Star Trek: New Frontier: Gods Above

by Peter David

Book Overview

Captain Mackenzie Calhoun has often been accused of playing God, but he has never faced off against real gods--until now. As Captain Kirk did before him, Calhoun has encountered beings of unnatural... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743418581
• ISBN13: 9780743418584
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Star Trek
• Length: 330 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

The only "addition" that is actually healthy!

And that would be reading as many "Star Trek" related books as possible as well as other sci-fi works! Even though I grew up with the Original Series Star Trek, I also came to love TNG as well and, later, VOYAGER and ENTERPRISE. Being an avid fan of sci-fi in general, however, it would be an injustice on my part not to mention the many other old and new sci-fi works that both led me to Star Trek and which have forever forged my love for all sci-fi works: "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Puppet Masters", "Foundation", "2001", "2010", "Rendezvous with Rama", "Ringworld", all the "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" books, as well as books as new to the genre as "Advent of the Corps" and others.

ST-New Frontier: Gods Above

Star Trek-New Frontier: Gods Above written by Peter David is an adventure that takes you on a ride of a lifetime. This book continues where "Being Human" has left off and takes us through an interesting story about The Beings. The Beings are made of energy and can take the shape of Earthlike pseudo-Egyptian-Greco-Roman-Norse-Mesopotamian-Gods i.e. Apollo, Artemis, Thoth, Anubis, Woden, and Hermes just to name a few. The Beings need worship to derive their energy and to get the people to worship them they hand out ambrosia to guarantee continued compliance. This book continues the storyline of Mackenzie Calhoun the captain of the U.S.S. Excalibur along with Captain Elizabeth Shelby for the U.S.S. Trident as they face these god-like beings in a show down. Freedom of thought vs. total compliance and worship of a pseudo-god are what's at stake. This book takes us from the Excalibur to the Trident to the planet Danter as we read on. There are twists and turns as McHenry is in a self-imposed state of stasis and is experiencing out of body experiences. The Danteri run off SiCwan and Kalinda as the Thallonians tried to pose a government with them as the head, only to be rescued by an icon in the Trek universe. This is a well-crafted story with plenty of action-adventure to go around. The beginning of the book is a little slow going as David sets-up the story, but there is plenty of character interaction and interplay to make the story interesting as it begins to take stride. There is a good space battle scene and as space begins to open up and things happen. There are scenes in this book that take us back to adventures of Kirk and crew and the original Enterprise-1701. All in all, this was a good, fast and interestingly enjoyable read. I gave it a solid 5 stars and it is worth the purchase price. A point of fact, I have NOT read anything by Peter David that was a dud, he is a very intertaining author that writes a well-told story.

Wow great

Ok before I start would people please stop giving away spoilers in the book on your reviews. It ruins it for someone who has not yet read it.... now the book along with every other New Frontier book is written by a geniues. Peter David,I cannot seem to stop praising him eachtime I read his works. Read the book and trust me you will love it, especially if you have been following the series closely. Its not the best in the series but its far better then most Star Trek books I have read.

?Gods Above? stands tall for Peter David

In what seemed to have taken forever to produce the next installment of the New Frontier series within the Star Trek universe was well worth the wait to readers.After developing a very interesting storyline and expanding upon it from the original television series all those years ago, Peter David re-introduced the entities known as The Beings. The Beings are god like creatures whom ancient humans wrote about as Apollo, Zues, and the like from different human mythologies.The prequel to Gods Above, had The Beings once again bring their drug-like substance known as `ambrosia' to the people of Danter with promises of enlightenment and prosperity in exchange for worship.But Capt. Calhoun of the Excalibur and wife, Capt. Shelby of the Trident know better. Calhoun's ship suffered greatly from the powers of The Beings when he challenged their power, in order to save the misguided Danteri people. Even Ambassador Si Cwan and sister Kalinda seemed to be at the mercy of the gods in the form of Anubis, Egyptian god of death.With both crews of the Trident an Excalibur trying to devise a way to stop the rampant spread of ambrosia and influence of The Beings, other sub-plots introduced continue:Mark McHenry who `died' at the hand of Artemis, may not be dead at all even though his corpse resides in sickbay. Kebron continues his hide shedding and metamorphosis and the results are unexpected. Calhoun's adoptive son, Moke, learns something new about himself and surprises all. Soleta is tempted by the god of truth, Thoth, and even this Vulcan `logic' comes in question.A really interesting development with Robin's mother, Morgan Primus comes to light.A classic Star Trek Icon stops in for a visit.And many more developments to keep the reader entertained. To me, it is amazing on how easy author Peter David can keep the reader energized and continually surprised with all the different plots. The New Frontier easily and continuously fleshes out its characters to keep them fresh and up to date. More so, the New Frontier series really is the more exciting of all the Star Trek series. Think of the crew of the Trident and Excalibur as a combination of a sorority/fraternity life, seedy soap opera, and a dark comedy all rolled into one continuous space faring jaunt.And as always, just when you think things are wrapped up, in classic Peter David style, he leaves the reader with a jaw dropping cliff hanger.

Best New Frontier Book Ever --spoiler heavy

Peter David scores a home run with God's Above. This latest installment has major changes in store for many of our characters and plenty of action. The last book left us with McHenry and Morgan Primus appearing to dead. We have a unique resolution to these to characters that will leave some pleased and some and leave some a bit sad. S'Cwan finally finds out how Lefler feels about him. New information is learned about Moke and we see a major change for the better with Zak Kebron and find out the reason for his behavior in the past that will surprise many. If you disliked Zak in the past you will probably find him more to your liking at the end of the book. I for one cant wait to see where New Frontier will lead. I would love to see them tie up with Captain Riker for a story.