Summer 2022 Reading Entry #11. A Weary Life (Star Trek: The Next Generation: Slings and Arrows, Book 5: A Weary Life) by Robert Greenberger (2008). The fifth of a six-book series of ebooks (still not available in print form as of this time) released in 2007-2008 as part of Pocket Books' commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" television series.
Each of the books in this series is written by a different author (or team of authors), and they all take place in the first year of service of the U.S.S. Enterprise-E (so, following the film Star Trek Generations, in which the Enterprise from the tv series, NCC-1701-D, was destroyed, and prior to the following film, Star Trek: First Contact, in which its replacement, the Enterprise NCC-1701-E, was introduced).
A Weary Life focuses on a side mission given to U.S.S. Enterprise-E first officer Commander Will Riker, chief engineer Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge, and security/tactical operations chief Lt. Pádraig Daniels to intercept a delivery of some unknown contraband items between cells of the outlaw insurgent group, the Maquis. They are to take possession of the shipment and to capture the Maquis operatives.
The Enterprise, already on a high priority mission to Deep Space Nine (the story of which is told in Slings and Arrows, Book 6: Enterprises of Great Pitch and Moment by Keith R.A. DeCandido, which most takes place concurrently with A Weary Life), continues on its way, and Riker, La Forge, and Daniels take a shuttle to the system where the exchange is supposed to happen.
Arriving there, they immediately find two Maquis ships being attacked by Cardassian fighters. Not willing to sit idly by while the Cardassians destroy the two much smaller Maquis vessels, he instead joins them in fighting off the Cardassians long enough to escape.
Confronting the Maquis, he claims possession of the cargo and begins to uneasily work with the leaders of the Maquis to evade the Cardassian ships that are still in the system looking for them. While doing this, he, La Forge, and Daniels all get very angry treatment from most of the Maquis, who see the Federation and Starfleet as the ones who betrayed them instead of the other way around. (There is a whole back story to just who the Maquis are and why they broke off from the Federation, their hostilities towards the Cardassians and why, etc., that I don't want to go into here. Suffice it to say, all of this comes directly from episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation", "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine', and "Star Trek: Voyager".)
In addition to opposing political ideologies, Riker spends most of the story pondering on why his transporter "twin", Thomas Riker (a duplicate of Will Riker that was created in a transporter accident on an episode of "Next Generation") was one of those Starfleet officers who quit and joined the Maquis. One of the Maquis Riker is forced to spend time with here also spent time with Thomas and is able to tell him a bit about why Thomas secretly joined the Maquis, hijacked the U.S.S. Defiant (in an episode of "Deep Space Nine") disguised as Will and used it as part of a Maquis terrorist attack (only to surrender back the ship and himself to the authorities).
That's about as deep into the plot as I want to get here. My thoughts on A Weary Life are that there are parts that I liked about it and there were parts that I found a bit, well, wearingly. I liked the parts of the story where Riker, La Forge, and Daniels were doing what they do best, figuring out ways to survive in combat and hide-and-seek style pursuit from superior enemy attack craft (some of it in an asteroid field). Riker in those circumstances can be very effective, the experienced command officer issuing orders and formulating strategy. La Forge is, as always, the expert engineer (not really happy to be helping repair the damaged Maquis ships but doing his duty without complaint) and Daniels brings a different viewpoint to everything since he's the recent addition to the crew and also the only one of the three with a wife back home.
What I found a bit wearing was Riker's constant worrying. When Picard at the start of the story orders Daniels to join him and La Forge on the mission, he tries to talk Picard out of it because he doesn't feel that he's had a chance to really get to know Daniels yet, how he will perform on a mission like this. He then discusses this with his closest friend on the ship, Counselor Deanna Troi, and she sees right through it, realizing that what's really bothering Riker is the Maquis and his "twin" Thomas.
Then, on the mission, Riker keeps circling back to thoughts or discussion about Thomas. Quite frankly, I started to get tired of all of the attention that was getting. And I felt that the character of Will Riker didn't come across very well in this story (aside from the scenes I mentioned above, where he had to put the political issues and confusion over Thomas's motivations aside in evading the Cardassians). To me, the best Riker stories and scenes are the ones where he is confident and capable of leading. There are moments of that here but interspersed with others where he comes across as tentative, overly concerned about things that really shouldn't concern him.
There is also the constant "glares" and "angry looks" from the Maquis that "say" various things (without actual words, except what the narrator is telling us and that Riker, La Forge, and Daniels get the message quite clearly). That also gets a bit repetitive. Then, again, I think I just don't care too much in general about the whole Maquis continuing sub plot from around this time period.
In all, I have to say I thought this was a pretty average Star Trek story, not great or especially memorable but not bad either, and, again, it did have some interesting moments. I ended up giving it three out of five stars on GoodReads.
Next up, the last in the "Slings and Arrows" series, the aforementioned Enterprises of Great Pitch and Moment by Keith R.A. DeCandido (who was also the editor over the entire "Slings and Arrows" series).
(Previous Summer 2022 Reading Entries: #1: Star Trek: Avenger by William Shatner (1997; novel); #2: Batman vs. Ra's Al Ghul by Neal Adams (2019-2021, six-issue comic book limited-series; 2021 collected hardcover edition); #3: Superman: Birthright by Mark Waid, Leinil Francis Wu, and Gerry Alanguilan (twelve-issue comic book limited series; 2003 to 2004; read on DC Universe Infinite, also available in hardcover and softcover editions); #4: Star Trek: The Next Generation: Slings and Arrows Book 1: A Sea of Troubles by J. Steven York and Christina F. York (2007; novella); #5: The Orville Season 1.5: New Beginnings by David A. Goodman and David Cabeza (2019, four issue comic book limited series; 2020 collected trade paperback edition); #6: Star Trek: The Next Generation: Slings and Arrows, Book 2: The Oppressor's Wrong by Phaedra Weldon); #7: Superman: Secret Origin by Geoff Johns, Gary Frank, and Jon Sibal (2009-2010, six-issue comic book limited series; 2019 "Deluxe Edition" collected hardcover edition); #8: Star Trek: The Next Generation: Slings and Arrows, Book 3: The Insolence of Office by William Leisner (2007); #9: Star Trek: The Next Generation: Slings and Arrows, Book 4: That Sleep of Death by Terri Osborne (2008); #10: Star Trek: The Next Generation: Section 31: Rogue) by Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin (2001).
—David Young
