This could have been a four star book, it's made up of 3 and 1/2 novellas. I took a star off as the marketing department clearly made the decision to cut the last novella in half, moving the conclusion to book 2 series. I would have bought the next book anyway given the quality of the first 3 stories but now I'm not sure I will, I want to find out what happens but I don't want to reward such crappy marketing and if they cut the last story in the first book who's to say they won't do it again in book 2. ( )

Collection of short stories of a team of scientists who solve problems, with new characters with an occasional guest spot by a known character. The characters are not really grabbing me and seem kind of flat. Maybe that will change over the course of the series. ( )

I read the omnibus of the first four SCE stories, and overall I gave them a 4 stars:

The Belly of the Beast -- This was an interesting story. These stories are little snapshots of Starfleet life, in this case the lives of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, the fix-it guys and gals (as well as various other genders) of the Starfleet Universe. Or, at least the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. This novella was about a humongous ship. Through it we got a pretty good intro to the various characters and their interpersonal relationships and it was quite fun to read in the general thriller sense as well.

Fatal Error -- Is it a horrible thing that after reading the whole story, and it's an awesome story (humongous out of control computers are always cool stories) But, after reading the story my main thought is, 'ooh, the aliens have blue blood'.

Hard Crash -- This novella was a bit of a gooey sort and unfortunately there was much less of the technical/engineering stuff and it was more of the emotional stuff. I do have to say that the autopsy parts with the characters of Dr. Elizabeth Lense and Emmett the EMH were extremely interesting (I know that sounds horrible), but, I hope that we get to see stuff like that again. And, ooh, I can't wait for more stuff with Soloman the Bynar formerly known as 110.

Interphase: Book 1 -- In this story we get to learn more about Captain David Gold and Kieran Duffy (I really would love a story where we actually meet Rabbi Rachel after how much we've heard about her). IN addition to trying to rescue a derelict ship we get the added complication of the prickly Tholians in this story. Great stuff, just like the rest of the four story compilation. And, because it's book one, we get quite a cliffhanger as well. Fun. ( )

In one way I suppose it's appropriate that this was my first ebook. A PDA phone is near enough to a PADD, after all. On the other hand it doesn't prompt me to take ebooks seriously as a medium. I'm not sure I can really envisage reading something that needs more concentration as an ebook.

As for the content, run of the mill Star Trek stories. Perhaps they're meant for the hardcore fans who will recognise references to episodes which I have long ago forgotten. I enjoyed them, but even with the cliffhanger in the last story I don't know if I'll go looking for the second volume. ( )