Rising Son, part of the post-television relaunch of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, is an example of how publishers force (mainly) science fiction writers to fit stories into a marketable, brand name universe to get published. Sometimes, despite the formulas required by such structure, the author’s talents and ideas meld with the characters and we get a story well told. S.D. Perry made that happen with this book, published in early 2003.
Set in the months after his father Benjamin returned to life with the Prophets, Jake Sisko has found an ancient prophecy and then been tossed an enormous distance into the Gamma Quadrant. Nearly dead, Jake’s crippled ship is snatched out of space by the crew of a freebooting ship named the Even Odds. Perry has put together an interesting, diverse crew and framed the situation in the GQ that doesn’t ignore the Dominion but doesn’t put them in an overwhelming position.
Overall, this reminds me of the New Frontier books by Peter David, at least the first few of which (I think I stopped reading after nine or ten) at least were decent. Other than Jake, and an ‘guest starring’ appearance by a long lost Bajoran religious leader, all the characters are new with this title, all the settings are new. I have no doubt Paramount and Perry would’ve been happy to make this into more than one book but for whatever reason that didn’t happen.
recommended
BillSaysThis 