Ryan North’s Star Trek: Lower Decks, Volume 1: Second Contact understands that the series works because the jokes sit alongside genuine affection for Star Trek. Across three two-part stories, the Cerritos crew face Excalbians, a dying universe, temporal chaos, and a surprisingly personal glimpse of Mariner’s future.
Strange New Worlds turns the Enterprise into a daytime soap opera, complete with melodramatic revelations, dramatic pauses, and Trelane pulling the strings. There is a genuinely moving story about Pike, Batel, and the daughter he lost buried underneath it all. Unfortunately, it takes far too long to reach it.
The Last Starship takes the Burn, the collapse of the Federation, the Jurati Borg, the birth of the Emerald Chain, and even the resurrection of James T. Kirk, then tries to make them part of one coherent future. Its ambition is impressive, but the book is at its best when all that machinery falls away and we simply watch Wowie Carter lose years with the family he left behind.
