I believe. I mentioned connecting with very few of the characters, but I felt there were way too many in the first place. This series touts how diverse the USS Titan is, which is all well and good in-universe, but does very little for those trying to read through the complex names and unfamiliar species, slowing the experience. On a few occasions, I had Memory Beta open while I was reading, so I could get a better picture of who was talking. Another character-specific criticism I had was throwing in a Skagaran; a forgettable species from Enterprise filling the 'fish out of water' quota I suppose. What would've been a more interesting addition to this era of Trek IMO is a Xindi, who was featured in far more episodes than just one. Having said all that, Ethan Kyzak was probably my favorite character this time around.

Another point that seemed somewhat blatant to me, which is odd considering I was only just introduced to the character, was how nobody considered asking the local AI, White-Blue, for help with a massive computer issue onboard. If he was consulted and it turned out he couldn't help that's one thing, but all he got was an off-hand mention as being a "free-loader" and not a super-advanced technological being who could probably help the ship in more significant ways than as a pilot boat.

There were others, but Sight Unseen was a near-perfect balance of original ideas and familiar plot lines, with a few twists and turns throughout. Even if you haven't read any of the other books, and you're a ST fan of course, I'd highly recommend picking this one up!

[Stefanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This was an action packed story with amazing character moments. Loved the fact that it was a continuation of an old TNG episode and dived deeper into the reasons for things that took place then and now. I really liked the two new additions to the crew and am intruiged by Commander Sarai, but godsdamn it WHY DID DAKAL HAVE TO DIE. I legit cried. I had a soft spot for the Cardassian. I am not happy with this.
Two things that made the reading of this a bit frustrating are things I can't really fault this novel for because they are continuations from previous books:
1) Ra-Havreii. Never liked that character. Still don't. Probably never will.
2) The fact that Riker is an Admiral. I just hate it.
What I can criticize though is just how small of a focus was on the Dinac. While the story wasn't necessarily about them, they were kinda the starting point for it and I would have liked to have them a little bit more involved and learn a bit more about them.

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 4 out of 5]

SIGHT UNSEEN is a rare combination of a Star Trek novel and a horror novel. Captain Shelby has taken over from Admiral Riker, much to the latter's annoyance and immediately gets caught up in a kidnapping plot that involves the alien Solanae. These guys kidnap people and perform horrifying experiments on them in other dimensions. Basically, they're the Star Trek equivalent of the Grays with every bit as much terror as your typical X-Files episode. We find out they're not all evil but it's still a terrible battle to recovery everyone kidnapped by them. Worse, Riker is traumatized by the events where he was abducted long ago. It's an okay novel but I admit that it is far darker than I prefer my Trek.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

It gets one star off for two characters acting just a bit off and a few too many typos for a professional work. But the bigger problem for me was... look... everyone loves the TNG episode Schisms. It was a mix of sci-fi and Lovecraftian horror. The Schism aliens are frightening because they are doing really creepy stuff, and you have no idea why. It's their inscrutable nature that makes them so frightening. Swallow doesn't seem to understand that because he reveals too much about them and even has them communicate. By allowing us the audience know more... they become just another generic Star Trekian alien species. He subtracts from what they were... not adding to them. Everything else about it is relatively solid.

[Bookreader1972 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars. Another really good Titan book.
Have really enjoyed the Titan Series & hope more get written, As of right now (5/8/18) there is only one more book in the series. There is some sort of negotiation going on between Pocket Books, which publishes the Star Trek books, & the owners of the Star Trek world.
I say, figure it out & Publish more books, & split the millions of dollars. Stop holding the fans hostage.

[Paul Griggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Less than a week until Picard begins and we pick up on where the Riker family end up 20 years after Nemesis and I can tick off one more voyage of the USS Titan. As seems to be the case in a lot of the current batch of novels this one picks at story threads laid out in previous Next Gen episodes, expanding the universe and telling a rollicking good story at the same time. New characters arrive, old Titan characters that we’ve come to care for depart. One more Titan book to go...

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good, I like that the books can explore non-humanoid cultures.
I get that canon can get a bit confusing, this was written way before Picard ... but it bugs me that this Riker-Troi future doesn't match the Picard future, but it's tolerable.
I will try to read the rest of the Titan series in order - this was a skip to the end.

[Ron Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

The good news is Riker, Troi and their motley crew of aliens are back. The bad news is the plot's rather weak with a half-hearted return of the villains from the TNG alien abduction episode "Schisms." They're made out to be a dire threat but basically come off as a pale imitation of Species 8472.

[Jason Werden · Rating 5 out of 5]

perfect Star Trek story

[Susan Rubinstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice followup to a Next Generation episode. Hard to put down.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly I found this book a wee bit stale. Not sure if I've just had enough of the Titan series for now or whether the book itself was the problem

[Tony Pope · Rating 5 out of 5]

If it's a Star Trek book...pretty much I will like it. Kudos to all those who keep the series alive in the books.

[Elliot Weeks · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent Titan novel! The stakes kept getting raised in authentic and exciting ways. I really loved reading this book and feel like it covered so much ground from beginning to end. Yay!

[Preston Pendergraft · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book. A old villain from the original run TNG is brought back. Also a character from The Fall series is brought in too. Overall I am not a huge Titan fan, but I did enjoy this one.

[Elijah Chamberlain-Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good book 7/10

First half was a bit dryer but the second half was full of great star trek ideas and shenanigans

[Sean Soh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked how it linked back to the TNG TV series episode. A decently written story that leaves ample room for a continuation in the future!

[Steven Shinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Regardless of whether you believe Riker himself would for sure react the same way, his reaction to the possibility of losing everyone feels like a realistic reaction someone in real life might have.

[Paul Lunger · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Swallow's "Sight Unseen" is something a little different even by the Titan novel standards - a sequel of sorts to the TNG episode "Schisms" albeit in not as disturbing a fashion as that episode was. The story involves the Titan finally getting out of Spacedock & heading out onto a different type of mission than they originally intended as more of a patrolling job through a sector of space that Admiral Riker has been assigned to command. He then subsequently promotes Vale to Captain of the ship & we the reader get 2 new characters in Commander Sarai & Lieutenant Kyzak both of whom add to the diversity of this ship's crew. The first mission under this new assignment is to work with the Dinac who've been assisted w/ their foray into space by the USS Whitetree. When both come up missing an old foe in a race now known as the Solonae are discovered to be behind the disappearances causing nightmares for Riker & Rager who experienced the abductions the first time & major tensions between Riker & Vale.

Swallow does an excellent job in keeping the plot moving as well as showing making the Dinac as believable as possible. The tensions amongst some of the Titan crew get a little bit overblown at times, but not to the detriment of the story considering the stress involved. The fact that we're introduced to a race that become known as the Ciari a dissident group w/in the Solonae adds a touch of intrigue to this book as well as an ending that leaves us w/ more questions than answers about 1 new character, a possible follow-up w/ things involving all races in this book & a farewell to a couple of characters who've become a part of the Titan series of books. Overall a decent stand along novel for Titan that gets this series back to what makes it work in the exploring side of things rather than focusing so much on the political.

[Maurice Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again loose ends from the Star Trek Next Generation TV show are tied, and once again I loved it!

This bit of closure comes from an episode that never got good reviews (I always liked it). Crewmen (including Commander Riker, Lieutenant Worf, Lieutenant Commander Geordi LaForge and Ensign Sariel Rager) experienced sleep disruption and loss of a sense of time. It turned out that an unknown alien species found a way to open a portal from their reality and take people and objects into theirs.

They're back.

It's been years, but Riker and Rager still bear the psychological scars of being abducted and experimented on. Admiral Riker is assigned as sector commander for a remote portion of the Alpha Quadrant and he's keeping Titan as his mobile office, under the command of newly minted Captain Christine Vale. Lieutenant Commander Rager is also newly promoted, just in time for the Titan to discover a new incursion by this same alien race (called the Solanae by Starfleet). This time, they're using what they learned from countless previous experiments to launch a full scale attack.

I enjoyed seeing new characters join the crew (Commander Dalit Sarai, last seen in Peaceable Kingdoms and Lieutenant Ethan Kyzak, a Skagaran from a colony whose society is based on Earth's Old West), but I hated that not one, but two longstanding regular characters died (won't say who, but they've been with the crew from Day One and one hurt worse than the other).

Looking forward to seeing more of Titan under Captain Vale :-).