I'm not going to say I didn't like the first novel, but this one is just so much more of what I was expecting and looking for. After a few chapters in, I started thinking of the series more as a final TNG novel followed by a Litverse finale duology. All the aspects of the Litverse which were touched on and brought into the story here were exactly what this finale deserves. Every time a new character came in, and it was possible that that would be the last time we'll ever see them, it was certainly pulling on the heart strings.
I know the original hope was to have a few lead in books before a final four book series. I'm sad that didn't turn out because the more time this story was given to breathe, and the more setting the stage for it before hand which we could have been given would have really made for an improvement. Deep Space Nine in particular got a bit shafted. Unless I'm misremembering, the last we left Sisko, he was on a three-year mission in the Gamma Quadrant, and now he's patrolling the Cardassian border. I suppose after the ordeal in Original Sin they just headed back home, but that would have been something worth at least mentioning. Likewise with Odo. There seems to be missing piece left untold since the last time we saw him.
I love that the mystical element of Sisko and the Prophets is back in the spotlight for this, but all the Bajoran religious stuff from the DRGIII era seem to have been completely pushed to the wayside with seemingly no conclusion. I was expecting Rebecca and Endalla to play some part in where the story ended up going, but both were completely ignored, along with Kira's boyfriend from the past. Endalla could have easily ended up being the mechanism by which they destroyed the wormhole, as it was previously hinted that it was what was used to create it. I'm still left with the unanswered question of what if anything took place behind the scenes with DRGIII. Was he completely left out of the Coda conversation for some reason, or was he mined for ideas on how he saw his storylines come to a conclusion (based on what happened in the book, it doesn't seem so), or did he simply not want to be involved? We may never know.
The Klag and Martok portion was very well done. Was KRAD involved with that in any way?
The death which got me the worst was Quark, as up to that moment his was the biggest character to have died in this trilogy, unless I'm forgetting someone. The whole "I want to grow old with you" thing was quite touching. And then just a few pages later O'Brien. What a one-two punch. Though again there seems to have been a missing chapter in Quark and Ro's relationship that we skipped over since The Long Mirage.
When the Andorian transporter duplicates storyline was "wrapped up" with one sentence, I thought of
@F. King Daniel. We won't have to riot after all!
I kept the return from the dead of Ranjea in the back of my head, and then when Hegol was also still alive, and it was specifically stated that Spock and Saavik weren't married, I had the fear that these aren't actually "our" heroes we've been following. That perhaps we're skipping around between similar universes for some reason. But I couldn't imagine how that would provide a satisfying ending, by spending all this time with alternate versions of our heroes. But based on David Mack chiming in above, it appears at least one of these things, and therefore I guess all three of them, were accidents?
The epilogue was somewhat strange in that it didn't really reveal a single thing we didn't already know. I'm not sure what the point of having it at all was?
But for any criticisms I have, I'm glad to have had this novel really improve my enjoyment of this storyline. I suppose I'm almost convinced the Krenim aren't behind everything now, which is disappointing, but all the pieces are set up on the board for David Mack to blow me away with an amazing finale. I trust you, Mr. Mack, but it's a tall order. Good luck to you, sir!
