Political Trek, eh? Most Star Trek books deal with a Starfleet ship or station and the various crises that they encounter. Articles of the Federation is basically "The West Wing in Trek." Sounds like it might not be that interesting, right? However, this one is written by Keith R.A. DeCandido, the master Trek novel writer, so it was definitely worth a shot. And besides, politics can be interesting too, can't they? I'm happy to say that they can certainly be not only interesting, but fascinating. It helps that the author has a cool president character, the talent to write great characterization of myriad people, and the memory of an elephant for Trek continuity.
In A Time for War, A Time for Peace, Nan Bacco was elected president of the Federation. Articles of the Federation is the story of her first year in office. And what a full plate she has. The Romulan situation, as left in Titan: Taking Wing, is starting to deteriorate, as a ship full of Reman refugees approaches an outlying starbase. A first contact diplomatic mission goes awry in a very public manner. The Federation Council makes things even more difficult for her to get legislation through, and a large number of people keep seeing her as a lowly planetary governor, too small for such an immense office. The final capper, though, is when what really happened on Tezwa, as instigated by her predecessor, comes home to roost. If that gets out, there will be nothing stopping yet another galactic war.
Bacco is DeCandido's creation, and you can tell that he really loves writing her character. She is a fully-formed, three-dimensional creation who just springs off the page. She's also the unifying force in this book, as even when she's not "on screen," the events happening are going to have a great impact on what she does and who she is. She's pragmatic, willing to strong-arm two planets into negotiations by threatening to go to war with one of them (pretty much an empty threat, but she makes it believable). She loves the newly revived game of baseball, religiously following the teams in the league on her home planet, and even arranging a publicity tour in such a way that she's available to throw out the first pitch of the season. She's quick with a sarcastic remark, especially to her chief of staff, Esperanza Piniero, who gives it right back to her. Their relationship is also wonderful to read about, as their friendship that goes back decades really deepens both of their characters.
While these two are the main characters, the book has so many other characters that you would think they'd all start looking the same after a while. That's not so in any DeCandido book. Even those who are only in the book for a short while still have a feeling of depth to them. There are many policy advisors and other governmental positions in the book, and those characters' names do start to run together after a while, but not their personalities. How DeCandido manages to keep them all straight, I'll never know. But he does. Various other characters pop in to fill their small roles (Spock, Scotty, Chancellor Martok, Voyager's Doctor, to name just four), but their appearances never seem choreographed for a "Wow" factor, instead feeling absolutely necessary.
This brings me to continuity, as the book is literally brimming with it. In the past, I have been on DeCandido's back about the excessive continuity and how his explanations of it have ground a book to a halt. Surprisingly, in a book this continuity-heavy, he largely avoids this. All references are perfunctory, with just enough explanation to give the reader an idea of what happened and just enough information to make clear whatever the characters who mention it are doing about it. To help those who are still confused, he has created a page of annotations, saying who these characters are and where these events took place.
In fact, this book is not slow at all. Yes, there is no "action" in it (unless you consider the wheels of politics and diplomacy as action), but it still grips the reader all the same. Every two month period of Bacco's first year is given its own section, and each section is opened with somebody watching one of those news analysis show like you see on CNN or Fox News, with "experts," journalists, and former politicians or military officers as guests. This sets the stage for what is going to happen, as well as reacting to what has already occurred. I thought this was an ingenious way to move things along and let us see how the outside world thinks about what Bacco is doing. The only one that felt a little forced was the opening one, but otherwise these flowed very nicely.
The book is certainly not flawless. Bacco is a bit too flippant at times (such as in council or diplomatic meetings). I had trouble keeping the advisors straight occasionally, and a couple of the in-jokes just made me scratch my head until I heard the explanation of them (Martok saying that the Romulan Praetor sounds just like his wife comes completely out of left field and pulled me out of the book wondering until I discovered that the same actress played both characters). However, these are so small that they quickly disappeared as I went deeper and deeper into the book. I was fascinated by everything and had trouble putting the book down. It's dense for a Trek book, but that just made it all the more enjoyable. While you certainly don't have to have read any of the "A Time to" books, Articles of the Federation has a lot more impact if you have. It's a wonderful continuation of the Trek mythos, and you could enjoy it even if you don't like political books.
David Roy
