Lots of talk of sex and religion as Selar's pon farr with hermaphrodite Burgoyne 172 really takes off and Calhoun is greeted as a god heralded by the ridiculous space bird from the previous book -- but this book doesn't have much to actually say about either sex or religion. The novel seems to be dabbling in risque themes just to dabble in them, rather than because it has an original viewpoint to share. I can't say I care for it, but again, I don't hate it either.

I'll echo again my overall judgment of the other books in the series: if you want to read Star Trek novelizations for their setting, this is a very acceptable series to visit to fill that need. If you want something else or if you want something deeper (a la the TV spec fic commentary on our lives), you should look elsewhere. ( )

Sometimes the New Frontier stories are a bit out there. (I mean, the main character is a guy who in the 24th Century chooses to keep an easily repairable scar that's on his face, that's really weird). But this one is pretty standard fare.

Now that the 'Great Bird of the Galaxy' has 'hatched' and more importantly, the Thollan Empire's ruling world has been obliterated, quite a few of the formerly conquered Thollan Empire planets think that Captain Calhoun's some sort of Man-God savior type. There's even one world that's been at war, civil war, for 500 years, that thinks Calhoun is their prophesied 'savior'. That brings lots of trouble, and then add to that the subplot of Burgyone 172 and Selar and their relationship back and forth because of Selar's Pon Farr. And the book keeps moving forward through all that and is pretty interesting.

Every once in a while during the story there seem to be leaps in the plot that are a bit too big and leave the reader in the dust. Sometimes all is revealed eventually, and sometimes it's sorta left a mystery. I think part of the problem could be that Peter David is the only writer on the New Frontier series and so even though he has the entire New Frontier universe in his head, we only have what's on the page. Still. It's an enjoyable book in a very, very, very zany series. ( )