Warped

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

by K.W. Jeter

Political tensions on Bajor are once again on the rise, and the various factions may soon come to open conflict. In addition, a series of murders has shaken everyone on board the station. While Security Chief Odo investiages the murders, Commander Sisko finds himself butting up against a new religious faction that plans to take over Bajor and force the Federation to leave Deep Space NineTM.

Odo traces the murders to a bizarre and dangerous new form of holosuite technology, a technology that turns its users into insane killers, and now threatens Sisko's son, Jake. As the situation on Bajor deteriorates, Sisko learns that the political conflict and the new holosuites are connected, and part of the plan of a dangerous madman.

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Fiction, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy, Media Tie In

Audio Cassette

First published March 1, 1995

About the author

Kevin Wayne Jeter (born 1950) is an American science fiction and horror author known for his literary writing style, dark themes, and paranoid, unsympathetic characters. He is also credited with the coining of the term "Steampunk." K. W. has written novels set in the Star Trek and Star Wars universe, and has written three (to date) sequels to Blade Runner.

Series:
* Doctor Adder

Series contributed to:
* Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
* Alien Nation
* Blade Runner
* Star Wars: The Bounty Hunter Wars
* The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror
* The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I remember being excited about the release of the first hard-back DS9 book, and I remember being sorely disappointed by it. Rereading it--more carefully this time--many years later, I don't think my view has changed much.

The initial techno-gizmo premise seems pretty interesting, but toward the end, when the curtain is thrown back to reveal the great and powerful Oz, I'm still not sure Oz is all he could have been. It seems the author dropped hints that Bad Guy Numero Uno is perhaps some enduring malevolent force that has decided (once again?) to take on flesh to cause havoc and chaos. But then it seems we veer off in a different, more tech-heavy direction and lose the deeper metaphysical questions (what is the nature of evil? what is the nature of each person's ability to perpetrate evil, and why is it more people don't indulge is this ability?) so that we can solve everything with some technobabble--and a little bit of help from the wormhole aliens.

I think if this book had been written much later in the show's run, when the writers began developing Sisko as Emissary, as demigod, the end could have been much more satisfying. Oh well, like the author could have foreseen the direction the show and its characters (especially its characters) would ultimately take!

[Frank Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent story. A great concept and executed superbly. All the turns were interesting and I was engaged all the way through this one.

[TheInsaneRobin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was honestly a mess, and I’m surprised it ever made it to print. The plot was all over the place and the book never seemed to know what it wanted to be. I’ve given higher ratings to worse stories simply because they were at least coherent.

One of the great things about Star Trek novels is that there’s no budget limit, but that can also backfire when authors try to go as big as possible without restraint. This book is a perfect example. It completely flips the Bajoran government and its people into something unrecognizable, only to hit the reset button in the final paragraph.

The characters didn’t feel like the people we know and love, and I suspect that’s partly because this came out so early in the show’s run. At that point, no one really knew who these characters would become or what the tone of Deep Space Nine would ultimately be. Skip this one.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read a lot of Star Trek books, all series and have enjoyed them, some more than others. This just wasn't a favorite and the characters were boring in this one.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I really didn't like it. From Jake's Tom Sawyer-esque holodeck world to yet another murder for Odo to ferret out this book actually started to grow on me. I understand that this was the first Deep Space Nine Hardcover, and I believe last as the general community regards it as a flop. While the characterization is a bit off and a few of the characters just fall a bit flat. Not to mention a small amount of canon is ignored. Such as Jadzia deliberately communicating with her symbiont and, at a later point in the book, Jadzia and the symbiont receding from one another. From the holosuites affecting people psychologically to the coup on Bajor, I found myself really enjoying this book about half way in. Mind you I still do not understand the CI technology or how holodecks can be beamed directly into your brain. I do wish the coup on Bajor was a bit more of a slow burn, or if we'd been there and interacted with the situation directly. Within the last thirty to forty pages the story became a bit of a gnarled mess and I had trouble following the story directly.

“Maybe his father would step across the water-smoothed rocks turning back to grey metal, reach down and take his hand as the stream thinned and disappeared, and pull him back into the narrow spaces and skyless ceiling of the real world.” I almost get the feeling that Jake, like Guinevere from The Mists of Avalon, is afraid of wide open spaces. Or maybe it's just his murderous companion.

“Automatically, as she had done sever times already on the journey from Bajor, she reached out an tugged at the chains wrapped around the crate. The ancient, rust-specked padlocks were sealed with not only the insignia of the Bajoran provisional government, but a simpler cursive signature as well, drawn in candle wax by the fingertip of one of the senior Vedeks of the dominant Bajoran religious order.” I get the feeling that Kira would have been part of one of the orders if the Occupation hadn't happened. I wish the author had named the order instead of just calling it the “dominant Bajoran religious order.”

“ 'Major, at one time I thought that this was just a personal trait of yours, one that I would just have to get accustomed to.' Sisko's voice turned coldly formal. 'But upon reflection I find that Kai Opaka was unique in more than one way. She was the only Bajoran I ever met who had cultivated the virtue of patience.'” Sisko, kindly fuck off. I mean, they've dealt with fifty years of oppression. Would you be patient once you were free of the yoke of slavery?

“A fire that can light worlds is contained in a single spark.” This line just spoke to me, I would say it's the best line in the entire book.

“The man behind the wooden desk was one of those, she knew, who had never had power in his life—until now. A little taste of it had turned him into a petty bureaucratic tyrant; he had the power to make life difficult for others, to say yes or no to anyone who had business with the truly powerful ones above him. That savoring of that much authority had intoxicated him; the pleasurable effect could be seen in his glittering eyes.” I'm sure we've all met a toady like that. Rip his throat out Kira, that might wipe the smirk from his face.

“ 'With the manpower available to me, it would take weeks to conduct an exhaustive search of the station—the structure is riddled with hiding places. And if we didn't find this McHogue person, we still couldn't be sure weather he's aboard or not; he could evade detection by simply moving from place to place ahead of the search teams.' “ Yeah, like the Cardassian from four books ago. Mind you Berat didn't move around much before Nog found him, then again he didn't have the time. I'm sure this McHogue is easier to track than a Cardassian engineer on a Cardassian station.

[Mayaj · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perfectly fine. An absolutely A-Okay read. Extremely whelming.

[Ken Giles · Rating 1 out of 5]

2nd star trek book by this author Ive abandoned. Odd as there star wars books are so good. But this trek one. I couldn’t get past the 1st chapter. Jake sisko would never do that!

[Isabella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating: 2 stars

Kind of underwhelming. Yes, the audiobook is narrated by Rene Auberjonois aka Odo (which still to this day I can't help pronouncing as "Rene Aubergine") so that was a treat, but the story is just bland. Maybe this is because the novel itself is set around season one/two of the show, and DS9 hadn't really come into itself yet and was trying to figure out what it wanted to be (my dad and I have a rule that every Star Trek season one is bad) so Jeter was already up against that. To be completely honest, it didn't feel like a Deep Space Nine story, just generic Star Trek.

[Tamara✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Been binging short audiobooks via the national library on the Libby app because the selection is AMAZING and sadly, this one wasn't as fun as I would have liked. Luckily for me I was lying in bed playing games on my phone on 1.25x speed so I'm not too pressed. It's kind of a sad book but without that kind of, emotional climax or resolution. It's just kinda sad for the most part and then gets messy plot wise. Don't bother reading it unless you're a completionist, or feel like listening to an entertaining read about some favourite characters while doing something else.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

The audiobook read by Rene Auberjonois (RIP) is nice, it has fun sound effects and a score so it really feels more like an audio play than simply a book reading. The story is fairly average, basically feels just like a typical early episode of DS9. Nice fluff novel.

[Bernard · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had been aware of the prevailing opinion of this book, which is along the lines of "This book is why the DS9 Hardcover series ended after one book." When I picked it up used a few years back, I was not motivated to read it right away for that very reason. But in my grand tour of reading all the Star Trek hardcover novels, this book finally came due. So I read it. I must say, I honestly agree with the opinion. The book was Dickensesque in verbosity, but while that worked for Charles Dickens it didn't work for K.W. Jeter.

I had previously read Jeter's N-Vector comic, set at the beginning of the DS9 re-launch era, which mostly due to the art was rather bizarre. But I didn't think the story line was so bad. And I had previously read Jeter's Star Wars Bounty Hunter Wars, which I did enjoy. With Warped I'm realizing that the story of N-Vector was a veiled rehash of the idea from Warped--an evil parallel-station/city/universe plot. This book presented a very simple conflict, which due to technologically vague explanations seemed more trivial to me than the story made it out to be. And as seems to be the case for many dramas, if the characters would just be honest with one another with their actions, intended actions, or thoughts, instead of sneaking around doing things on their own, the central conflict could have been avoided. Of course, that would make for a bland story, but conflicts that go unstemmed due to the poor actions of the main characters, when they are supposed to be the heroes, not the anti-heroes, aren't as enjoyable to me. Additionally, the resolution was very much a deus ex..., hinging on the central plot of the DS9 mythos, that of Sisko's connection to the Prophets.

Overall, I'd have to say I am glad I read this book from a completionist's point of view, and for some of the Kai Opaka elements, but I do not highly recommend it.

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got this for a couple bucks at an antique store. A good purchase.

[Shelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are different types of horror stories. There's gore, the shocking of readers through extreme violence, and then there's the creeping sort of existential dread and the bleakness of existence. That's what the author was trying to convey here, I think. A horror story that draws the readers into a world of hopelessness and shows them that darkness. The horror of despair.

The biggest problem being, of course, is that this is not a theme that works particularly well with DS9. DS9 is, at heart, a space western. The characters are set against a backdrop of the "frontier" of space, as Bashir states in the first episode. They are a found family, brought together and relying on each other to survive at the edge of the wormhole, where anything can happen. The author is not really using these characters to explore a plot about survival or solving a space mystery. That's why the characters feel so flat and OOC in this novel, the way he's written them. Here the author is only using the characters to explore his own thoughts on hopelessness and the human condition, how we can live within worlds we've created in our own minds. In that way, the story could have really been about any character in any fandom--or just been an original story--without changing much at all.

The second biggest problem is that the author is clearly more comfortable writing science fantasy, rather than science fiction. Star Trek runs on hard science; that is its bread and butter. A storyline focused on metaphysical exploration of the inner psyche COULD work in a science fiction setting, but the author doesn't bother at all to use hard science to explain anything about what is happening. He doesn't explain how the new holosuite technology can access a person's mind, how it can develop into reality and transport someone from the station to Bajor, how the existence of a pleasure city can start causing disruptive problems in subspace, how that can then translate into meteorological storms attacking an entire planet, etc. Those are details that don't matter to him, they are all just a means to an end rather than parts of the story to explore.

I remember one YouTube video that best stated the difference between science fiction and science fantasy, using space travel in Star Trek and Star Wars as the example. In Star Trek, a lot of explanation is given to warp speed and the development of the technology that allows characters to be able to travel the stars. That's science fiction. In Star Wars, "hyperspace" is just a word to show how the various ships get around to the different planets. That's science fantasy.

I think this author can write a science fantasy plot fairly well, but that doesn't translate well to science fiction, and therefore doesn't translate well to Star Trek. As one other reviewer mentioned here, I think this was a novel the author had wanted to write, and when he was given the option to write a DS9 novel, he took his idea and changed it just enough to make it a Star Trek novel in order to get published. I don't think this idea started out as one that was intended to fit into the Star Trek universe.

While I do admire his writing skill, I also agree with other reviewers here that the author is much, much too verbose for my liking. Things that could take two lines to get across and advance the plot instead take half a page because each character has to ponder current events and their own existence, usually morosely, before declaring their chosen line of dialog. And very frequently I noticed as I read through the story that the page I was on would have only two or so paragraphs... and suffice to say, a paragraph that is half a page long is tiring and annoying to read through. The book was in hard need of a good editor, though parts of it were very moving.

[Nico · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars

If I ever hear the phrase "murder epidemic" again it will be too soon. "Epidemic of murders" also needs to go.

I am not having a great run on Star Trek novels, eh?

From this novel we learned one of two things: A) the author has watched the Matrix and really, really liked it, or B) the author watched the Matrix and thought he could one-up it. This is probably why as I was reading this I kept thinking Yes, this sucks, but the concept is pretty solid.

The mindless exposition got frustrating pretty quickly. I know I'm not concise and also I re-iterate previously stated points when I speak (except that one was for demonstration), but this is a published work and I feel like 50 pages could've been trimmed of characters thinking and expanding on the same thing, or Sisko in particular repeating entire inner-conversations/unnecessarily long and boring rumination of the universe™, or the same character using the same descriptions for the same atrocities. That repetition just made me virtually numb to them because when every single experience is the most deplorable thing ever seen by a person etc etc, you just get into a mentality of 'oh, right, there's that bad thing again' and the bar of horror can't get raised further.

I found it funny, however, that with how long the author spent talking about nothing the ending was enormously rushed in maybe 15 pages.

I feel like I shouldn't have gotten bored so often when I was already invested in the characters and the stakes were so high, but I really was. A lot of it was the writing, some of it was that things would happen that made no sense, and by the halfway point I'd partially checked out with the mentality of just finishing the thing. This whole story got a little too big for its own good, I think.

Finally, the Cardassian "involvement" really felt like it was thrust half-heartedly into the fray because the publisher insisted that 'this is DS9, so we need Cardassians in there somewhere'. They were then promptly explained away in maybe two sentences in the last chapter. Look, the only Cardassian involvement I would've enjoyed here was Garak, because Garak simply makes everything better. And there was no Garak to be found. Boo.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

So… while this was well written enough in terms of writing style I wouldn't call it a good book exactly. I'm being generous giving it 3 stars. You can tell it was written early in the DS9 run, the parts with Jadzia and her symbiont bothered me in how off from canon they were. And Sisko's role as Emissary was barely touched upon.

I was repeatedly amazed by how this book was able to make so many words out of basically nothing happening. So much introspection - an exhausting amount of introspection, back to back pages of it - and multiple monologues from characters. It got very verbose at points. I kept reaching the point where I was thinking: 'Okay, I get it, can we just move on?' And then strangely, despite how slow the plot had been, the Bajoran coup just happens. I feel like that should have been built up more. Everything after that, with the reveals that the Cardassians are involved and McHogue showing up in Sisko's office, it just lost me. It escalated too quickly in terms of how serious the threat was. The fabric of the universe is at risk of falling apart and there's literal storms from nowhere on Bajor because of it? ...Okay then. I don't feel like how the dangerous holosuite technology worked was explained well enough. It doesn't feel like it should be universe destroying??? But whatever, moving on.

The ending was the weakest and worst part, it was so tiring to get through. I wasn't interested to see what happened or invested anymore, I just wanted to finish this book. McHogue was built up to such a major threat that I couldn't think of a way they'd defeat him, it seemed an impossible task. And when that happens in a show/book I'm often left with a frustrating feeling as rarely does the ending feel satisfying or earned. It has to somehow convince me that these normal people can somehow outsmart/defeat this all-powerful (or at least near to it) being. This book did not convince me. McHogue himself was not a character (much less a well written character) but a plot device whose motivations are never properly explained and his backstory is practically nonexistent.

I was left thinking 'Really? That's it? It was that simple?' Oh well, at least I'm done with this book now. I doubt I'll ever re-read it, this is more of the sort of book you read once to be able to say you've read it and that's it. It could have been good, the potential was there, but it was just too bogged down with verbose paragraph after paragraph of introspection and a plot that gives up in the last third and leads to a poor ending.

[Michel Siskoid Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some writers attempting the early Deep Space Nine novels struggled, I think, with finding new types of stories to tell. While Jeter's very early Bloodletter was quite good, he returns to the same well in Warped, and it's a well that others had dipped into since. Another spate of murders for Odo to investigate. Another Bajoran faction making waves on Bajor. The characters are mostly well-written and everyone in the cast gets something to do, but it's surprising that this for the most part generic DS9 tale was earmarked for hardcover treatment (other than the writer being a respected name from non-licensed SF). The intriguing idea at the heart of the book - subliminal technology that psychologically transforms holosuite users - is taken into metaphysical territory in the third act in an effort to make the story more epic (the fabric of the universe could collapse), but it's an unconvincing result of the core premise. Again and again, throughout the third act, explanations are repeated for the reader, in various levels of technobabble, but I'm not sure it ever really makes sense. Things get lost in the phantasmagoria - the trope of filling SF stories with nightmarish hallucinations is one that really displeases me - and Sisko's solution is given short shrift indeed. It also leaves a number of plot threads dangling, or at least underdeveloped - the Kai's last will and testament, the Cardassians' involvement, and most of all, just how did McHogue go from petty crook to God of His Own Reality? So though it was pretty standard, the mystery had me in the first couple hundred pages, but the finale lost me in redundant exposition and confusing visuals.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story takes a long time to develop and has a bizarre and very dissatisfying resolution. Bajor is once again subject to political instability, while there is a series of unusual murders on DS9. The instigating factor is discovered to be an unusual form of holodeck that somehow penetrates into the deepest psychological reaches of the patrons.
The entity responsible for the difficulties is a human former business associate of Quark’s named McHogue. Yet, Quark is adamant that there is something disturbingly different about him. There is a coup on Bajor with a new government taking power, and they have financial backing from the Cardassians. The new Bajoran leader names McHogue their minister of international trade and there is a plan to build a massive city of pleasure based on the unusual form of holodecks.
With such a complex plot and so many tangential movements, it takes about 200 pages before the complete background is established, even before the main crisis arrives. It turns out that McHogue’s goals are far greater than was first thought, he plans on modifying the very fabric of the universe.
Against long odds, Commander Sisko is able to confront McHogue, but the mechanism where he defeats McHogue is very thinly and unappealingly described. It is not out of bounds to put it into the “then a miracle happens” bucket. It is as if the author created a complex situation where the galaxy is at stake and the outlook is grim and had no real idea how to save the day.

[Christian Hamilton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate to say it... but just not a good book - at all.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is my favorite Trek series of all time. It has, in my opinion, the best cast, characters, and storylines. I’m even contemplating reading through every DS9 novel, including the relaunch, and reviewing them.

Well, I had this book and figured I might as well start here. Apparently, it was the first (and last) hardcover DS9 novel. I can see why. Ironically, my version is paperback.

The first third or so of the book is really fun. There’s murder mystery, concern for Sisko’s son, Odo snooping around, Kira dealing with politics and intrigue, and Quark being Quark.

And then it all goes downhill. The big bad, McHogue (that’s his name?), is never properly explained. We don’t get why he is who he is, or even really what his motivation is. The book is beautifully written, but completely unreadable. Much of it makes zero sense, and a lot of it ignores canon for some characters, though I can forgive that more than the fact that it just gets plain boring and unexplainable.

What happened with the holodeck-style realm? How did people transport in and out of it? How did the book even end? I don’t know. I started to breeze through the last pages. And I never do that.

I was very disappointed with what I read. I would avoid this book at all costs, I hate to say.

[SamB · Rating 2 out of 5]

Right in the middle of this book there's an absolutely excellent chapter, in which a guest character provides an absolutely scathing analysis of the Federation's colonialism, in particular its practices towards Bajor.

Unfortunately, the rest of the book is nowhere near on that scale. It starts promisingly enough, with an intriguing murder mystery, and potential consequences for Jake (and for his relationship with his father), but the latter thread is dropped and the first is solved pretty quickly. That leaves room for a second half that is simultaneously ludicrous and tedious. Over-written, too long, and I actually still have no idea either what McHogue's plan was or how Sisko solved the crisis and averted galactic cataclysm.

[Susan Chow-Dukhan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The action in Warped was slower paced in comparison to other Star Trek books. The plot advancement appears to have been deliberately slowed down, due to a lack of communications between the main characters.
While this is reflective of real life, if can have a negative impact on an action based book, as extra pages are added to the novel These extra pages didn't provide additional depth to the characters or stimulate the readers attention by making the setting come alive in the readers imagination. They can frustrate the readers who are waiting for the plot to develop.

[Lois Merritt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was interesting, but a little tough to follow at times, more so at the end - the bad guy is in a way trying to control people's behavior with altered holosuites on the station. It became more than just that in the whole story, but there was still times that I wasn't sure if this is supposed to be reality or were they still in the simulation or what. But then sometimes listening to the audio is harder than reading the book (you can easily go back a couple pages to check something). But once again, Rene Auberjonois was a great narrator.

[Jason Fawkes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Has the feel of an early novel, with characters thin, and the Bajoran spirituality, which would have had a massive effect on the events of the novel, undeveloped.
Really suffers from small world syndrome - to be fair, so did the TV series, especially during the time the novel is set - it comes across like Quark's is the only entertainment centre in the system!
The major political changes that take place mid novel, which, not really a spoiler here, are dealt with by the end, have, unrealistically, no consequences, and are a poor fit for what is basically a longer "bottle" story.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

A dark tale on DS9. Kind of was annoyed how certain solutions which should have presented themselves were not tried and how Kira started out being fairly central to the narrative was put to the side for the last 1/3 of the book. The book had a great villain but their aspirations and abilities were a little tricky to understand in the end. Wanted to like this book more but in the end I couldn't as I don't think I got it which could be my fault...

[Alexander Milwaukee-Thien IV · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ay yo, I kind of liked it then started actually liking it and then it crapped out at the end. Was a bummer. My biggest question, why the hell they just lettin people install holodecks on the station like it's nothing? Where the work orders at? "Oh they used back doors." I'ma keep it 100 with yall; if there was just a new room at work out of nowhere, Id be asking questions. And maybe I missed their explanation but I don't think I did.

[Peter Rydén · Rating 3 out of 5]

Som vanligt slår holoteknologin tillbaka mot folket – men den här gången handlar det om manipulerade program som skapar mördare. Intressant vidareutveckling av ”holoteknikens faror” och även om andra delar av konspirationen bakom manipuleringarna känns onödigt upprepande jämfört med DS9-avsnitten ger boken överlag ett gott intryck.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry to say that, from the very first pages, I couldn't find much to like about this. It was painfully slow - the pace gave me ample opportunity to realise how bored I was - and I don't think there was a single believable plot point in there.

A struggle to finish.

[omiczech · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's kinda outdated today, but still pleasant to listen to this story read by René Auberjonois.

[Catriona Beel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started off with promise but lost its way..... Come the final 50 pages, I was desperate to get to the end just to get it finished.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a Start, This book had me worried in the first few lines, not for the book, but for Jake the Captain's son. The story got a bit strange but it all did come together. This was a good read.

[Mike Jozic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why can't Star Trek books be entertaining? I keep going back to the well and they just keep disappointing me.