Star Trek: Discovery: Desperate Hours
by David Mack
Synopsis:
Aboard the Starship Shenzhou, Lieutenant Michael Burnham, a human woman raised and educated among Vulcans, is promoted to acting first officer. But if she wants to keep the job, she must prove to Captain Philippa Georgiou that she deserves to have it.
She gets her chance when the Shenzhou must protect a Federation colony that is under attack by an ancient alien vessel that has surfaced from the deepest fathoms of the planet’s dark, uncharted sea.
As the menace from this mysterious vessel grows stronger, Starfleet declares the colony expendable in the name of halting the threat. To save thousands of innocent lives, Burnham must infiltrate the alien ship. But to do so, she needs to face the truth of her troubled past, and seek the aid of a man she has tried to avoid her entire life—until now.
Review:
The Shenzhou assists a Federation colony under attack from a suspicious juggernaut that came from the planet’s own sea. Captain Georgiou is immediately suspicious, with good reason. Meanwhile, Captain Pike and and the Enterprise soon arrive, but with strange orders from Starfleet.
Desperate Hours is a prequel to the new show, now available on CBS All Access. Michael Burnham is newly promoted as first officer and her rival Lt. Saru has to deal with her promotion over him. The two were my favorite characters after watching the first couple episodes, so I was happy to see this relationship fleshed out more. In fact, we get to know Lt. Saru a lot better, and learn more about his unique heritage.
And as the Shenzhou and Enterprise jointly investigate the origins of the juggernaut and the ancient original inhabitants of this world, Burnham is reunited with an officer from the Enterprise. Their relationship is strained, awkward, and eventually leads to a fantastic, revealing scene.
Mack has written numerous, outstanding novels in various Star Trek series, so I had high hopes for this. And I’m happy to say it exceeded my expectations. The story is exciting, with plenty of drama and intrigue. I loved delving deeper into these new characters. And the meetup with the Enterprise was a fitting passing of the baton to this new series. It is a bit strange that we still haven’t seen the Discovery, but the series will focus on Michael Burnham, and this is a prequel story that gives some insight into characters and relationships that we only had a glimpse of during the first two episodes. I am very excited for the future of this new series. And I thoroughly enjoyed this prequel novel and look forward to more.