I didn't like this one as much as I thought I would. I was expecting a team-up of time displaced Scotty, elderly Bones and Spock. But this novel didn't really have that. I enjoyed it but there was too much Reunification business. My favorite parts were Scotty's adventures.

The end of the book of was kind of silly too.

I'm glad I read it, but can I get a do-over? I liked the premise, I want someone else to give it a shot.

I found this one at Book Mountain in Santa Fe, NM. It's one of my favorite bookstores. You can bring in paperbacks to trade for store credit. If you're ever in town, drop by--lots of Star Trek books!

This had to happen. We establish that Spock, Scotty, and McCoy are all alive in the Next Gen era, so let's get them together! With that in mind, the story is actually stronger than you might think. The author uses the characters well and gets a pretty exciting tale out of the old guard.

We take a deep dive into all things Next Generation in a special episode of the All the Books Show: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/episode-230-picard-and-the-next-generation

A fun, if forgettable, Star Trek novel that features the three TOS characters still alive in the TNG era — Spock, Scotty, and McCoy. Unfortunately, the three are not working together, so there's little teamwork involved. Further, McCoy is reduced to a cantankerous old coot, and much of Spock's drama is predicated on the notion that the Romulans have no photographic evidence by which to identify the Vulcan. Fortunately, Scotty is as ingenious and entertaining as always; the book is worth it almost solely for his scenes.

Very enjoyable story, lots of action and, as always, a pleasure to see Star Trek: TOS and Star Trek: TNG characters interact.

Until about halfway through the book I considered this novel a big disappointment. I chose it according to the GR ratings, and based on its leading characters, but I just found too much of it off, or downright annoying. Eventually, it started to slowly come together (as did the characters), and the final few chapters were downright joyous to read.

Still, I had to suspend my believe and steel my nerves more than I expected to.

So, the Romulans wouldn't know what the leader of the Unificationists looked like. Right. I know that this was written in the mid-90's, and that I come from 20 years later, when nobody in their right mind would use this as a crucial plot point - but frankly, I think you must have been a bit insane to do that even then. (Some secret police the Romulans have. Useless.)

Then, there we have McCoy, who is just an insufferable asshole for a large part of the book. Of course, if you had to make an asshole out of anyone of the core TOS crew, Bones is the best option, but it just felt too much like they needed him to be stubborn to complicate the plot, more than an actual manifestation of his character.

And then there's Spock, who, despite being in the whole novel, only really shows up at the end. As in, properly.

For the most part this novel ended up being a frustrating mixed bag, not bringing the best of both TOS & TNG crews until very late - but the nostalgia-fest elements of it were lovely. So this gets a 3* in the end.

It's an interesting story that unites the Next Generation crew with Spock, Scotty and McCoy. What hooked me was the plot continuation for the Unification episodes. I was anxious to see what happened after those two episodes which introduced Spock as the leader of Unification group in Romulus. His attempt to reunite Vulcans and Romulans is interesting and I believe that in this book, his ideas is better developed. It's not the best Star Trek book I've ever read, but it has its virtues. It was great to revisit the Next Generation again.