Art of the Impossible

The Lost Era - the Art of the Impossible, by Keith R A DeCandido. Pocket
Books, 2003.

This is the third in a series of books which fill in the years between the
end of the Original Series films and the start of Next Generation. All
those little things you have always wanted to know - what happened to
Sulu, Chekov and Uhura, why didn¹t Will Riker get along with his father,
what was the Tomed incident, why did the Cardassians build Terok Nor, why
did Worf end up being raised by humans, what did Curzon Dax do - are
answered in this series.
This book is about the Klingons and Cardassians mainly, as they squabble
over a planet which contains important relics. The book begins with a tale
of an anonymous Klingon, and finishes with an anonymous Cardassian family,
but in between we learn a lot about several important figures in the
history of both planets. The humans - sorry, the Federation - are
involved, too, including many figures we know only through their
histories.
I found this book very entertaining, a tribute to the author as I find
Klingons boring normally. Not all the characters are heroic. Curzon Dax is
not a popular figure at all. If I have a complaint (and it isn¹t really)
all the alien races are too human.
The books are not quite consecutive. In this book we hear reference to the
destruction of the Enterprise and Captain Rachel Garrett, but the next
book is about Rachel Garrett. But these books are for those who already
know the backstory, and want the details filled in. I think they do it
very well.

my URL,
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~mcardle