Hi everyone! How are you all? Today is Friday, and it’s time for another review. Today, I am reviewing Star Trek: Picard: Firewall by David Mack.

Star Trek: Picard: Firewall was initially published in February 2024 by Pocket Books and is 336 pages long.

The Plot
Star Trek: Picard: Firewall serves as both a sequel to Star Trek: Voyager and a prequel to the events of Star Trek: Picard. Here, a disenfranchised Seven of Nine searches for somewhere she can be fully accepted without anyone wanting her to be more human or less Borg. In joining the Fenris Rangers, she begins to find her place and her people, and for the first time, she expands her family beyond the crew of the Starship Voyager. While trying to discover her place in the galaxy, Seven and the rangers endeavour to take down a would-be warlord bent on ruling over the Quiris sector.

Characters
Seven
This story takes place after the events of the Star Trek Voyager finale and before the start of Star Trek: Picard, so this is a version of Seven we haven’t seen yet. In Voyager, she is ‘new’ to humanity, having spent the majority of her life as a Borg drone before Janeway freed her, and in Picard, she is a more well-adjusted (as much as an ex-Borg drone can be) version of herself. Here, though, we find Seven at odds with her place in the universe and in the lives of her former crewmates.

As the story progresses, we get to see the middle bit of Seven’s character development; we see how she manages to deal with her newfound lone existence and all the emotions and desires that this entails – for instance, we get to see Seven deal with her feelings of loneliness without the familiarity of Voyager and her crew and even see her moshing in a queer dive bar, which was interesting.

Harper
Harper is a Fenris ranger who meets Seven when she helps him acquire much-needed medicines. Taking an instant liking to her, he decides to help her join the Fenris Rangers and becomes her mentor and a sort of de facto father figure.

Ellory
Ellory is a fellow Fenris Ranger. After some initial back and forth, she and Seven fall for one another and begin a relationship. Ellory helps Seven to access and process her emotions in a way she has felt previously unable to.

Kathryn Janeway
In Firewall, Janeway and Seven’s relationship is a little strained. After the Federation refuses to accept Seven as a citizen with the same rights as any other because of her Borg implants, she decides to leave, believing that her presence in Janeway’s life may harm her former Captain’s social and professional standing.

Janeway doesn’t want her to leave, thinking they should try and change the minds of those in charge. When she does, it’s clear that Janeway feels a maternal connection towards her — something also evident in Star Trek Voyager — and worries about where she is and who she may have gotten involved with. As the story goes on, both characters start to see things from the others’ perspective, even learning to work together again.

Kohgish
Kohgish is the story’s main antagonist. He wants to rule over the entire Quiris Sector and sets about plundering planets and wiping out populations to get what he wants. That is until Seven of Nine and the other Fenris Rangers decide he has gone too far.

Writing Style
Mack’s writing style is engaging, pulling the reader into the story world from the off. His descriptions of the various settings, from the nightclubs to the depths of space, are vivid and immersive, making you feel you are right there with the characters in the story world. Hìs knowledge of the Star Trek universe is also evident throughout the novel, with references to past events and to characters that will be familiar to fans of the franchise.

Speaking of the characters, those in Firewall are well-developed, with their personalities shining through in every scene, particularly those of Seven and Harper, allowing readers to become fully invested in their arcs.

The plot is fast-paced and has plenty of drama and action to keep the reader engaged; from space battles to daring rescues, Mack does not hold back in delivering pulse-pounding excitement. The balance between the various plot threads is fantastic, and Mack’s done a great job of weaving them together satisfyingly and cohesively, giving the story a great cinematic feel.

Final Thoughts
I didn’t know what I was going to get with this book; I thought we knew everything there was to know about Seven, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I have always been a Seven of Nine fan and was surprised when she showed up in Star Trek: Picard, seemingly as a different version of the same character. However, we learn in Picard that she has changed how she behaves around people to appear more ‘human’, and in Firewall, we can see her begin to make those adjustments as she starts to connect more with her emotional side.

Overall, Star Trek: Picard: Firewall was an entertaining and enjoyable read and a must for Trek fans. With its intriguing story and well-formed characters, this book is sure to satisfy.

I am giving this one a 7/10.

Have you read Star Trek: Picard: Firewall? What did you think of it?

As ever, thank you for stopping by to read my review.

Until next time,

George

© 2024 GLT

Categories: Book Reviews, Reading

Tags: book review, Janeway, Picard, review, Seven of Nine, Star Trek, Trek, Viyager