Nice end to the series if a little rushed at the end. ( )

If there were a prize for using the most ST:TOS episode references in a TNG story, this trilogy would win hands down. In this volume we get the fallout from the Q vs 0 battle causing Sargon and Thalassa to join their society in leaving their physical bodies behind and placing their consciousness in glowing orbs, where Kirk's Enterprise will later find them. And Ruk and his fellow androids building caves for their creators to escape the cold of their drained star, which Kirk and company will also deal with. And then the Organians show up to watch but not interfere. Finally, nearly 100 pages into book 3, comes the big reveal about the galactic barrier that I had figured out by the end of book 1. At least I hadn't realized that 0's third minion was one of Kirk's adversaries as well, from STV, which I've apparently managed to blot sufficiently out of my memory that I didn't spot when I identified the other two. I'd guess that the source for this plot was realizing that exposure to the barrier gave Gary Mitchell powers similar to the Q and building a TNG story from there. If you are a TNG fan that doesn't also know TOS episodes cold, you'll be lost for a lot of this trilogy. ( )