Book review
Written by Christopher L. Bennett
Pocket Books paperback
Release date Out now

Newly married Captain Picard finds an unusual way to deal with the Borg threat...

The first, and to some most important, thing that Greater Than the Sum does is retcon a lot of the egregious characterisation errors that appeared in Peter David's Before Dishonor, reminding long term tie-in readers of Terrance Dicks's acerbic asides in his first post-TV Movie Doctor Who novel. Characters are redeemed through flashback conversations, although one particular person then goes on to make a catastrophic blunder...

The second important thing about this is that it's not a straightforward Enterprise vs the Borg story. In some ways that's almost incidental, as Bennett packs in discussions regarding parenting, loyalty and trust. Picard is putting off starting a family with Crusher, in part because of the ongoing effects of one of TNG's most striking episodes, The Inner Life. The Captain can face his fear of the Borg, but his fear of loss is even more powerful.

Bennett's characterisation of the regulars is spot on, with some particularly well written scenes for Guinan. He also introduces a new officer, whose Vulcan heritage isn't exactly the strongest influence on her. It'll be interesting to see how T'Ryssa fares in other writers' hands.

Although there is some hard science in the pages, Bennett resists his usual compulsion to force-feed the reader pages of scientific knowledge, and this makes for a more fluent read than his recent Titan novel. Peter Quentin

VERDICT: 8/10
Serving as a prologue to the Destiny trilogy, Greater Than the Sum is a gripping novel in its own right.

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