Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio (Audiobook – 21 May 2024)

Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation

Length: 11 hours

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Leading Star Trek author Dayton Ward presents a compelling new tie-in novel that bridges the gap between two of the franchise’s most iconic shows in the outstanding and impressive Pliable Truths.

I have mentioned a few times on this blog that Star Trek extended fiction is amongst some of the richest and most comprehensive of all the assembled tie-in fiction.  There are hundreds of intriguing novels that expand on the universe introduced in the television series and movies, all of which are highly fascinating, especially for fans of the various shows.  While I haven’t explored Star Trek extended fiction as much as some other franchises out there, I have had the pleasure of reading several outstanding books, with some of my favourites including The Captain’s Oath by Christopher L. Bennett, The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack and Die Standing by John Jackson Miller.  Due to my enjoyment of these previous books, I keep an eye out for new Star Trek releases, and I was very intrigued when I saw that Dayton Ward had released a new book, Pliable Truths.

Dayton Ward is well-known science fiction author who has made a name for himself creating tie-in fiction for several different franchises.  Ward’s most comprehensive work involves writing Star Trek novels, with the author writing an intriguing collection of different Star Trek books connected to different series.  I have read a couple of Ward’s books in recent years, including The Next Generation novel, Available Light, and the Original Series novel, Agents of Influence.  These previous books from Ward both proved to be very impressive, and I had a great time reading them.  As such, when I saw that Pliable Truths was written by Ward, I knew it was going to be another fantastic read, especially as the author has a lot of experience writing fiction for the various Star Trek series, periods and timelines.  This latest novel, Pliable Truths, while ostensibly tied-into The Next Generation series, also serves as a compelling bridging novel between the events of The Next Generation and its spin-off series, Deep Space Nine.

Following a tumultuous series of events, Starfleet has managed to thwart a planned invasion of a Federation system by the Cardassians.  Thrown into political disarray by their military defeat, the Cardassian civilian government has acceded to Starfleet demands and ordered the withdrawal from the occupied planet of Bajor.  Long enslaved by the Cardassians, the Bajorans are determined to once again rule themselves, but they first reluctantly require the assistance of the Federation.

To ensure a peaceful transition of power to the new Bajoran government, Starfleet orders Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the Enterprise to the Bajor to oversee negotiations between the Bajorans and the Cardassians.  Still recovering from his own recent trauma suffered at the hands of a Cardassians torturer, Picard is unsure if he is ready to fairly arbitrate the question of recompense and justice.  But with no other choice, Picard travels to the massive Cardassian space station orbiting Bajor, Terok Nor.

Attempting to stay neutral and calm, Picard soon finds his patience tested by the disruptive tactics of the Cardassians, as they seek to gain advantage from the chaos surrounding the withdraw.  The situation looks to become even more complicated when Ensign Ro Laren receives a message from a long-missing friend, exposing deadly secrets from inside Cardassian space.  Forced to balance the needs of the Bajorans with a desire to stop a new war erupting between the Federation and the Cardassians, Picard will need to utilise all his diplomatic skills to salvage the situation.  But can even Picard remain calm when he comes face to the face with the man responsible for his recent torture?

Dayton Ward continues to showcase why he is one of the top authors of Star Trek fiction with this compelling and intriguing read.  Serving as a brilliant bridge between two key shows, Pliable Truths has an outstanding story behind it that does an amazing job diving into the iconic lore and characters of the Star Trek universe.

Pliable Truths had a great narrative behind it that sought to simultaneously fill in certain gaps between The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, while also producing a standalone narrative that proved quite intriguing to get into.  Set between the events of The Next Generation episode Chain of Command and the first episode of Deep Space Nine, Pliable Truth’s main story primarily follows The Next Generation cast, as well as several of the best characters from Deep Space Nine, as they attempt to help Bajor adapt to its independence.  At the same time, a separate storyline follows a group of Bajoran labours working at a Cardassian prison camp, whose freedom is threatened by the dark secrets surrounding the camp.  I very much enjoyed how both storylines unfolded, as the Cardassian labour camp part of the narrative is quite intense and focuses on a raft of intriguing new characters engaged in a game of cat and mouse, as the prisoners try to work out why they are still imprisoned and how they can save themselves.  At the same time, the storyline around the Enterprise crew and Bajor focuses on the attempts to rebuilt Bajor and the future Deep Space Nine space station, as well as the ongoing negotiations between the Cardassians and the Bajorans, moderated by Picard.

This main storyline with the established characters of the two series proves to be an entertaining and enjoyable experience, especially as Ward works in so many references and key characters.  The unique interactions between the characters from both shows, most of whom never shared screentime, is very fun, and Ward does a great job playing up both the emotional and entertainment value of these interactions.  However, the heart of this story revolves around Picard as he comes face to face with the Cardassians after the events of Chain of Command where he was tortured (“There are four lights!”).  This proves to be an emotionally charged part of the story, especially when Picard is required to deal with his former torturer Gul Madred.  As Picard is forced to deal with his trauma, his crew encounter a series of complications and sabotages they need to overcome to save the station and the planet.

Both storylines come together extremely well as Pliable Truths nears its end, and I liked how well Ward balanced these separate narrative threads.  The darker moments of the Cardassian prison planet serves as an interesting contrast to the fanservice taking place in the main storyline, and I think this combination of storylines made for quite a distinctive narrative that stood on its own.  Ward brings a certain amount of tragedy to the end of Pliable Truths, which helped to enhance some of the more positive moments of the story, including Picard regaining his confidence, and the potentially bright future for Bajor.  All the main story elements get wrapped up satisfactorily, and I liked some of the entertaining twists that Ward through in there.  An overall impressive story and one that will appeal to a lot of Star Trek fans, Pliable Truths was a great read that I couldn’t get enough of.

Now this proved to be a very interesting Star Trek novel which is primarily going to appeal to fans of the franchise.  Ward, who knows more than most about Star Trek, does a wonderful job turning Pliable Truths into a compelling bridging novel between the two key series.  Showcasing the events that lead to the Federation having a presence on Deep Space Nine and the Cardassian withdrawal from Bajor, Pliable Truth fills in a lot of the gaps between The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.  There is a lot of detail covered here in Pliable Truths as result, and I really enjoyed Ward’s take on the story and how the intervening events likely unfolded.  As a fan of both shows, I found this to be very cool, especially as Ward layers in a ton of clever and intricate references that fans of both shows, especially Deep Space Nine, will really appreciate.  Things like Riker’s legendary win at Quarks, the early machinations of Garak, the reasons behind O’Brien’s decision to stay at the station, and more are all featured here, and Ward obviously had fun including them in his story.  Ward also takes the time to cover the various atrocities of the Cardassian occupation of Bajor, which is referenced a lot in the shows, and which becomes a key part of this plot.  Discussing the various horrors committed by the Cardassians adds a darker tinge to much of the plot, and the obviously parallels to real-life occupations, ensure the reader comes away very thoughtful.  As such, Pliable Truths really is geared towards existing Star Trek fans, although I’m sure casual readers can probably have fun with this book, especially if they have watched some of Deep Space Nine.

One of the best parts of Pliable Truths was the excellent way in which Ward presented several iconic Star Trek characters and utilised them in the plot.  All of the key characters from The Next Generation were very strongly featured in Pliable Truths to various degrees, and even a few minor recurring characters had major showings in this book.  Each of them is featured in a manner very similar to how they appeared in the show, which I deeply appreciated, and it is a testament to Ward’s abilities as an author that he made them feel very realistic here.  The most prominent of these is Captain Jean-Luc Picard, who has the most compelling storyline in the entire novel.  Picard, who in the story recently suffered from immense torture during the Chain of Command episodes, is shown to still be in mental recovery during this book, especially as his latest ordeal compounds various other traumatic experiences Picard has suffered over the years.  As such, much of this book is dedicated to Picard facing his Cardassian-related demons, which becomes the emotional heart of the story.  This becomes especially true when Picard’s former torturer appears, and their resulting scenes together are some of the strongest in the books.

Aside from The Next Generation cast, quite a lot of Pliable Truths is spent focusing on several intriguing figures who would go on to become main characters in the Deep Space Nine series.  Ward does a great job setting the scene for them to enter the plot of the new show, and I liked the way in which the author bridged the gaps between their first appearances on Deep Space Nine and their established backstories.  The includes focusing on Miles O’Brien and examining the reasons why he chose to leave the Enterprise and become an engineer on the station.  Quark and Odo get several fun sequences, Deep Space Nine antagonist Gul Dukat gets to menace around in all his arrogant glory, while Major Kira has an extended sequence with her badass abilities on full display.  However, my favourite character appearance was the always entertaining Elim Garak.  The “former” Cardassian spy turned “simple” tailor, Garak has some great moments in Pliable Truths as he starts to come to terms with his exile, as well as the growing fortunes of his former comrades/rivals.  Ward does an outstanding job capturing the hilarious nature of Garak and his cutting remarks, and he proved to be a fantastic figure in Pliable Truths, especially with his final hilarious, if sinister, scene.  I loved seeing earlier versions of several key Deep Space Nine characters in this story, especially as they also have unique interactions with their The Next Generation counterparts, and any fan of the show will have a wonderful time seeing them in action here.

As with most pieces of tie-in fiction I enjoy, I ended up listening to Pliable Truths on audiobook, which proved to be an excellent experience.  I personally find that the Star Trek books come across extremely well in this format, and at times it almost feels like you are watching one of the television shows.  A lot of this is due to the excellent narration of Robert Petkoff, who has lent his voice to many Star Trek audiobooks over the years.  One of my favourite audiobook narrators, Petkoff is well known for his ability to replicate the voices of many of the characters from the Star Trek franchise, especially the original series.  His work in Pliable Truths is pretty damn epic, especially as he brings so many classic characters to life with his great impersonations.  I felt that his versions of many of the Next Generation cast members, particularly Picard, Riker, Worf and Data, came across extremely well in Pliable Truths, and I also liked his take on the various Deep Space Nine characters that appeared, including Odo, Quark and Garak.  In addition to his great take on many of the characters from the show, Petkoff also supplies fitting voices to various new figures who only appear in this book.  In this case, Petkoff takes care to really highlight the species of the relevant character, utilising accents and tones associated with them from the show.   This excellent voice work really helped to drag me into the story, and I had a brilliant time listening to this wonderful audiobook.  Coming in with a run time of 11 hours, this is a very easy audiobook to get through quickly, and I would strongly recommend Pliable Truths in this format.

Pliable Truths was an incredible new Star Trek novel from Dayton Ward that provides fans of the franchise with some great callbacks to two classic television series.  Featuring a fantastic story and great interpretations of so many amazing characters, I had a wonderful time listening to Pliable Truths and it was one of the better audiobooks I have so far listened to in 2024.

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