Typhon Pact: Paths of Disharmony (Star Trek) [Mass Market Paperback]

The fourth and final book in the Typhon Pact mini-series is the Next Gen focussed novel and departs from the practice of the first three books by dealing predominantly with a Federation member species, the Andorians. Their planet ravaged by the Borg and species threatened with extinction by reproductive difficulties, Andor plays host to a conference of scientists and politicians trying to find an acceptable solution.

To me, this is the adventure where the series of continuation novels has come of age for the next gen. The writers have the freedom now not to worry about putting the toys back in the box, and so events have lasting repercussions, granting the reader much more emotional involvement with the plot.

While some elements are clearly moving to set things into motion to fit back into the 24th century parts of the recent Star Trek film and it's accompanying literature, the characters are written in such a way that it feels a natural progression of their character arc. In this way, this book is far superior to it's predecessor, in which DS9 characters develop beyond recognition.

Although the story follows on from many of the events of the DS9 relaunch novels, and ties in with the TOS-era Vanguard series, there's no requirement to have read either to understand this action packed semi-political thriller. It's the best of the Typhon Pact novels and leaves plenty of room for Trek to continue for a long time. I look forward to finding out what happens next.

After the Destiny Trilogy and A Singular Destiny the Typhon Pact series was created it study the landscape of the Star Trek Universe after the Borg devistated the galaxy. Each book focusing on one of the Star Trek Franchises and one of the founding members of the newley established Typhon Pact. The Paths of Disharmony was the final book in the first wave of the Typon Pact sounded so promising, saddly the book fails to deliver. To begin with the book is over a hundred pages too long and still manages to be over a hundred pages to short, however, I will get more to this in a minute.

The book focus's on the TNG characters and the ongoing Andorian reproductive issues, without spoliering anything a new treatment has been brought to the table which may solve the Andoiran crisis - whose population, like most of the Federation, are still trying to recover after Borg invasion - however the 'cure' comes at a price - it only rquires 2 of the Andorian casts to reproduce - and as a result the entire populice is up in arms not only aginst the treatment but against the Federation who they believe deserted them in the war with the Borg. And this remains the focus on the first 311 pages (the book is only 455 pages long), it is when the Tholian's arrive (and who only appear for a few chapters) that the entire landscape of the book, the Andorian people and the Federation is changed.

Saddly it takes over 300 pages for anything to happen, at one point I skipped over a hundred pages of the novel and was still able to continue reading the book without losing any of the plot. What happens after page 311 happens far too quickly and this is what I was saying about the book being too long and too short. the final hundred pages or so are enjoyable, tense and (while the ending is obvious from the first few pages of the book) is likely to have a huge impact on the Star Trek franchise going forward.

After reading the book I honestly can't help but feel the plot of the book would have been more suited to one of Keith DeCandino's polictical Star Trek Books (Articles of the Federation/Singular Destiny). The events of the book are too big to be studied from just the point of view of the Enterprises crew, we needed to see behind the closed doors.

Saddly when all is said and done the book feels more like a simple excerise in moving pawns into place (a lot of the book focuses on Picard and clearly getting him into postion for the events of Star Trek XI prequal graphic novel) rather than a study of the Typhon Pact.

Overall the book manages to be slow and uneventful while completly changing the landscape of the Federation and in the end its this lack of balance which makes the read incredibly disapointing.

Set a year after the events of the last Next Generation novel, "Losing the Peace", much has changed for Picard on the Enterprise. His son lives with he and Beverley aboard ship, and he is coming under more pressure to become either an Ambassador for the federation or accept an Admiralty. In addition to this, the Typhon Pact is causing mischief on Andor...

Firstly, how does this measure up as a Typhon Pact novel? If you're after more of the members' detailed descriptions a la the previous three books, you will be disappointed. The Tholians are the only Pact members to feature, and it's not until the end when they make what is little more than a cameo appearance. However, this is really a Star Trek: The Next Generation book, and if you treat it as such, it's very enjoyable.

With the well-documented problems with Andorian reproduction mentioned in the DS9 series of novels, the issue comes to a head here, tying in events from the Star Trek: Vanguard series of novels. The subtle interlinking between the series' works well, creating a truly unified feeling amongst modern Trek fiction. This book is also a clear mirror to the last story to feature the Enterprise-E as Andor, a Federaion founder, appears to turn on its allies. Cue diplomatic tension, terrorists, and betrayal at every turn. It's a good story, with focus on the Enterprise crew but also the political situation at the Palais de la Concorde and the President herself.

A little slow-moving at times (the Andorian names are a headache to keep track of, a problem that blighted "Seize the Fire" also) but with decent characterization and print time for all the Enterprise regulars, it holds your attention. There are personal developments for some of the crew that's nice to see. And finally, the novel ends well, with the reader wanting to know how the political interstellar landscape will move forward. Too bad no real post-Typhon Pact stories seem to have been announced yet...