Original Sin

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

by David R. George III

At the end of 2385, in a significant shift of its goals from military back to exploratory, Starfleet sent Captain Benjamin Sisko and the crew of the U.S.S. Robinson on an extended mission into the Gamma Quadrant. Tasked with a years-long assignment to travel unknown regions, they set out to fulfill the heart of Starfleet’s charter: to explore strange new worlds, and to seek out new life and new civilizations.

But now three months into the mission, their first contact with an alien species comes in the form of an unprovoked attack on the Robinson. With the ship’s crew suddenly incapacitated, seventy-eight of the 1,300 aboard are abducted—including Sisko’s daughter, Rebecca. But Rebecca had already been kidnapped years earlier by a Bajoran religious zealot, part of a sect believing that her birth fulfilled the prophecy of the arrival of the Infant Avatar. Does her disappearance now have anything to do with the harrowing events of the past? And for what purposes have these enemies taken Sisko’s daughter and the rest of the missing

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Audiobook, Fiction, Space Opera, Adventure

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 2017

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the storyline around Rebecca Sisko's abduction on Bajor - and the hints about her latent abilities - less compelling than the Robinson's mission in the Gamma Quadrant. The exploration thread is filled with intriguing scientific and cultural mysteries, and the alien species they encounter is a wonderfully strange enigma. Communication and the cultural divide seem nearly unbridgeable gaps, and Sisko's diplomatic attempts often feel doomed from the start. I do wish George had revealed more about these aliens; their society and origins seem ripe for deeper exploration, but we're only given a few tantalizing glimpses. The novel's multifaceted portrayal of Sisko - in his roles as captain, emissary, father, and husband - is satisfying. Other reviews remark on his being overly morose, but I found his demeanor appropriate for the deeply personal crises he faces.

[Matthew Rushing · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book itself is not bad, it’s a decent Star Trek story. What’s missing is that it doesn’t feel like DS9. Sisko may be in the book but everything else about DS9 is missing. The DS9 series has floundered for a while as the station has lost so may of the people that made up the series. It’s unfortunate and it’s made the books less enjoyable. Voyager has most of it’s members in the series, TNG has enough of the characters we knew on the Enterprise to feel like the show, Titan has Riker and characters we grew to love because of the books and even though the ENT books don’t have all the characters on the ship anymore, we’re continuing to follow them and they interact frequently. DS9 on the other hand seems to have no anchor anymore. We need to have Sisko back on the station soon so that reading the books actually feels like a DS9 book.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It features an amazingly complex cultural & technological mystery, as well as David George's usual excellent writing style...but in the end, this left me disappointed in a number of ways. I was looking for a much cleaner break from past stories...only to get half a novel going over DS9's past plot threads, and one that wasn't as interesting as the plot set in the present day. I'm also sick of the more morose characterization of Ben Sisko. Even in the darkest moments, his humour & his passion can shine through...but this seemingly never-ending bleakness is forgetting this side of his character. A novel I admire for its technique, but one that doesn't reach the soul. I will give the novel extra points for the stand-up-and-take-notice final scene...

[reherrma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein Roman um die Tochter von Captain Sisko, die einmal im Alter von drei Jahren von einem religiösen Fanatiker entführt wird und 8 Jahre später durch eine Alien-Spezies im Gamma Quadranten. Die beiden Entführungen werden in diesem Roman aus Sicht ihrer Eltern, Benjamin Sisko und Kasidy Yates erzählt. Die erste Entführung erfolgt noch auf Bajor, wo die Siskos nach der Rückkehr von Benjamin aus dem Wurmloch sich niedergelassen haben. Rebecca Sisko wächst dort als aufgewecktes und intelligentes Kind heran, die von der Ohaluvaru-Sekte als Heilsbringerin verehrt wird, da sie in ihren heiligen Schriften da extra erwähnt wird. Es ist auch die Zeit, in der auf dem Bajor-Mond Endella eine Struktur entdeckt wird, die die Göttlichkeit der Wurmlochwesen in Frage stellen und deshalb die Staatsreligion Bajors in eine schwere Krise stürzt. Bei einem Transmitterdurchgang verschwindet Rebecca und wird vermisst, bald wird klar, dass sie entführt wurde. Die Ermittlungen laufen ins Leere, ein Motiv für die Tat fehlt, weil sich die Entführer nicht melden. Kasidy und Ben Sisko geraten deshalb wieder in Streit, weil seine Rolle als Abgesandter der Wurmlochwesen der Grund für die Entführung gewesen sein könnte. Gleichzeitig erzählt der Roman die Geschichte der Entführung 8 Jahre später, als Sisko als Captain der ROBINSON sich und seine Familie auf einer Forschungsmission im Gamma-Quadranten befindet. Nach den vielen Krisen der letzten Jahre (Die Ermordung der Förderationspräsidentin auf DS9, die Aszendenten-Krise, die Entstehung des Typhon-Pacts und die Verschwörung innerhalb der Förderationsregierung (Star Trek: The Fall) konnte Sisko sein Ziel, den Gamma-Quadranten zu erforschen, endlich verwirklichen. Dort wurde in einem unbekannten Sektor die ROBINSON überfallen, geentert und ca. 80 Kinder, darunter Rebecca, entführt. Nach vielen Mühen und Recherchearbeit gelingt es, die Spur der Entführer zu finden und Rebecca und die anderen Kinder wieder zu befreien...
Der Autor schafft es eine Spannung aufzubauen, indem er beide Entführungen parallel erzählt, dabei wird unter anderem thematisiert, ob beide Entführungen zusammenhängen und ob in beiden Fällen Rebecca und ihre stigmatischen Vorzeichen, wie die Prophezeihung in einem antiken Buch, der Grund ist. Das Buch erzählt, zumindest die erste Entführung, die Geschehnisse auch aus Rebeccas Sicht, was dem Leser mehr Informationen zubilligt als den Protagonisten. Daraus wird klar, dass Rebecca mehr ist als ein dreijähriges Mädchen, der Leser erfährt, dass sie omnipotente Kräfte hat, sehr intelligent und eine große mentale Stärke besitzt, etwas, was selbst ihre Eltern nicht wissen. Sie machen sich Sorgen, weil ihre Tochter keine emotionale Verletzungen ob ihrer Entführung zeigt, obwohl sie durch den Entführer mental stark verletzt wird. Ich fand dies ein sehr spannenden und emotionalen Roman, der die Vielschichtigkeit des Star Trek (Buch) Universums zeigt und der einen Fokus auf die Psychen der Protagonisten zeigt.
Eindrucksvoll fand ich auch die Denkweise des Ohulavaru-Fanatikers, des Entführer Rebeccas, der überhaupt nicht versteht, was in dem Mädchen vorgeht. Ich hoffe, dass ich in Zukunft noch viel mehr über die Familie Siko lesen werde, das ist jedenfalls intelligenter, spannender und durchdachter, als alles was man in Film & Fernsehen nach Star Trek: Enterprise gesehen hat...

[Dorthea Kemp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stop doing Sisko such a disservice. All of the books after the series end have severely disrespected this character. He seems to spend his time failing around without purpose. He deserves a better fate than this. Give him more important, impactful adventures that interact with other DS9 characters in a meaningful way.

[Christian Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this is it. Apart from the Coda trilogy (which I plan on reading next), this is the very end of the DS9 Relaunch.

It was a fine ending to the series, and better than it’s immediate predecessors, but certainly nowhere near the ending that I had anticipated. That’s not George’s fault, of course. How do you adequately end a series bookended by seven seasons of one of the best television shows ever and a collection of some excellent novels?

In “Original Sin,” we finally see the story laid out at the beginning of the Relaunch - the abduction of Rebecca Sisko. It was a fine story, and all the more interesting based on the Bajoran religious turmoil we’ve seen over the lifetime of the relaunch, but the book asked more questions than provided answers.

The man who kidnapped Rebecca? Insane, with no real other motivation. The aliens who kidnapped the children? No backstory at all and enigmatic practices.

By the end, we learn more about Rebecca’s role as the Avatar, and her powers with that role - and that’s it. We’re destined, like the rest of the relaunch, to ask more questions, and it’s unlikely we’ll ever get any more answers.

Thanks, George, for helping us get here. Wish we could see it continue.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, we finally get the Rebecca abduction story, after so many mentions! It was an interesting story and worked well with the present day plot, but I wish it had just a little bit more depth. (Amd maybe this is only an issue with the Kindle version, but there are quite a few typos scattered throughout.)

It's sad that we don't have any more DS9 novels, but I'm glad that the last one centred on the Sisko family. As I've thought throughout the later relaunch (and it's no fault of this author), DS9 suffered from the big time jump necessary to begin the TNG/Titan books as it's sometimes a struggle to keep up with what events have occurred. It was good to see some more of the time between Soul Key and Destiny and it provided more background for Sisko's mood in the Typhon Pact series.

[Aron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, but a somewhat below what I usually expect from DRGIII. It was entertaining and I thought the alien species featured in this book were pretty interesting. I think what I like most about it was the fact that Sisko is commanding an exploratory mission in the Gamma Quadrant, on a big ship with a big crew, so I think there'll be some excellent stories coming from the DS9 camp in the near future.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating novel that serves to fill in a bit of the gap in the skipped years of the Deep Space Nine relaunch, while still progressing the story forward with Captain Sisko on the USS Robinson. We learn a lot about Ben and Kassidy's daughter, Rebecca, and the story sets the stage for (hopefully) more novels to come that explore this corner of the Trek universe!

Full review (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a2mq...

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

My only complaint is the lack of any really joyful Ben Sisko moments though there were oprtunities for it at the beginning and end. Ben has to be very serious for most of both parallel stories but I found both otherwise totally engrossing. ...especially as I finished it while holding my new baby girl at the hospital!

[Red Haircrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sisko and the DS9 stories were always some of my favorite, but I hadn't had the opportunity to read many of their novels, although I've read more than a hundred others. The story was pretty fast paced most of the time or the details and back stories were interesting enough to hold your attention, threading the past and present together. Not every mission or inter-species contact turns out amicable in the Star Trek universe, and this was one case where I genuinely dreaded what the imagined outcome would be. Very suspenseful, and one of the best I've read since the Destiny trilogy.

[Rev. House · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Originally posted at https://trekmovie.com/2018/02/01/book...)

Spoilers ahead...

“Sisko pondered the nature of the Glant’s idea of humanity’s lack of uniqueness. Two arms, two legs, a head, a torso – did all those basic commonalities make all human beings like all other human beings? This felt wrong to Sisko, flying in the face of individuality, but at the same time, it had been humanity’s collective acceptance of itself as a single race that had allowed it to evolve as a society, to rid itself of its internal fears and prejudices.”

David R. George III’s new novel is an odd duck of a book. It welds together two stories in parallel – one a fascinating and gripping sci-fi yarn bursting with intriguing and unusual concepts, that is filled with real terror, real suspense, and real interest, and the other what seems to be a by-the-numbers procedural that by its nature eliminates all interest and suspense from the start. Admittedly, eventually this second storyline turns out to have a kicker of an ending.

Original Sin picks up its story with Captain Benjamin Sisko – a decade following the events of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – embarked on a long-term voyage of exploration in the Gamma Quadrant, in command of the Galaxy-Class starship, the U.S.S. Robinson. Also along for this journey are his wife, Kassidy, and his nine-year-old daughter, Rebecca. The ship is suddenly attacked by a fleet of tiny alien vessels, no two of them the same, which trap the Robinson on a “sandbar” of normal space, surrounded by a “moat” of null space, in which the normal fabric of space and time does not exist. And these aliens make off with 87 of the Robinson’s crew – all children, including Rebecca Sisko. Can the Robinson escape the null-space bubble around them, locate the children, and rescue them from a fate worse than death? What is the nature of these aliens, whose ships and bodies are each completely unique, and whose language is all but untranslatable? Can they find a way to communicate? To understand each other? This storyline is fascinating, and the ideas in it are fresh, unique, and exciting. I enjoyed every minute of this part of the book.

But every other chapter flashes back to six years prior, after Sisko came back from his time with the wormhole aliens, but before he returned to Starfleet. This second storyline follows the tale of Rebecca Sisko being kidnapped by an extremist member of a Bajoran sect, with a cat-and-mouse game between the kidnapper and the investigative teams. Can the authorities find and rescue Rebecca before harm comes to her? Well, yes. We are told early in the Gamma Quadrant storyline that Rebecca had been rescued from her previous kidnapping suffering no ill effects, either physically or emotionally, robbing this second story of any interest or suspense whatsoever.

Even the motivation behind the kidnapping remains a mystery as we only learn that it was because of his unique interpretations of Bajoran prophecies, but are told nothing of what those interpretations are. In the end, the kidnapper just comes across as a sad, mentally-ill crank. And the lead investigator, introduced about halfway through the novel, is described in such terms of perfection and competence that we never once question whether she will succeed in her task. She takes no wrong turns, she has no personality quirks or flaws. She is the best at what she does, and does it flawlessly. And so, reading about her is flat and dull.

Both storylines come to a head as the Robinson and the Bajoran investigator close in on their respective quarries, and mount their rescues. The Gamma Quadrant rescue features a ton of action, tense negotiations, phasers and transporters and runabouts and close escapes. The Bajoran rescue features detailed studying of flight logs of travel pods. But in the end, the climactic scenes in both time periods take place, and there is a stunning reveal in each case. And the book wraps up on an intriguing and mysterious note.

About 1/3 of “Original Sin” is flat and suspenseless, while the rest is fascinating and gripping. I guess I’d say it’s worth toughing it out through the Bajor chapters in order to finish the Gamma Quadrant chapters, and the climax of each tale is worth waiting for. But it will take some stamina to accomplish it.

Deep Space Nine is my favorite Star Trek show, and Benjamin Sisko is my favorite Starfleet Captain. George finds Sisko’s voice, and it was fun reading his stuff. No other DS9 character appears in this novel, nor does the station itself. This is simply a Ben Sisko adventure. I guess the other DS9 characters appear in other novels, but I haven’t read them. I wasn’t lost during this novel, despite not having read the other books in the series, but I did miss Kira, Odo, Quark, and the rest.

Original Sin suffers from its structure. I’m not sure how it could have been fixed. There’s enough worthwhile stuff in here for me to recommend it, but not without the reservations expressed above.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

On a routine exploratory mission in the Gamma Quadrant, the USS Robinson is attacked by a mysterious ship, which results in a desperate mission by Sisko and his crew to rescue eighty seven children, including Rebecca Sisko.

Moving back into an exploratory arc, this novel also explores the nature of Sisko's political role as the Emissary and his role as a father and husband. The profound secrets of this novel are well signposted and fill us with a sense of wonder and impending doom.

[Maurice Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captain Sisko and the Robinson are finally off on their years long exploration of the Gamma Quadrant after far too long dealing with political intrigue and having to postpone their exploratory mission to stay close to home. Three months in, they make first contact with an alien species- and all hell breaks loose.

The aliens attack without warning, and refuse all attempts at communication. The Robinson defends itself well, but the aliens end it by unleashing some sort of sonic weapon that knocks out every being on the ship. They wake up to find the ship surrounded by an area of null space and unable to move. When they check the ship, 87 children missing- including Rebecca.

After finally figuring out a way to get out of an area where subspace has been too badly damaged for them to go to warp or even use impulse, the Robinson has to track down the aliens. They have no idea where the children are or how to get them back once they find them- IF they find them.'

Ben and Kassidy flash back nearly 7 years to the first time Rebecca was kidnapped, when she was three years old. A mentally ill Ohalavaru devotee named Radovan Tavus survived an explosion on Endalla, one of Bajor's moons, where he followed the lead of an equally deranged man named Rejias Norvan. Norvan and the other leaders brought their followers to Endalla in an attempt to reveal what they thought was evidence on that moon that their Ohalavaru beliefs were correct and that orthodox Bajoran faith in the Prophets was undeserved. Norvan and the other six leaders died when he detonated explosives, but Radovan and the others were beamed to safety by Starfleet officers.

Over time, Radovan came to believe that he was tasked by Ohalu to kidnap the Avatar- Rebecca- and use her in some way to show all of Bajor that the Ohalavaru should be taken seriously. He used his skills as a transporter operator to snatch Rebecca in mid-transit as she and Rebecca transported home from a pleasant day in the city, and was able to mask her presence from any and all sensors long enough to hide her in his apartment. He intended to take his time and put his plans in place, but when one Winser Elovet, who had romantic designs on him, came to see him and accidentally discovered that he had Rebecca, he was forced to kill her and go on the run with Rebecca sooner than he wanted. With the help of one Jasmine Tey (formerly attached to First Minister Wadeen Asarem's security detail), Bajoran Militia members found Rebecca alive and returned her to her parents.

Now, Captain Sisko and Kassidy face the same kind of turmoil, and it's worse this time- there are 86 other children of many species also missing. They find the Glant and attempt to negotiate for the return of the children, but cultural difference make it all but impossible. The Glant need young, malleable minds to create their next generation. They are artificial beings- they create their bodies easily enough, but they need minds to implant into said bodies to keep their population going. They took the children because they needed fresh minds, and because they couldn't understand the concept of reproduction the way humanoids do it, or the importance of children to their parents.

The Robinson crew is forced to use a military solution- having figured out how to defeat the Glant's weaponry, they send in security to rescue their children. Once again, Rebecca is returned to the Siskos safe and sound, and for the same reason: Rebecca.

Nearly seven years ago, Radovan took Rebecca deep into a wooded area and detonated a bomb of his creation. His addled mind said that he had to sacrifice the Avatar to please Ohalu, and he succeeded in his mission- at first. However, when he set the bomb off, Rebecca became enraged that this man was about to end her life and make her parents sad and unleashed a power she didn't know she had. She literally rewound time and restarted it in such a way that Jasmine Tey and members of the Militia found her before Radovan could detonate the bomb.

7 years later, the Glant succeeded in transferring Rebecca's mind into one of their golems. Rebecca rewound time again, and when she restarted it, her parents arrived before her mind could be taken. In each instance, nobody but Rebecca knew that anything had gone wrong, because she rearranged things for the better. Back home on the Robinson, she wasn't willing to share with her parents what she had done to save them all for fear they would think she did something wrong.

I was glad to finally see the details of Rebecca's kidnapping. It had been referred to so many times in so many other books I thought I'd missed the book where it happened! But as with the whole conclusion to the Ascendants saga, they told us what happened first and waited what to me was entirely too long to fill in the details.

I'm interested to see what happens now that Rebecca is in better command of her powers as the Avatar. I like how she described what she did- she said that in both kidnappings, she
"shifted her position within her own life so that she could take a different path" that ended the way she wanted. Instead of Radovan blowing her up or the Glant stealing her mind, she rearranged things so that those seeking to rescue her got there in time to save her.

[Paul Lunger · Rating 3 out of 5]

David George's "Original Sin" is not one of the best works he has ever done & to be honest is a novel that should've been done differently in a lot of ways; however, the book does change one character in the DS9 re-launch forever leaving future authors a lot of possibilities. The book itself is involves 2 separate stories which both have 1 common theme - the kidnapping of Rebecca Sisko albeit neither story is really relevant to the other (sort of).

Story #1 has the Robinson continuing it's exploration mission in the Gamma Quadrant in territory away from the Dominion & the wormhole. The ship itself comes under attack & ends up in a region of null space. After they are boarded, there are casualties - 87 children have been kidnapped among them Ben & Kasidy's daughter Rebecca. The escape from null space as well as the eventual discovery of where the children are being held is as heart-wrenching a story as you will find although when they do come across the Glant that race is kind of blown over as to who they are & their inner workings. At times once the race is identified & the children are eventually brought home some of the action seems forced & there's not a lot done with this race which their probably could've been.

Story #2 takes us back to 2380 & Bajor where Rebecca is kidnapped by a man named Radovan who has big plans for the Avatar as he believes she is known to the Ohalavaru. The kidnapping sequence is set up brilliantly as Rebecca's transporter beam is re-routed away from Kasidy's on a trip out; however, Radovan turns into a fanatic w/ not a lot of motives at times w/ this poorly thought out kidnapping of a little girl he doesn't know what to do with. The resolution to this is almost completely straightforward albeit with a twist at the end which is where George does one of the more unique things setting a stage for character development still to come.

In a lot of ways, the book itself is hurt because of organization simply because both stories run one chapter after the other & we the reader have to pay attention to where we are which does hurt this book. George does though keep the emotional toll in this book very high & well written as well as reminding we the reader of the tensions in Ben & Kasidy's marriage from pretty much all things before & after he entered the wormhole & through the birth of their daughter. However, it is Rebecca who suddenly exhibits otherworldly powers to get out of both situations on Bajor & the Glant which sets up a lot of questions for this reader as to what this character could turn into. I also think the final word spoken by her at the very end when asked how she felt after the experience "Powerful" is perhaps the best of all to describe just potentially who she is. That is only something time will tell & is one of the lone bright spots in an otherwise badly written & organized novel.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Original Sin follows Captain Benjamin Sisko on his exploration of the distant Gamma quadrant. The ship is attacked and 87 of his 1300+ crew are abducted, all children, including his daughter. The captain and his crew go from peaceful explorers to a single mission, rescue the children.

Mr George does an admirable job flushing out and mirroring the current story with one from Sisko's past, the kidnapping of his daughter. He delves inside the mind of a mentally unstable kidnapper to show the twisted logic of ill mental health. The highlight of the novel where it becomes an episode of Criminal Minds, set in the 24th century. Complete with Criminal profiler, unstable un-sub, and "helpless" victim.

The failure of the book, is the mirrored resolutions. Not to spoil, but there is a Deus Ex Machina point, repeated twice by the author so to make it clear of the source and that it is intentional. This sets up a more interesting piece of plot then the rest of the entire novel, and paints future writers of this series into quite the corner. Also, the present-day story, with a very interesting race, is used as a shell of bookends only. This is done to push the kidnapping story to the fore-front, completely against what you are promised on the cover.

All in all, the criminal investigation part of the story, the chase, is enjoyable. But this lacks the fundamentals of a great Star Trek story. There is no expanding our viewpoint. There is no moral lesson. This is a procedural.

[drowningmermaid · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's really hard for me to get behind a "DS9" novel wherein it really feels like the author didn't watch the series, at least not since it aired. This Sisko is "generic Star Trek captain" and, for all the rehash of his relationship with Cassidy and post-series child, there is basically ZERO mention of Jennifer and maybe one or two lines about JAKE? And this Cassidy, btw, is the worst. Fawning, simpering wifey with NOTHING in it about her working for the Maquis?

Would it help if I had read all the other novelizations? Probably not. A lot of this book is dedicated to recap of other books.

It's not just that Sisko is off on 'his own adventure' now (read: big name author wanted to write a Star Trek novel so the publisher sacrificed a brand) it's that there are NONE of the relationships that were established in the series exist in this book and there is no reason to feel like this has anything to do with the series. My sense of fanfic is offended. Scrub off the VIN numbers and write your own "original" fiction or Actually Research The Series. Half-measures just make eyerolls. Who do you think is going to pick up a DS9 novel fully 20 years after the show ended, anyway?

That's right! Someone who wants to read about Sisko and the gang at Deep Space Nine. Not The Adventures of Not-Kirk and the Redshirts Boldly Going Where No Not-Enterprise has Gone Before. (Robinson? Seriously?)

There were some good ideas here-- a cool new alien race, a magical child-- but there's no reason to think of this as canon.

[Justin Meyers · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would say it certainly felt like a Star Trek story, which is more than I can say about the current Star Trek movies and TV shows. The book follows Benjamin Sisko from DS9 and his wife Cassidy as the story alternates between two different periods of time, where their daughter Rebecca had been kidnapped. The first event took place on Bajor and the second during an exploration mission in the Gamma Quadrant. The safety of Rebecca in the Gamma Quadrant story does, however, give away that she would survive the earlier ordeal on Bajor, giving it a sort of lack of any real tension. Ben and Cassidy are also the only characters with any real presence in the book; most other characters seemingly exist just to fill out a purpose in the story. The lack of any characters beyond the Sisko family from DS9 was also disappointing. The writing was quite good and the Gamma Quadrant story did tell an interesting first contact story that focused on how different value sets, world views, and understandings of self can make communication a challenge that extends beyond language. In all, this book could have been stronger had the supporting characters been developed beyond their direct and immediate purpose in the story, the twist at the end been removed, and if the ending to the Bajor story was not revealed at the start of the book.

[Benjamin Embry · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Avatar

This story started off slow. The null space and it's escape didn't necessarily intrigue me. When the story split off into 2380 Bajor and 2386 Gamma quadrant is when it got really interesting. I understand that when the overall Star Trek literary universe synched itself and jumped DS9 5 years forward, we missed a lot.

I was engrossed in the 2380 story. I couldn't wait to get to the next portion dealing with this timeframe. However, as I got closer to the end of the book, I found myself biting my nails in anticipation of his the 2386 story would end.

Where this book really suffers is in not knowing Sisko's crew beyond his first officer. Overall, very good read.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

In two simultaneous stories, this tells how young Rebecca Sisko was kidnapped twice, once when she was less than four years old and again when she was less than ten years old. I felt terrible for her parents both times and wondered if they felt cursed, that this would happen twice. I liked this without loving it, but when I'd read about 100 pages I saw that were two previous books set on the USS Robinson, as this is, ten years after the end of the tv series. Bought at B & N 12.30.17 for $7.19

[Wayne · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 good stories

The book alternated between the present at the past. To me it really took away from the stories. Both stories in the book would have been good on their own. With a little effort they could have just expanded on the stories to make 2 books Add me two books out of this. Hopping back and forth does not do any favors to the narrative. Since from the second story we knew that the main character was safe in the first story. I have not got a problem with using things that happened in the past as a reference. I.
Do however not like half the book doing that.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Curious Book

David is a good writer. This book had a hard time keeping my attention. It was a story of two kidnappings, one on Bajor and one the Gamma quadrant. We kept going back and forth between the two stories and I would loose a little interest each time. I don't know any way else to write this. I kept asking myself why Ben Sisko would put his daughter in harm's way the second time?

[Svetoslav Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I liked about the book.
1. The author doesn’t exaggerate the federation nobility what usually happens in the star trek novels (they all seem to adopt the philosophy ‘what would Jesus do?’…someone is shooting at us …well let’s turn the other cheek in the name of the good dialog.
2. The book has an unexpected element. The author is offering two stories that happened 6 year apart from each other and seemingly have no connection and you keep asking yourself why

[Jimyanni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Torn between 3 and 4 stars. This book is well enough written to deserve 4 stars, including the look into the characters of Sisko and Kasidy as they react to the events of the story. But the basic concept -- of their daughter having some sort of prophet-driven superpower, and her reaction (or lack of reaction) to discovering it -- is so completely unsatisfying as to make it impossible to rate this book higher than 3 stars. Literally, a total deus ex machina ending to both sections of the book.

[Gary Aubry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read!

Really enjoyed this book. I can't wait to see where this storyline goes. Thanks for a great read, David! I'm ready for your next book!

[Christopher Leto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rebecca : Avatar Superstar

Good read that goes into more detail of Siskin and Kassidys life. It’s refreshing when Starfleet cannot always solve every situation.

[Terry Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoy reading continuing adventures of Star Trek characters that I adore, but this story was pretty bland and really didn't do much for me.

[Josiah]

Was a fun read. Interesting story.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one took me way too long to get through. Felt like it was missing something.

[Alvaro Zinos-Amaro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full review at:

https://www.tor.com/2021/02/24/star-t...