End Game

Star Trek: New Frontier #4

by Peter David

Captain Mackenzie Calhoun: Wearing a veneer of civilization as others would a cloak, Calhoun will now find himself facing a scheme for revenge that may unleash the savage warrior he keeps locked within himself.

Lieutenant Robin Lefler: An eternal optimist, Lefler occasionally asks the wrong question at the wrong time...and yet this time it may lead the Excalibur crew to unexpectedly shocking answers.

Commander Elizabeth Shelby: Walking the fine line between duty and conscience, Shelby may find that she must decide between the life she loves and the man she once loved.

As the Thallonian homeworld faces catastrophe, Captain Calhoun must confront his own bloody past in a life-or-death struggle for survival and honor. But when the planet's ultimate secret is revealed, only Captain Calhoun and the USS Excalibur can save the last remnants of the Empire from total destruction!.

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Fiction, Media Tie In, Ebooks, Science Fiction Fantasy, Novels

184 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 1997

About the author

aka David Peters

Peter Allen David, often abbreviated PAD, was an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films, and video games. His notable comic book work includes an award-winning 12-year run on The Incredible Hulk, as well as runs on Aquaman, Young Justice, SpyBoy, Supergirl, Fallen Angel, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Captain Marvel, and X-Factor.
His Star Trek work included comic books and novels such as the New Frontier book series. His other novels included film adaptations, media tie-ins, and original works, such as the Apropos of Nothing and Knight Life series. His television work includes series such as Babylon 5, Young Justice, Ben 10: Alien Force and Nickelodeon's Space Cases, which he co-created with Bill Mumy.
David often jokingly described his occupation as "Writer of Stuff", and he was noted for his prolific writing, characterized by its mingling of real-world issues with humor and references to popular culture, as well as elements of metafiction and self-reference.
David earned multiple awards for his work, including a 1992 Eisner Award, a 1993 Wizard Fan Award, a 1996 Haxtur Award, a 2007 Julie Award and a 2011 GLAAD Media Award.

Reviews

[Alejandro · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first arc in "New Frontier" comes to an end!


GREAT BIRD OF THE GALAXY!

The introductory storyarc of Star Trek: New Frontier, that it was been developed in four parts, comes to an end...

...but hardly it's the final for the revolutionary prose novel series!

Ghosts from the past of Capt. Mackenzie Calhoun catch up with him!

Mackenzie's complicated history as freedom fighter and liberator of his homeworld are back to collect his bloody debts.

His past responsibilities to his homeworlds get into conflict with his current duties as Starfleet captain, with Commander Shelby in the middle!

But that's not all!

Since in the bizarre Space Sector 221-G (formerly Thalloniam Empire) anything is possible...

...and the planet Thallon, once the political center of the space sector may suffer a totally unexpected fate!

A new frontier, new crew, new threats!

In the good tradition of Star Trek, the USS Excalibur continues to boldy going where no one has gone before!

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

These first four New Frontier books are essentially one story split up into four very short books. They really should have been split into two, possibly three. Anyway, Captain Mackenzie Calhoun proves quite an interesting new addition to the Trek captain's table. He's got a Kirk like tendency to rash action, but is generally more serious and dark, which is understandable given his violent childhood. He's also the first non-Human captain to be featured in a Trek series, and a new species to boot, making him a bit of an enigma. The conclusions to the several story arcs from this initial New Frontiers four book series were quiet satisfying. Action packed, surprising and even a bit fantastical. Kudos to Peter David for creating an intriguing new Trek series from scratch, while staying true to the pillars that make Trek great. I think David is just about the most consistently solid Trek author out there, which is really saying a lot given the several dozen he's written.

[Lexxi Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, that was disappointing. All that build up, all that . . stuff for . . . this book. mmphs. Absurd. Turned to fantasy, it did. Well, Science-Fantasy. Though, granted, the original Star Trek series liked slipping fantasy in now and then.

Ah well. That's life.

Rating: 3.44

May 19 2017

[Steven Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read, probably the best since the original book. The stories in the series appear written as if "episodes" like the tv show so it is expected that there will be better ones than others. The slow episodes don't really matter because they're short and another one will come along soon after.

As I mentioned, it's probably a better story but at the same time it's weak in areas. Because of the fast pace of it (to fit into the 184 pages) there's very little nuance. There's no time to mull over reveals or to string out scenes. It's all fast fast fast. So some scenes are obviously hard hitting whilst others feel telegraphed really early because there's no time to let them cook.

Like the show itself, there also tends to be a B-story running along side and in this instance we continue the story of Selar who is suffering from Vulcan blue balls and wants to have her way with the chief engineer. It's.... not really interesting, it adds nothing really. Maybe in a future book.

[Igor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This turned out to be pretty enjoyable. Every Star Trek lives and dies based on whether the crew is good and New Frontier has that classic mix of people good at their job but also interesting personality-wise. The premise of trying to fix the mess caused by an empire falling apart us intriguing. And Mackenzie is definitely a compelling character, a Starfleet captain who is an officer but not a gentleman. Will definitely be reading more.

[Ambrose · Rating 4 out of 5]

May the great bird of the galaxy bless your planet!

[Scott Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like David’s Shelby is not quite the person we know from “The Best of Both Worlds”. The TNG Shelby was very earnest — all business — but this one is more sarcastic (as most of David’s characters are). Quite an entertaining read, despite some comic book silliness towards the end.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found book four of this series to be a solid finish for the first story arc. It was the longest of the four books, weighing in at 184 pages, and it showed. There were a couple parts where I wished the story had moved along more. How many different references to earthquakes do we need to get the picture? This planet isn't stable.

Also, the dialogue didn't sparkle as much as in the first three volumes. Gone was most of the wit that was so surprisingly fresh in the earlier works. The characters also spoke in more of an on-the-nose way, making them a bit too predictable: one character saying something on-the-nose as he preferred death by falling to being saved by his mortal enemy, Calhoun telling his brother he had no brother, etc. Even Shelby and Calhoun's exchanges seemed stale and predictable.

Still, Peter David brought the story threads that mattered (I don't count the Vulcans' relationship among these threads) to a satisfying conclusion. Kebron comes away as a thoroughly likable if not entirely believable security chief. Kebron's abilities do appear more rooted in superhero fiction than Trek, David's only lapse (with this character) into comic bookdom, a forgivable flaw since I also enjoy comics. I also really enjoy Mackenzie Calhoun's character, his decisive self-reliance, his modesty through his recognition of his imperfections (he may be too maverick to lead a starship), and his refusal to sit on the bridge when there is adventure to be involved in. Si Cwan and Soleta are engaging and appealing characters too, though I feel we have more to learn of them. Shelby, McHenry, Burgoyne, and Selar have not yet grown on me, but I don't know much about them yet.

I look forward to reading where David intends to take these characters and the development of his premise: a space sector needing Calhoun to babysit it for the Federation.

I don't much care for GoodReads five star rating system. It is a bit limited. I like the comic book world's 10-point rating system for comic book conditions as being more descriptive. Using that rating system, the books in this series for me would be:

9.0 House of Cards
8.5 Into the Void
9.2 The Two-Front War
8.0 End Game

[Octavia Cade · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely ludicrous. And the same poor quality as the last three books. Everything here is eye-roll-worthy, and it doesn't help that David has thrown everything he can at the wall here, hoping that something will stick. There's bad guys falling into lava, there's a planet hatching into the Great Bird of the Galaxy (and why, oh why anyone involved in this disaster of a series can't take a red pen to in-jokes being shoehorned into plot like this I don't know, they all must have been drunk). There's that loathsome relationship between Shelby and Calhoun, which becomes even more irritating if possible, and of course there's that stupid pon farr storyline which, against all good taste, refuses to die. But the most ludicrous thing here - and that is saying something - is the sword fight in an earthquake. Calhoun gets a sword through the arm, and snaps off the hilt and pulls the blade through his bone as if this is Robin Hood and an arrow instead of presumably decent quality steel. It is just profoundly stupid, on every level.

[David H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now that I've read the final part of the first four books (released practically simultaneously), I can say: This is fun! It's not high art, but it's got good drama (I especially like Calhoun and Shelby's interplay in this volume), good humor, and that Trekian ending.

I think I'll enjoy this series. I do recommend either reading the omnibus of the first four volumes or reading the first four back-to-back.

[Paul Riches · Rating 5 out of 5]

Star Trek New Frontier Boldly Goes!!!!


Back in the 1997, the Star Trek books editors wanted to try something different.

They were tired of how the books couldn’t really change the characters, they were just allowed to tell what they considered routine adventures. Some fans, like me, were fine with that, but other fans, like me, wanted epic scale and massive changes all the time.

So the concept of Star Trek New Frontier was born, with editor John J. Ordover and writer Peter David being the proud parents.

New Frontier takes place in the time of Next Generation in the movies era after First Contact. The expansive dictatorial and secretive Thallonian Empire has collapsed and chaos seems to be thriving inside this far flung area. The Federation wants to help, but is not sure how to, so a decision is made to send a single Starship in to render aid and assess the situation internally. It is risky, but as one Captain stated, risk is our business.

Soon a ship, Captain and crew are picked and head out, and immediately run into issues galore in the once powerful Empire, subjects that tax their moral dilemmas. They also face numerous personal issues, that tax themselves and their relationships. This is just the sort of drama Peter David excels at, making this book series a perfect fit for him.

David populates the Excalibur with his own creation, Captain Mackenzie Calhoun, a strong willed man who led a revolution as a teen on his planet and then was recruited into Starfleet by Captain Picard and his First Officer Jack Crusher. He becomes a Captain, faces trouble, does some dirty work for the Federation, and is now back in charge. Part of me thinks this was originally supposed to be Commander Quentin Stone from David’s A Rock And A Hard Place Next Gen novel.

The rest of the crew is a mix of characters David created in his excellent Starfleet Academy trilogy of Young Readers novels starring Cadet Worf. This includes Security Chief toughie Zak Kebron, Vulcan Science Officer Soleta, and odd genius Navigator Mark McHenry. Others are minor recurring characters from various Next Gen episodes, like Commander Shelby from the famous Best Of Both Worlds cliffhanger, the Vulcan Dr Selar, and Robin Lefler who quotes her own unique set of life rules. Completely new are Engineer Burgoyne 172, who is from a race of she/he beings who are unafraid to explore their sexuality, which leads to David really getting into gender issues and language amongst other topics, and also new is Prince Si Cwan from the former Empire. He knew it was troubled and tried to reform it but to no avail, so now he serves as “Ambassador” and guide while he searches for his sister.

With this cast, David explores a zillion subplots, including the previous romantic relationship between Calhoun and Shelby, the purely sexual dating of McHenry and Burgoyne 172, Dr Selar having PTSD because her husband died during wedding night Pon Farr, Dr Selar’s hormones sending signals to Burgoyne 172, and Soleta dealing with a shocking family secret. As you can tell, David does not shy away from tackling controversial stories, and with the premise of New Frontier being that things can evolve, you can tell things are going to move forward in very fascinating ways. Which, by the way, they do. New Frontier goes on with twenty something books, and I know that characters get married and have children and leave the ship, and alot of not so nice things happen as well.

The setup for New Frontier is spread over four slim paperbacks, which I think were originally designed to be a hardcover. The scope of the story is big enough, and the richness of the crew personalities, do warrant this. And besides Picard and Crusher, we also get cameos from Riker, now Admiral Jellico who is still an ass, and the awesome Ambassador Spock! At one point, a certain Engineer from Kirk’s Enterprise is maybe possibly mentioned. Was he supposed to be a part of this as well?

David is creating a great tapestry in New Frontier, one worthy of a modern day streaming service and would be definitely be an award-winning hit. That would be awesome.

Scoopriches

[Joe Praska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so after my initial enthusiasm for first book in this series, the following two kind of lost me. Fortunately, however, with this one, I think I'm back on board. The first four Star Trek: New Frontier books are really one story and in a sense should be judged as such - especially since the middle two books just don't hold up on their own. Along with that, once I started to get a sense for what genre and tone Peter David is really trying to play around with here, I began to appreciate it all a whole lot more. It's not the more self-serious, moralistic sci-fi that Star Trek tends to represent (although there are certainly nuggets of that). Rather, it's Star Trek as if it were a pulpy, dollar-bin action story with larger-than-life characters, whacky and fantastic scenarios, and interpersonal drama aplenty. If you go into these books with that in mind, you'll have fun with them.

[David Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my view, this is the best Trek series I've read, and fortunately, there are more on my "to read" list.
The story here is terrific, and the characters are refreshingly interesting. But I couldn't give it the full 5 stars because of some annoying lack of editing oversight around the many word echoes peppered throughout the story.

This is one example: "He lunged DESPERATELY, twisting in midair, and his DESPERATE fingers found some purchase that slowed his fall ever so briefly. Then he lost his grip once more and hit the ground, rolling into a ball and covering his head DESPERATELY as rock and rubble rained down around him."

Sheesh, think he was desperate enough?

Notwithstanding, I look forward to the continuing adventures of Capt Calhoun, Commander Shelby, Kebron, Burgy and the rest of the crew.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read Peter David for decades. But I never read his extensive prose offerings. I'm an idiot. He's just as good in prose as he is in comics. Should have discovered that ages ago. I'm glad to have started here with his ST fiction. I really dig the concept here. This was the very first ST fiction not based on a TV show. Three of the bridge crew in New Frontier appeared on ST: TNG and the remainder are either pulled from ST fiction or created by David for the series. I love the cast. And a fast-paced story connects the first four chapbooks into one fat novel.

[Nickolas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this on the most of this series. The characters seemed to gel and become more real and multifaceted, particularly Mackenzie Calhoun and Zak Kebron.
Calhoun isn't a paragon of virtue like Picard. He's morally ambiguous, which might not make sense for a Starship captain, but it actually works well. (And, of course, there have been many, many Starship captains over the years, mostly minor characters, who have gone to the Dark Side, for lack of a better term.)
This adventure was fun, and the characters' problem solving was interesting and imaginative.

[Jdetrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've bene enjoying this series, and this final installment of the first four book arc at least has an actual ending. But the main thrust of the ending is too cute, too much of a bit, for it to really resonate with me. I'm sure many fans of the series will enjoy it, but it just dragged the whole book (and to a lesser extent, the entire series) down. I'm going to keep reading the series though, in the hope that it bounces back.

[Graff Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Trek: New Frontier 04 End Game by Peter David

3.75 Stars

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense 

Fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

My least favourite novella of this series (so far). It didn't ruin the story, but it wasn't a clean landing,  imho.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some elements of this series I like but everyone seems too distrusting and angry to be Starfleet. Calhoun runs a grumpy ship! The ending seemed rushed to me and was a little absurd. I am looking forward to some parts of these novels in the future but others I could do without. Overall, the reuse of the established characters is good but the new ones need some tweaking.

[Harry Laban ♫︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Resolving the conflicts presented in books 3 and 2, whilst also dealing with some others, End Game is great. Peter David's masterful Star Trek saga continues, blending character-building with action-packed story perfectly. Selar's issues are particularly odd... But when has Pon Farr ever failed to make the audience feel completely awkward?

[Vic Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*
I'm enjoying the character development here, with the relationship between McHenry and Burgoyne, the time spent with Lefler and Soleta, some good moments with Shelby vs. Calhoun. Even some good Thallonian/Danteri characters introduced.
The action was also tense and pretty much nonstop. Even Mac is growing on me.
Looking forward to seeing where this is going!

[David]

All the characters and the scenario are now fully laid out for the rest of the series, including a more savage, primal captain than has ever been shown on-screen. This is really the finale of a 4 part story though.

[Ryk Stanton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book when it first came out, but they never did anything with Mackenzie Calhoun and it didn’t really resonate anymore. It is at best three stars from me now, but I added one for it being written so long ago and still holding true.

[Takiyah Dudley · Rating 4 out of 5]

quick fun read. I'm enjoying this series plus they somehow managed to make Shelby tolerable...

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the complete series together, four books, but I would not like just one book of the series by itself. I give the whole series a 7 out of 10 this was a good read.

[Roger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good ending to 1st 4 books!

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

These novellas a great quick reads and open up a new galaxy of Star Trek.

[S.J. Saunders · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed most of the first four New Frontier novellas, though do hope the crew starts meshing a bit better.

4/5 Some good character work and a many-pronged threat to kick us off.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Excalibur gets caught up in the breakup of an empire. The captain get his trial by fire literally and comes through relatively unscathed, as does the ship and crew. Definitely recommended

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I say that the ending has to be seen to be believed, I don't necessarily mean that in a good way.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great adventure of Captain Calhoun and the crew of the Excalibur. I’m really enjoying seeing the characters grow and develop together. Can’t wait for the next!