Star Trek: Picard – The Last Best Hope Book Review

Star Trek books have always been a bit of a quandary. Unlike the old Star Wars Expanded Universe or even the new Canon novels, the Trek novels have always been treated as non-canonical. On one level this has given authors the freedom to explore the universe freely without worrying about contradicting established lore. On the other, it means that what you read in the books has little bearing on what you see on screen. An adventure in a Trek novel was always its own entity, often fun but equally as often discarded if the TV writers decided to go in a different direction.

Since the release of the movie Nemesis, the Star Trek novels had taken it upon themselves to create an intricate continuation of the 24th-century timeline, one which was free to do whatever it wanted without any new televisual content to contradict it. That was until Star Trek: Picard appeared and established a new continuity. Last Best Hope is the first in a new series of books that fills in the blanks between the last time we saw Picard and his appearance in the new series. With almost 20 years of missing time to play with, the novel has a lot of heavy lifting to do.

The story begins with Picard where we left him, on the bridge of the Enterprise. Don’t expect a TNG reunion though, as he quickly becomes embroiled in galaxy-spanning events that see him promoted to Admiral and leaving his ship behind. There are a couple of cameos from familiar characters over the course of the book but the focus is on Picard himself and the new characters we will get to know in the series. This is the story of how the character we knew got to the point where we find him at the start of the new show and as such, it focusses on the big events that shaped his life in those years.

The main plot sees the attempt to relocate the Romulan population in the run-up to the destruction of their star, events depicted in the first of the reboot movies. What follows is a political thriller that forces Picard to balance his ideals with the agendas of galactic superpowers and the practicalities of such an enormous undertaking.  Aside from Picard himself, the book spends time introducing new characters who will play a part in the TV show. Foremost of these are Maddox and Jurati whose backstory is greatly expanded.

McCormack writes in a precise, descriptive manner that keeps the plot running while spending enough time with her characters that the reader is never confused as to their motivations. It’s an impressive feat with so many characters and locations to juggle.

With Last Best Hope we are given a glimpse of a lost era in Star Trek history which would be enough to warrant it a place on your bookshelf. The fact that it serves as a primer for and actually enhances the latest TV show makes it essential. The only problem, of course, is that as with so much Trek fiction, the whole story could be rendered irrelevant should the makers of the TV show decide to change the narrative. It would be a real shame as this is a book that feels true to the universe and the characters and one that is well worth your time.

Star Trek Picard: The Last Best Hope

Every end has a beginning…and this electrifying novel details the events leading into the new Star Trek TV series, introducing you to brand-new characters featured in the life of Jean-Luc Picard—widely considered to be one of the most popular and recognizable characters in all of science fiction.

Una McCormack

First

Hardcover

Pocket Books/Star Trek

2020-02-11

1982139447

336

Jim King is a lifelong geek who enjoys talking about anything and everything out of the ordinary. He co-hosts a Star Trek podcast and is pretty good at Street Fighter 2.

Source: blazingminds.co.uk