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The Enterprise continues to explore Xindi space in
a desperate attempt to discover their home world or the location
of the massive weapon that they fear will soon be used to
obliterate the Earth. Aboard the ship, an uneasy alliance
between the ships crew and the contingent of MACO's is starting
to cause friction between the two groups. Given their different
backgrounds can the two crews find common ground against the
Xindi...?
Last
Full Measure is the new Enterprise book from Michael
A. Martin and Andy Mangels. It details two minor, but connected
incidents in summer 2153. It is set between the television
episodes The Xindi and Anomaly and runs to three
hundred and thirty-six pages. The main theme of the book is
the integration of the Enterprise crew with that of
the MACO's that have been thrust upon them. It's a classic
clash of cultures between the intellectual but generally passive
Starfleet crew
and the arse kicking, gung-ho space marines - made worse by
the cramped conditions which the two crews find themselves
in.
Given
that story would concentrate on a lot of the marines, Martin
and Mangels have opted to dispose of many of the major names
from the crew, so as to cut down on the number of people.
So, Hoshi and Tucker fall victim to a mysterious space disease,
whose genesis and resolution are never adequately explained,
unless I missed something. T'Pol is consigned to the relative
obscurity of the Enterprise and is never really allowed to
get into the action. The only Major players left are Mayweather,
Archer and Reed, with Mayweather off on a mission with one
bunch of marines whilst Archer attempts to find the Xindi
weapon with another.
The
book has a number of problems. Character development is scant
and it's difficult to empathise with either crew on any great
level, meaning that you ultimately really don't care what
happens to them. The underlying premise of throwing the two
groups into a common conflict which would bring them closer
together is a bit old hat and more than a little obvious,
you just knew that whatever they experienced the end result
would be a greater understanding, mutual respect and maybe
a kiss before bedtime.
Another
aspect of the book that I disliked, and it is by no means
limited to this novel, is the presumption that characters
from differing Trek shows would naturally meet each
other. I won't spoil it for any of you that might buy the
book and who love these supposed accidental meetings between
significant players, but my personal opinion is that having
characters from differing shows gives the feeling that Starfleet
contains very few people and does little except restrict what
should be a limitless universe to a fairly minuscule scale.
Overall
the book is a long talky, introspective piece that just didn't
click with me. I found the long descriptive passages destroyed
what little there was in the way of action. The best passages
where set on the Xindi home world, but they were too few and
far between to rescue the book. A judicial use of the editorial
scissors would have gone a long way to making the book tauter
and more interesting.
Charles
Packer
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