This Antichrist - how many nipples has he?*

OK, it's book catch-up time again!

29. Disavowed (Star Trek: Section 31), by David Mack
 Disappointed, more like. Oh, not with the writing, which is up to David Mack's usual excellent standards. No, I'm disappointed with the story. 
 You see, I was hoping a novel which stars Doctor Julian Bashir (ex of Deep Space Nine, and one of my favourite DS9 characters) would actually have him as the star. Instead, the Mirror Universe seems to be the star, along with the MU Starfleet's jaunt ships and Director Saavik!
 Now, this was a double blow as I love the primary universe Saavik. She's so underused. In fact, she hasn't been seen (chronologically) since the woefully dull Vulcan's Soul trilogy. To make matters worse, she's cool, calm and sophisticated, just like our Saavik is/should be. But she isn't. OUR. SAAVIK!
 Oh, and bloody perfect Sarina (Bashir's girlfriend) is really getting on my thre'pennies!

30. The White Dragon, by Anne McCaffrey
 I was kind of dreading reading this book as it's 455 pages long (one of the girthiest of the older Dragonriders novels - only Dragonsdawn is marginally longer) and I find them difficult to read in big chunks. However, once I got going, the pages seemed to just fly past. I'd forgotten how good this book is - It's certainly much more engaging than Dragonquest (the 22nd book I've read this year), and even more emotional and exciting. Although some of the characters still suffer from lack of dimension and don't grow beyond their stereotypes.
Over all, though, a great read.

31. Something Rotten, by Jasper Fforde
 The fourth in the Thursday Next series, and just as witty, engaging, suspenseful, humorous and packed full of ideas and emotion as the first three.

32. Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
 This is a staple read of mine, but - after checking through previous blog book posts - I don't appear to have read it since 2010! 
 Still, all sorted now. It's so good that if I could only keep one of my collection of books, this would be it.
 I heard recently that it's been adapted into a radio play by the BBC and, after a quick bit of googling, it's due to be broadcast 22nd December on Radio 4.
 I can also see this as a Carry On film (but with the original Carry On cast, of course). Carry On Up The Apocalypse perhaps?

* Post title from page 289

33. Star Trek: Ships of the Line, edited by Doug Drexler & Margaret Clark, text by Mike Okuda
 This is the second edition of the Ships of the Line Calendar anthology, and adds images from the 2006 - 2014 calendars. Not all of them, though. Rather disappointingly, Mojo's 'Wolf 359' artwork from the 2007 calendar is one of the omitted images. However, there are still loads of new starships to ogle at, and the accompanying text by Star Trek stalwart, Mike Okuda, offers a bit of background to the scenes.
  

34. The Wounded Sky (Star Trek: The Original Series), by Diane Duane
 Now, this is an old Star Trek book. First published in 1983 it's very much a mesh of hard sci-fi and the beloved original series characters. Duane is very adept at fleshing these characters out and giving them a recognisable 'voice', and I particularly like the other crewmembers (human and alien alike) whom she introduced who also appear in her other Trek novels and comics. Plus, the Inversion drive experiences are incredibly well written, if somewhat trippy, and remind me of Dave Bowman's journey through the Monolith in 2OO1: A Space Odyssey.

35. The Collectors (Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations), by Christopher L. Bennett
 Hooray! Another DTI story from Christopher L. Bennett! I love these DTI tales, although the last one was rather lacking in Garcia/Ranjea action, but this one makes up for it.
 Rather than tying together lots of time-travel plots and references from the TV series' like the first two novels did (and very well, too), this one is an original story driven by the characters themselves. Bennett does his usual sterling job of setting the scenes, characterisations, techno-babble explanations and just incredible diversity of ideas. A marvellous read!

Hmmm... It's a bit Trekkie this month. I'm sure it'll be less so in the New Year.