LD: USS Cerritos Crew Handbook by Chris Farnell

[JD]

I stumbled across this on Amazon recently and I was curious if anybody here has read it? I looked through the preview on Amazon and it looks pretty fun.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/180336123...MD1T5BUR&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_gv_ov_lig_pi_dp
The idea behind it is that it's an in universe book that's given to new crew members of the USS Cerritos, to prepare them for their duties on the ship.

 

[Jim Johnson]

It's a fun read, esp if you're a fan of LD. Lots of art and sidebars about various topics. All done in the same tone and style as the series.

Pair it up with the Star Trek Adventures Lower Decks campaign guide and you'll have plenty of canon and near-canon lore about Lower Decks and that era.

 

[JD]

Thanks, sounds like I definitely need to check it out, I absolutely love the show.

 

[Michael]

Can recommend this book as well. The sidebars, running gags and in-universe comments from the characters are the best thing about the book. Visually I feel like it leaves a lot to be desired, though. But it’s definitely a fun read.

Going to quote myself from when I reviewed the book for another thread last year:

I appreciate that author Chris Farnell was able to have this as up-to-date as possible, with our Lower Deckers having the right rank and including T’Lyn. I’m sure eventually it will feel out of date, but for right now it works perfectly, coming out of the last season.

Probably my only criticism – it’s a big one, though – would be the lack of any new art for the book. The work on the layout is flawless and the book is beautiful to read and look at, but it’s a shame that all images they used are either screenshots from the show or stuff that’s pretty obviously from the pool of promotional material. I think the only section in the book that might actually have some genuinely new art is the species drawings at the end. But otherwise I feel like I have seen everything in this book somewhere else before. It’s a perfect read, but visually it leaves much to be desired, I think. When I open the book for a section about engineering, for example, I don't just want to see a screenshot from the show or a promotional desktop wallpaper repurposed for the book, but I'd love to see actual newly created art and schematics showing these places as they would not be able to show them on the show. It's a shame, because I'm sure all sets on the show exist as virtual 3D sets, so turning these into info new graphics would definitely have been possible.

What I love, too, is that they included the MSD / Okudagram of the Cerritos as a spread. Would have been cool to have it a little larger, though, maybe even with fold out pages. But it’s nice to have that in printed form.

[…]

If anything I feel the book is a good lesson in just how much you can do when you’ve only got a set pool of images to work with. If new artwork just wasn't in the budget I’d say they did the best that could have been done under those circumstances. And while the text is obviously one of the most important aspects of a book, I feel with something like this it’s a missed opportunity to show us a little more than what we all have already seen somewhere else. Well, at least if you're like me and have been following the promotional campaigns for the show since day one.

But yes, I’d definitely recommend getting the book to any fan of the show.

 

[Cyfa]

Another solid recommendation from me - I love this book! I'm going to quote myself from the LDS General Discussion thread like @Michael has done:

I think it's awesome - well, so far. I'm almost halfway through - up to the chapter about the bridge. There are so many little notes and almost throw-away explanations that make a few bits & pieces of LDS make more sense. Things that you may not really have thought about, but once explained had me thinking "Oh, yeah!" (like why there are holodeck biofilters instead of the holodeck turning all that "waste" matter into energy or whatnot).
It also helps that Rutherford has a super sexy expression slapped across his face in the Engineering chapter that he's featured in!

And another quote in response to Michael's from above:

Yeah, I agree with your criticism. I must admit, I didn't really notice until I got to the section that listed previous vessels/ships named Cerritos then thought it odd that none of them were illustrated. I also thought that some of the larger character illustrations for each section/chapter were new until I saw the very same ones in some of the promotional material as you pointed out.
Still, it's a fantastic book and I'm happy you enjoyed and appreciated it so much.

And, yes, the MSD is really nice - but a larger version (or at least one with larger, easier to read call outs) would have been lovely.

I have read it through twice now, and flicked through various bits and pieces afterwards, too - it never fails to elicit a smile or snort or laugh