Balance of Power (Star Trek The Next Generation, No 33)

Reader Reviews
After the serious nature of author Dafydd Ab Hugh's first Star Trek novel, Deep Space Nines #5 "Fallen Heroes," "Balance of Power" is a lighter hearted, much more whimsical novel, while still possessing a story of a serious nature that is well told. I definitely like Dafydd Ab Hugh's writing style as well, as it is fluidic, with good pacing that doesn't bog down too often. The characterizations for this novel were "dead on" accurate for the known characters in each situation. The cover art for this novel is pretty much the bland, standard fare for when it was published. The premise: In an unusual premise for a STNG novel, the author draws primarily from known characters between STNG and DS9, bringing them into a hilarious, well told tale. It was especially nice to see Grand Nagus Zek get some time in a novel! A famous Federation scientist dies and his son puts up many of his quirky inventions for auction to the highest bidder. Many Federation and non Federation races come to this auction, in hopes of acquiring the technology. Among those items being auctioned is a powerful photon pulse canon that is capable of punching right through a starships shields; an item that the Federation would definitely not like to see in the hands of the Klingons, Romulans or Cardassians. In a bold move for a novel, the author also brings Wesley Crusher at Starfleet Academy into the story. (I say bold move because for some reason, many "fans" totally rejected this character out of hand.) While attempting to aide his best friend, Wesley finds himself kidnapped by outlaw Ferengi that are bent on controlling the universe through commerce and they've set their sights on the photon pulse canon. Captain Picard now finds himself in a race to save not only the Enterprise but the entire Federation from this deadly weapon and those controlling it while having every antagonistic race in the Alpha Quadrant aligned against him. What follows from there is an extremely hilarious and enjoyable STNG novel that I highly recommend to any and all fans of the genre! {ssintrepid}