Book 38: The Struggle Within (Typhon Pact)

I never meant to purchase The Struggle Within by Christopher L. Bennett. But I’m glad it did. It was a fun read a nice addition to the Typhon Pact series.

Sometimes Amazon can be a bit evil with its one-touch ordering. I accidently ordered a new this fifth book in the Star Trek Series. Especially maddening when I had a gift card I could have used on it. But since I ordered it, I knew I wanted to read it. The Star Trek Convention was a good place to start it.

So the photo op line with Sir Patrick Stewart was absurdly long. Even with going from one photo op line to the next, my friend Andrea and I were far back in line. But with the two of us, that meant one or the other could run upstairs to the hotel room to grab something or go to the restroom. I pulled up this book and started to enjoy it.  Unfortunately for Andrea, I gave her a little bit of a spoiler since I did a verbal reaction to part of the book.  Thankfully it wasn’t a major tell and it got us talking about the series.

So this is more of a novella (about 80 pages). It has two story lines going on. First the Enterprise is sent to finish up diplomatic ties with the Talarian Republic and get them to sign the Khitomer Accords. Then secondly Jasminder Choudhury and T’Ryssa sneak into the Kinshaya with a Romulan unification group to observe the growth of a more secular faction of the Kinshayans.  Both storylines have a lot to them and can help shape the general politics of the Federation. Even more fun for me, how it flips some of the ideas of the ethics on its head.

The book really isolates the main actors (Picard and Crusher with the Talarians and Choudhury and Trys on Kinshaya). I loved the use of Worf. He was a minor character in the whole novella but he was involved in my favorite moments. I just wished there was more of them.

The main problem of the book was that it was wee bit hushed. This is a quick read and something to just enjoy. It adds to the whole Typhon Pact but it could have been even more. I just hope that writers take this book and use some of the outcomes.