Book review
Sometimes you read a book and you can just tell that the author had an absolutely fantastic time writing it.
This is one of those books.
I sat and thought for a long time about how to write a summary of this book. With three alternate universes and two omnipotent beings bouncing around in the mix, there’s a lot going on.
Q-Squared attempts to tether the classic TOS episode ‘The Squire of Gothos’ to the TNG concept of the Q-Continuum and it’s not exactly a far leap considering the similarities between Trelane and Q.
In this instance, Trelane is a young Q, still only a child, and Q is his mentor. As anyone reading that sentence might have guessed, Q isn’t a very good mentor and the kid is quickly trying his patience. So, naturally, he decides to bother Picard with it because like… what else would Q do? Since Picard owes Q a favor (and since Q won’t shut up and go away), he agrees to help under the pretense that Q will stick to Trelane like glue and keep him from causing any problems aboard the ship.
This all goes terribly wrong, of course.
But this is only one of the 3 tracks presented in this story.
An alternate universe presents us with an reality in which Jack Crusher never died and is now captain of the Enterprise. He and Beverly are divorced. Picard is his second-in-command. Wesley is dead. And for some reason Geordi is a nurse. With eyes.
In yet another universe, the Terrans and the Klingons are in a full-blown war and the Enterprise (captained by Picard this time) is a warship rather than an exploration vessel.
The story follows each universe individually, occasionally converging via Q or Trelane. Until the shit really hits the fan in ACT III and everything goes all to Hell.
Overall:
– You can tell Peter David put a lot of time, thought, and love into this one. Several of the scenes seem lifted directly from the screen.
– Again, there’s a good mix of drama and humor. Any time things get a little too heavy, there’s a joke to lighten it up and vice versa.
– The reading is light and easy.
– Some phrases are repeated a little too often and there are some confusing bits, particularly in Act III.
– This book relies heavily on the reader being a pretty big fan of the show as it constantly references various episodes of both TOS and TNG. However, if you’ve seen a good chunk of either, I think you’d probably be able to follow the story just fine (though not, perhaps, find all the Easter Eggs).
I’d recommend this to fans of TNG, especially ones who enjoy timeline hi-jinks and and multiverse shenanigans.
- Goodreads rating – 4.01
- REVIEW – EM Jeanmougin