Star Trek Invasion: The Final Fury/Time's Enemy/the Soldiers of Fear/First Strike

Star Trek: Invasion #1-4

by Diane Carey, L.A. Graf, Dafydd ab Hugh

Book by

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Fiction, Media Tie In

Paperback

First published June 1, 1998

About the author

Diane Carey also wrote the Distress Call 911 young adult series under the name D.L. Carey.

Diane Carey is primarily a science fiction author best known for her work in the Star Trek franchise. She has been the lead-off writer for two Star Trek spin-off book series: Star Trek The Next Generation with Star Trek: Ghost Ship, and the novelization of the Star Trek: Enterprise pilot, Broken Bow.

For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Carey

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good series, tackling an alien invasion through the heroes of the original Star Trek, Star Trek TNG, Deep Space Nine and Voyager. Any Star Trek novel written by Diane Carey (here, the first installment) is worth reading. I was surprised to find that I enjoyed the DS9 installment the best.

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Imagine, if you will, that you're the Earl of Grantham. You live in Downton Abbey. Before you lived there, your father, the Earl of Grantham, lived there. And before he lived there his father, the Earl of Grantham, lived there. In fact for as long as people have been writing down who lives where, your family has been living in that house. That's not to say your family hasn't changed, of course. Time has progressed, and so have the Earls of Grantham. You're far more progressive than your forefathers, and you're certainly not afraid of Welshmen like they were.

One morning you get up late feeling Early. You pop into one of the house's many bathrooms but before you can take position on your throne the sink vanishes, and where it stood there is now a man chewing on a leek who introduces himself as Mr Rhys Jones.

You ought to say "Hullo!" because that's what old upper-class people say when surprised. You ought also to say "Would you like a cup of tea?" because this fellow has seemingly travelled all the way from Wales to appear in your bathroom. But all you can manage is a strangled groan of horror. Did you think you weren't afraid of Welshmen anymore? Did you think Cymrophobia was a silly old superstition? Oh, what a nincompoop you are.

While you stand there quaking in your exceedingly comfortable slippers, the Welshman reaches into his pocket and whips out a photograph. The photo is old, very old. So old, in fact, that it predates the invention of the camera, and thus the picture quality is rather poor. It seems to show someone who can only be Mr Jones' great-great-great-great grandparents stood in front of Downton Abbey, but it's hard to be sure. Mr Jones, however, is sure. He explains that his ancestors lived in this house before being ruthlessly evicted and forced to live on the barren, hellish streets of Hull. Since that time his family has been searching for a way back to its true home, and now he's here to claim what is rightfully his.

It's a moral quandary, right? Mr Jones thinks the Earl of Grantham is the descendant of whoever evicted his ancestors. The Earl knows that's not the case. Jones wants his old house back, but as far as the Earl is concerned the house has always been and always will be the Earl of Grantham's. Maybe Jones could have the spare room. But as far as the Welshman is concerned, the Earl should be the one taking the spare room. Or even better, he should take the room o' death as punishment for evicting his family so long ago.

The above is literally the plot of the Invasion! series of books. And when I saw literally I mean figuratively. And when I say figuratively I mean vaguely. The first book in the tetralogy certainly follows this précis. An alien alliance appears in the Alpha Quadrant and claims it used to live there, but was ousted five thousand years ago by an evil race. They believe that the Federation et al. are those ousters, but the Federation knows that can't be the case. Both sides attempt to find a peaceful solution to the problem, but both sides ultimately make mistakes that lead to the issue being solved in the same way that issues have been solved since prehistory: with photon torpedoes.

First Strike, the first story, is not particularly well written nor that interesting. But the ethical issues that underpin it do elevate it from a naff science fiction story to a mediocre one. Unfortunately things go downhill from there. The other three stories in the series ignore the moral ambiguities of the plot. In the second story, to use the above terminology, Mr Jones' friends return to Downton Abbey, but now they have a fancy new weapon. Any philosophising is tossed aside: now they're the bad guys, the Enterprise's crew are the good guys, and that's all there is to it. The story is exceedingly short and it's made clear early on that someone will have to sacrifice himself to save the day. If only there was a hitherto unknown character present who we could get attached to only for him to sacrifice himself and save the day. (Spoiler: there's totally such a character.)

The third story is perhaps the best of the four. It deals with the Jones family's evictors rather than the Jones themselves. As such it doesn't get to rely on the ethical conundrum as a crutch, but instead needs to support itself as a decent story in its own right. It manages this better than the other three tales, but it's still dragged down by patchy writing, and some confusing aspects to the plot. It also seems to run counter to several major plot points already established in the preceding stories.

The fourth and final part of the series heads to Hull (in the language established above, I mean). Ethical questions resound once more. This time the major question is: if you knew the entire Jones family was going to come to your house in order to reclaim it, are you within your rights to massacre them—women, children, pets, and all—in order to save your home? There's a somewhat cringeworthy chapter where this question is considered, or rather asked a bunch of times, and then summarily answered. It's about as unsatisfying as not having tea with your afternoon crumpets. As is the ad hoc third act, which seems to be designed to suck all dramatic tension from the story by variously claiming that the current obstacle will be easy to overcome or else impossible to overcome. Obstacles are interesting when they are difficult, and characters grow when they overcome these difficult obstacles. Simply saying "This is impossible!" and then having characters do it anyway makes me lose respect for the author, not gain respect for the characters.

So the individual stories in the series aren't that smashing. Worse: the series as a whole doesn't hang together that well. Contradictions abound between the four tales. It reads as though the authors were given the overarching idea of the series, and some vague points to weave in, and then left to it. If anything it reminded me of the Space Odyssey series by Arthur C. Clarke: four stories that are thematically linked and feature recurring characters, but that are accepted to take place in four different Universes, if only so the internal contradictions don't ruin the story. Alas, it's hard to use the same excuse in the Star Trek universe.

Given the poor showing this year, if I do my annual spurt of Star Trek reading next Christmas I think I'll have to delve into some crossovers. Maybe Star Trek: Downton Abbey. And if that doesn't exist then dammit, I'll just have to write it myself.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read and reviewed each of the four novels collected here separately, so this is just for my own records. I rated them all three stars, so the collected rating's pretty easy to figure out. There was a lot of likable stuff here - the presentations of Bashir in Time's Enemy and Neelix in The Final Fury were both particularly good. The highlight for me, however, was Kirk's relationship with the invasion leader in First Strike. My favourite Trek books all have a strong focus on the idea of finding commonality with our enemies, and characterisation has always been a strength of Diane Carey's so I enjoyed that.

I think the downside of these for me, and why they never really got above three stars, is that so much of them is fighting. And yes, this is a mini-series about war, I get that, but I'm just not that interested in reading about battles. Give me quiet conversations and characterisation over action scenes every day of the week! But it's still an enjoyable series, if a bit uneven in places.

[George Eraclides · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Furies invade the alpha quadrant (as you would), using a terror-inducing weapon. In this glorious 4-parter, Kirk, Picard, DS9 and Voyager each in their own way, fight the Furies and in the end succeed. With heroes like these, was there ever any doubt? Space opera in the grand tradition and perfect escapism for those of us that need it. Anyone not need escapism now and then?

[Gabor Hernadi]

First Strike
------------
In general a usual ST story about hostile enemies, bloodthirsty klingons and the Enterprise. But that`s what everyone wants, so I`m not complaining. I like the ambiguity of the Furies at the beginning of the book and that it stays true to the TOS. Good start of the story arch.
4.5/5

The Soldiers of Fear
----------------------
The story continues 80 years later with the second coming of the Furies, only this time they face with the Picard led Enterprise. The roles are much more clear cut but it still a good, entertaining Star Trek story with the well known and loved characters.
4/5

[Andrew Alt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dnf @ > 100. Boring, and the characters often seemed out of character.

[Rev. House · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four books, spanning the four (pre-ENT) Trek series, telling an interconnected story, by different authors, and of vastly different quality. "First Strike," the (3/5 stars) TOS tale that starts it all off, is well-written by Diane Duane, setting up the Furies, a conglomeration of alien races that Duane writes as convincingly alien, but with striking connections to Earth history. This is really a Kirk story, and it presents a Captain who makes mistakes, but is intensely loyal to his crew. "The Soldiers of Fear," the (2/5 Stars) TNG installment, is a clunker of a story, managing to flatten and mangle the beloved TNG characters, while telegraphing the ending almost from the first chapter. The DS9 tale, "Time's Enemy," (5/5 Stars) is the best of the bunch, with strong characterizations, a gripping plot, and fascinating story mechanics. Every major DS9 character is well-used (except for Quark and Jake Sisko) but Kira, Odo, and Dax especially shine. "The Final Fury" wraps up the story with the VOY crew in the Delta Quadrant, with a (4/5 Stars) nailbiter of a yarn that works through some pretty big ethical questions while servicing the Voyager characters quite well, except for the criminally-underused Doctor.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this collection of stories, the over arching theme of the invasion of our (meaning the universe of Star Trek) universe by that of an alien race is tied together through four (4) different tales taking place in the various Star Trek series. Each tale blends beautifully into the one following, while events of the previous novels are for the most part minor notes in the current series' history they still build upon each other. I personally loved this series and would love to have a copy of the Omnibus to re-read. Worth a read by any Star trek fan, no matter if you don't like a specific series.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first three are brilliant, particularly the third. Highlights: the way the involvement of the Federation in this conflict is woven across the stories and time periods; Carey's spot-on characterization of Kirk as too damned committed to interspecies peace and understanding for his own good; and absolutely everything about the third book (I'm a sucker for well done time travel, and for interesting stories involving Jadzia Dax). The fourth, unfortunately, is unreadable.

[Mark Abukoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before the Enterprise series. An invasion by aliens who claimed to have conquered and lived in our space thousands of years ago. All of this was excellent.... Except for the TNG segment that seemed unsatisfying and kind of a rehash of the TOS segment. Except for the very end, which led very nicely to the Voyager segment.

[Kylia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting Trek series that spanned TOS, TNG, DS9, and Voyager with it's roots in mythology (or how various planets ended up getting their own mythological roots)

[Mark Montgomery · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Epic Crossover featuring Four of the Star Trek Genres!