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| Star Trek: Destiny: Mere Mortals (Star Trek) | 
 enlarge | Author: David Mack
Publisher: Star Trek
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy New: $4.29
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New (26) Used (8) from $3.89
Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 3604
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Edition: 1st Pocket Books Pbk. Ed
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 448
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 1416551727
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9781416551720
ASIN: 1416551727
Publication Date: October 28, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: 100% Brand New! - Ships Today! Identical to Amazon's book in every way. Flawless! Not a cheap Remainder or Book Club Copy! *We recommend Expedited Shipping option for much faster mail delivery
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Product Description
On Earth, Federation President Nanietta Bacco gathers allies and adversaries to form a desperate last line of defense against an impending Borg invasion. In deep space, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Captain Ezri Dax join together to cut off the Collective's route to the Alpha Quadrant.Half a galaxy away, Captain William Riker and the crew of the Starship Titan have made contact with the reclusive Caeliar -- survivors of a stellar cataclysm that, two hundred years ago, drove fissures through the structure of space and time, creating a loop of inevitability and consigning another captain and crew to a purgatory from which they could never escape. Now the supremely advanced Caeliar will brook no further intrusion upon their isolation, or against the sanctity of their Great Work....For the small, finite lives of mere mortals carry little weight in the calculations of gods. But even gods may come to understand that they underestimate humans at their peril.
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| Customer Reviews:
2nd Installment in the Destiny Trilogy October 28, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Picking up where Gods of Night left off, Captain Riker and the Titan have stumbled upon the Caeliar and are now trapped as another captain and crew was. Meanwhile, Captain Picard and Captain Dax have joined forces to investigate the area that the Borg may be using to enter the Alpha Quadrant. And back on Earth, President Bacco must convince every neighboring empire and alliance to help defend the quadrant against the Borg invasion.
Time is running out for the crew of the Titan, and not just in their fight against the Borg. Deanna's pregnancy is becoming more detrimental to her health. But she doesn't want help from the Caeliar even though they are far more advanced technologically. This part of the story bothers me a bit. Obviously, she's distraught and wanting to keep her baby at all costs. But wouldn't you check to see if the Caeliar had the technology to help heal her and keep the baby? I know she doesn't trust them. But if she's truly as desperate to keep her baby (as most women would be), you'd think she'd be willing to try anything. As a female reviewer, I obviously got hung up on this subplot and found myself siding with Troi from the beginning.
Captain Hernandez has gone through a lot of changes, mentally and physically. Her character has the most depth in this story, as the central storyline revolves mostly around her. She's intriguing and easy to sympathize with. I'm looking forward to seeing where the author takes her next.
And, of course, on the frontlines of the invasion, the Borg are proving to be near impossible to combat. As the situation grows worse, tensions and suspense run high. And Mere Mortals ends on a major cliffhanger that left me on the edge of my seat. I'm eagerly awaiting the conclusion - Lost Souls, set to release in late November. Again, Star Trek fans, don't miss this crossover trilogy!
 About Time October 31, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
After the almost child-like and flat writting in Greater than the Sum I was about ready to give up on TNG works. While not nearly as stupid as the Voyager relaunched it certainly found itself leaning to that simple third grade writing style rather than the rich, compelling and complicated beauty that is the DS9 works, in particular the fabulous Terok Nor trilogy. However, the first two books, Mere Mortals, in particular, have renewed my interest. Well written and impossible to put down, the authors weave a number of stories as they flesh out characters that we can like, dislike or simply believe in. What I found most interesting was the story of Erika Hernandez and her three crewwoman stuck on Axion. It is such a sad, desperate tale that truly leaves the reader feeling for each of these characters and more specifically Hernandez. The writing is great and the stories are well crafted. Each crew and story gets its own time and never seems to long or rushed. While initially suspicious of the Borg storyline (since I feel it has been exhausted and while fine in this one hopefully will end) I was happy to see that while in the background, it really isn`t a focal point. The books thus far are more about the crews and individual characters. About time that we fleshed some of these characters out! Finally, Voyager shows up, and while it is a short appearance at least they weren`t ignored as much as they have been in recent publications. All in all, a great read for anyone.
More Borg, yet again. November 9, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
I've been watching and reading Trek for quite a few years now and I've got to say that for the last decade or so, it looks like Trek has no real idea. Like Star Wars (New Jedi Order, Legacy of the Jedi), they have simply taken a big bad enemy and used it to wipe out everyone and everything in it's path.
The book is well written (which is why I gave it 4 stars), but there's not much originality. After using Q, beings even more powerful than the Q, and now a Borg invasion, where else is there left for TPTB to go?
Let me guess, more time travel....
Now the Titan's situation is pretty intersting and it's good to read that Hernandez was not just a token love interest for Joanathon Archer. In fact, her character is fleshed out pretty well and has plenty of flaws, many of which are more akin to a new Human space explorer than a member of modern day Starfleet, as it well should be.
Look, I'm not being very coherent here. I'm just peeved it's more Borg Borg Borg and despite their overwhelming power, somehow someone's going to pull a fast one and everything will be back to the way it was.
Can we have some well written originality here please? The Galaxy is a big place. Surely there's at least one or two species who would be interesting to write about?
Overall, a good continuance November 3, 2008
Other than the continuing angst of the Deanna-baby-drama, I enjoyed the book. Hernandez & crew's aging was dealt with nicely; as well as the politics of wrangling inter-galactic help against the Borg.
The more I read of the "new" Borg, the more I need to hunt up a copy "Sum".
I look forward to the next installment - at least we aren't having to wait long (HEAR THAT, Del Ray/Star Wars?)
"Mere Mortals" Review November 12, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
"Mere Mortals" is the second book in the 'epic' Trek mini-series, 'Destiny'. As a reader, I felt slightly let down by the first book due to the varied plots which prevents the focus being put on the topic at hand - The Borg. This installment continues the many plots introduced in the first novel, as well as previous books that lead up to this novel event. In all, not bad, but some minor critiques:
The Bad: With four different crews or situations competing for space and attention, yet again the Borg situation isn't really given its time to develop and be fleshed out as a plot element. The main focus is not so much on the Borg but the race introduced in book one, the Caeliar and their dealings with the Columbia NX-02 crew. The actual Borg plot, the much hyped plot and (from what you're lead to believe) is the focus of this series, barely moves. The least interesting plot is that surrounding Picard and crew. The main showdown/Borg conflict really doesn't happen until the last twenty pages of the novel, leaving me as a reader feeling a bit jilted and tired. Apparently after two books, we're left to wait for the Borg conflict to be handled at great length in the final book.
The Good: There were some good things to rave about. The Columbia NX-02/Caeliar plot was great, in my opinion. It definitely was the focus of the first two books and this plot has more of an emotional impact than the Borg situation. Hernandez really shines as a character who is complex and being able to see/read of the NX-02's lifetime was intriguing and compelling (and yes, even some subtle hints as to what's happening in the 'Enterprise' timeline). I enjoyed seeing Troi being more on the side of the patient rather than the cool-headed character she usually is. I felt the cameos really worked and added to the scope of the series; we get a glimpse of Elizabeth Shelby (New Frontier), Chakotay and Voyager (Voyager) and name drops of many other Trek characters.
While I felt this was a bit of an average novel, the Columbia/Caeliar plot deserves a star by itself because this was truly the most original race and situation to appear in a Trek novel in a long time. I found myself more invested in Hernandez's struggles than with the Borg plot that really doesn't turn tense until the last twenty pages. While I hope the final book does justice to the Borg (since this is probably the last we will see of them for a while after this novel), I wish more of the focus and attention of this novel had been given to the Enterprise/Aventine plots. The last 'action' sequence of the novel felt awkward and random, wasting time on something rather fan-fic in feel rather than giving due attention to the matter at hand. In all, an okay novel for you to check out.
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