The Federation’s greatest crisis begins–Star Trek: Destiny Book One: Gods of Night

Rating: 5/5

Mild Spoiler Warning!

I’m back with more Star Trek! This time, it’s on a book trilogy I got for Christmas called Star Trek: Destiny written by David Mack. Like the Star Wars Legends books, Destiny is not officially canon anymore now that we have the Star Trek: Picard series of books. I am having a blast reading it and found it more thrilling than Star Wars: The New Jedi Order (I’m still going to get back to it at some point). It has the Borg, one of the deadliest species the Federation has ever faced. This time, they are not assimilating people and are bent toward the destruction of all life in Gods of Night.

The book takes place two centuries apart from each other. The main narrative takes place in February 2381, following Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise in their attempts to halt the Borg incursion as the latter begins their skirmish in Federation space. Captain William Riker of the U.S.S Titan continues their exploration into the Beta Quadrant with the discovery of coordinates possibly related to the ongoing Borg skirmishes. Along with this, Riker is dealing with the possible oncoming death of the ship’s counselor Deanna Troi from a miscarriage. Captain Jadzia Dax and the crew of the U.S.S Aventine unravel a century long mystery involving one of Earth’s first generation starships that may have some link to the current crisis unfolding.

The flashback narrative takes place from 2156 to 2168 following Captain Erika Hernandez and the crew of the U.S.S. Columbia. After a deadly encounter with the Romulan Empire, the crew happens upon a strange planet-like city with its inhabitants appearing as pacifists. As they became welcomed into their society, their welcoming exterior may test their humanity to the brink of madness.

I really enjoyed part one of the trilogy. There was a prequel to this trilogy called Greater than the Sum explaining how Picard tried and failed to stop the Borg from acquiring new technology, enabling them to travel and conquer Federation worlds. But it was pretty self-explanatory in the first couple of chapters that I feel like I didn’t miss anything.

Speaking of Picard, his character arc was really interesting, especially since he still has PTSD from being captured by the Borg in The Next Generation. He once believed he killed the Borg queen in Star Trek: First Contact, but she’s been resurrected and is pissed off after several failed attempts to assimilate humanity that she decided that all life will be annihilated. This makes Picard even more headstrong to fight the Borg by any means necessary.

Riker’s arc is quite emotionally driven because he’s grappling with his wife Troi possibly dying which creates concerns for the rest of the crew of the Titan. Troi on the other hand is also feeling distressed given her situation. She feels that she has to keep going on doing her duty despite her life being threatened.

Erika Hernandez’s flashback arc was really intriguing as well. Her character was the typical headstrong Starfleet captain. It’s until her crew is trapped on Erigol is when her growth comes into play. She understands how the Caeliar is a pacifist civilization and she tries to uphold Starfleet’s values. Though this is part one of a trilogy, she plays an important part in this series. Same for Captain Dax, where her role in this book is also important after their discovery of Hernandez’s ship centuries later and how it can be related to the Borg crisis.

Gods of Night is a great first book in the Star Trek: Destiny trilogy. I will have my review of Mere Mortals as soon as I can. For now, I am going to have fun reading and taking in all this cool material. How will the Federation try to prevent the Borg from annihilating all life? Find out next time, in a later review of Mere Mortals.