I just finished Star Trek: Enterprise : Rise of the Federation: A Choice of Futures by Christopher L. Bennett over the holiday weekend. It's been a while since I invested any time in a Star Trek novel, but I have to say I was very pleased by the read. The book was quick (very much in part to the way the chapters were broken down by date), had the television episodic feel, and seemed to hold true to the characterizations established by the series.

Like much episodic television, the novel has both an "A" and a "B" plot. The "A" plot focuses on the new Federation's efforts to establish communications with a species first glimpsed the episode "Silent Enemy". We learned next to nothing about the aliens in that episode, which gave Mister Bennett lots of room to imagine why the species communicated as they did.

The "B" plot centers on Malcolm Reed who now commands his own ship, with Mayweather as his first officer. They end up almost losing the U.S.S. Pioneer, but are saved thanks to a fortuitous first contact. Reed has lots of reasons to question his command ability, but ends up discovering that he is becoming the commander he had hoped to be, and gaining a new Starfleet family.

There's a lot more than these two plot points. Easter eggs and a sense that we are playing in the Roddenberry universe with it's moral compass, rather than the Abrams universe. I have an affinity for the Vulcans, and wished there had been more T'Pol and Soval. There's a lot of potential in pairing Captain T'Pol with an Andorian first officer.

My sense is that Bennett can handle these characters well, while moving them forward. They are creating the Star Trek we see in the Original Series, and it feels as if that is what is happening. I'm looking forward to the next novel in this series.