STAR TREK: IKS GORKON: A GOOD DAY TO DIE by Keith R.A. Decandido is a book which is impossible for me to dislike. I actually have complaints about the book and a few criticisms (which aren't quite the same thing) but they aren't going to keep from giving it five stars because KLINGONS. Geeks are genetically engineered to like Klingons. Even more so than Star Trek as a whole, everyone loves the honorable and dishonorable warriors of Kahless.
Honestly, I'm stunned I didn't start this series earlier but my love of Star Trek is mitigated by my love of Star Wars so I spent my first twenty years only reading its Expanded Universe and only got into the post-Star Trek: Nemesis novels five years ago. I also tend to mostly just read the works of Christopher Bennet--which is no excuse for not picking up this entire series when it first came out in 2003. Bah, but what is 15 years! *random Klingon phrase*
The premise for IKS Gorkon is it follows the crew of the titular ship introduced in Diplomatic Implausibility (A TNG book) with a number of original as well as extremely minor characters from Star Trek fandom. There's Captain Klag who is a warrior and experimentee arm transplant donar (the technology having never been developed on Oo'noS), Kurnak the prickly engineer, Lestik the randy bridge officer, and Top the ambitious young up and commer. These are characters we've seen before (or at least their archetypes) but that helps make the unfamiliar more familiar--which is part of Star Trek's appeal.
The IKS Gorkon is a new ship with a new mission now that the Klingons have redeemed their warrior credentials by defeating the Dominion as well as Cardassians. They are to seek out new life, to boldly go where no Klingon has gone before, and kill them before taking their stuff. I have some problems with this premise as I'll get into below but I like this as a sort of anti Star Trek: Titan as the books having the ship actually explore things helps make up for the fact we've been off that mission since ENT season 3.
The book follows Klang visiting a newly discovered hunter-gatherer society world which is full of mining deposits. The Children of San-Tarah are a race of humanoid tigers (at least that's how I imagine them) are incredibly vicious but honorable warriors. Klang, eager to earn glory by outshining his brother, allows them the chance to keep their world free from conquest by winning a series of events in a Olympics-style contest. He promises the Klingons will leave and never return if they lose--which is perhaps the only time such a promise would be binding.
My biggest issue with the IKS Gorkon is it doesn't quite fit my conception of the time period and cultures involved. If it was set during the Original Series, yes, certainly, I could see this story happening. The Klingons were as conquest happy then as Genghis Khan. The thing is, I can't actually buy a Alexander the Great-style crusade of conquest by the Klingons is something the Federation would not be throwing an enormous fit over. This is almost certainly something which would have been covered in the Khitomer Accords since I can't imagine it reads, "You can conquer anyone you want as long as it's not us."
Another small issue I have is one of my favorite characters, Kurak, should be dead. Basically, Kurak hates being in the military as she was conscripted by her father and wants to be working at Klingon DARPA again so she continuously half-asses her job. This puts the crew, the ship, and their efforts always at risk. Given she was demoted in the last book because of this and shows no sign of changing, I see no reason why they wouldn't have gutted her like a fish by now. Its frustrating for what is an otherwise intriguing and fascinating character.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed this book and immediately bought the sequel. The book ends on a cliffhanger and while I would have preferred a complete story, I'm guilty of this myself. I also like how all the various Klingon characters come together (except for Kurak--but she's always a problem). I recommend it to all fans of the empire who wish to see it crush the Federation and rule the Alpha and Beta Quadrants!