| Star Trek: TNG: Greater than the Sum (Star Trek, the Next Generation) | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 19 reviews)
Sales Rank: 4357
Category: Book
Author: Christopher L. Bennett
Publisher: Star Trek
Studio: Star Trek
Manufacturer: Star Trek
Label: Star Trek
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 1416571329
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9781416571322
ASIN: 1416571329
Publication Date: July 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The Starship Rhea has discovered a cluster of carbon planets that seems to be the source of the quantum energies rippling through a section of space. A landing party finds unusual life-forms inhabiting one of the planets. One officer, Lieutenant T'Ryssa Chen -- a half-Vulcan -- makes a tenuous connection with them. But before any progress can be made, the Rhea comes under attack from the Einstein -- a Starfleet vessel now controlled by the Borg. The landing party can only listen in horror as their comrades are assimilated. The Borg descend to the planet, and just as Chen accepts that she will be assimilated, the lieutenant is whisked two thousand light-years away.A quantum slipstream -- instantaneous transportation -- is controlled by these beings in the cluster, and in the heart of the cluster there is now a Borg ship. Cut off from the rest of the Borg collective, the Einstein cannot be allowed to rejoin it. For the sake of humanity, the Borg cannot gain access to quantum slipstream technology. Starfleet Command gives Captain Picard carte blanche: do whatever he must to help the beings in the cluster, and stop the Einstein no matter the cost.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 Poorly written characters September 30, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I've been a Star Trek fan since the early 1970's, and I have watched every television episode and every movie at least once. I have also read over 200 novels over the years, and I have come to realize that while there are some that are exceptional, there are others that truly fall short.
Unfortunately, this one falls short. The story is half-decent, as the Borg are (predictably) brought in to provide excitement and there is a bit of Star Trek's original premise, exploration of new life and new civilizations, thrown in.
The real problem with this novel, however, is in the writing of the characters. Captain Picard is reduced to a man of fragile emotions, even crying in one scene when considering having children with his wife, Beverly Crusher. While I would not say that Picard was inacapable of exhibiting strong emotions in the various shows and movies, his crying Crusher's arms was truly uncharacateristic. Picard is the type of captain that will normally show his strength of character and morals when dealing with a difficult issue, whether public or personal, and will become more resolute when working on solutions.
Other characters, even those created by the author, including the new chief of security, just somehow seem "wrong", with too many inconsistencies in their behaviors.
This is the second novel I have read by this author with these problems. ("The Buried Age" has a similar weak, emotional Picard at an earlier time in his life.) I feel that this will likely be the last as he, like fellow author Keith R.A. DeCandido, just cannot seem to get characters right.
If you are not all that familiar with the Star Trek universe, this novel may be a good read. If you are, then you might want to avoid this one.
 Just more of the same. I am giving up on this now. September 29, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Honestly, I did not like this novel at all. Simplistic language, narrowminded dialogues, cliched characterisations, and most importantly a dull storyline left almost nothing for me to appreciate. I had high hopes for this installment beforehand, since I really liked Bennett's TOS novel "Ex Machina", which I found to be very well written with a tight story.
After several mediocre TNG novels, this is just one more to add to the pile. For me, only Peter David's "Before Dishonor" has been worth its time and money, and obviously just because David's writing managed to push it up to at least a decent level. Picard, Crusher, Geordi, and even Worf seem more like shallow marionettes than anything else, these days.
I have read Trek novels for more than ten years, and while there naturally always have been better ones and worse ones, the overall quality of them seems to have decreased severely these last couple of years. Vanguard, SCE and DS9 are still good, but I am stepping off the TNG train now. These books just does not appeal to me.
 Suffers from "middle child" syndrome September 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Greater Than the Sum" suffers from "middle child syndrome."
The story is set between last year's 20th anniversary set of TNG novels and this year's big Trek publishing event by David Mack, set to hit stores in October. This leaves the usually reliable Christopher L. Bennett with a conundrum of a book that is supposed to set up the next set of novels and try to reconcile some of the inconsistencies of last year's set of stories, especially the rather disappointing wrap-up novel by Peter David. (Which it pains me to say that as I tend to love all of David's Trek universe offerings).
Set a few months after the last Borg attack, "Sum" picks up with...wait for it...another Borg threat coming into Federation territory. The threat is a new alien race that has the ability to create a new kind of warp conduits and holes in space, allowing faster travel. The Enterprise is sent into the fray to try and make contact with the aliens who have this technology and keep it out of Borg hands. With this new technology, the Borg would be even more seemingly unstoppable and able to invade the Federation at will.
Along the way, we have some interesting character developments and it appears a fresh start for the TNG relaunch. Instead of just being "TNG 2.0" it appears the series is finally allowing the characters to be who they are and develop their own stories instead of trying to craft them into molds of the old TNG crew. It's a refreshing development, but given that the DS9 relaunch decided to follow this path from day one, it makes you wonder why it took these books four books to get there.
The book does try hard to explain away some inconsistent characterization and some odd choices in "Before Dishonor," and to put elements in place for the on-going storyline. Bennett pulls together threads from previous Trek novels and the television run in ways that feel realistic and plausible.
And while I enjoyed the novel while reading it, I came away feeling as a bit unsatisfied when the final page was turned. A large part of this is that this story is being used to set up some things for the big three-part Trek novel epic coming soon to a bookstore near me. But I think another part is that while we can identify with the characters we've seen on-screen, there aren't any of the newer characters who jump off the page and into the imagination like Vaughn or Tarrantar for the DS9 relaunch.
 Borging September 19, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Bennett is a master Trek novelist. He has the ability to create stories that would fit perfectly as episodes of the series. His characterizations are top notch, and he weaves multiple character plots into the main story line.
What keeps this from being perfect is the Borg. I guess it is just the nature of TNG novels to be Borg fests but to me they are just too Borging. The problem is it has been done to death.
At any rate, the novel is excellent but the subject matter is redundant.
A fitting rebound from "Before Dishonor" September 8, 2008
I actually would have given this 3.5 stars due to something that happens near the end of the book. It's not the killing off of a "major" player this time, but it is someone who I felt did deserve better.
When an author spends the equivalent of two chapters undoing the work of a previous author, it's safe to say the previous author screwed up royally. So combining that with the fact Bennett may have been forced to go with a certain ending (which could have contributed to the event I mentioned, although it could have easily been done differently), this book is a job well done given the subject matter. Original concepts with the new race and a surprising number of tie ins to prevous TNG shows (including one rather obscure one) help to hide the fact this book is about the Borg, again, and will lead in to another trilogy about them.
The new characters were well written, and I had no issues with the characterizations of any of the TNG regulars as I did in the previous novel; Bennett gets what Peter David didn't. The characterizations don't have to be perfect, and never will be (if there's one character who might have been done wrong, it's Picard at certain points, and even that one is understandable given it's no less accurate then previous authors have been), but they do have to be something resembling accurate in order for the reader to enjoy the story.
I know David Mack has been tapped for the next 3 books, but I would welcome another Bennett contribution.
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