A Time to Be Born

by John Vornholt

Book Overview

Captain Picard and the Enterprise, disgraced in the eyes of Starfleet, find themselves trapped between two factions in an interplanetary civil war.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743467655
• ISBN13: 9780743467650
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Pocket Books
• Length: 284 Pages
• Weight: 0.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.3" x 6.6"

Customer Reviews

A Good Start

Let me start by saying John Vornholt is one of my favorite authors. I've read several of the Trek books he's written, and he's definitely one of the better Trek authors. A few people said there were boring parts in the book, and that's true, but you have to remember the "A Time to..." series spans 9 books, so you can't have everything happen all in the first book. I don't think I've ever read a book that didn't have at least some boring parts to it (save maybe the Babylon 5 Technomage trilogy, and some of the Harry Potter books). In all, I'd say this was a good beginning to this series and sets up what could be a great storyline.

The ghosts of Rashanar, the dangers of Traveling

First off, let me start by saying that "A Time to Be Born" cannot be reviewed merely as a stand-alone; it is half of a story continued in "A Time to Die," and those who lambaste it for being either too rushed or too slow obviously have not finished the second half. With that out of the way, on to the review.Simply put, if this is what the "A Time to..." series is going to be like, then we are certainly in for a treat. Vornholt probes deeply into the psyches of the "Enterprise" crew, giving even the little-used (but known) characters of Perim and Vale face time. Empathy is key in "Born," as we see in the opening chapters when the Traveler (Wesley Crusher, completing his training) comforts the old woman. We see the possibility of "Enterprise" self-destructing, alone in space, and feel the horror, pain, and shock Wesley feels watching his home explode. He feels helpless and decides to go against his Traveler training to help his former comrades.And then the action begins. "Enterprise" is sent to assist with the recovery efforts in the Rashanar sector, working in tandem with "Juno" and the Ontailians, a superstitious race whose fear of Rashanar borders on devotional. Quickly we learn the politics and dangers of Rashanar; Picard, Data, and LaForge are ambushed on the hulk of a dead starship, and the result is the theft of the captain's yacht, "Calypso" (really, there is no luck with these captain's yachts). The Androssi are the culprits (for those who have not read the S.C.E. e-books, where we have the first mention of this pirate/foraging race, there is background information, so all is not totally new) and become the catalyst for the novel.Something is haunting Rashanar, a sort of vampiric ship that feeds of antimatter, causing chaos, confusion, and conflict; it is Starfleet Captain versus Starfleet Captain in a battle of wills and wits. All is not what it seems in Rashanar, and Vornholt pulls off the destruction of the "Juno" and her crew so quickly, efficiently, and shockingly that the reprecussions resonate well after completing the novel.After "Juno's" destruction, action returns to Earth, where Picard is forced to face a tribunal (Admirals Ross, Nakamuru, and Paris) defended by Vornholt's favorite admiral, Necheyev. With her is an indistinct, unnoticable ensign named Brewster, a young man with years of experience and a hidden agenda. Picard is railroaded, Riker is put in command, and Rashanar is still a bloodbath. With Picard under the ministrations of Starfleet Mental Health and Counsellor Colleen Cabot, Vornholt leaves the reader desiring the answers to the biggest question of them all: what is the secret of Rashanar?In all, this was a great read and a welcome return to focus of the Next Generation crew. It is somewhat sobering to realize that this is what will set them on the road to their ultimate fate, but in the end, this is a great first step, and one that answers a few questions...but raises more.

STNG: A Time to Be Born

Star Trek: "A Time to Be Born" written by John Vornholt is an excellent start to a nine book series that takes us on an adventure and tells the untold story of the events that took place between Star Trek: "Insurrection" and Star Trek: "Nemesis."The main part of this book takes place in the Rashanar Battle Site where the Federation and its allies made a last ditch effort to defeat the Dominion. This was the Dominion War's fierest battle where hundreds of ships now float aimlessly and lifeless in this region of space known as the Rashanar Sector. The U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew are sent to this galactic graveyard to help in the retrival of the dead, but they get more than they bargained for. Captain Jean-Luc Picard, even with his vast experience, has a difficult time with this highly dangerous mission. We find out what has become of Wesley Crusher and why he hasn't been heard from since he left with the Traveler. As things go wrong in a hurry for the Enterprise and her crew, Jean-Luc Picard seems to have a real bad hair day in space.It begins with the Calypso, Captain Picard's yacht being stolen right from under his nose, by the resourseful Androssi, while they were exploring the Asgard. Things deteriorated even worse with an encounter with an antimatter asteroid, when they reported that an Ontailian ship had been lost, only to have the Ontailians deny it. There are many encounters with scavengers as there is wholesale looting going on, and considerabe damage to shuttlecraft and escorts.The interstellar graveyard has even more surprises in store with deadly blasts from energy spikes, dramatic rescues, and a spining gravity vortex, just to mention a few of the surprises. All of this makes the adventure move quickly as you read on and in no time your wanting to read on into the next installment " A Time to Die."I found the book to be a fast read with adequate action and adventure to make you want more in the upcoming book. This is a solid 5 stars for this reason... now I only hope that this series of books live up to all of the hipe. There are some pretty good twists of fate in the book and Captain Jean-Luc Picard has the most to lose in the long haul. We are left hanging at the end of the book for a resolution to issues found within this first installment making for a good setup for the next book to come out.I for one will be waiting for Star Trek: "A Time to Die" to come out in March 2004.

The beginning of the end?

Setting: This novel is placed before the movie Star Trek Nemisis, before many events in the movie have even completely come together.Now I can spoil a minor surprise for everyone because it is reveled in the first four pages-Wesley Crusher stops by. He watches from the sidelines through most of the novel and observes. You are very aware of who he is and I personal felt a little cheated. See, he was in the novel but never directly interacted with the other Enterprise characters until the very end. I think it would have been more striking not to know who he was until the revel to the characters.There is no doubt, where things go through out this novel but they are done very well and I was still driven to get to the end and see if my intuition was correct.I can tell you for sure that I will be waiting each month for the next part of this series to show up.

Absolutely incredible

It took me about two days to finish this book. I just couldn't put it down. Finally we know what happened to Wesley, and you get to learn a few things about the Travelers. A new alien species is introduced. Even though it's just the first book in a series of nine, it's easy to tell that the rest of the series will be great.