rihannsu – Deep Space Spines

#042: Final Frontier (TOS event novel)

On 3 August 2018

This week, the longest Star Trek novel to date takes us once more back to the pre-TOS past to fill in some of the history of Daddy Kirk, a.k.a. George Samuel Kirk. He’s the first first officer of some new high-tech doodad called a … star … ship? But on a goodwill mission to save some families trapped in an ion storm, they overshoot their destination and end up smack dab in the middle of Romulan space. As they try to figure out how to get home without dying, Robert April and George Kirk butt heads over the best approach to commanding a ship. Is April the time of the season, or does father know best? Is it a little weird how many decent Romulans there are in the books? How empty, on a scale from very to extremely, is James Kirk’s threat to quit Starfleet? It’s Final Frontier, or, The Last Book to Have That Ugly Slanted Font Thing Going On on the Cover.

#038: The Romulan Way (TOS #35)

By jess

On 6 July 2018

In TOS

You ever get to a point with food where you’re just completely over it? Like, nothing you can imagine sounds less appealing than eating or looking at food or thinking about food? That’s where I was with Romulans in Star Trek novels for a while. In the wake of Diane Duane’s first Rihannsu novel, a glut of stories featuring Romulans as the villains jammed up the publishing schedule—at one point, they figured into three of the four then-most recent stories—and though for the most part they acquitted themselves well enough, they just couldn’t hold a candle to Duane’s singular approach. (Though to be fair, not much can.) And now, just as I can feel my appetite for them returning, along comes Rihannsu number two—and it’s a meal fit for a Praetor.

#025: Dwellers in the Crucible (TOS #25)

By jess

On 6 April 2018

In TOS

Remember when two daring authors named John M. Ford and Diane Duane created rich, dense histories and cultures for Klingons and Romulans from almost no raw materials whatsoever? Pepperidge Farm remembers. But so do some authors who came along later, like Margaret Wander Bonanno, who makes her debut here. Get ready for some of the Klingon-iest Klingons, Vulcan-iest Vulcans, and … well, there’s not much new or exciting going on with the Romulans, but they’re here, too.

#018: My Enemy, My Ally (TOS #18)

By jess

On 16 February 2018

In TOS

Just two novels ago, John M. Ford took a deep dive into Klingon culture in The Final Reflection, and now Diane Duane takes a similar turn with the Romulans in My Enemy, My Ally, the first of what will be either four or five books (depending on whether you want to count Swordhunt and Honor Blade as one book or two) in the Rihannsu saga. I mean, sure, there was Web of the Romulans, but we’re talking about good books here.

Tag: rihannsu

#042: Final Frontier (TOS event novel)

#038: The Romulan Way (TOS #35)

#025: Dwellers in the Crucible (TOS #25)

#018: My Enemy, My Ally (TOS #18)