Customer Reviews
Good stuff
The Battle for Betazed can pretty much be summed up in it's title, it is about how the Feds reclaimed Betazed during the Dominion war, in a covert operation that involved the TNG crew.
The plot flows along rather nicely, the authors know their stuff pretty well, except for a few continuity points which I will outline later.
The central character is, of course, Deanna Troi, and the book is highly descriptive of her feelings over the conquering of her homeworld, played out mainly in conversations with Riker and Picard.
The other major story is that of the actual people on Betazed, the members of the resistance and the occupying forces are both portrayed very well. Typically, Lwaxana is in the middle of everything, and the writers do her good as well.
The crux of the book deals with the age old question, of death or shame? Do a species defy their principles in order to survive? In this book, the Betazoids want to enlist the services of a Betazoid criminal who can kill with his mind, however only he knows of it, so Starfleet needs to bring him in. This is where Troi and the covert team come in, with a bit of help from the Enterprise and the Defiant(including Worf and O'Brien).
The plot resolution is fairly neat, it invents a solution from the circumstances, but I won't reveal it here.
Now I don't like to be a nitpicker, but there were some serious problems in this book. The first of which was the setting, the authors said it was set in mid 2375, after Dax's death but before Insurrection. However, as we know from DS9, at this point the Federation was winning the war, and had gone on the offensive(by taking Chin'toka). I find it hard to believe Starfleet would try to invade Dominion territory while one of the core Federation worlds was still under occupation. I was under the impression the Romulans took back Betazed when they first entered the war, but that's just my impression.
There was a slight technical fault, the writers used something called a 'scramble field', this doesn't exist. But, if these inconsistencies are overlooked, BFB is a solid book and well worth the read for TNG and DS9 fans.
A Newer, Stronger Deanna Troi
Deanna Troi is the heart and soul of this book, set before the final conquest and retreat of the Dominion, as Deanna is faced with a true moral dilemma: she can perhaps save her homeworld of Betazed from the Dominion/Cardassian conquerors, but the method she must use is morally repugnant to her. Making things worse, she has not heard from her mother, the indomitable Lwaxana, or her two-year-old brother Barin, who are trapped on the planet, since the invasion. The mysterious Commander Elias Vaughn, who has appeared in several other TNG & DSN books, has provided her with this chance to save the Betazed and possibly the Federation, as the withdrawal of Dominion/Cardassian control from Betazed would remove them from a position of proximity to other Federation worlds. Deanna, along with Vaughn, Data, and Dr. Crusher, form a commando troop to carry out the mission on Betazed, while Riker, Geordi, and Miles O'Brien, have a mission of their own on the Cardassian space station orbiting Betazed. Worf joins O'Brien in a welcome return to TNG from DSN. This is an exciting book and, as a Deanna Troi fan from day 1, a book I highly recommend. Even someone who does not enjoy the "science" in "science fiction" can follow this plot easily. Buy it; you'll like it.
Battle Misses Potential
I'm almost embarassed to admit that what first attracted me to this Star Trek tie-in was the cover. I've never been a big fan of Deanna Troi, especially in her turquoise dress days, but when she shifted to a uniform and actual Starfleet responsibilities, I kinda warmed to her character. The cover, depicting Troi, armed and ready, above a trio of Jem 'Hadar, with a swirling blue star background, caught my eye one day when I was browsing at the bookstore. I hadn't bought a Trek book in years -- the last one was The Captain's Daughter by Peter David, one of the better Trek authors (although Imzadi II still leaves me bitter) -- because of the decreasing quality and my own detachment to the series... so I was understandably reluctant to shell out good dollars. I kept looking for The Battle for Betazed at my local bookstore, but then I received it as a gift... and the book languished on my shelf until I pulled it down recently and thought, "Start reading... if you hate, it goes in the bin next to Chosen."
The Battle for Betazed is set during the Dominion War, a time when shapeshifting beings and their hearty, genetically created army have invaded Federation space. In this particlar story, they've conquered the peace-loving Betazoids, a telepathic culture devoted to harmony. While horrific experiments occur on the new space station, built by the Dominion's allies, the Cardassians, the Betazoid resistence seeks Starfleets help to bring a dangerous serial killer back to their homeworld. Why? Because he can kill with a mere thought, and he could teach others how and then they might defeat the Dominion on their planet.
As with most Trek books, this is not the sole plot. There are two others, both complimentary to the primary story. Commander Riker leads a strike team into the heart of the space station, intent to destroy it from within, while Captain Picard commands the Enterprise and a few other starships to distract the enemy ships. Some Deep Space 9 characters appear including Worf, commander of the Defiant, and Chief O'Brien, whose intimate knowledge of Cardassian space stations (DS9) makes him an ideal participant in the raid. Troi's mother returns as well, but in a much more subdued role as resistence leader and it was nice to envision a calmer, darker Lwaxana. There are some new characters including a steely Starfleet special ops expert, a ruthless Cardassian commander, and Tevren, the killer himself... none of these characters are, thankfully, Mary Sues.
The writing, by Charlotte Douglass and Susan Kearney, is rather plain and somewhat expositive at times. There's not much in the way of character development that doesn't occur in a sort of passive sense. I was frequently distracted by Trek background material, inserted obviously to familiarize non-Next Gen readers with the setting and its characters. If a reader is picking up this book, chances are s/he's already aware that Riker and Troi were once a serious item or that LaForge has optical implants. Far better to invest writing effort and creativity in the emotional sides of these characters and breathe life into their actions. Admittedly, there's not much depth in Star Trek unless one injects it into the writing or performances, but it's no excuse for avoiding the potential.
Having said that, however, the book does not completely fail its promise. The story itself is intriguing and offered bare hints at what the authors could have done to create a rich, conflicting situation. The novel could have easily doubled in length without much effort, focusing deeply on primary characters, particularly Troi, who once interned at the prison where the killer has been kept for 17 years. The potential for a creepy Lector-Starling interaction was ripe for exposure, but the authors barely touched on the relationship, Troi's later reaction to Tevren's role in the war, or what happens once she's face to face with him again. The authors occasionally touch on the Riker-Troi dynamic, which would have further enriched the psychological plot.
I suppose I'm expecting too much of a Trek novel. After reading The Battle for Betazed, I picked up Immortal Coil, a Data-centric novel that also caught my eye because of its cover, and already I'm impressed with the detail and quality of writing. This is not to say that I'm going to start reading Trek novels again or rebuild my fannish collection. The few books I have left, now in storage, are novels that I truly enjoyed and hope to read again... I'm not sure where The Battle for Betazed falls. I almost feel as if it should be rewritten -- properly as a stand-alone, non-Trek world, and then I'd probably keep it.
The Battle for Betazed is a harmless read for a lazy, rainy afternoon. I read it quickly without worrying about missing stuff and the story was compelling enough to retain my attention for the two days it took (between work and home obligations) to finish.
