Faces of Fire by Michael Jan FriedmanMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Faces of Fire is certainly a Star Trek novels that pays off if you are familiar with the events of Star Trek II & III as it contains the seeds of that story. On the Federation colony of Beta Canzandia III a research project into terraforming in ongoing with mixed results with integrating new strains of plant life into a methodology for generating oxygen in a new ecosystem. One of the lead scientists is Dr Carol Marcus who along with her son David is going to be paid a visit by the Enterprise who is due for a routine audit and medical screenings, Spock will be staying behind to offer some short term assistance. Unbeknown to both the colony and Starfleet a faction within the Klingon Empire has also heard of the project and sees it as a potential weapon against the Empire and Klingons tend to do only one thing when they believe they are threatened.
Faces of Fire was an entertaining look at a Carol Marcus who we knew little about from the movies, we also begin to understand why David was so anti-starfleet and of course at least one of the Klingons will be playing a pivotal role many years later when Genesis comes to fruition.
I probably found the secondary story more interesting though, Kirk and the Enterprise dealing with a culture fractured by deeply held religious beliefs and on the verge of civil war, the usual Federation diplomatic fun and games add spice but a more satisfying story then the Marcus one.
Faces of Fire is certainly worth a read if you want more of the Marcus backstory but that apart a solid story of original series Star Trek with some good intrigue.
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