The Dark Veil - Rambling Readers

Paperback, 336 pages

Published Sept. 7, 2021 by Pocket Books/Star Trek.

ISBN:: 978-1-9821-5407-3

(1 review)

"As I utter the words now, we will conduct this tribunal in Federation Standard, in deference to Captain Riker's presence," continued Kastis, "and in the interests of openness with the United Federation of Planets". The judicator said the word as if it was sour to her, ashen and alien on her tongue. She indicated the three shadowy forms around her. "Tribune Delos will observe for Major Helek. Tribune Nadei will observe for Commander Medaka and the Romulan Senate. And our… visiting advocate will observe for the Human captain". Riker shielded his eyes, trying to peer past the light from the glow-globes to get a good look at the person assigned to him, but it was impossible to pick out anything. The shadow gave him nothing, no face, no hint of gender, only uncertainty. He knew little of Romulan legal practices. Was Riker's silent watcher his lawyer, his judge? Executioner, even? …

"As I utter the words now, we will conduct this tribunal in Federation Standard, in deference to Captain Riker's presence," continued Kastis, "and in the interests of openness with the United Federation of Planets". The judicator said the word as if it was sour to her, ashen and alien on her tongue. She indicated the three shadowy forms around her. "Tribune Delos will observe for Major Helek. Tribune Nadei will observe for Commander Medaka and the Romulan Senate. And our… visiting advocate will observe for the Human captain". Riker shielded his eyes, trying to peer past the light from the glow-globes to get a good look at the person assigned to him, but it was impossible to pick out anything. The shadow gave him nothing, no face, no hint of gender, only uncertainty. He knew little of Romulan legal practices. Was Riker's silent watcher his lawyer, his judge? Executioner, even? He banished that last notion with a grimace. Will Riker stood foursquare behind his every decision, even after everything that had happened over the last few days. What that would mean here and now in this place, he couldn't know. But there would be no obfuscation from him, no wordplay and clouding of the truth. And once again, something came back to Riker, something Picard had said to him, years earlier on their very first mission together. If we're going to be damned, let's be damned for what we really are.

4 editions

Sean Randall reviewed Star Trek : Picard by James Swallow

Review of 'Star Trek : Picard' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Nepenthe was perhaps my favourite episode of the Picard TV show. Rikers "Red Alert!" melted the ... has it really been decades? And I felt, finally, as though I was really watching Star Trek again when I heard that.

Of course we see Riker and family onscreen in the year 2399 and this novel is set some years earlier. Despite not being up with Titan's crew, I can appreciate the hoops that had to be jumped to fit a novel series into a retconed TV setting. This seemed handled well here: combined with the wonderful reveals at the end of the novel (both about the identity of the advocate and troi's news in the last scenes), and the delightfully accurate Romulan portrayal, this was a pleasure start to finish.

A bit like at the end of Last Best Hope though, we know there's much more sorrow to come. And why …

Nepenthe was perhaps my favourite episode of the Picard TV show. Rikers "Red Alert!" melted the ... has it really been decades? And I felt, finally, as though I was really watching Star Trek again when I heard that.

Of course we see Riker and family onscreen in the year 2399 and this novel is set some years earlier. Despite not being up with Titan's crew, I can appreciate the hoops that had to be jumped to fit a novel series into a retconed TV setting. This seemed handled well here: combined with the wonderful reveals at the end of the novel (both about the identity of the advocate and troi's news in the last scenes), and the delightfully accurate Romulan portrayal, this was a pleasure start to finish.

A bit like at the end of Last Best Hope though, we know there's much more sorrow to come. And why has Picard never met Kestra, I wonder? Surely there's a scab to pick off and look beneath there. Incidentally Lulu Wilson was amazing, one of the best child actors on any series in my book.

Whatever your views on Picard as a series, this novel merges Titan from what many trek fans call the "real" universe (having turned to paper after screenings fizzled) with the depiction of the Trek universe as onscreen today. The first may have taken liberties and been a departure from Pocket Books history, but this one has an encapsulated adventure to get behind, recognisable politics with the Tal Shiar, and a great and cohesive crew to explore. Picard himself being off-field makes things a little easier for us to swallow, and Swallow himself has clearly already got credentials in the universe and knows his stuff. An excellent addition.