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| Star Trek: TNG: Greater than the Sum (Star Trek, the Next Generation) | 
 enlarge | Author: Christopher L. Bennett
Publisher: Star Trek
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy New: $3.99
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New (24) Used (8) from $3.81
Avg. Customer Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 12101
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 1416571329
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9781416571322
ASIN: 1416571329
Publication Date: July 29, 2008
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Product Description
The Starship Rhea has discovered a cluster of carbon planets that seems to be the source of the quantum energies rippling through a section of space. A landing party finds unusual life-forms inhabiting one of the planets. One officer, Lieutenant T'Ryssa Chen -- a half-Vulcan -- makes a tenuous connection with them. But before any progress can be made, the Rhea comes under attack from the Einstein -- a Starfleet vessel now controlled by the Borg. The landing party can only listen in horror as their comrades are assimilated. The Borg descend to the planet, and just as Chen accepts that she will be assimilated, the lieutenant is whisked two thousand light-years away.A quantum slipstream -- instantaneous transportation -- is controlled by these beings in the cluster, and in the heart of the cluster there is now a Borg ship. Cut off from the rest of the Borg collective, the Einstein cannot be allowed to rejoin it. For the sake of humanity, the Borg cannot gain access to quantum slipstream technology. Starfleet Command gives Captain Picard carte blanche: do whatever he must to help the beings in the cluster, and stop the Einstein no matter the cost.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 In all fairness, it's not really Bennett's fault. July 28, 2008
22 out of 26 found this review helpful
Back in 2004 and 2005, the A Time To... series led straight into Titan: Taking Wing which lead straight into Articles Of The Federation, and all these books nicely referred to each other, mutual characters and continuity, all sorts of good stuff. Unified whole. Even Death In Winter, Michael Jan Friedman's post-Nemesis novel about Picard and Crusher, fit in to the universe pretty well.
So after all this nicely done continuity, the only thing I can figure is that the editor (editors?) decided at least one series needed to stand on its own and not bother with the overarching details, because then we got Resistance, J. M. Dillard's thoroughly underwhelming Borg story, and suddenly there were no references to the earlier novels. Or established continuity about the Borg, or events from the A Time To... series, or anything. It was jarring.
And from that book on this series has gotten it completely backwards. All the stuff that should stay the same from book to book - consistent characters, long-term relationships, that kind of thing - has been scattered and random, and all the stuff that should vary from book to book - variety in storyline, villains, that kind of thing - has stayed the same. For instance, in Resistance, we were introduced to a new helmsman, tactical officer, and counselor. The helmsman and tactical officer die. Then, in Q&A, the next book, we get a new tactical officer and (finally) an ops officer, to replace Data. That's all well and good until Before Dishonor, which manages to stunningly mischaracterize all three ongoing characters so far. And then we get this entry, which takes two of those characters and kicks them off the ship and introduces three MORE new characters, in the mean time explaining to us the story of at least one OTHER character that came on the ship only to leave a few weeks later. It's just... a complete failure of an ongoing series.
And, get this - Resistance and Before Dishonor were both about the Borg! And so is this one! So overlayed on top of this inability to keep track of characters or any traits thereof, we get the numbing repetitiveness of the same villain three times... oh, and, by the way, they're going to be the villain in the NEXT three books, too.
Now, I should add that Bennett is a fantastic writer, and given these circumstances, this book is probably the best it could've been. It's as different a story about the Borg as one could do in a standalone, and there's some attempt to turn the lack of consistent new characters into a story about family. It would almost have worked, had there not been so many problems with the TNG relaunch so far that the entire first third of Greater Than The Sum is just fixing plot holes and abruptly tying off character arcs.
It's funny, because the Star Trek books these days are spectacular, utterly fabulous, better than they've ever been. Between Vanguard, Titan, New Frontier, the Deep Space Nine Relaunch, The Lost Era, and all the others, there has never been a better time to be a fan of the Trek novels. And, despite the fact that it'll be Borg-centered again, the Destiny trilogy that starts in October - written by the biggest, baddest, most epic Trek author ever, David Mack - promises to be pretty fantastic.
But somehow, in all that awesome, the TNG relaunch has been all but a total failure. This is four books in a row now that, despite using the same subject matter over and over, seem bound and determined to re-relaunch the whole series with each novel, with a completely new supporting cast. I sincerely hope we're done with that now, and everything after this stays consistent, because this is really irritating.
If you're a completest, you probably already own the TNG-relaunch books; if you aren't, I think I'd pretty much recommend reading Death In Winter along with all the other books that take place right after Nemesis, and then skipping right to the Destiny trilogy. There's no possible way it could make less sense than actually trying to decipher logic in these four novels' mishmash of failed arcs and 'continuity'.
 Actually Pretty Good August 6, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Ok...ok...I see all the negative reviews out here for this book and I understand some of your complaints. Yes, the Borg are being used heavily and yes, the Enterprise senior staff keeps getting shuffled. Valid points.
But Bennett turns out a good read in the latest relaunch novel. We see some final settling among the crew. After finishing the book, I really feel like the senior staff of the Enterprise has finally settled in and is starting to mesh together. If I had to make a prediction, I'd say we'll likely see this crew remain together.
Some surprising character growth occurs among the leading cast as well. I won't spoil anything, but Worf is showing more depth, as is Picard, Crusher and LaForge. They were starting to run the risk of turning Picard into a two-dimensional Borg fighter, but Bennett does a good job of seeing that the good captain remains as deep as he ever was. There are a couple of new additions, including a contact specialist, counselor and tactical officer, and even a familiar face from the SCE crew. These new additions seem to be the final piece of the puzzle missing from the command crew and were brought into the book and the crew smoothly.
I'm not sure yet if I like the new "evolved" Borg, but here we see them taking the next step toward all out war with the Federation. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of the Borg, if the ending of this novel is any guide, but I believe the intensity of the relaunch is about to be stepped up a notch or two.
Greater Than the Sum is worth your time and really, to my mind, is beginning the smoothing out of the TNG relaunch. I've yet to put these novels on the level of the DS9 relaunch, but this one is an indication to me that they may soon reach that level of greatness.
 Not too subtle July 27, 2008
4 out of 11 found this review helpful
J.M. Dillard's "Resistance," Peter David's "Before Dishonor," and now Chris Bennett's "Greater Than The Sum" are obviously all leading up to something else (apparently, that something else is a David Mack trilogy coming up in October), and one gets the impression that all three of these books have just been laying foundational material for whatever big story-arc they've got planned. That being said...
It's a pretty slow-paced, and kind of goofy book. The main character (or at least, the object of everyone's attention) is a flibertygibbet half-Vulcan named Trys or T'Ryssa or some variation thereof, and she's a kind-of foil for the rest of the semi-perfect Starfleet crew (read: she's annoying and goofy). Bennett admitted in the Acknowledgements that she's based on a character from a table-top RPG he and his friend cooked up 10 years ago to drop a Star Trek character into a D&D game (note: Dragons do make an appearance in this book, and mostly it reminded me of The Never Ending Story). There's alot of forced expository dialogue, and there's alot of old ground (re)covered; in short, describing things that happened in previous episodes and doing everything but giving the episode name and production number (which I suppose the character's wouldn't know). Just a little too self-referential for me, but some of it actually does pay off (I won't spoil it by telling what).
The MAIN IDEA (as my 9th-grade english teacher drilled into us) for this one is family and procreation and children-are-the-future, and Bennett makes his points with the same subtlety as my english teacher (equivalent to a sledgehammer). It got a little (a lot) repititious, but only to the point where one becomes mildly annoyed with it and not downright disgusted with it.
Now to say something good: The new character Jasminder Choudhury is a very interesting character with lots of room for new and dynamic developments. The idea of a 24th century Buddhist security chief is intriguing enough, but my favorite bit in the novel was the conversation she has with Worf about comparative religious ideologies (she describes him as following the "dharma of Kahless")... I know this sounds strange but it's possibly the most plausible thing in the book.
Finally, THE BORG. Enough already. The Borg are excellent, intriguing villains, but mostly because on the show(s), we don't see them every episode. Since we started the post-nemesis adventures of the TNG crew, all we've dealt with is the Borg. And now, we're going to continue with them in the next three-part installment. How many times are we going to have THE ULTIMATE CONFRONTATION? Since we know it's a foregone conclusion that the Federation will prevail (again), it's sort of losing its resonance. We can also be fairly assured that Picard, Beverly, Geordi, and Worf won't be killed, and we can be fairly certain that the only characters who will be in danger are the new ones who we're not really invested in. Let it go already.
ALL that being said, it's an okay read. But, save money. Pick up a used one in a few weeks at your local used books store.
 Greater Than the Sum is actually a great read! August 4, 2008
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
There are a few negative reviews here, and I can understand their point about the Borg having been overused in the TNG Relaunch books and the constant crew shuffling. That, however, falls on the editor who is running the series and commissioning the books, not on the author. What Bennett does here is actually take a potentially drab idea (the Borg AGAIN?) and turn it on its head. The Borg are not center stage here. Rather, the core concept of "Seek out new life" and exploration, as well as the multi-layered theme of family, form the foundation of this novel. There is plenty of action to go around but the characters are fleshed out (hopefully to stay this time) and we are treated to some great surprises. Taken on its own merits, "Greater Than the Sum" shines, and is arguably the best book to date in the TNG Relaunch.
The TNG relaunch takes off... August 11, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
It seems the TNG relaunch had been stuck in the mud but with this release, it has started to move forward. Several well known characters are explored here and the Enterprise-E has finally started to settle on a new and unique command crew. This isn't your daddy's TNG! The themes of family, growing up, and facing your worst demons give this a complex and satisfying feel. The Borg are almost an afterthought which isn't a bad thing here. A perfect setup for David Mack's Destiny trilogy to come later this year. Pick this one up!
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