Traitor Winds by L.A. Graf

Traitor Winds by L.A. Graf
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Traitor Winds is part of the Lost Years series and continue the story of a post five year mission Enterprise and her crew. In this novel the refit of the Enterprise is nearing completion and many of the previous main bridge crew have taken assignments that keeps them close in the hopes of shipping out once again. Uhura is teaching at the academy, Sulu is a test pilot for a classified project and Chekov having been passed over for command school has moved over to Security and is struggling to compete with much younger "students". A chance meeting with Dr McCoy and former Enterprise medical officer Dr Piper has Chekov taking part in a classified research project analysing Klingon disruptors but the technology is stolen and highly secret technology goes missing from Sulu's project. Evidence points to the two former Enterprise officers and both end up on the run, Uhura and Kirk attempt to sort out the evidence against what they know about their friends and with aid from former colleagues and a few unexpected sources the conspiracy is revealed.
Traitor Winds was a rewarding read, the Federation and Starfleet presented in this novel and the Lost Years series skews the "tv" narrative and brings it more into a realm the reader would recognise in our own world. This can be good or bad depending upon the reader's expectations of Trek and Scifi in general but for me it works well in small doses.

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Firestorm by L.A. Graf

Firestorm by L.A. Graf
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Enterprise arrives at the extremely active volcanic planet of Rakatan to deal with both a geological survey who may have stumbled onto a sentient lifeform existing within the heart of the magma and an Elasian mining operation who have claimed the planet. The scientists are not too happy to see the Starship but the Elasian's have defensive screens and threaten violence but have yet to respond to any communications. Eventually Uhura makes the breakthrough by addressing the Elasian compound with respect and more importantly as representing the ship as its Dohlman. The young woman (Israi) in charge of the Elasian facility is revealed to be the younger sister of now deceased Dohlman Elaan (Elaan of Troyius) but as of yet she has not come into her "tears" and thus a regent rules over her world. Uhura soon learns to deal with Israi who treats Uhura as the Dohlman of the Enterprise but the planet has other ideas. Political and military tensions continue to escalate not helped by the Federation scientists or the misunderstandings and opposing world views which all come to a head when the huge Rakatan Mons shows definite signs of eruption which could destroy the already on edge environment.
Firestorm was an entertaining novel, I really liked the ties to the tv episode Elaan of Troyius and the young Israi learns as much from Uhura as Uhura learnt from her and the politics of Elasian seemed to fit perfectly into the Federation structure. Chekov and Sulu were fun as Uhura's loyal retinue and the character of Mutchler was a great addition to the story.
Overall an enjoyable read and a well worked exploration of an alien race from a tv episode.

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Death Count by L.A. Graf

Death Count by L.A. Graf
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Tensions arise between the Orions and the Andorians after the disappearance of the renowned Andorian scientist Muav Haslev. It's believed he has secretly been working for the Orions and both parties seem very eager to get him back and maybe the technology he has been working on.
The Enterprise is docked at Sigma One space station and also hosting some Starfleet auditors who are making a nuisance of themselves, unfortunately they are kept on board when the Enterprise is assigned the mission to patrol the border after the USS Kongo suffered crippling damage and huge loss of life. On the mission the Enterprise has to contend with failing systems, alerts, sabotage, red tape from the auditors and pursuing Orion ships who believe whatever they are looking for passed through Sigma One and onto the Enterprise.
Death Count was a solid Star Trek adventure, the auditors were a nice touch especially given the political interference would normally come from an ambassador. I also really liked Chekov and his insecurities and emotional reaction to the loss of a friend on the Kongo, their relationship having been explored in an earlier TOS novel "The Kobayashi Maru". There was some nice twists and turns, combat and the secondary characters got plenty to so which is always welcome. Overall a fun and quick read of an all too typical mission for the Enterprise.

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Ice Trap by L.A. Graf

Ice Trap by L.A. Graf
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Ice Trap is set on the planet Nordstral where a pharmaceutical company has an agreement with the native population to harvest vast amounts of plankton like material from the deep ice bound oceans. A mental illness with no obvious cause is spreading alarmingly through the Federation citizens on the planet and that combined with missing shuttle crews sends the Enterprise to investigate. Issues with the natives and the local representatives of the company complicate matters and as quakes impact across the planet it's very existence comes under threat.
Ice Trap took a long time to read mainly because it collided with christmas but that aside the story never really grabbed me but that's not to say the time spent on covering the landing party (Chekov and Uhura) wasn't rewarding because it was and Kirk having to deal with an equal and on their home turf was amusing.
I did have trouble understanding the need to harvest this material and how that worked with a pre-warp civilisation but the native Kitka population were written well and their culture and interaction was interesting especially with the Chekov/Uhura (plus red shirts) landing party.
Overall I may have got more from the novel if I had read it at the usual pace or maybe if the novel had been more engaging I would have found the time:)

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