Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Long Mirage Book Review
4 min read
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Long Mirage
By David R George III
The Story:
“More than two years have passed since the destruction of the original Deep Space 9 station. In that time, a brand new, state-of-the-art starbase has replaced it, commanded by Captain Ro Laren, still the crew and residents of the former station continue to experience the repercussions of its loss.
“For instance: Quark continues his source for Morn, as the Lurian – his best customer and friend – left Bajor without a word and never returned. Quark enlists a private detective to track Morn down, and she claims to be hot on his trail. Yet the barkeep distrusts the woman he hired, and his suspicions skyrocket when she too suddenly vanishes.
“At the same time, Kira Nerys emerges from a wormhole after being caught inside it when it collapsed two years earlier. She arrives on the new DS9 to discover Altek Dans already there. While inside the Celestial Temple, Kira lived in a different time in Bajor’s past, where she fell in love with Altek. So why have the Prophets moved him forward in time…and why have They brought him and Kira together?”
The Review:
This story follows on from previous books of George’s (Sacraments of Fire, Ascendance, etc.) so it’s a continuation of a story that has been in progress and not truly a standalone. There are frequent references to previous events and while the story can be read without having read the other books, obviously the reader will get more out of the story by having read prior books.
There are two main stories here. One is about Vedek Kira Nerys, the newly-arrived Altek Dans and conflict between two religious factions on Bajor after a discovery deep beneath the surface of Endalla, one of Bajor’s moons. Kira must walk a fine line between the two factions so that civil war does not break out on Bajor.
This task is complicated by Kira’s own firm belief in the Prophets, her hazy memories of the life and love she experienced after she vanished into the Celestial Temple several years ago, Altek Dans, and Kira’s old prejudice against Kai Winn which makes her begin to distrust the new Kai Pralon.
Altek, seemingly brought to Bajor from its distant past, has a hand in the proceedings, literally. As a result of what happens after his action on Endalla, he begins to understand why he was brought to Bajor.
Kira tries to settle back into her life again once the religious strife has calmed down. Back in her quarters, she picks up a religious book and looks for the chapter “Faith and Love.” As she begins to read the text, an unexpected but very welcome visitor arrives. The Prophets, often enigmatic, seem to have been aware of and answered Kira’s unspoken need.
The other story in The Long Mirage is about the disappearance of Morn and Quark’s quest to find the Lurian. Quark has hired an investigator to track down Morn, but he fears that his latinum as well as Morn are lost forever. Quark and Captain Ro Laren set off in search of the investigator, a trip complicated by their disintegrating romantic relationship.
Meanwhile, Nog and his friend John Candlewood are trying to rescue Vic Fontaine, who has fallen afoul of a criminal gang and whose life is in danger. Vic cannot be extracted from the program without his memories being lost, or can he? It turns out that the elusive Morn is responsible for Fontaine’s woes and Morn is away trying to make things right for the singer. But time is running out for Fontaine. Can he be saved in time before Bugsy Calderone takes him offline permanently?
In the end, the investigator and Morn are found; by Nog and Candlewood, by Federation Security and by agents of the Department of Temporal Investigations. Vic is able to return to his singing career, but his rescue comes with a cost to the hologram.
The Verdict:
I liked the book. It felt like a Deep Space Nine story and it was great to see some of my favorite Deep Space Nine characters back again. Kira is my favorite character and its always a pleasure to have her in a story.
It seemed that the religious strife was wrapped up too quickly after the events on Endalla. I rather doubt that this would happen quite as easily as it seemed to happen in the story. I felt sorry for poor Altek Dans, in a new and strange (to him) life.
The people in this story were real, with faults. Ro Laren’s selfishness and her desire to avoid unpleasantness caused pain to Quark. Kira’s bad experiences with Kai Winn began to affect how she related to Kai Pralon and she had to struggle to be fair and to not let her prejudice overwhelm her.
Not having read the previous books, I didn’t really buy into the previous romance between Altek Dans and Kira and so his attempts to rekindle that annoyed me.
Deep Space Nine didn’t always give happy endings; not on the televised series and not in this book. Several characters in The Long Mirage had to face unpleasant truths/realities and some had to pick up the pieces of their lives and start over again.
I was able to “get” the story without having read the previous books, but I would recommend reading at least the previous two books in the series by George before reading this book.
But if you like Deep Space Nine, you will enjoy this book. The characters read true to (TV canon) life.
Book Information.
Author: David R. George III
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication Date: February 28, 2017
ISBN-13: 9781501132971
ISBN-10: 1501132970
Pages: 390
The Long Mirage is available as a mass market paperback for $7.99 ($6.47 on Amazon) and as a Kindle eBook for $6.99. To order, head to the link located here.
About The Author
