Reviews for Star Trek Deep Space Nine #17: The Heart of the Warrior

The average rating for Star Trek Deep Space Nine #17: The Heart of the Warrior based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-03-04 00:00:00 Cecil Sansbury I had no memory whatsoever of this book even though I know I read it, and I understand why: It's not worth remembering. The storytelling is skeletal and undeveloped, for we move from event to event to event without much detail as if the author had the book outline right beside the keyboard and were merely ticking off each story moment as he went along, like an overly ambitious tourist ticking off an itinerary jam-packed with major attractions but not really taking the time to experience them. (I'm reminded of Clark Griswold in *National Lampoon's European Vacation*, particularly the Louvre montage.) I also found I quickly got annoyed with the book for three reasons: (1) The author didn't know the material. The book was written at the very least after the development of fourth season's "Homefront"/"Paradise Lost" mid-seasonish two-parter (don't know if the book writers are privy to forthcoming episode scripts or have to wait like the rest of us for the episodes to air) and possibly even after the development of the fourth season's finale (what with all the references to Odo being the only Changling ever to harm another Changling, which became tiresome for its repetitiveness). That means the author had a fair amount of source material to draw from to at least make the characters ring true, but that just doesn't happen. The characters seem stuck in their early first-season incarnations, and Worf seems like he's just making a special guest appearance. And it's not just the "good guys" who don't ring true: For example, at one point in the story there's a bit about a group of Jem'Hadar walking down a corridor joking amongst one another. Jem'Hadar joking? Really? But yet the author knows the Jem'Hadar don't eat. (2) Almost every chapter ends with a hackneyed cliffhanger. I felt like I was watching old, cheaply made movie serials: Oh no! How ever will our hero escape from this latest jam! The peril! The suspense! Gimme a break. (3) The multiple references to TNG. Ugh. To some degree, it seems only natural that Worf would draw on his experiences on the *Enterprise*, but Kira at one point compares the ships in a giant docking bay to the *Enterprise*, something's just not right, like very obsequious, unsubtle product placement in movies. Or hanging out with someone yet continually talking about that person's purportedly more enlightened, outstanding older sibling. Low blow, especially at this point in DS9's history. Also, the author manages to work in another Trek novel franchise, Peter David's "New Frontier" line with Captain Calhoun and the *Excalibur*, but this is limited (thankfully) to some name-dropping 'o the intrepid *Excalibur*. It's so empty and pointless yet by doing so, by reminding the reader of this *other* franchise, the author diminishes the franchise with which he's working. Yup, a totally forgettable book. When your heroes on a very important, super-stealthy mission into the heart of enemy territory spend a *lot* of time hiding in various janitor's closets, you know you're not going to get much out of the reading experience.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-02-10 00:00:00 Erin E Nowjack 3/5 Stars Something unsettling is happening on the Deep Space Nine space station. A peace conference is being held, but is that what everyone wants? As Commander Benjamin Sisko is working to keep peace on the space station, Major Kira, Lt. Commander Worf, and Odo take off on a secret mission to discover the secret, addictive substance changelings use to control their Jem'Hadar warriors. Will Deep Space Nine remain peaceful? Will Kira and Worf accomplish their mission? Will they even make it back alive? I don't have a whole lot to say about this book, so, unlike yesterday, today's review should be pretty brief. You can see that the copy I read of this book was pretty worse for the wear. That's because I picked it up for 25¢ at the thrift store. It's super easy to find cheap Star Trek books lying around second hand shops. (At least around me it is.) The next thing I'll say is that it's been awhile since I've watched Deep Space Nine and I haven't watched much of it, so I can't tell you exactly how well this book does justice to the characters. I guess that's where I'll start my review then, too. I liked the characters, but they were a little shallow. I'm not too sure if the author was relying on his reader knowing the characters already or was relying on the 16 previous books for understanding, but it felt like there was something missing. I'm really not trying to be nit-picky or wishing for Betancourt to have reintroduced all the characters or anything like that. I simply wanted a bit more depth to what was written on the page. We get inside a few heads, but I still felt like I wasn't really inside them. Does that make sense? Probably not. So, even though the characters were fun to read about, there was nothing about any of them that really struck or stuck with me. I felt the same way about the plot. It was a decent plot, but there was always something missing. Like the characters, it lacked depth. Still, I did find the plot interesting and propelling. I wasn't dying to pick this up, but it kept me entertained while I was at the gym and trudging my way through my cardio workouts. I found myself wanting to know what was going to happen next even if there was a bit of tension lacking. The only other thing that did actually bother me about the plot was how the 2 separate ones going on never fully converged, and that was a bit disappointing. The happenings were a bit hollow, some sections were dull and uninteresting, but overall the story was decent and fun to read through. Like the characters and the plot, I also felt the writing was merely okay. There weren't any grammatical errors or any of the alike that made the writing dull; it was more the fact of something lacking again. There was too much explaining and not enough imagining. The writing may be one of the main reasons I didn't really connect with the characters. It was always reserved, un-embellished, and flat. Even so, it was easy to get lost in the story, even if I couldn't fully lose myself in the writing. Overall, this book was just okay. I've only read 2 Star Trek books, so I can't say anything like "not the best but not the worst" here. However, I think I still can say that this is a book that Star Trek fans don't have to read, but it's not one fans have to avoid either. Nowhere near a must read, but a decent read (if you can pick it up for cheap…like me!). Review originally published on my Wordpress blog Dreaming Through Literature.