SHADOWS HAVE OFFENDED (Star Trek: TNG) (audiobook) by Cassandra Rose Clarke

 










Published in 2021 by Simon and Schuster Audio.
Read by Robert Petkoff.
Duration: 8 hours, 45 minutes.
Unabridged.

Synopsis:

This story of Shadows Have Offended is set in season 7 of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The command team of the Enterprise is split. Data, Riker and the doctor are helping scout out a planet for a group of refugees. They are planning to resettle there, but there has been a glitch in the last round of data. 

The Enterprise is in orbit around Betazed. The ship delivered several ambassadors to the planet to participate in a planet-wide ceremony. Counselor Troi and Captain Picard are participating as well. 

But, things go awry on Betazed when three iconic relics are stolen and taken off world in the middle of the ceremony.

Meanwhile, the away team scouting the new planet is having its own issues...

My Review:

I liked the idea of a story where the command team is split into two parts when there are multiple crises and having them work in areas that they were not necessarily comfortable. But, both of these stories were slow-moving and the Betazed story line just never didn't have enough going for it to make it a stand-alone story for me.

There is another problem as well. The Enterprise is part of a space-based navy and rank means something in navies. Lieutenant Commander Data kept on being referred to as Lieutenant Data. Titles mean something and a Lt. Commander is a lot different than a Lieutenant. 

At one point in his story, Lt. Worf takes command of the Enterprise. No big deal in and of itself because Worf could use some command experience and there is no better time than while the ship is orbiting a friendly planet doing nothing but waiting for a boring ceremony to end.

But, it is a big deal when it involves taking command during the equivalent of an international incident. Both Geordi La Forge and Counselor Troi have previous command experience. They also outrank Worf and should have been in charge since Picard was stuck planetside at the request of Ambassador Troi. If you are a La Forge fan, sorry, I don't even think he makes an appearance in the book. It would have made some sense to put a Betaz


oid in charge considering the politics of the incident.

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here:

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