Re: Star Trek: Online: The Needs of the Many - Discussion (Spoilers)
Finished the book today, after getting it yesterday..
I was surprised to see how much I liked it. I tried not to think about its conflicting continuity with the prime book line, though I started a thread about it a while ago, and there are quite a few methods to resolve the "continuity conflict" - looking at the book (and STO as a whole) as a work of fiction within the Trek prime universe, a military analysis, a temporally-tampered alternate universe or simply an alternate universe a-la Myriad Universes.
Either way, I tried to judge the novel on its own, especially considering the fact that I'm not a gamer and won't be playing STO.
While the novel does not have a "linear" plotline per se, the vignettes approach was a nice change of storytelling method, which provided insights to *a* future for our beloved characters and settings. The nods to prime novel continuity (in various chapters and in the acknowledgments section) were also welcome.
All in all, the novel provided a nice, alternate view of the Star Trek universe at (cold and hot) wartime which, to me, complemented the Dominon War and Borg invasion as a darker look at the Star Trek franchise.