Rosetta (Spoiler)

S P O I L E R

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Rosetta is a pretty straight forward easy read but that is not a
criticism, just an observation. It is definitely my favourite Star Trek
book written by Dave Stern and I enjoyed it very much.

When Enterprise was still on, I always regretted it not to be able to
watch more episodes with Hoshi because there were definitely a few
stories featuring the same talented, resourceful, caring woman as shown
in this book as a main character but not enough of them. Nothing against
T`Pol but I think it would have benefited Enterprise to explore Hoshi
more often because she has more to offer than being a translator on legs
and that there is more than one female main character on the Enterprise.

Dave Stern presented a Hoshi at her best and also explored the character
very well. Her insecurities and fears resulting from her captivity and
torture by the Xindi made a lot of sense to me and added to the climax
building up at the end of the book. I very much enjoyed how she dealt
with Sen and how each obstacle only made her more determined to find out
the truth. I could see that Hoshi got more and more confident and
decisive the more the story progressed. I am glad that she seemed to
have regained her inner balance

I only read very few comments about this book before reading it and
therefore I approached a Star Trek book spoiler free for a change. When
it was mentioned that Theera was the only survivor and combined with the
circumstances I immediately got suspicious about her true nature. I
expected Theera to be a plant but a victim who had been used at the same
time but I would never have guessed who and what the Antianna and her
really are. I like books that are able to surprise me and on top of that
I found this idea fascinating and repulsive at the same time. The
Antianna are alive in their own way but in a cold, calculated, logical
manner you would describe a soulless machine without feelings.

I think the first page of the epilogue explains why the book is called
Rosetta and it is an intriguing idea. I am no expert in treknology but
if it would indeed be possible to include a telepathic element into a
universial translator, the background of this book could be seen as a
Rosetta stone.

All the other characterizations are very accurate. I also especially
enjoyed the part Malcolm Reed played. David Stern showed a very capable
security chief but did include the qualities that made him attractive to
Section 31 as well. By the way, I think it was an excellent idea to
include the two Bynar, too.

And Trip and the problems with command - Some parts of that aspects were
very amusing and I welcomed it to have some good humorous parts in this
book as well.

I only wasn`t that happy with Mayweather`s part. I can`t put my finger
on it but it felt like an addition - let`s give him something to do as
well. I didn`t dislike his part of the book but to me, it didn`t add
anything either I was looking forward to or found of any interest.

I heard that Mayweather has a much better part in "Last Full Measure". I
am very much looking forward to it!

Baerbel Haddrell