“After the disastrous events in the Bajoran system, Captain Benjamin Sisko must confront the consequences of the recent choices he has made in his life. At the same time, the United Federation of Planets and its Khitomer Accords allies have come to the brink of war with the Typhon Pact. 

While factions within the Pact unsuccessfully used the recent gestures of goodwill – the opening of borders and a joint Federation-Romulan exploratory mission – to develop quantum slipstream drive, they have not given up their goals.  Employing a broad range of assets, from Romulus to Cardassia, from Ab-Tzenketh to Bajor, they embark on a dangerous new plan to acquire the technology they need to take control of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.  While UFP President Bacco and Romulan Praetor Kamemor work feverishly to reestablish peace, Captains Sisko, Jean-Luc Picard, and Ro Laren stand on the front lines of the conflict...even as a new danger threatens the Bajoran wormhole as it once more becomes a flashpoint of galactic history.”

The Star Trek novel universe experienced a major shift with the “Destiny” trilogy a few years ago, and the subsequent emergence of the Typhon Pact was a bit anticlimactic by comparison.  In fact, there was a sense that the post-”Destiny” novels were struggling to find a direction.  At the same time, the post-“Deep Space Nine” novel line had come on hard times, with more momentous events taking place in the mega-event novels than the actual DS9 content.

The previous Typhon Pact novel, “Plagues of Night”, resolved several of those problems.  Not only did the various political complications of the Typhon Pact and its successful bid to get the Andorians to leave the Federation finally matter, but the lion’s share of the action was centered on Deep Space Nine and the primary characters of its post-finale novel run.  More than that, “Plagues of Night” ended with a literal bang, marking a huge and irrevocable change to the Trek status quo.

“Raise the Dawn” takes those stakes and ramps them up even more.  If these events are maintained as the “official” novel status quo, this novel essentially marks the conclusion of the DS9 post-series novel arc.  Just about every major ongoing story element that began since “Avatar: Book One”, all the way back in 2001, comes to a fitting culmination.  (At this point, the only resolved Trek series, for all intent purposes, is the “New Frontier” saga, which is unfortunately stuck in neutral on a cliffhanger.)

The pacing of the novel is fairly relentless, since there are major issues being faced from the galactic to the personal level.  The result is a dense read, which could be a bit imposing for anyone hoping for a quick and light slice of Trek.  And since there are tons of references to past plot and character details from The Next Generation onward (in other words, roughly 25 years of continuity), some of the implications may not be immediately obvious to casual Star Trek fans.

That said, the back cover blurb alone is enough of an indication to anyone that this is meant to cater to the uber-fans that have kept Star Trek in the forefront of geek culture for half a century, so this should appeal to the target audience.  One minor point of contention: the back cover also suggests that this is a Next Generation novel, and while this brings forward the adventures of Picard and the current Enterprise-E crew, this is much more of a Deep Space Nine-based epic.

Acquisition Method: This review is based on the retail Kindle version of the novel ($7.99 US).