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Brinkmanship (2012)

by Una McCormack(Favorite Author)

3.75 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1451687826 (ISBN13: 9781451687828)

languge

English

genre

Science Fiction

publisher

Pocket Books/Star Trek

series

Star Trek: Typhon Pact

review 1: The novel lives up to its title. For 2/3 of its length, I was thoroughly hooked to the diplomatic games, conniving, back-biting...until the final moment, when it seemed as if war was going to break out. If that had been the entire plot of the book, I would have granted it five stars. However, I found the attempt to highlight the Tzenkethi homeworld & culture rather bland in comparison to the success of other "Typhon Pact" novels in this area, especially with the Breen. It reached the point where I found these sections of the novel a distraction from the diplomatic plot...and that's a shame.
review 2: The next book in the Typhon Pact series takes us to the Tzenkethi and a non-aligned power, the Venette Convention. The Tzenkethi wish to lease bases from the ... moreVenetans right on the borders of three Khitomer powers, which include the Federation. Naturally, Starfleet sends representitives to the Venetans in an attempt to stop the leasing process. What ensues is, as the title points out, a case of brinkmanship with one side accusing the other of various misdeeds while, at the same time, inching closer to war.This wasn't the best Typhon Pact novel. All of the major powers keep upping their game to the point where pulling back becomes amost unthinkable. Think of this as the Cuban missile crisis in the Star Trek universe. Things eventually come to a head when the Khitomer observers inspecting the starbases discover compounds used for weapons. This book is effectively split into two storylines, the Picard and Dax paths. The Picard line is all about negotiating with the Venetans and not much else, Dax is about the base inspections and, depending on your perspective, the covert mission on the Tzenkethi homeworld. All of the Typhon Pact novels cover a power in the Pact with great detail. For Brinkmanship, that power is the Tzenkethi from the perspective of undercover agents on ab-Tzenketh. Frankly, after the last books dealing with Deep Space Nine, this seemed like a bit of a letdown. Most readers will not believe that the Khitomer and Typhon powers will come dangerously close to open warfare this soon in the novels, which makes the crisis seem a bit deflated. But, the ab-Tzenkethi portions were quite fascinating ending with a new, possibly permanent, Tzenkethi character for the Khitomer powers. Overall, it wasn't that great of a book, it certainly is decent, but not as good as the last two in the Typhon Pact. less

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