Star Trek: Restoration (New Frontier #11)

 
    This is the Western installment of the New Frontier series and I mean that in the most direct TOS sort of way. There's a big desert planet, an evil cattle baron, and Captain Calhoun comes down to become the new Sheriff in town. I actually love when Star Trek does this sort of stuff because as nonsensical and weird as it is, it is fully the kind of genre-bending I enjoy. It also doesn't take place in a holodeck and I give props for that.

    I don't really have a problem with Star Trek being on the sillier side of things, blasphemy as that may be. I am happy to have our protagonists visit Wild West Planet, Medieval Planet, Gangster Planet, Cyberpunk Planet, or whatever else sort of planet we need for this weeks budget. Contrivances be damned. It's one of the major appeals of New Frontier that they're willing to put a bunch of TNG-era characters in TOS sort of situations and really is the ethos of the entire series.

    But is the story really good for Mac? Surprisingly, I'd say so because there's some very interesting character development for him. His single-target sexuality (Kat Mueller aside) to Shelby is challenged by the possibility of falling in love with the Girl-of-The-Week but the big difference is that it leaves him with huge consequences: a son that he chooses and raise as his own. I thought that was a brave decision of Peter David and it leads to some very interesting encounters along the way as Mac is forced to confront his biological son seeing his adopted one.

    Random aside, I actually liked the romance of Mac and Rheela because Peter David writes the former as a man capable in all areas except romance. Mac has been with, as far as we can tell, three women in his life with his awkwardness extremely apparent when he's in a romantic situation. There's the girl he lost his virginity to, Shelby, Kat, and now the "determined homesteader" archetype. Mac is confidant everywhere but here and it's really rather sweet to see how they bond while she struggles to deal with the fact he's uncomfortable with her overtures.

    The story goes in a very odd direction with the fact that Rheela had an affair with Odin and her rain-making son is the result. That'll come up later but is the kind of absolute batguano insanity that reminds you that Peter David is a comic book writer even when he's writing novels. It's also what contributes to making New Frontier so unique.

    Even more so, I like Shelby's plot in the book and her proof that she is worthy of being a Star Fleet captain who is going to save an entire race from genocide. Even more so, she works to try to prevent a war. The Prime Directive looms over this one a great deal but understandably so. I also feel like her First Officer really shouldn't ever be a captain by the way they act regarding Shelby's decisions. Basically, they just tut-tut about the rules and constantly miss anything deeper, which is exactly the opposite of what a captain is supposed to do. To sit in the big chair, you have to interpret them in a way that goes beyond rote repetition.

    In any case, this is a good "ending" for the series with the reunification of the crew as well as Shelby accepting they're her family even if she has her own command. I'm going to have some "issues" sadly with where the story goes from here. 

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