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Starfleet Corps of Engineers #13
Star Trek Corps of Engineers: What's Past
Before they became the crack team of engineers we've all come to know and love on the "U.S.S. da Vinci," the Starfleet Corps of Engineers team had plenty of adventures throughout the galaxy. Now some of those exploits are chronicled, featuring special guests from all across the "Star Trek "universe.WHAT'S PASTProgress: Captain David Gold's previous command brings him and former "Starship Enterprise(TM) "medical officer Dr. Katherine Pulaski to Drema IV and a special young woman named Sarjenka.The Future Begins: Learn how Captain Montgomery Scott found himself in charge of the S.C.E.--also featuring Geordi La Forge, Admirals Alynna Nechayev and William Ross, and Robin Lefler.Echoes of Coventry: During the height of the Dominion War, Bart Faulwell is part of a team that must crack Cardassian codes. Distant Early Warning: In the 23rd century, the "U.S.S. Lovell "helps in the construction of Starbase Vanguard in this special prequel to the hit novel series.10 Is Better than 01: An inside look at the culture of Bynaus, home of 110--the future Soloman.Many Splendors: Before they were reunited on the "da Vinci," Sonya Gomez and Kieran Duffy had a whirlwind romance aboard the "Starship Enterprise."
- GenresStar TrekScience Fiction
624 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
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128 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 26, 2017
Though the book is a welcome addition to S.C.E. and the Star Trek franchise in general, it feels out of place and thrown together, as often is the case with this kind of books that are used to fill gaps in the "real" stories. For S.C.E. adepts a must, for other trekkies nice to read. Certainly not my choice as first book to get acquainted with the Star Trek universe. It does help fleshing out the background of the main characters, in some cases like Soloman more surprising than others.
July 23, 2012
This was my first SCE novel. Approaching the series for the first time, I wasn't sure whether to start from the first story or pick up this one since it has prequel-like material. I went for this one. Here are my impressions of each story:
Progress: Captain Gold ends up in an emergency situation on a planet he knows little about. This was good but not thrilling. Rating: 3 of 5 stars.
The Future Begins: How the heck did Scotty end up in the 24th century? This story brought me up to speed with Scotty's life, including his involvement with some less-than-admirable admirals that we saw in Deep Space Nine. Rating: 4 of 5 stars.
Echoes of Coventry: You can tell where this story is going from a long way away. I was hoping that there would be some sort of twist at the end, but no, it's pretty straightforward. This is middle- or high-school reading material at best. Rating: 2 of 5 stars.
Distant Early Warning: I love the Vanguard series, and this was awesome like the rest of the series. SCE helps get Vanguard operational and exposes some of the underworld. This is accessible to readers who aren't familiar with Vanguard. Rating: 5 of 5 stars.
10 Is Better than 01: This was just decent. The idea of elaborating about the Bynars was good, but since they aren't a very exciting species, this one couldn't have been excellent. The mix of characters (including someone on the run) kept me going. Rating: 3 of 5 stars.
Many Splendors: I don't care much about romance, but this read like the accounts of folks on the Enterprise behind-the-scenes during the TNG days. Rating: 3 of 5 stars.
In conclusion, this compilation was a pleasant read, but I'm not sure about continuing the series. There are better Star Trek series out there.
Progress: Captain Gold ends up in an emergency situation on a planet he knows little about. This was good but not thrilling. Rating: 3 of 5 stars.
The Future Begins: How the heck did Scotty end up in the 24th century? This story brought me up to speed with Scotty's life, including his involvement with some less-than-admirable admirals that we saw in Deep Space Nine. Rating: 4 of 5 stars.
Echoes of Coventry: You can tell where this story is going from a long way away. I was hoping that there would be some sort of twist at the end, but no, it's pretty straightforward. This is middle- or high-school reading material at best. Rating: 2 of 5 stars.
Distant Early Warning: I love the Vanguard series, and this was awesome like the rest of the series. SCE helps get Vanguard operational and exposes some of the underworld. This is accessible to readers who aren't familiar with Vanguard. Rating: 5 of 5 stars.
10 Is Better than 01: This was just decent. The idea of elaborating about the Bynars was good, but since they aren't a very exciting species, this one couldn't have been excellent. The mix of characters (including someone on the run) kept me going. Rating: 3 of 5 stars.
Many Splendors: I don't care much about romance, but this read like the accounts of folks on the Enterprise behind-the-scenes during the TNG days. Rating: 3 of 5 stars.
In conclusion, this compilation was a pleasant read, but I'm not sure about continuing the series. There are better Star Trek series out there.
February 2, 2013
The stories here are not badly written; they each give a little bit of backstory for one of the regular SCE characters. But if, like me, what you really want is to see what happens NEXT in the series, it's more than a touch disappointing to get the "next book" only to find absolutely nothing leading foreward from the last book. I would have enjoyed seeing some of these backstories incorporated into plots that actually moved things ahead, but found and entire 600 pages of flashback to be rather less interesting than it might have been.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews