I’ve been circling starting this novel for a couple of decades now. I love how the Enterprise looks on the cover; I love the idea that the story takes place between The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan.

I’m not going to lie, I was hoping they would be in the TMP uniforms for it as well. I know they aren’t everyone’s favourite, but I enjoy them. James Kirk seems to go out of his way to make sure he doesn’t have to wear them anymore when he accepts the assignment to escort a fleet of colonists to a new world, Belle Terre.

And that’s the part that always had me holding back from starting this six-book collection. I’ve travelled with a fleet looking for a new home before; it was the Galactica. I’m not sure I needed a Starfleet take on it. Not to mention that, no matter how big the Federation thought this mission was, it can’t have justified assigning Starfleet’s flagship to the assignment.

Kirk is joined on the mission by Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Scotty, Sulu and Chekov, all at their usual posts and serving in various positions throughout the fleet as well. Unfortunately, there seems to be something happening within the fleet; there are too many incidents of sabotage to be a coincidence. There’s someone at work trying to disrupt things.

And the new planet, Belle Terre, is apparently in the middle of a war zone between two species, who are maneuvering to beat the other, and how will the Federation deal with that? Not to mention that it’s hinted that there is something with the planet, or at least one of its moons.

There’s a lot of set-up in this book, introducing new characters and species, not to mention trying to lay the groundwork for the planet-bound mystery that will no doubt play a part in later novels.

In the end, I found this one to be middling at best, and I didn’t hear the characters when I read their dialogue; they didn’t sound like themselves. Kirk, in particular, doesn’t always feel right. Carey does make some nods to previous continuity, but nothing feels quite as it should.

I know not all the novels are going to win me over; I also know this is the first in a six-book run, but it just didn’t wow me. Sure, I’ll see where the rest of the books take me, but I’m not super eager to dig into them. But I will boldly go.