Indistinguishable from Magic

Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Second Decade #7

by David A. McIntee

The most talented Starfleet engineers of two generations unite to solve a two-hundred-year-old technological mystery that turns out to be only the beginning of a wider quest.

With the support of Guinan and Nog, as well as the crew of the U.S.S. Challenger, Geordi La Forge and Montgomery Scott soon find themselves drawn into a larger, deadlier, and far more personal adventure. Helped by old friends and hindered by old enemies, their investigation will come to threaten everything they hold dear. Seeking out the new, and going where no one has gonebefore, Geordi, Scotty, and Guinan find that their pasts are very much of the present, and must determine whether any sufficiently advanced technology is really indistinguishable from magic.

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Fiction, Star Trek The Next Generation, Novels, Ebooks, Science Fiction Fantasy

483 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 2011

About the author

David A. McIntee was a British author who specialised in writing spin-offs and nonfiction commentaries for Doctor Who and other British and American science-fiction franchises.

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 1 out of 5]

This one was a big mess.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is a tradition and a standard feature of star trek novels to pay homage to past incidents, characters, and places for the sake of continuity and as a treat for fans. But too much of these references to the past can be quite a distraction. McIntee piles on the references to the point of making me wonder if he needed filler to achieve a novel length story.

The characters are secondary to the plot in this book, which is a shame with so many interesting characters brought back for this romp of the Star Fleet Corps of Engineers' USS Challenger. We have Rasmussen Berlinghof (the 22nd c. inventor/time traveler who tried to steal Data); the obsessed Ferengi, Bok; Director of the Tal Shiar, Sela; starship designer Dr. Leah Brahms and others. But everyone is stilted and rote, dialogue is weak, inner monologues oddly repetitive.

There is far more techno-babble than usual which makes an already choppy plotline even harder to follow.

But, not to give too much away, by the end of this novel a major event in the entire Star Trek Continuum has occurred. Too bad it had to transpire in such a mediocre effort.

Unfortunately, even with that major event, this book is UNdistinguished and far from magical.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe I'm just getting too old for Star Trek novels. Or maybe I've reached my saturation point with them and need to step away from them for a while. But curse them for having interesting cover blurbs and intriguing sounding concepts that keep pulling me back in.

Such is the case with "Indistinguishable From Magic." Set in the post-Nemesis continuity, the novel is a virtual who's who of guest stars from various TNG episodes all brought back together again. When an old NX starship suddenly turns up after being listed as destroyed, a crack team of engineers is sent out to look into it. This includes Geordi, Scotty, Nog, Leah Brahms and Reg Barclay. Also included is Rasmussen from the fifth season TNG episode "A Matter of Time." And, of course, he has an ulterior motive and soon another old foe has returned with a plan that involves the newly found ship and time travel.

And that's just the first half to two thirds of the novel.

I've read that this one was proposed as a dual novel storyline but condensed down to a single entry. And because of that, you'd think you were getting twice as much story for half the price.

Frustratingly enough, that's not the case. Author David A. McIntee frustratingly spends a lot of time focusing on all the wrong elements of the story, drawing some things out far past the point of interest and compressing the interesting details down to a few scant paragraphs. What you end up with is a Trek novel with some interesting ideas, concepts and potential character exploration that ends up sagging and collapsing under its own weight.

[Yvette · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was so convoluted. It seemed like the author kept saying the same thing over and over just to appear clever. I did enjoy having Guinan and Nog in the story.

[Steven · Rating 1 out of 5]

Last year, I started reading the post-Nemesis books from the various series in order. I love how they are taking story threads and weaving them through different books - it really makes the different Star Trek series feel like one universe. This book, however, was a real letdown. To me, it read like a piece of fan fiction.

The author brings in several secondary characters, and some of them felt forced into the story based on the other continuing story lines in the post-Nemesis series. Additionally, unlike most A-plot, B-plot story lines, the two plots did not run concurrently; A-plot has a conclusion before the start of B-plot. Unfortunately, that made it feel like I was reading two disconnected stories that were forced under a single title.

I'm not sure if this author has any other post-Nemesis credits to his name, but if he does, I hope it's a better experience than this book was . . .

[Rebekah Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this had all the makings of a really good book. I just found it so incredibly boring and it just kept going on and on and on. It was hard to get through. The dialog was difficult to follow at times. I often had trouble knowing who was talking because of the way it was phrased. Typically Star trek books give a little history at the beginning letting you know when this book takes place in light of major events and I love that but this one does not, you're left to kind of gather information along the way,which can be very frustrating.

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, I've read every Star Trek TNG book out there and not many disappoint me. This one was an exception. This book had so much potential but for some odd reason they chose to end is very abruptly! With all my experience reading these books, they sure missed several potential story lines and twists they could have pursued. Disappointingly, this book IS a must read. It adds to the La Forge and Scotty history in ways you need to be aware of if you are a ST:TNG reader as I am. Don't get me wrong, the book is entertaining and has a very good storyline in my opinion, they just seem to leave many lose strings dangling that drive me nuts. Maybe they weren't aware of the magnified imaginations that most Trek readers encompass, but I tell ya, I could write a few "last" chapters that would make this jump from a 3 star to a 5. One other gripe...they truly "forced" the term "Indistinguishable from magic" into this book. McIntee never made it feel natural for me. I must wonder what happened while he was writing this book...surely there was a disaster of sorts.

[Graff Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Trek: TNG Post-Nemesis - Indistinguishable from Magic by David A. McIntee

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense

Medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters are a main focus? Yes

4.0 Stars

I had a lot of fun with this story, but it wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. Let me explain.

The main protagonist was Commander Geordi LaForge...which I'm really happy that he got his flowers in this story.

BUT, the accompanying cast of characters was a bit TOO much. Think of all the guest stars on TNG that you could pair up with LaForge. I'll wait.

Okay, now sound them off.

Leah Brahms - Yes
Montgomery Scott - Yes
Berlinghoff Rassmussen - Yes
and a few more. It became comical, to be honest.

Now, were they used within the story? Yes. Were they used well? Again, yes. It just became ridiculous. They had to be there, but then again, would they all have been there...without the hand of a god like figute (the author) to pluck them out...and write a story around them? No. It was a bitW TOO contrived.

Now, that said...I laughed, I cried, I was angry, I was jubilant. I really had a good time reading this story.

All the characters fulfilled their part, and walked off the screen and into the pages of this book...perfectly. The author knew their voices and used them well.

I loved the arc that Commander LaForge went on, and tears were shed near the end.

This will be a gut punch, for manay a fan. 

If you've read this book, what did you think? Am I off base? Or did you have a similar experience?

We can love Star Trek, and still see that it is NOT always perfect.

On to the next book in the #TrekLitReadingFlowchart. Talk to you, later.

[Maurice Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fine addition to the Star Trek Universe, featuring one of my favorite characters. Geordi LaForge.

His erstwhile girlfriend Dr. Tamala Harstad was transferred to another ship, and Geordi found himself wondering if the relationship would survive. Before he could spend too much time wondering, the Enterprise happened across a mystery: the starship Intrepid, reported destroyed 200 years ago and a long way from their current location. After their initial investigation, they reluctantly left the area, reported their findings and gave their recommendation that an engineering vessel be sent back for a more thorough inspection.

Captain Montgomery "Scotty" Scott's engineering ship Challenger is assigned to the task, and Scotty asked for Geordi to be temporarily assigned to his command to help solve the mystery. Guinan opted to tag along for reasons only known to her.

I always enjoy seeing loose ends from the TV series tied up, and here we got two of those for the price of one. First, the return of former Daimon Bok and erstwhile time traveler Berlinghoff Rasmussen. Both of those were interesting characters, and it was good to see more about them.

Since the ship had a chief engineer already, Geordi was brought in as second officer/ops. Scotty's crew (which includes Lieutenant Commander Reg Barclay, Lieutenant Commander Nog, Dr. (formerly Nurse) Alyssa Ogawa and the lovely Dr. Leah Brahms as a civilian advisor) can barely get going with their investigation before Bok comes sniffing around as part of his latest plot. Rasmussen was assigned to the Challenger because the Intrepid is a ship from his time and Starfleet felt his knowledge would be useful. However, Bok is determined to deal with his obsession over his dead son once and for all, and he wants Rasmussen to help him do it.

In the course of handling Bok, Challenger took casualties. Scotty was injured badly and declared unfit for further Starfleet service. First Officer Tyler Hunt was killed, which left Geordi next in the chain of command. He had just gotten used to having gotten past prior awkwardness and into a relationship with Leah Brahms when Scotty talked him into becoming the second Captain LaForge (the first being his mother Silva, missing in action along with her ship, the Hera).

In the second story, Captain LaForge's first assignment is to investigate the phenomenon that swept the Intrepid millions of light years from its last position. It puts current slipstream drives to shame, and Starfleet wants to know what it is. So do the Romulans. Before either of them can investigate this "trans-slipstream" force further, the Challenger and the Romulan warbird Stormcrow (with Tal Shiar Chairman Sela aboard) are both swept away by the same force and deposited outside of the galaxy, beyond the galactic barrier.

As the crews of both ships work together to get back home, Captain LaForge makes a startling discovery- the Hera! Like the Intrepid and both the Challenger and the Stormcrow (and other ships over the centuries), the Hera was also swept away by this unknown trans-slipstream force, which is why it went missing eleven years ago. It was intriguing to learn that the unknown force was really an unknown life-form, so huge that, when they traversed the galaxies, they picked up entire starships in their wake.

While Captain Silva LaForge didn't survive being stranded there, it was good to see Geordi get the closure he needed in his mother's disappearance and the chance to start something new with Leah Brahms. For once, Geordi came out ahead of the game instead of always falling just short of being happy.

[Barry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Geordi La Forge takes command of his first ship, together with a host of well known Trek characters for a bumpy ride whilst investigating the appearance of an old (and lost) NX ship. Together the crew battle nefarious Ferengi, Romulans and an alien life-form which routinely forgets to put it's headlamps on.

David A. McIntee has done a good job despite the difficult position he's been put in with this book. It's a frustrating read as it was originally meant to be two books, and continuity-wise it's majorly flawed. That said, the author does his best with what he's given and the second half is a triumph, albeit all tied up quite quickly - and then seemingly forgotten.

The author is clearly Scottish and that reflects through in the (sometimes bad) language used - not that I have a problem with that, but when you notice another 'bollocks', it's probably one 'bollocks' too many. The real problem comes, however, in that the author spends too much time talking about the wrong elements of the story (i.e. the interesting stuff) and forgets about some of the character development of the wonderful crew he's been told to include.
There's also moments where some 'speech' indicators would be of benefit as the dialogue can sometimes be a bit confusing.

I think some of the reviews here are a little harsh for the wrong reasons but everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

The Trek side of things is pretty solid and although you have to 'remove' this book from the general continuity, there's plenty to keep a Trek fan happy.
All said, I liked it, but it isn't the greatest Trek novel out there.

[Tom Pintong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know why so many people hated on this book so much. Without putting any real spoilers in. I do have to say that there were a lot of cameos, which i know some people did not like. From my point of view, some of them added more backstory to little used characters in the Star Trek Universe. I liked that the book was like a reunion of so many people that were familiar to me. The book also highlights one of the most underutilized characters of the main TNG crew in Geordi, and ties up a few loose ends from the series and movies as well.

I do understand some of the complaints other reviewers brought up. Some of the writing or editing was a bit choppy, and I would have to reread over parts at times to try and understand the major points of the chapter(s). If people are looking for a "casual" Star Trek novel, this isn't the one to jump in to the series on. Unless you really know your ST:TNG stuff, the cameos and storylines will have no meaning to you. I've read most of the books and seen all the tv/movies and there were times I couldn't keep track of all the people popping in.

But this book brought back a lot of nostalgia, a few sniffles, and a few smiles. You could ask for a lot worse in a book.

[Hun Garian · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried twice to get through this before I had to quit halfway through. It's not terribly written but it's my least favorite kind of Star Trek novel. It gets bogged down with trying to tie too many characters and too many plot threads from various episodes and series that it forgets to tell a compelling story. It also brings back as villains Daimon Bok and Berlinghoff Rasmussen, two lame characters from mediocre episodes that weren't screaming to be revisited.

The protagonists are a group of engineers led to Scotty and La Forge as well as other recurring characters like Barclay and Leah Brahms. In theory, this could be a interesting premise, with the smarty, nerdy characters tackling a problem with science, but it could also easily fall into the trap of too much "technobabble" and unfortunately, this novel was the latter.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

With so many big changes in the Trek universe, you kind of wish they had taken place in a better book that's not all over the place. Short, punchy sections of prose can be good. Short, punchy sections of character development, on the other hand, just seem out of place.

Way too much is packed into it, from the development of the Leah/Geordi relationship to an analysis of just what makes Sela tick, all the way to Scotty and Guinan, Nog, Rasmussen (from an old TNG episode), the Ferengi named Bok (who is after revenge on Picard for killing his son) and so much more.

Not to mention it takes forever to get going in the first place.

[Crystal Bensley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Geordi / Scotty based story but a tad too much technobabble for me.

[Peter Rydén · Rating 5 out of 5]

Det här var en mycket imponerande bok och en bok som för mig tillbaka till den absoluta glädjen att läsa Star Trek-böcker, det har varit lite blandade reaktioner från min sida på de senaste två årens produktioner (2009-början av 2011).

Till minusen på bedömningen av boken hör att det ibland är något ojämnt, relationerna mellan vissa karaktärer där fiendskapen mellan romulaner och federationen står i fokus beskrivs på ett närmast fördomsmässigt sätt utan något större djup. Man förstår varför karaktärerna tycker som de gör men det levereras inte med en tydlig övertygelse så det slår tyvärr inte an tillräckligt i mig. Vissa vändningar i boken (exempelvis när det gäller stora förändringar i en karaktärs karriär eller i ett rymdskepps öde) är dessutom alldeles för snabbt beskrivna så det skapar en onödig och oönskad obalans i en annars mycket bra skriven bok.

Bland plussen har vi en i övrigt oerhört bra text som gör mig intresserad och engagerad. Boken är tydligt uppdelad på två skilda delar och skulle därför med lätthet ha kunnat vara en dubbelroman med en gemensam ramhistoria. Det var lite förvånande (och samtidigt uppfriskande) när jag kom till mitten av boken och kände att den nu var slut, insåg att den egentliga historien bara har börjat, för sedan tog det fart, en riktig fart!

Boken rekommenderas för alla. man behöver inte ha läst Typhon pact-serien eller de senaste årens TNG-böcker för att förstå sammanhanget. Allt förklaras, men det underlättar att man har sett TOS, TNG, DS9 och VOY för att vara någorlunda bekant med karaktärerna.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is weird. It's lead characters is Geordi, the use of a ship other than the Enterprise, not mention the engineering staffs of various Star Trek series (TV and novels) and the points where similar narration would repeat (usually a sign of bad editing) and the structure of two three clearly separate mission but connected missions, the use of some weird high concepts etc. give this book the feel not of a TNG book but an attempt at a second relaunch of Starfleet Corp of Engineers with a TNG framing device at the beginning and end.

And indeed, some of the Da Vinci crew even show up throughout the story. it was fun seeing Leah Brahams, Nog, Barclay, Scotty, Guinian and others again. I would have loved to see Miles O'Brien again but you can't win them all.

The week points were a slow first quarter, a possible explanation the just sort of seemed taken on and well, it was sort of SCE without one element that made SCE books so much fun- the level of the degree of humor. Which, I guess I have to turn to Titan or Department of Temporal Investigations if I want to see now.



Another

[Andy Stjohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

TNG: Indistinguishable from Magic

So mixed feelings about this book. I was immediately intrigued by the back cover of the book as it promised Geordi, Scotty and Guinan fighting a crisis together. But Guinan doesn’t have any really important to do. Goodreads gave it so so reviews but I had found it wrong in the case of a couple of other Star Trek books I’ve read. They were right in this case. The first half of the book was decent and all the cameos were fun, especially from Berlinghoff Rasmussen and revealing how he made his way to the 24th century. Also seeing Nog was great as always and Scotty was great in this book.

But the second half of the book leaves much to be desired. The inclusion of Sela felt forced and unneeded. But I did like them going outside the Galactic barrier as I’m always down to read stuff about that. Overall I would rate the book 6/10. A promising start and it’s fun to see Geordi as captain, it was well written but the second half of the book brought it down.

[Matt Fryar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Geordi LaForge is given a new assignment to serve alongside a Starfleet legend (Scotty), some old friends (Guinan, Barclay, Leah), and some new friends (Nog, Kat’qa, Vol). The unexpected happens, there are Romulans, we meet a new space-dwelling species… It was absolutely as much Star Trek as the author could possibly fit into the book.

And (it shocks me to say this) it was too much. I swear this novel is a nod back to about half the TNG episodes, as well as a few TOS, DS9, and VOY eps. Instead of building an actual plot and advancing it, the story just jumped from Easter egg to Easter egg. The ending was way too rushed, too. And yet I still gave it a 6/10… Why? Amidst all its warts, it’s still Star Trek!

[Ann Feutz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm having a hard time coming up with a review for this novel. There were things I liked about the book and things I really didn't like at all.

I enjoyed seeing Geordi La Forge take the lead in this story and appreciated his character development. It was also wonderful seeing Geordi and Scotty working together again ("Relics" is one of my favorite TNG episodes.) It was nice to see Leah Brahms again and Vol was a fun alien addition to the engineering crew.

There was a lot of techno-babble and repetition though that affected the flow and pace of the book. There were also some "special guest stars" that I could have lived without.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

Readable but really cliche in parts. How many times are we going to resurrect a main TOS character?

Spock first on the Genesis world, Kirk from the Nexus, Scotty from the Dyson Sphere, now of course his last minute transport from the gobbledigook. Whatever it was, leaves open the possibility for yet another miracle…just too much

And of course Bok coming back yet again just adds to the ridiculousness. I'm surprised Geordis mother wasn't resurrected

AND Then we have Sela wanting to take an obviously superior sentient being by force and then with no explanation dropping the plan…or did i miss it?

This should have been two separate books, with a lot less technical hard SF nonsense

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

First things first: the plot is not all that strong, and bringing Rasmussen into it was.... I literally cannot even describe how ridiculous and pointless it was. Also, the book did that "overly technical" thing that can be disorienting.

SPOILER ALERT FROM THIS POINT FORWARD!

Having said that, it's still a great book. It takes Star Trek to places it's never been before, using a cast of characters we've come to love. It solves old mysteries, and gives a beautiful end (We assume.) to a beloved character.

[Scott Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a lot of fun with this book. It was sort of like a TNG reunion with lots of great guest stars coming back to continue or tie up their stories. Of course there were a lot of very convenient plot points to make this happen but I forgave those by the end.

I really enjoyed spending time with Scotty again and I’m disappointed to find that McIntee hasn’t written much more in the Trek universe. I hope he’ll come back to it.

[Frank Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of me wants to knock this down to 3 stars for [censored] but another part of me would bump this up to 5 stars for a wonderfully ambitious plot. I'm going to hold out hope for just one more miracle.

The cast is an unexpected treat of familiar friends and foes, although there are some stretches it mostly comes together well. The main plot is just like a very long episode, although I was a touch disappointed that Scotty got a similar arc to the TNG: 'Relics' storyline.

[Judith Paterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book feels like it should be 2 books. It is long for a Star Trek novel and I felt in places I wanted them to get on with the story and stop chatting and pratting about. But then it would be quite dramatic for a bit. Nice to read about old favourite characters, Nog, Geordie, Guinon and of course Scotty. The 'science' of these warp and transwarp conduits etc is a bit incomprehensible to me.

[Bill Winzenburg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Otherthan La Forge, the TNG cast makes only a minor appearance and the beginning and end of this book. Quite of few one-off characters appear, but I'd probably classifybthis book as more a part of the Corps of Engineers series than a TNG novel.
But overall, not a bad story (or 2 stories as this ends up being)

[Darryl]

Good story, but gets confusing during a flashback of one of the characters. Flashback was not needed.

Also, this book takes place after the Destiney saga ( 3 books), and the one after that I don't remember the name. They all seem to go in sequence, and all of them the Borg are involved, except for this last one.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book started off well enough. However it would have been better had they done two books rather than the one. It felt like two separate books, with an underlying storyline. It'll be a while if ever that I read it again

[Les Hopper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good fun as always, but this felt more like two separate stories welded together rather than a single one. However, nice to have it more stand-alone and focused on science and engineering. Would have been two stars, but it got an extra star for Scotty!

[Laurie Jodice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the intersection of characters from different series in this book and many of the storylines, but the technical aspect became a bit confusing/burdensome. In general it was a fun read.

[Jothsna · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was boring. I really struggled to finish it.