There’s been a lot of hype surrounding the latest–and potentially last–trilogy and crossover series from the Star Trek novel-verse. Basically, with the latest releases of Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks and upcoming Star Trek: Prodigy and who knows what else from Paramount+, the Star Trek novel-verse, which is a 20+ year effort that carried on 24th century Star Trek (TNG, Voyager, Deep Space Nine, etc.) is basically up in smoke. In order to somehow wrap up the past two decades worth of developments and plots while also transitioning the Star Trek novels from being independent and detached from cannon to making the novels line up with the all of the plots and histories of the new shows and official media efforts.
That being said, there’s been a lot of hype surrounding Star Trek: Coda and the first of three books from the series, Moments Asunder. Written by Dayton Ward, this book has the monumental task of not only opening up this epic plot and series but also doing its part to bring to a close dozens of plots and character arcs that have been exclusive to the novels for the past two decades since the release of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Avatar series. While an enjoyable and easy read, this book felt like it suffered slightly from the first pancake syndrome–you know what you’re about to take part in, you’re anticipating the meal but no matter how hard you try, that first pancake isn’t going to come out as planned. “Moments Asunder” comes off as a blend of The Terminator and Avengers: Endgame. Our heroes–the crew of the starship Enterprise-E, are up against a temporal threat and time traveling enemy. A character from TNG-lore makes a return and is positioned to be the universe’s greatest hope for survival. There are a lot of Thanos-snap like deaths and characters from the novel universe are mostly on the chopping block. There is one big death but it felt rather played down, which makes me believe that death may not be permanent and may lead to something more in the other two books in the series.
This being the first of three parts of a series meant to wrap up several different lines of books, I expected an epic crossover of sorts. This first novel was mostly a Star Trek: The Next Generation novel. Picard and Beverly Crusher are at the heart of the plot. The book has vibes of Star Trek: Nemesis for the first third of the novel; there’s a lot of change coming about with various characters being presented with new opportunities that would require them to leave the Enterprise behind. Then a threat comes about and all of that change is put on hold as our heroes do all they can to preserve and save the universe. We as the reader, however, know that this universe as we know it is doomed–Star Trek: Picard has given us a glimpse of what’s supposed to happen and there have been more than a few novels released under the Star Trek: Picard banner to show what’s happened between the final scenes of Star Trek: Nemesis and the first episode of Star Trek: Picard. “Moments Asunder” does its best to setup an epic plot but much of the payoff feels like it’s being held off for the next two books. There are many action scenes that play out that feel more like filler than real meaty material and a few characters feel a bit “off.” We’ve seen 7 seasons of TNG and several TNG-themed movies yet Beverly Crusher simply refers (in private) to William Riker as “Riker” rather than “Will;” another legacy TNG character, who has played a minor role in previous Star Trek novel-verse novels feels like a super hero and gets a bit of hero worship; Worf feels very reserved and tame and is plagued with bad dreams; and two Deep Space Nine’s characters association/past feels completely ignored. O
Overall, “Moments Asunder” is okay–it’s average and ends not on a real cliffhanger but just on a quiet note. I’d have liked to have seen/read more crossover moments; some Voyager characters pop up here and there but as much as Star Trek: Voyager plays into some of the plot and is referenced, the Star Trek: Voyager relaunch novels feel a bit absent. Deep Space Nine, another relaunch series, also feels very played down in this first novel but hopefully that’s fixed in the next two. There’s a lot of action but the books feels light on real character development and wrapping of plots brought up in the novels over the past few years. Overall, it’s ok if you go into it knowing that much of the action, plots, twists and turns are probably being reserved for the final two installments. You don’t need to have read all of the novels that have taken place since Star Trek: Nemesis but I would say having read the Destiny trilogy and being aware of the Typhon Pact and The Fall is going to help facilitate a lot and help you get into these books a lot easier. If you’re expecting Coda to match the hype and excitement of some of the past mini series’ like Avatar or even Millennium, get through this book and expect the payoff in the two other novels to come.
Moments Asunder: Star Trek: Coda: Book 1
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