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Star Trek: New Frontier #4
End Game
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!.
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!.
184 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1997
4 people are currently reading
428 people want to read
About the author
Peter David
3,698 books1,379 followersaka 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
December 27, 2017
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!
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!
March 27, 2024
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.
August 10, 2017
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
Ah well. That's life.
Rating: 3.44
May 19 2017
April 16, 2024
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.
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.
February 21, 2020
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.
March 3, 2020
May the great bird of the galaxy bless your planet!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 12, 2025
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.
May 3, 2026
[One of my long-term reading projects is the 134 titles in Simon & Schuster’s “Star Trek Relaunch” series that ran from 2001 to 2021, in which the publishing company was given permission from Paramount to create a persistent “canon” universe for the books, where events have permanent repercussions and characters die for good without ever coming back. I’m reading them in the order they were originally released; here’s a Google Doc of the entire run, including links to all the reviews I’ve so far written.]
2026 reads, #23-27. We’ve reached the point of the Star Trek “Relaunch” history where the book-only series “New Frontier” is finally getting enfolded into this persistent storyline (which, to be specific, happened in September 2003 with book #13, Gods Above); but since I wasn’t familiar yet with this particular series, its characters, or its milieu, I thought I’d start by reading the very first book in the series, which is a little tricky because it was actually first released not as one big 600-page book (which is how it’s now sold) but rather as four 150-page novellas over the course of summer 1997, almost exactly one year after Stephen King briefly made this serial publishing format popular again with the six-part original release of The Green Mile. That’s why you’re seeing me do multiple posts of this review not only at that compilation’s book page, but at the book pages of all four original novellas as well.
“New Frontier” represents a fascinating moment in the history of Trek supplemental media, in that it’s a sneak preview of what the larger “Relaunch” series would become as well; originally envisioned about halfway through the run of television’s Deep Space Nine, the first show in Trek’s history to be written in a serial style instead of as interchangeable standalone episodes, it originally came about because of a frustration we’ve talked about here several times, of how unsatisfying it is amongst not only certain audience members but also certain writers that supplemental “non-canon” books like these essentially aren’t allowed to change the Star Trek universe whatsoever, meaning that the universe they’re set in is frozen in amber and the only adventures authors are allowed to add to it are ones that supposedly happened one week when the TV cameras weren’t around, or in other words are treated as supplemental episodes to the original series in which the status quo of the TV version is perfect and intact both before the story begins and after it ends.
The pre-“Relaunch” staff at Simon & Schuster, especially franchise head John J. Ordover, were feeling hemmed in by this back in the ‘90s when DS9 showed a fascinating new way to tell Trek stories; so they asked Paramount for, and received, permission to create a brand-new Trek series that exists only as books, the very first Trek series in history to not start life as a TV show, which ended up lasting a total of 23 books that were unusually all written by a single author, the late Peter David (who was actually better known in the comics world, and was also a staff writer on the similar serialized sci-fi show Babylon 5). The two set up a really interesting milieu for the series to take place -- it’s set in a sector of the Milky Way Galaxy that for centuries was ruled by an all-powerful empire, one that has recently fallen apart because of a violent revolution by one of their former colony worlds, and Starfleet has decided to add a permanent presence in the sector because of the chaos and anarchy that has erupted in the face of the massive power vacuum, guaranteeing an unending amount of opportunities for crazy action-packed stories.
Even more smartly, the captain of the USS Excalibur that Starfleet assigns to the sector is none other than the man who first fomented and then led the rebellion in his early twenties, a Xenexian whose “Earthified” name (long story) is Mackenzie Calhoun, who became disillusioned after the rebellion as he saw his countrymen become the exact corrupt elite they had been fighting against, and who joined Starfleet in order to regain a sense of purpose in life again. At the start of the series, he’s actually been out of commission for a while, with it being heavily hinted that he’s actually been working “off the books” for the controversial CIA dirty-tricks wing of Starfleet first invented by the writers of DS9 (expressly against the wishes of franchise creator Gene Roddenberry), the nefarious Section 31; needless to say, neither his compatriots nor the shattered ex-empire of their former oppressors are happy to see him put in charge of Starfleet’s first-ever permanent presence in the region, which opens up a tremendous amount of opportunities for story conflict (of which we see plenty in just this first book).
David and Ordover then fill out the rest of the cast with an intriguing series of brand-new races -- there are the Brikar, for example, a sort of humanoid version of thick-skinned, hulking rhinos or elephants, and there are also the Hermat, which in trendy ‘90s fashion is an entire race of gender-fluid individuals, impressively progressive in a pre-Woke age even if David gets a few of the details wrong. (Instead of using the special pronoun “ze” that most non-binary people now do, for example, David uses the pronoun “s/he,” pronounced out loud as “suh-he,” which seems kind of silly if the whole point is to avoid saying the word “he;” he also makes the race name uncomfortably similar to the outdated medical term “hermaphrodite,” and he unfortunately also makes the race’s main defining trait as being horny all the time and wanting to have sex with everyone they meet, a bad stereotype about trans people back in these ‘90s years.)
On the other hand, one thing Paramount insisted on was that the series incorporate a number of existing Trek characters, because they were convinced that audiences wouldn’t want to read a bunch of Trek novels featuring characters they’ve never heard of (they were ultimately wrong -- the original run of these books were in fact hugely popular); so that’s how it is that the Excalibur’s first officer is none other than Elizabeth Shelby from the infamous Next Generation Borg episodes, and their chief operations officer is Next Generation minor character Roblin Lefler (most famous now for being played in the TV show by a pre-famous teenaged Ashley Judd), among other familiar faces.
Ultimately none of this is much different than the other Star Trek novels -- the DS9 “Relaunch” books, for example, feature half a dozen new characters themselves -- but there’s something about it all being brand-new that simply hits differently here, or at least it did with me. Like its original ‘90s fans, I found something really exciting about this being a brand-new milieu that could go in literally any direction, without being saddled by seven years of “Data would never act that way” or “Worf only owns a bat’leth, not a d’k tahg too” narrative baggage. Befitting the genre veteran he is, David does an excellent job with it all, turning in an introductory volume here that both has a lot of expository moving parts and is also a fast-paced and exciting adventure, and by the end of the 600 pages these people were as real and concrete in my head as any Trek character seen on television, extra impressive because of there being no visual element to the story in this case.
In fact, I liked this debut so much, I’ve made a major new decision about this “Relaunch” reading project I’m in the middle of, and have decided to just burn through the other eight “New Frontier” novels that exist between this first one and book #13’s Gods Above. After all, the whole point of this project is merely to be entertained by Trek stories again, in a period of history where no more Roddenberry-era shows are being made, and where the newest round of Trek shows (the Woke-heavy “NuTrek” era) leave me cold and disappointed; so if I’m being entertained by the “New Frontier” books (and to be clear, I was highly entertained by this debut), I think the world can handle me taking a detour for a while into the rest of this series’ titles, before they finally catch up with the main “Relaunch” storyline I’m currently now 21 books into. (Just 113 more to go!) So, for the rest of this year you’re going to see me outputting lots of “New Frontier” titles, which I will try to get to in a more timely basis; coming next month, for example, will be 1998’s Martyr, the crew’s first “regular” adventure after this extra-long title setting everything up. I hope you’ll have a chance to join me here again then.
2026 reads, #23-27. We’ve reached the point of the Star Trek “Relaunch” history where the book-only series “New Frontier” is finally getting enfolded into this persistent storyline (which, to be specific, happened in September 2003 with book #13, Gods Above); but since I wasn’t familiar yet with this particular series, its characters, or its milieu, I thought I’d start by reading the very first book in the series, which is a little tricky because it was actually first released not as one big 600-page book (which is how it’s now sold) but rather as four 150-page novellas over the course of summer 1997, almost exactly one year after Stephen King briefly made this serial publishing format popular again with the six-part original release of The Green Mile. That’s why you’re seeing me do multiple posts of this review not only at that compilation’s book page, but at the book pages of all four original novellas as well.
“New Frontier” represents a fascinating moment in the history of Trek supplemental media, in that it’s a sneak preview of what the larger “Relaunch” series would become as well; originally envisioned about halfway through the run of television’s Deep Space Nine, the first show in Trek’s history to be written in a serial style instead of as interchangeable standalone episodes, it originally came about because of a frustration we’ve talked about here several times, of how unsatisfying it is amongst not only certain audience members but also certain writers that supplemental “non-canon” books like these essentially aren’t allowed to change the Star Trek universe whatsoever, meaning that the universe they’re set in is frozen in amber and the only adventures authors are allowed to add to it are ones that supposedly happened one week when the TV cameras weren’t around, or in other words are treated as supplemental episodes to the original series in which the status quo of the TV version is perfect and intact both before the story begins and after it ends.
The pre-“Relaunch” staff at Simon & Schuster, especially franchise head John J. Ordover, were feeling hemmed in by this back in the ‘90s when DS9 showed a fascinating new way to tell Trek stories; so they asked Paramount for, and received, permission to create a brand-new Trek series that exists only as books, the very first Trek series in history to not start life as a TV show, which ended up lasting a total of 23 books that were unusually all written by a single author, the late Peter David (who was actually better known in the comics world, and was also a staff writer on the similar serialized sci-fi show Babylon 5). The two set up a really interesting milieu for the series to take place -- it’s set in a sector of the Milky Way Galaxy that for centuries was ruled by an all-powerful empire, one that has recently fallen apart because of a violent revolution by one of their former colony worlds, and Starfleet has decided to add a permanent presence in the sector because of the chaos and anarchy that has erupted in the face of the massive power vacuum, guaranteeing an unending amount of opportunities for crazy action-packed stories.
Even more smartly, the captain of the USS Excalibur that Starfleet assigns to the sector is none other than the man who first fomented and then led the rebellion in his early twenties, a Xenexian whose “Earthified” name (long story) is Mackenzie Calhoun, who became disillusioned after the rebellion as he saw his countrymen become the exact corrupt elite they had been fighting against, and who joined Starfleet in order to regain a sense of purpose in life again. At the start of the series, he’s actually been out of commission for a while, with it being heavily hinted that he’s actually been working “off the books” for the controversial CIA dirty-tricks wing of Starfleet first invented by the writers of DS9 (expressly against the wishes of franchise creator Gene Roddenberry), the nefarious Section 31; needless to say, neither his compatriots nor the shattered ex-empire of their former oppressors are happy to see him put in charge of Starfleet’s first-ever permanent presence in the region, which opens up a tremendous amount of opportunities for story conflict (of which we see plenty in just this first book).
David and Ordover then fill out the rest of the cast with an intriguing series of brand-new races -- there are the Brikar, for example, a sort of humanoid version of thick-skinned, hulking rhinos or elephants, and there are also the Hermat, which in trendy ‘90s fashion is an entire race of gender-fluid individuals, impressively progressive in a pre-Woke age even if David gets a few of the details wrong. (Instead of using the special pronoun “ze” that most non-binary people now do, for example, David uses the pronoun “s/he,” pronounced out loud as “suh-he,” which seems kind of silly if the whole point is to avoid saying the word “he;” he also makes the race name uncomfortably similar to the outdated medical term “hermaphrodite,” and he unfortunately also makes the race’s main defining trait as being horny all the time and wanting to have sex with everyone they meet, a bad stereotype about trans people back in these ‘90s years.)
On the other hand, one thing Paramount insisted on was that the series incorporate a number of existing Trek characters, because they were convinced that audiences wouldn’t want to read a bunch of Trek novels featuring characters they’ve never heard of (they were ultimately wrong -- the original run of these books were in fact hugely popular); so that’s how it is that the Excalibur’s first officer is none other than Elizabeth Shelby from the infamous Next Generation Borg episodes, and their chief operations officer is Next Generation minor character Roblin Lefler (most famous now for being played in the TV show by a pre-famous teenaged Ashley Judd), among other familiar faces.
Ultimately none of this is much different than the other Star Trek novels -- the DS9 “Relaunch” books, for example, feature half a dozen new characters themselves -- but there’s something about it all being brand-new that simply hits differently here, or at least it did with me. Like its original ‘90s fans, I found something really exciting about this being a brand-new milieu that could go in literally any direction, without being saddled by seven years of “Data would never act that way” or “Worf only owns a bat’leth, not a d’k tahg too” narrative baggage. Befitting the genre veteran he is, David does an excellent job with it all, turning in an introductory volume here that both has a lot of expository moving parts and is also a fast-paced and exciting adventure, and by the end of the 600 pages these people were as real and concrete in my head as any Trek character seen on television, extra impressive because of there being no visual element to the story in this case.
In fact, I liked this debut so much, I’ve made a major new decision about this “Relaunch” reading project I’m in the middle of, and have decided to just burn through the other eight “New Frontier” novels that exist between this first one and book #13’s Gods Above. After all, the whole point of this project is merely to be entertained by Trek stories again, in a period of history where no more Roddenberry-era shows are being made, and where the newest round of Trek shows (the Woke-heavy “NuTrek” era) leave me cold and disappointed; so if I’m being entertained by the “New Frontier” books (and to be clear, I was highly entertained by this debut), I think the world can handle me taking a detour for a while into the rest of this series’ titles, before they finally catch up with the main “Relaunch” storyline I’m currently now 21 books into. (Just 113 more to go!) So, for the rest of this year you’re going to see me outputting lots of “New Frontier” titles, which I will try to get to in a more timely basis; coming next month, for example, will be 1998’s Martyr, the crew’s first “regular” adventure after this extra-long title setting everything up. I hope you’ll have a chance to join me here again then.
January 1, 2020
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
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
December 10, 2019
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.
February 20, 2025
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.
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.
November 3, 2021
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
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
April 30, 2026
Unique series of Star Trek novels, the first series created entirely for prose. The ending is a really fantastic tip of the hat to Gene Roddenberry himself. Fun read.
( Same Review for the first 4 Serialized Books..)
We need to get back into the wayback machine to talk about these books and why I wanted to re-read them. I didn't live through the golden age of science fiction, but I did experience the golden age of Star Trek fiction. On TV, we can look back at the 90s as a great era of ST, but in print, it was truly under the editorship of John J Ordover. I am a fan of John, whom I interviewed a couple of times on podcasts, and, best of all, he showed up in his robe to do a panel about Picard Season 3 -> Watch it here...
Under his editorship, Star Trek hardcovers were often bestsellers, and organized as tie-ins for the TV shows, several as big events during the year. At the same time, Pocket Books was releasing two paperbacks a month based on various shows in the franchise, and sometimes series like Day of Honor, which featured a story set in each show (TOS, TNG, DS9, and VOY) on the Klingon holiday. Voyager even did a Tie-in episode.
I was one of the Trek fans who bought the new paperbacks each month, sometimes skipping authors or concepts that I didn’t like, but those were rare. LA Graf was the pen name for two authors whose Trek novels I found dense, for example. Still, I might as well have had a subscription. I set aside money for the books. I went to the Borders at the Carousel Center in Syracuse every month to pick up the new books; they were my bus and break at work reads, as at home I was reading for school and activism.
The one problem these books had was that the stakes for the main characters couldn't be threatened outside the show's canon. So often ST novels like Diane Careyś Dreadnought worked because it created original characters that were engaging. One of the smartest moves an editor (at the time)John J.Ordover did was to put the year's titles inside the cover of the paperbacks. You saw all the titles for the year, it would build anticipation, and give a collect them all feeling.
In 1997, I was excited for months about a new title, Star Trek New Frontiers. What was that? Basically a Star Trek show, built in books instead of TV. Ordover got Paramount to okay this idea, but they wanted a few characters from TNG, assuming that readers needed an anchor. Smartly, the first book brought in Spock and the Enterprise-D itself. Picard in many ways, chooses our new Captain for the mission.
ST had a deep bench at the time of the authors, including Greg Cox, who is the only still active Trek author from that era. Peter David was a great choice; he got his start writing comics, but by this point, he had many, many Star Trek novels. He was one of the most popular who was very smart at typing TOS and TNG together. Peter David was the first to suggest (in Qpid) that Trelane from the Squire of Gothos was a Q (made canon by Strange New Worlds), and in the novel Vendetta, played with the notion that Spinrad’s Doomsday Machine was built as a weapon to fight the Borg.
Peter David played with the canon, was a great storyteller, and a solid writer, so he was perfect to create his own series. The first novel was serialized (like Stephen King’s The Green Mile) over two months. June and July of 1997. While serious Trek fans were digging DS9’s growth into the final seasons, getting used to Voyager, and enjoying the TNG movies, we got a new series.
Spock and Picard assigning this mission to the Captain was a similar hand-off we got in the TV series, and a smart way to bridge the gap. New Frontier was the story of a volatile region of space left in chaos as an empire falls. Starfleet is worried about this region that borders Federation space.
They want to send a ship, but who will command. Riker and Lt. Commander Shelby renewed their rivalry from the classic TNG episode Best of Both Worlds, but Picard thinks it should be a local. Mackenzie Cahloun (a humanized name he took), on the surface, is a disgraced officer, but has been acting as a spy. The rough around the edges captain grew up a revolutionary on his home world, but Starfleet only smoothed some of his edges.
Shelby was a character who was in two very important episodes of TNG. We get a crew member, Robin Lefler (who was in two episodes played by a pre-stardom Ashley Judd), but mostly a new crew. This makes the stakes higher off the bat. We learn that Shelby (who is the first officer) on the new ship is the Excalibur. The crew and the setting is perfect for expanding the ST universe.
I wanted to re-read this one because I was thinking about what a cool thing was to have a ST series that was originally created for prose. This is something I would like to see the franchise do again, maybe with a writers' room (SW High Republic style). I mean, give me a call S and S.
ST: NF holds up nicely, with excellent characters and settings. The serial style made each book fly by and feel like an episode. Each of the four holds up and feels like the Berman era, I mean that as a compliment (although I am a fan of most of Kurtzman era Trek)
I will have to slowly make my way through the ST NF books, which I didn’t keep up with. I admit I burned out on ST novels a bit at the end of the 90s. Thanks to excellent new novels by Greg Cox, Dayton Ward, and David Mack, I am back. I really enjoyed revisiting this classic.
( Same Review for the first 4 Serialized Books..)
We need to get back into the wayback machine to talk about these books and why I wanted to re-read them. I didn't live through the golden age of science fiction, but I did experience the golden age of Star Trek fiction. On TV, we can look back at the 90s as a great era of ST, but in print, it was truly under the editorship of John J Ordover. I am a fan of John, whom I interviewed a couple of times on podcasts, and, best of all, he showed up in his robe to do a panel about Picard Season 3 -> Watch it here...
Under his editorship, Star Trek hardcovers were often bestsellers, and organized as tie-ins for the TV shows, several as big events during the year. At the same time, Pocket Books was releasing two paperbacks a month based on various shows in the franchise, and sometimes series like Day of Honor, which featured a story set in each show (TOS, TNG, DS9, and VOY) on the Klingon holiday. Voyager even did a Tie-in episode.
I was one of the Trek fans who bought the new paperbacks each month, sometimes skipping authors or concepts that I didn’t like, but those were rare. LA Graf was the pen name for two authors whose Trek novels I found dense, for example. Still, I might as well have had a subscription. I set aside money for the books. I went to the Borders at the Carousel Center in Syracuse every month to pick up the new books; they were my bus and break at work reads, as at home I was reading for school and activism.
The one problem these books had was that the stakes for the main characters couldn't be threatened outside the show's canon. So often ST novels like Diane Careyś Dreadnought worked because it created original characters that were engaging. One of the smartest moves an editor (at the time)John J.Ordover did was to put the year's titles inside the cover of the paperbacks. You saw all the titles for the year, it would build anticipation, and give a collect them all feeling.
In 1997, I was excited for months about a new title, Star Trek New Frontiers. What was that? Basically a Star Trek show, built in books instead of TV. Ordover got Paramount to okay this idea, but they wanted a few characters from TNG, assuming that readers needed an anchor. Smartly, the first book brought in Spock and the Enterprise-D itself. Picard in many ways, chooses our new Captain for the mission.
ST had a deep bench at the time of the authors, including Greg Cox, who is the only still active Trek author from that era. Peter David was a great choice; he got his start writing comics, but by this point, he had many, many Star Trek novels. He was one of the most popular who was very smart at typing TOS and TNG together. Peter David was the first to suggest (in Qpid) that Trelane from the Squire of Gothos was a Q (made canon by Strange New Worlds), and in the novel Vendetta, played with the notion that Spinrad’s Doomsday Machine was built as a weapon to fight the Borg.
Peter David played with the canon, was a great storyteller, and a solid writer, so he was perfect to create his own series. The first novel was serialized (like Stephen King’s The Green Mile) over two months. June and July of 1997. While serious Trek fans were digging DS9’s growth into the final seasons, getting used to Voyager, and enjoying the TNG movies, we got a new series.
Spock and Picard assigning this mission to the Captain was a similar hand-off we got in the TV series, and a smart way to bridge the gap. New Frontier was the story of a volatile region of space left in chaos as an empire falls. Starfleet is worried about this region that borders Federation space.
They want to send a ship, but who will command. Riker and Lt. Commander Shelby renewed their rivalry from the classic TNG episode Best of Both Worlds, but Picard thinks it should be a local. Mackenzie Cahloun (a humanized name he took), on the surface, is a disgraced officer, but has been acting as a spy. The rough around the edges captain grew up a revolutionary on his home world, but Starfleet only smoothed some of his edges.
Shelby was a character who was in two very important episodes of TNG. We get a crew member, Robin Lefler (who was in two episodes played by a pre-stardom Ashley Judd), but mostly a new crew. This makes the stakes higher off the bat. We learn that Shelby (who is the first officer) on the new ship is the Excalibur. The crew and the setting is perfect for expanding the ST universe.
I wanted to re-read this one because I was thinking about what a cool thing was to have a ST series that was originally created for prose. This is something I would like to see the franchise do again, maybe with a writers' room (SW High Republic style). I mean, give me a call S and S.
ST: NF holds up nicely, with excellent characters and settings. The serial style made each book fly by and feel like an episode. Each of the four holds up and feels like the Berman era, I mean that as a compliment (although I am a fan of most of Kurtzman era Trek)
I will have to slowly make my way through the ST NF books, which I didn’t keep up with. I admit I burned out on ST novels a bit at the end of the 90s. Thanks to excellent new novels by Greg Cox, Dayton Ward, and David Mack, I am back. I really enjoyed revisiting this classic.
November 1, 2020
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.
March 16, 2022
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.
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.
April 24, 2019
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.
April 9, 2025
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.
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.
July 2, 2019
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.
December 7, 2025
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.
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.
April 29, 2026
End Game delivers a decently exciting conclusion to the storyline spanning the previous three Star Trek: New Frontier novels by Peter David, combining fast-paced action with stronger character development than earlier entries. It opens the door to a wide and potentially compelling future for the series, though the finale feels somewhat rushed and less impactful than its extensive buildup warrants. Still, its closing moments may serve as groundwork for a more rewarding payoff later on.
May 17, 2018
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.
April 11, 2022
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?
June 30, 2022
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!
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!
Read
February 23, 2022All 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.
October 16, 2022
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.
March 29, 2026
A good conclusion to the first part of the story. The first four books act as a sort of pilot for this series. Action packed and we'll paced, with some great dialogue. Looking forward to continuing the story of the Excalibur and her crew.
June 20, 2017
quick fun read. I'm enjoying this series plus they somehow managed to make Shelby tolerable...
October 26, 2018
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.
June 4, 2020
Very good ending to 1st 4 books!
December 1, 2020
These novellas a great quick reads and open up a new galaxy of Star Trek.
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