What do you think?
Rate this book
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
The Lives of Dax
Nine stories by top SF authors view the whole of Star Trek history through one special character's eyes. One of the most popular and compelling Star Trek characters ever created, Dax is a wormlike being who is joined body and soul to a succession of humanoid hosts. Each life is different, each body is different, each personality is different, but all of them are Dax. At one time or another Dax has been male, female, a Starfleet officer, a statesman, a scientist, and ambassador, even a serial killer. The symbiont's humanoid hosts have included Curzon, friend of Klingons, and Jadzia, science officer on Deep Space Nine and latterly wife of Worf. The most recent incarnation is Ezri Dax, station counsellor on Deep Space Nine. Designed to appeal to fans of every version of Star Trek, the stories in The Lives of Dax each show a different host's adventure—nine incredible lives stretched out over 357 years of Star Trek history. The stories are rich with different aliens, planets, battles, personal struggles, surprising revelations, and guest stars galore.
400 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1999
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 112 reviews
March 15, 2013
I read this one because, frankly, I consider DS9 to be the best series, and because Jadzia was my favourite female character. While I agree that including famous Trek characters here and there seemed a little forced (especially if they play out cliches rather than add anything interesting to the plot), overall, I think it's worth it, especially if you want to read into the history and customs of Trill (since DS9 offered only some glimpses of that world). To paraphrase The Smiths, some stories are bigger than others - the most disappoiting one was the Emony story - it was quite clear it would be about her affair with McCoy (come on, wouldn't all ST fans want to know what really happened there?), and that I don't mind, but it was just poorly written: the premise, character creation, dialogue... no better than an average fanfic. Jadzia's story also could've been executed far better. Best one? Tobin's, surprisingly. The plot is so plausible that I could almost see the whole thing as a major Trek episode. Joran's was a page-turner. Audrid's story, while it quite unnecessarily included Captain Pike, offered a very nice (but pretty scary) connection to certain events of ST: The Next Generation. And I actually liked the 'anthology' format - perfect in this case.
June 10, 2021
Dax was a fantastic DS9 character - driven, intense, passionate, impulsive - and the symbiotic and secretive Trill among the most intriguing alien species featured on Star Trek. Each story in this collection focuses on a pivotal event in the life of one of Dax's hosts and are generally excellent, the only dud the sappy story covering Emony and her brief romantic encounter with a young Dr. McCoy. Many are interesting for the light they shed on Dax's past (including careers as a politician, scientist, test pilot, diplomat, etc) and the insight they give on the evolution of her composite identity through nine lifetimes over the course of several centuries. Several are quite suspenseful and even chilling, particularly those covering Audrid and her exploration of an eerie stray comet with faintly detectable bio signs, and the demented Joran, the host who shall not be named.
March 28, 2018
Nine short stories about each of the Dax symbiont's lives. Many of these stories end with a cover-up in order to render them canon-complaint; an understandable impulse, but tiresome. The plots are standalone minisodes, most of them are scaled well to short fiction and decently written, but they're not often about the Trill directly or, when they are, focused on the insularity of Trill society. It teases a lot of fascinating, nuanced issues: Trill who don't want to be joined; the ways that host and symbiont inform each other's identity; the role that joining plays in Trill social hierarchy, the limitations of the reassociation taboo, and the way that joining affects a host's prior relationships. But it lacks a concentrated, interior focus, and the potential for interiority is exactly what I want a novel tie-in to capitalize on. More navel-gazing, please; I can find cogent speculative plots elsewhere. I don't regret reading this; it's better than nothing--but still not enough.
July 29, 2010
An anthology of stories each featuring a different Dax host sounds like a good idea. Then I read the list of authors. Some of them I like, but I know from experience that some are notable for their lack of insight, ingenuity, and story telling skills. Luckily, it's easier to overlook these flaws in short story form than in novels.
The book starts of promisingly enough with Ezri and Vic Fontaine. The device of the anthology is Ezri is explaining Dax's lives to Vic. The Vic/Ezri bits are good, but her story is merely ok.
The next three stories - Lela, Tobin, & Emony - are solid. In fact, if I had to rate the book based solely on those three, this would be a 5-star no problem. The Audrid story loses some effectiveness due to the letter format, but is ok. The Torias story was the one I was most worried about as that author wrote the thoroughly dreadful The Tempest. The story was truly uninspired and recounted a story already mentioned in the series. I would have preferred an original story about Torias and his wife.
From there you would think the authors would have an easy time. Joran as the murderous host should have been a slam dunk, but the story lacked enthusiasm. The plum assignment of Curzon's story was ruined by being told by Sisko which could have been awesome, but the author did not capture his voice at all and introduced new aliens that seemed cut and pasted from a different project. It didn't capture the fun loving side of Curzon nor the mentor relationship with Sisko. Utter fail.
Of course Jadzia could be a difficult one. A short story based on the Trill the audience knows best could be fraught with pitfalls. And this one certainly is. The stories about Jadzia's youth were dull. The story should have focused on either the sisters' relationship or on the crime. Instead it didn't do much of anything. The story does have Sisko and Bashir, but neither is used in any effective way especially Bashir who could easily have been any anonymous doctor. Very disappointing.
The problem that gnaws at me is how Ezri starts the ball rolling by explaining her stream of consciousness "rambling" to Vic and then the stories that follow don't seem to follow any pattern. What was the point of using the Vic/Ezri wrappers if they don't set up the premise? The ending bumper is unsatisfying as well.
The book starts of promisingly enough with Ezri and Vic Fontaine. The device of the anthology is Ezri is explaining Dax's lives to Vic. The Vic/Ezri bits are good, but her story is merely ok.
The next three stories - Lela, Tobin, & Emony - are solid. In fact, if I had to rate the book based solely on those three, this would be a 5-star no problem. The Audrid story loses some effectiveness due to the letter format, but is ok. The Torias story was the one I was most worried about as that author wrote the thoroughly dreadful The Tempest. The story was truly uninspired and recounted a story already mentioned in the series. I would have preferred an original story about Torias and his wife.
From there you would think the authors would have an easy time. Joran as the murderous host should have been a slam dunk, but the story lacked enthusiasm. The plum assignment of Curzon's story was ruined by being told by Sisko which could have been awesome, but the author did not capture his voice at all and introduced new aliens that seemed cut and pasted from a different project. It didn't capture the fun loving side of Curzon nor the mentor relationship with Sisko. Utter fail.
Of course Jadzia could be a difficult one. A short story based on the Trill the audience knows best could be fraught with pitfalls. And this one certainly is. The stories about Jadzia's youth were dull. The story should have focused on either the sisters' relationship or on the crime. Instead it didn't do much of anything. The story does have Sisko and Bashir, but neither is used in any effective way especially Bashir who could easily have been any anonymous doctor. Very disappointing.
The problem that gnaws at me is how Ezri starts the ball rolling by explaining her stream of consciousness "rambling" to Vic and then the stories that follow don't seem to follow any pattern. What was the point of using the Vic/Ezri wrappers if they don't set up the premise? The ending bumper is unsatisfying as well.
March 18, 2012
I really, really liked this--more than I thought I would. Technically, this isn't a novel, but a short story anthology, but it reads more like a novel given its structure and subject--Dax, the Trill symbiont in its various nine lives. As the editor said in the Introduction, "Dax is a living anthology--a collection of stories. The book would be too." And it works--beautifully. Each of the hosts, Lela, Tobin, Emony, Audrid, Torias, Joran, Curzon, Jadzia gets their own story by different authors--with Ezri bookending the anthology. And because Dax's existence spans the history of the federation, almost all the stories have a tie-in to the Star Trek universe with such characters as T'Pau, Doctor Leonard McCoy, Christopher Pike, Saavik, Sisko and Vic Fontaine featured in the various stories.
A lot of the Star Trek pro fiction strikes me as bland, but for the most part these are very strong stories--even one by an official Star Trek author, S.D. Perry, whose novel Cloak I had recently tried and found lacking. Her entry, "Sins of the Mother" turned out suspenseful, stylish and imaginative. And she co-authored one of my favorite stories in the book, the noir-ish "Allegro Ouroboros in D Minor." Steven Barnes "The Music Between the Notes" was notable for his strong science fiction premises, and "Reflections" by L.A. Graf not just a touching story about Jadzia but a well put together mystery. I think the weakest link was Michael Jan Friedman's "Old Souls." It was told largely from the perspective of a teenage Leonard McCoy, and I just was never convinced I was hearing the authentic voice of the young Bones. But otherwise the stories handled the characters and Star Trek universe well and I really liked how the bookend stories by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens tied it all together. I can't imagine fans of Star Trek fiction being disappointed by this one; it made a great read.
A lot of the Star Trek pro fiction strikes me as bland, but for the most part these are very strong stories--even one by an official Star Trek author, S.D. Perry, whose novel Cloak I had recently tried and found lacking. Her entry, "Sins of the Mother" turned out suspenseful, stylish and imaginative. And she co-authored one of my favorite stories in the book, the noir-ish "Allegro Ouroboros in D Minor." Steven Barnes "The Music Between the Notes" was notable for his strong science fiction premises, and "Reflections" by L.A. Graf not just a touching story about Jadzia but a well put together mystery. I think the weakest link was Michael Jan Friedman's "Old Souls." It was told largely from the perspective of a teenage Leonard McCoy, and I just was never convinced I was hearing the authentic voice of the young Bones. But otherwise the stories handled the characters and Star Trek universe well and I really liked how the bookend stories by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens tied it all together. I can't imagine fans of Star Trek fiction being disappointed by this one; it made a great read.
April 23, 2014
The premise of this book is really clever, and it's actually a fairly well executed project; the stories work well together and are (literally) bookended by a contribution that does a good job of unifying them and drawing out an overarching moral. Still, it comes up short because it never successfully engages with Dax the symbiont. Instead of having continuity of personality, Dax seems to be more of a repository of memories that can be selectively opened and shut by its hosts, who are all so different that the reader never gets a sense of Dax's character. As for the writing, some of the stories read a bit like fan fiction, but they get progressively better. It's fun to return to the Star Trek universe and learn about Jadzia/Ezri's past, but it would've been nice to have gotten to know Dax better, too.
August 28, 2013
I was really excited about this one -- the intro was very Ezri, and I enjoyed the first three stories (Lela, Tobin, and Emony), but the later stories didn't hold my attention as much, I have to admit. And yes, I absolutely did picture the various DS9 cast members in my head for each host. I regret nothing :D
June 8, 2016
hit and miss. lots of miss.
January 21, 2017
My first Star Trek book combines one of my favorite Deep Space Nine characters with a smart character (studies) concept that is a readable and intriguing exploration of Dax's lives.
July 3, 2017
While I love the idea of telling Dax's story through an anthology-- with different authors and voices and perspectives-- the main failing of this book was not adequately tying all these stories into *one life*. "How can Ezri Dax be more than the sum of her parts?" is presented as the most important question framing the book, but more could have been done to attempt to answer this. Who, exactly, is Dax separate of the hosts?
That said, many of the individual pieces were fascinating character and/or world-building pieces, answering and raising other questions about Trill, symbionts, and identity. The biggest running theme was the progression of Trill society from being isolationist and guarded to joining Starfleet; and throughout this, Dax is at the forefront of embracing new alien culture and pushing towards more openness.
Ezri-- I like the framing of her telling this to Vic Fontaine. Some interesting perspective of her as Ezri Tigan before the joining, extra detail on how the joining took place, and is unique in showing a negative perspective from a Trill regarding the symbionts.
Lela-- Shows what early Trill politics were like. Good story, could have been more richly told, but sufficient.
Tobin-- Exciting fun story with Romulans capturing his ship, some cool thoughts on how his weaknesses are also his strengths.
Emony-- Barely about Emony herself, but instead focuses on a poorly characterized Bones and a half-baked plot about community-building at alien Olympics. Not worth reading at all. I really wish the conflict with the gymnast aliens that hate the Trill was better developed-- it would have better explained why the Trill were so secretive and careful about opening up with such fundamental parts of their culture with alien species generally.
Audrid-- FANTASTIC. Richly textured, emotionally driven, and raises fascinating questions about the role of family for joined Trill as well as the origins of Trill/symbiont joinings.
Torias-- Nothing particularly wrong with it, other than that the only dramatic tension is his wife's anxiety test flight, which as we know from the show she's right and he dies. Doesn't really add much.
Joran-- Excellent, suspenseful chapter. Perspectives on Trill culture regarding joined vs unjoined within society, crime w/i Trill society, and a pretty okay crime mystery.
Curzon-- BY FAR MY FAVORITE HOLY SHIT. Goes above and beyond in depicting truly *alien* species. Nuanced and emotionally driven (Sisko is chewing the scenery a bit over the top at the end, but he does that in the show so I guess it works??), and raises FASCINATING philosophical questions about the nature of identity w/r/t individuals vs greater society, very relevant to joined Trill!! It's told through Sisko's perspective, but the story is driven by the complexity of Curzon's characterization, with his contradictions (boisterous but diplomatic, etc).
Jadzia-- Depicts her relationship with her sister!! and more about joined vs unjoined Trill in their society, through a kidnapping/theft investigation w/ Verad. Interesting details on physical/mental medical facts about Trill/symbionts.
That said, many of the individual pieces were fascinating character and/or world-building pieces, answering and raising other questions about Trill, symbionts, and identity. The biggest running theme was the progression of Trill society from being isolationist and guarded to joining Starfleet; and throughout this, Dax is at the forefront of embracing new alien culture and pushing towards more openness.
Ezri-- I like the framing of her telling this to Vic Fontaine. Some interesting perspective of her as Ezri Tigan before the joining, extra detail on how the joining took place, and is unique in showing a negative perspective from a Trill regarding the symbionts.
Lela-- Shows what early Trill politics were like. Good story, could have been more richly told, but sufficient.
Tobin-- Exciting fun story with Romulans capturing his ship, some cool thoughts on how his weaknesses are also his strengths.
Emony-- Barely about Emony herself, but instead focuses on a poorly characterized Bones and a half-baked plot about community-building at alien Olympics. Not worth reading at all. I really wish the conflict with the gymnast aliens that hate the Trill was better developed-- it would have better explained why the Trill were so secretive and careful about opening up with such fundamental parts of their culture with alien species generally.
Audrid-- FANTASTIC. Richly textured, emotionally driven, and raises fascinating questions about the role of family for joined Trill as well as the origins of Trill/symbiont joinings.
Torias-- Nothing particularly wrong with it, other than that the only dramatic tension is his wife's anxiety test flight, which as we know from the show she's right and he dies. Doesn't really add much.
Joran-- Excellent, suspenseful chapter. Perspectives on Trill culture regarding joined vs unjoined within society, crime w/i Trill society, and a pretty okay crime mystery.
Curzon-- BY FAR MY FAVORITE HOLY SHIT. Goes above and beyond in depicting truly *alien* species. Nuanced and emotionally driven (Sisko is chewing the scenery a bit over the top at the end, but he does that in the show so I guess it works??), and raises FASCINATING philosophical questions about the nature of identity w/r/t individuals vs greater society, very relevant to joined Trill!! It's told through Sisko's perspective, but the story is driven by the complexity of Curzon's characterization, with his contradictions (boisterous but diplomatic, etc).
Jadzia-- Depicts her relationship with her sister!! and more about joined vs unjoined Trill in their society, through a kidnapping/theft investigation w/ Verad. Interesting details on physical/mental medical facts about Trill/symbionts.
August 1, 2008
I wanted to read this book for ages, because Jadzia was one of my favourite characters on DS9 and I was always fascinated by the concept of the joined Trill.
The book is a collection of short stories - each an episode out of the nine lives that the Dax symbiont spent joined with its hosts. The stories are all written by different authors and thus also differ in the narrative style, the details, the focus of the stories, the POV etc.
While I loved some them of them, I wasn't quite satisfied with others - mainly when I felt that I didn't really learn much about the joined Trill, even when the story itself was interesting. And sometimes there were small details that bothered me. For example the inclusion of other popular characters from the Trek universe, when it really did not seem necessary for the story, irritated me a bit. It felt too forced. But maybe that's just me.
Overall, the book is very interesting, because you learn a bit more about Dax's different lives and about Trill in general.
The book is a collection of short stories - each an episode out of the nine lives that the Dax symbiont spent joined with its hosts. The stories are all written by different authors and thus also differ in the narrative style, the details, the focus of the stories, the POV etc.
While I loved some them of them, I wasn't quite satisfied with others - mainly when I felt that I didn't really learn much about the joined Trill, even when the story itself was interesting. And sometimes there were small details that bothered me. For example the inclusion of other popular characters from the Trek universe, when it really did not seem necessary for the story, irritated me a bit. It felt too forced. But maybe that's just me.
Overall, the book is very interesting, because you learn a bit more about Dax's different lives and about Trill in general.
November 25, 2011
An amazing book that I keep coming back to. Ezri as we knew her before the relaunch series, Jadzia at her best dealing with an emotional adventure, Emony´s story finally told (and don´t tell me that you weren´t curious!), Audrid (my favourite of the hosts... write some more books about her !!!) finally explored in detail, and Lela´s struggles as the first host of the symbiont...
This is definitely an amazing collection of stories... All of them, not just those about my favourite Dax hosts.
This book got me nearly banned from our local English-language bookstore as it cost about 6 weeks´ worth of pocket money when it first came out, and even though I couldn´t afford it, I simply HAD TO read it... Tucked away in a corner of said bookstore where the owner found me several times and made sure to interrupt my reading!
Funny how this book was one of the first books I bought when I got my first job! ;-)
This is definitely an amazing collection of stories... All of them, not just those about my favourite Dax hosts.
This book got me nearly banned from our local English-language bookstore as it cost about 6 weeks´ worth of pocket money when it first came out, and even though I couldn´t afford it, I simply HAD TO read it... Tucked away in a corner of said bookstore where the owner found me several times and made sure to interrupt my reading!
Funny how this book was one of the first books I bought when I got my first job! ;-)
June 12, 2017
In nine stories, various authors explore all the different incarnations of Dax through more than three centuries of Star Trek history, from Lela all the way to Ezri. Dax is a fascinating character, and I absolutely love the concept of this anthology, paying tribute to each of the previous hosts that we have only seen little glimpses of during the series. While Jadzia was one of my favourite characters in DS9, I never really warmed up to Ezri (due partially to the terrible decision by the writers to shoehorn her into that incredibly awkward and forced feeling relationship with Julian that just didn't work for me at all), although I have to say that I actually liked her more in the short story featuring her here than I did throughout the entire season she was in. I was positively surprised by the fact that I truly enjoyed every single story in this anthology, which is somewhat of a rarity when it comes to such collections.
March 12, 2013
Jadzia Dax was always my all time favourite character in Star Trek until I rewatched the entirety of DS9 again. She's now my second favourite (not far behind, to be fair), behind Kira Nerys. I love DS9, I have been obsessed with that show since I was a child, and I will devour anything to do with it. In Goodwill I found this collection and snatched it up.
I really found this to be a great anthology. If we ignore the fanservice by including important Starfleet characters that JUST HAD to interact with Dax, I think it stands up. But the Dax symbiont is important, it really is. And I have to say I don't think I could pick a favourite part; seeing the evolution of a planet and a people that aren't our own, through their own eyes, is what Star Trek really is all about.
Plus there's CSI: Trill, so you can't go too far wrong ;).
I really found this to be a great anthology. If we ignore the fanservice by including important Starfleet characters that JUST HAD to interact with Dax, I think it stands up. But the Dax symbiont is important, it really is. And I have to say I don't think I could pick a favourite part; seeing the evolution of a planet and a people that aren't our own, through their own eyes, is what Star Trek really is all about.
Plus there's CSI: Trill, so you can't go too far wrong ;).
January 11, 2012
This continues the story of DS9 following the series finale. Think of it as an anthology of the all of Dax's previous lives. Each "life" of Dax has their own personally defining story told within the context of Ezri conversing with Vic in a holosuite. Each of the stories is written by a different author and could all be an excerpt of a larger narrative. It would be nice to have an additional book or series that further dives into the lives of Dax, this book truly adds more shades onto an already complex and interesting character.
June 15, 2017
Ehh. Like a lot of Star Trek novels, the stories in this anthology are hit or miss. The advantage of having multiple authors writing for multiple lives gives the reader a variety of writing styles and stories to enjoy (or not). With only so much of Dax's character being explored in the DS9 series, it seems that the contributors were given a little leeway with how they interpreted the few facts we were given about some of the lesser known lives. If you are a fan of Star Trek: DS9 you should give it a whirl just to get your fix ( I know I did).
May 15, 2017
As with all anthologies some stories work better than others - I could have lived without the McCoy appearance - but the Joran chapter was particularly interesting and I loved the backstory of the 'Rejoined' episode.
January 5, 2018
Initial thoughts: This was really fun to read, and a lot more accessible than I thought it'd be. Only major qualms are that I don't really know what the Vic Fontaine thing was all about, and I think I definitely need to finish DS9 before the Jadzia story makes sense.
February 7, 2016
A great collection of Dax stories across the host's lives.
September 16, 2017
An okay read, but easy for me to put down. Short stories that I didn't consider flowed together as well as they could.
June 13, 2022
The Lives Of Dax - Various Authors (2002) -
The prologue and epilogue take place around three months after the end of the TV series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and just before the two part ST:DS9 ‘Avatar’ books, although the rest of it is a collection of stories that precede the final episode by a minimum of a year.
There are however a few episodes that you may wish to refresh your memory of, mostly specific to Dax, but also some of the guest appearances that feature throughout the book.
If you know your Trek well, you can skip to the review elements, but I will break it all down by host to make it easier.
Lela -
Star Trek: The Original Series (Season 2/Episode 1) Amok Time - Spock experiences Pon Farr and is forced to return to Vulcan where we meet T’Pau.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Season 3/Episode 25) Facets - Jadzia asks her friends to inhabit her previous hosts in order to meet them all individually. Lela is incarnated by Kira.
Star Trek VIII: First Contact (Film) - The Vulcan’s land on Earth after Zefram Cochrane’s first successful warp flight and begin “First Contact” procedures to aid humans to boldly go where no one has gone before.
As this isn’t specifically a Starfleet story, preceding it’s founding by some years, it’s difficult to enjoy it in the same way as the other ‘Star Trek’ stories that I already know and love. It’s also a bit tiring, as it is another tale about women fighting to be heard politically in a predominantly male government. I firmly believe that women should have the same rights as everybody else and shouldn’t have to fight at all, it’s just that, even within the Trek universe, we have repeatedly seen this tale before. It would have been more interesting for me, if they’d shown a society that has a mutual respect for both sexes (I acknowledge that we also have Non Binary people on our own planet), especially as the Trill have always seemed to be so enlightened.
As far as I’m aware there have been no statements made about the history of the Trill and how they started out, so I just think that it’s a bit of a cliché that their planet seems to have evolved in the same way as ours and actually a bit less progressively according to this story.
The segment feels like it was just a way to introduce a character that we know so very little about and the planets history, without much thought to a plot or developing the character.
Lela struggles to prove herself as the planet is approached by an alien craft that they cannot understand. She tries to interact with it to find out it’s intentions, but is held up by the council.
Tobin -
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Season 3/Episode 25) Facets - Jadzia asks her friends to inhabit her previous hosts in order to meet them all individually. Tobin is incarnated by Chief O’Brien.
This is more like it, as it is based on a spaceship full of engineers pulled together to help solve a problem. It feels more like a ‘Star Trek’ episode.
It doesn’t try to be clever by bringing other characters from the variety of serials and keeps it simple, but interesting.
It’s clever in the way that it shows early interactions between a number of established races and easy to believe that this is the Tobin that we met when he bites Chief O’Brien’s nails in ‘Facets’.
This is the sort of story I turn up to watch Star Trek for. It shows a time, so very far from where we are now, that isn’t about tolerance or even acceptance, but just about how things are. There’s a person of another race? So what. I’d love to see the world I live in evolve to a point where we unite as one to save the planet and then explore the cosmos, but I highly doubt that it will happen in my lifetime.
Anyway, an invasion of the ship prompts Tobin in to action with his Vulcan companion and what follows is a ‘Die Hard’ (1988) style bid to free hostages and an ending that I consider quite clever.
Emony -
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Season 3/Episode 25) Facets - Jadzia asks her friends to inhabit her previous hosts in order to meet them all individually. Emony is incarnated by Leeta The Dabo Girl.
This chapter calls in to question how useful it would have been to have had an accurate timeline at the beginning of the book, as I found myself wondering how it would fit in with the canon ‘Trek’ already known to us.
It features Dr. ‘Bones’ McCoy, which feels a bit too early for me. I don’t think that he can be that old, when you consider his age of only 137 years in the first episode of ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ (Encounter At Farpoint).
And actually it’s not the best use of him either. It’s a soppy romance that is quite superficial and without much depth at all. Once again it centres around racial issues and it is not really much more than what we would call a filler episode.
Based on a planet and at a gymnastics event, it has very little substance and feels like Bones has been given a day off to watch the Olympics.
I don’t think that they show things from Emony’s perspective enough either, considering it is her story after all.
Audrid -
Star Trek: The Original Series
(Season 1/Episode 1 or Pilot) The Cage - The crew of the Enterprise are lead by Captain Christopher Pike.
(Season 1/Episodes 11 & 12) The Menagerie - Captain Pike hijacks the Enterprise, but eventually relents, before explaining at a court martial why he was trying to get to Talos IV.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 1/Episode 24) Conspiracy - A number of Starfleet Admirals are compromised by an alien parasite.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Season 3/Episode 25) Facets - Jadzia asks her friends to inhabit her previous hosts in order to meet them all individually. Audrid is incarnated by Quark, although Audrid is female, which Quark is not pleased about.
I wonder yet again if the authors consulted each other or even considered the existing timeline, as suddenly Captain Pike appears a lifetime after Emony’s meeting with McCoy. It just feels out of place and confusing, which put me on the wrong foot to start with.
The story itself isn’t bad and I really like the letter written style used to tell it. Once again it feels more as you would expect with an exploratory trip in space and lots of science.
I actually do like the use of Pike, it is just a shame that I was convinced that he would have already returned to Talos IV by this point, as per ‘The Menagerie’.
Audrid and her partner are called in to assist Starfleet in an investigation of strange readings found on an asteroid.
The story is continued and looked in to further in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Novels - Mission Gamma 4 (Lesser Evil) and Unity.
Torias -
Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan - The characters of Admiral Styles, Admiral Morrow and Lieutenant Saavik are introduced to the Star Trek Universe, as Captain Kirk and his crew are training new cadets.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
(Season 3/Episode 25) Facets - Jadzia asks her friends to inhabit her previous hosts in order to meet them all individually. Torias is incarnated by Dr Bashir.
(Season 4/Episode 6) Rejoined - Jadzia comes face to face with Lenara Khan, the new host of her (Torias’) ex wife Nilani.
The age old attempt to reach Warp 10 is rehashed in this story, utilising the U.S.S. Excelsior and the cadet Saavik along the way.
The story connects to a time just before Saavik joins Kirk’s crew on the Enterprise and Khan (No relation) Noonien Singh finds himself free of Ceti Alpha VI, according to ‘The Wrath Of Khan’.
It’s not bad at all, but it’s still missing something. I think it’s that it is only a snapshot moment and you don’t really get time to know the characters properly.
The results of this experiment are well documented throughout the ‘DS9’ TV series, but I won’t explain that here in case you don’t know, but I liked that the author utilised a story we already knew about, rather than making up any old nonsense just to fill a book.
Joran -
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
(Season 3/Episode 4) Equilibrium - Jadzia discovers that the memories of one of her symbionts hosts has been suppressed. Ultimately Joran Belar has to be re-integrated to avoid damage to the symbiont and Jadzia.
(Season 3/Episode 25) Facets - Jadzia asks her friends to inhabit her previous hosts in order to meet them all individually. Joran is incarnated by Sisko, whilst restrained in a cell.
(Season 7/Episode 13) Field Of Fire - Ezri calls upon the abilities of Joran to help Odo to solve a murder.
In an attempt to show that this is about an artistic intellect and a host that considers himself above others, this one comes across very wordy. It feels a bit too poetic at times, without just letting the narrative run its course.
There is a Sherlock Holmes element about it, which I quite liked, as it was nice to see another faction involved. Again this is a storyline that had already been begun with the events of the episodes ‘Equilibrium’ and later ‘Field Of Fire’.
This is a bit like Emony’s story in that it feels more about Gard, the police officer, rather than Joran himself, but I suppose that is to keep that enigmatic feel about him that has been produced before.
The Gard symbiont is also in the book Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Unity, but in a new host.
Curzon -
Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 4/Episode 23) The Host - Our first introduction to the Trill is Odan, who is a funny looking Trill, based on what we later learned in ‘DS9’. When his life is endangered, the symbiont is successfully transferred to Riker.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
(Season 1/Episode 1) Emmisary - During an Orb experience, Jadzia recalls the transfer of the Dax host from Curzon.
(Season 2/Episodes 20 & 21) The Maquis - Ben Sisko’s old friend Cal Hudson defects to the Maquis’ cause.
(Season 3/Episode 25) Facets - Jadzia asks her friends to inhabit her previous hosts in order to meet them all individually. Curzon is incarnated by Odo. The process has a strange effect, as Odo’s morphing ability blends with Curzon’s larger than life character and Odo even turns in to a version of him.
This one doesn’t feel completely proof read or edited.
It incorporates a number of existing characters including Cal Hudson who later joins the Maquis and Captain Janeway’s Dad. We also get to see a young Benjamin Sisko trying his luck with someone who is not in his league for many reasons.
There is a negotiation, as that is Curzon’s role, something we have known for a long time, but it is confusing as to who is negotiating for whom.
There are also similarities to ‘The Rising Son’ Novel, which also has an unusual collaborative crew.
A character called Shar and their “Sex Issue” seems to contradict the events of TNG’s ‘The Host’, which again seems to show a lack of research by the authors of this book. Not only that, but I’m sure that Curzon was instrumental in organising peace with the Klingons, having made friends with 3 of The Original Series main bad guys - Kang, Koloth and Kor. Yet this puts his time much later.
The focus is on Ben and not enough on Curzon, which is frustrating, as we’ve all wanted to see more of him since his flashback appearance in ‘Emissary’.
In general it is a bit all over the place and the ending is a bit wet.
Jadzia -
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
(Season 2/Episode 4) Invasive Procedures - A Trill by the name of Verad boards DS9 to forcibly remove the Dax symbiont from Jadzia and nearly kills her in the process.
(Season 4/Episodes 10 & 11) The crew of DS9 are on Earth to discuss the Dominion threat. These events take place right before this storyline.
We know much of Jadzia having spent years appreciating her presence on DS9, so a look at her past life and a sister left behind as well as another mystery is quite refreshing in this part of the bigger collection of stories.
I personally think that it could have been a whole book of it’s own, as it was a bit rushed.
There’s also some description early on that is just confusing to picture. It’s set in the snow with channels and heights that are unclear as to what it’s trying to say.
But I liked the story. I would like to read a fuller version.
On their way back from Earth during the Dominion War, the team divert to the Trill home planet for Jadzia to see her sister. An investigation then takes place as she realises that something is wrong and she comes in to contact with another, more cruel face from her past.
Ezri -
Star Trek: The Next Generation
(Season 4/Episode 23) The Host - The Enterprise D is visited by an unusual alien who hides a secret, he is a joined species known as the Trill (Although he looks nothing like the Trill from DS9).
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
(Season 7/Episode 1) Image In The Sand - The Sisko’s are visited by a Trill named Ezri who has been joined with Dax after Jadzia’s death in the last episode.
This part of the story opens and closes the book. Ezri chats to the hologram vince Fontaine about her lifetimes and how worthy she is of the symbiont.
The actual tale of how she gets to be the next host is quite horrible and a bit rapey. It might have made an award winning episode for the way it shows a pressurised personality change, like turning a man in to a woman without them knowing or giving permission. It’s quite a sad story, but certainly one of the better parts of the book as a whole. It seems to fit what we know of her and her reticence to be joined as well as her fear of the same. As a more established character in the “Present”, the story flows well from the end of ‘Deep Space Nine’ and sets things up nicely for the books that follow it.
Overview-
I had high hopes that this book would give a nice little summary of each of the hosts to create a history for other writers to build on, but a lot of it is just filler and provides very little additional information or interest about the awesome Dax character.
What would also have been interesting is to have found out where the symbionts came from, who was the first person to put one inside of them and the stigma around that in its beginnings? Would it be considered a viral creature or worshipped at first? Did it bring knowledge from another world or species?
Dax is alleged to be too young for that (How do the symbionts reproduce?), but one of the hosts could have explored the history. That would also have tied in really well with the book Unity.
Overall this isn’t what I was hoping for, but there are a few gems of interest and a couple of good stories in general.
7.13/10.
The prologue and epilogue take place around three months after the end of the TV series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and just before the two part ST:DS9 ‘Avatar’ books, although the rest of it is a collection of stories that precede the final episode by a minimum of a year.
There are however a few episodes that you may wish to refresh your memory of, mostly specific to Dax, but also some of the guest appearances that feature throughout the book.
If you know your Trek well, you can skip to the review elements, but I will break it all down by host to make it easier.
Lela -
Star Trek: The Original Series (Season 2/Episode 1) Amok Time - Spock experiences Pon Farr and is forced to return to Vulcan where we meet T’Pau.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Season 3/Episode 25) Facets - Jadzia asks her friends to inhabit her previous hosts in order to meet them all individually. Lela is incarnated by Kira.
Star Trek VIII: First Contact (Film) - The Vulcan’s land on Earth after Zefram Cochrane’s first successful warp flight and begin “First Contact” procedures to aid humans to boldly go where no one has gone before.
As this isn’t specifically a Starfleet story, preceding it’s founding by some years, it’s difficult to enjoy it in the same way as the other ‘Star Trek’ stories that I already know and love. It’s also a bit tiring, as it is another tale about women fighting to be heard politically in a predominantly male government. I firmly believe that women should have the same rights as everybody else and shouldn’t have to fight at all, it’s just that, even within the Trek universe, we have repeatedly seen this tale before. It would have been more interesting for me, if they’d shown a society that has a mutual respect for both sexes (I acknowledge that we also have Non Binary people on our own planet), especially as the Trill have always seemed to be so enlightened.
As far as I’m aware there have been no statements made about the history of the Trill and how they started out, so I just think that it’s a bit of a cliché that their planet seems to have evolved in the same way as ours and actually a bit less progressively according to this story.
The segment feels like it was just a way to introduce a character that we know so very little about and the planets history, without much thought to a plot or developing the character.
Lela struggles to prove herself as the planet is approached by an alien craft that they cannot understand. She tries to interact with it to find out it’s intentions, but is held up by the council.
Tobin -
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Season 3/Episode 25) Facets - Jadzia asks her friends to inhabit her previous hosts in order to meet them all individually. Tobin is incarnated by Chief O’Brien.
This is more like it, as it is based on a spaceship full of engineers pulled together to help solve a problem. It feels more like a ‘Star Trek’ episode.
It doesn’t try to be clever by bringing other characters from the variety of serials and keeps it simple, but interesting.
It’s clever in the way that it shows early interactions between a number of established races and easy to believe that this is the Tobin that we met when he bites Chief O’Brien’s nails in ‘Facets’.
This is the sort of story I turn up to watch Star Trek for. It shows a time, so very far from where we are now, that isn’t about tolerance or even acceptance, but just about how things are. There’s a person of another race? So what. I’d love to see the world I live in evolve to a point where we unite as one to save the planet and then explore the cosmos, but I highly doubt that it will happen in my lifetime.
Anyway, an invasion of the ship prompts Tobin in to action with his Vulcan companion and what follows is a ‘Die Hard’ (1988) style bid to free hostages and an ending that I consider quite clever.
Emony -
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Season 3/Episode 25) Facets - Jadzia asks her friends to inhabit her previous hosts in order to meet them all individually. Emony is incarnated by Leeta The Dabo Girl.
This chapter calls in to question how useful it would have been to have had an accurate timeline at the beginning of the book, as I found myself wondering how it would fit in with the canon ‘Trek’ already known to us.
It features Dr. ‘Bones’ McCoy, which feels a bit too early for me. I don’t think that he can be that old, when you consider his age of only 137 years in the first episode of ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ (Encounter At Farpoint).
And actually it’s not the best use of him either. It’s a soppy romance that is quite superficial and without much depth at all. Once again it centres around racial issues and it is not really much more than what we would call a filler episode.
Based on a planet and at a gymnastics event, it has very little substance and feels like Bones has been given a day off to watch the Olympics.
I don’t think that they show things from Emony’s perspective enough either, considering it is her story after all.
Audrid -
Star Trek: The Original Series
(Season 1/Episode 1 or Pilot) The Cage - The crew of the Enterprise are lead by Captain Christopher Pike.
(Season 1/Episodes 11 & 12) The Menagerie - Captain Pike hijacks the Enterprise, but eventually relents, before explaining at a court martial why he was trying to get to Talos IV.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 1/Episode 24) Conspiracy - A number of Starfleet Admirals are compromised by an alien parasite.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Season 3/Episode 25) Facets - Jadzia asks her friends to inhabit her previous hosts in order to meet them all individually. Audrid is incarnated by Quark, although Audrid is female, which Quark is not pleased about.
I wonder yet again if the authors consulted each other or even considered the existing timeline, as suddenly Captain Pike appears a lifetime after Emony’s meeting with McCoy. It just feels out of place and confusing, which put me on the wrong foot to start with.
The story itself isn’t bad and I really like the letter written style used to tell it. Once again it feels more as you would expect with an exploratory trip in space and lots of science.
I actually do like the use of Pike, it is just a shame that I was convinced that he would have already returned to Talos IV by this point, as per ‘The Menagerie’.
Audrid and her partner are called in to assist Starfleet in an investigation of strange readings found on an asteroid.
The story is continued and looked in to further in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Novels - Mission Gamma 4 (Lesser Evil) and Unity.
Torias -
Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan - The characters of Admiral Styles, Admiral Morrow and Lieutenant Saavik are introduced to the Star Trek Universe, as Captain Kirk and his crew are training new cadets.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
(Season 3/Episode 25) Facets - Jadzia asks her friends to inhabit her previous hosts in order to meet them all individually. Torias is incarnated by Dr Bashir.
(Season 4/Episode 6) Rejoined - Jadzia comes face to face with Lenara Khan, the new host of her (Torias’) ex wife Nilani.
The age old attempt to reach Warp 10 is rehashed in this story, utilising the U.S.S. Excelsior and the cadet Saavik along the way.
The story connects to a time just before Saavik joins Kirk’s crew on the Enterprise and Khan (No relation) Noonien Singh finds himself free of Ceti Alpha VI, according to ‘The Wrath Of Khan’.
It’s not bad at all, but it’s still missing something. I think it’s that it is only a snapshot moment and you don’t really get time to know the characters properly.
The results of this experiment are well documented throughout the ‘DS9’ TV series, but I won’t explain that here in case you don’t know, but I liked that the author utilised a story we already knew about, rather than making up any old nonsense just to fill a book.
Joran -
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
(Season 3/Episode 4) Equilibrium - Jadzia discovers that the memories of one of her symbionts hosts has been suppressed. Ultimately Joran Belar has to be re-integrated to avoid damage to the symbiont and Jadzia.
(Season 3/Episode 25) Facets - Jadzia asks her friends to inhabit her previous hosts in order to meet them all individually. Joran is incarnated by Sisko, whilst restrained in a cell.
(Season 7/Episode 13) Field Of Fire - Ezri calls upon the abilities of Joran to help Odo to solve a murder.
In an attempt to show that this is about an artistic intellect and a host that considers himself above others, this one comes across very wordy. It feels a bit too poetic at times, without just letting the narrative run its course.
There is a Sherlock Holmes element about it, which I quite liked, as it was nice to see another faction involved. Again this is a storyline that had already been begun with the events of the episodes ‘Equilibrium’ and later ‘Field Of Fire’.
This is a bit like Emony’s story in that it feels more about Gard, the police officer, rather than Joran himself, but I suppose that is to keep that enigmatic feel about him that has been produced before.
The Gard symbiont is also in the book Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Unity, but in a new host.
Curzon -
Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 4/Episode 23) The Host - Our first introduction to the Trill is Odan, who is a funny looking Trill, based on what we later learned in ‘DS9’. When his life is endangered, the symbiont is successfully transferred to Riker.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
(Season 1/Episode 1) Emmisary - During an Orb experience, Jadzia recalls the transfer of the Dax host from Curzon.
(Season 2/Episodes 20 & 21) The Maquis - Ben Sisko’s old friend Cal Hudson defects to the Maquis’ cause.
(Season 3/Episode 25) Facets - Jadzia asks her friends to inhabit her previous hosts in order to meet them all individually. Curzon is incarnated by Odo. The process has a strange effect, as Odo’s morphing ability blends with Curzon’s larger than life character and Odo even turns in to a version of him.
This one doesn’t feel completely proof read or edited.
It incorporates a number of existing characters including Cal Hudson who later joins the Maquis and Captain Janeway’s Dad. We also get to see a young Benjamin Sisko trying his luck with someone who is not in his league for many reasons.
There is a negotiation, as that is Curzon’s role, something we have known for a long time, but it is confusing as to who is negotiating for whom.
There are also similarities to ‘The Rising Son’ Novel, which also has an unusual collaborative crew.
A character called Shar and their “Sex Issue” seems to contradict the events of TNG’s ‘The Host’, which again seems to show a lack of research by the authors of this book. Not only that, but I’m sure that Curzon was instrumental in organising peace with the Klingons, having made friends with 3 of The Original Series main bad guys - Kang, Koloth and Kor. Yet this puts his time much later.
The focus is on Ben and not enough on Curzon, which is frustrating, as we’ve all wanted to see more of him since his flashback appearance in ‘Emissary’.
In general it is a bit all over the place and the ending is a bit wet.
Jadzia -
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
(Season 2/Episode 4) Invasive Procedures - A Trill by the name of Verad boards DS9 to forcibly remove the Dax symbiont from Jadzia and nearly kills her in the process.
(Season 4/Episodes 10 & 11) The crew of DS9 are on Earth to discuss the Dominion threat. These events take place right before this storyline.
We know much of Jadzia having spent years appreciating her presence on DS9, so a look at her past life and a sister left behind as well as another mystery is quite refreshing in this part of the bigger collection of stories.
I personally think that it could have been a whole book of it’s own, as it was a bit rushed.
There’s also some description early on that is just confusing to picture. It’s set in the snow with channels and heights that are unclear as to what it’s trying to say.
But I liked the story. I would like to read a fuller version.
On their way back from Earth during the Dominion War, the team divert to the Trill home planet for Jadzia to see her sister. An investigation then takes place as she realises that something is wrong and she comes in to contact with another, more cruel face from her past.
Ezri -
Star Trek: The Next Generation
(Season 4/Episode 23) The Host - The Enterprise D is visited by an unusual alien who hides a secret, he is a joined species known as the Trill (Although he looks nothing like the Trill from DS9).
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
(Season 7/Episode 1) Image In The Sand - The Sisko’s are visited by a Trill named Ezri who has been joined with Dax after Jadzia’s death in the last episode.
This part of the story opens and closes the book. Ezri chats to the hologram vince Fontaine about her lifetimes and how worthy she is of the symbiont.
The actual tale of how she gets to be the next host is quite horrible and a bit rapey. It might have made an award winning episode for the way it shows a pressurised personality change, like turning a man in to a woman without them knowing or giving permission. It’s quite a sad story, but certainly one of the better parts of the book as a whole. It seems to fit what we know of her and her reticence to be joined as well as her fear of the same. As a more established character in the “Present”, the story flows well from the end of ‘Deep Space Nine’ and sets things up nicely for the books that follow it.
Overview-
I had high hopes that this book would give a nice little summary of each of the hosts to create a history for other writers to build on, but a lot of it is just filler and provides very little additional information or interest about the awesome Dax character.
What would also have been interesting is to have found out where the symbionts came from, who was the first person to put one inside of them and the stigma around that in its beginnings? Would it be considered a viral creature or worshipped at first? Did it bring knowledge from another world or species?
Dax is alleged to be too young for that (How do the symbionts reproduce?), but one of the hosts could have explored the history. That would also have tied in really well with the book Unity.
Overall this isn’t what I was hoping for, but there are a few gems of interest and a couple of good stories in general.
7.13/10.
December 24, 2023
Lela
"'In this universe we are all young Lela Dax,' she said at last. 'That is the subtle truth that often eludes so many promising life-forms. Youth contains the potential for growth. Once an individual-or a culture- forgets that, the growth stops.'"
Tobin
I would read or watch the adventures of Tobin and Skon dealing with humans.
Emony
I am wildly annoyed that this story was told from McCoy's perspective.
Audrid
"I don't expect you to forgive me. Writing these thoughts, understanding that you've been alone with your pain and anger for eight years now... I do understand, at least in part, and I'm not asking for you to throw aside your rightful feelings and embrace my apology. I'm not sure what I expect, or what I can even hope for, for myself. But for you-my daughter, for you, I hope for peace. I hope that you will accept that I love you, that no hour passes for me without you. Whether of not you choose to have me in your life, you are always in mine."
I cried.
Torias
"As the doctor carried away the symbiont, Nilani was alone with Torias at last. She pressed his hand against her cheek, touching it against the spot that still tingled ever since that final, terrible moment in the science lab... and she knew that moment would define the rest of her lives."
Cried again.
Joran
"An ambitious choice, Mr. Belar, and technically perfect... but did you feel anything?"
What a brave question to ask a psychopath.
Curzon
"Be by the book, but not of it, young Sisko."
Ben really didn't listen to this gem and its a shame.
I would have much preferred the story of how he got kicked out of a Klingon bar.
Jadzia
"Although it might not be very important to her sister, Jadzia was comforted to know that at least a little of Ziranne's life would be remembered by one of Trill's symbionts, and shared with all the others resting in the pools. She wanted the joined of the future to know what she knew now: that many, maybe even most, of the unjoined people of Trill felt no less a part of their complex species than those who hosted symbionts. And that at least one of them, with no desire to be part of the continuum of joined memory, would still risk her own life to bring a symbiont safely home."
This would have been a good episode of DS9.
This collection could have been WAY juicer.
"'In this universe we are all young Lela Dax,' she said at last. 'That is the subtle truth that often eludes so many promising life-forms. Youth contains the potential for growth. Once an individual-or a culture- forgets that, the growth stops.'"
Tobin
I would read or watch the adventures of Tobin and Skon dealing with humans.
Emony
I am wildly annoyed that this story was told from McCoy's perspective.
Audrid
"I don't expect you to forgive me. Writing these thoughts, understanding that you've been alone with your pain and anger for eight years now... I do understand, at least in part, and I'm not asking for you to throw aside your rightful feelings and embrace my apology. I'm not sure what I expect, or what I can even hope for, for myself. But for you-my daughter, for you, I hope for peace. I hope that you will accept that I love you, that no hour passes for me without you. Whether of not you choose to have me in your life, you are always in mine."
I cried.
Torias
"As the doctor carried away the symbiont, Nilani was alone with Torias at last. She pressed his hand against her cheek, touching it against the spot that still tingled ever since that final, terrible moment in the science lab... and she knew that moment would define the rest of her lives."
Cried again.
Joran
"An ambitious choice, Mr. Belar, and technically perfect... but did you feel anything?"
What a brave question to ask a psychopath.
Curzon
"Be by the book, but not of it, young Sisko."
Ben really didn't listen to this gem and its a shame.
I would have much preferred the story of how he got kicked out of a Klingon bar.
Jadzia
"Although it might not be very important to her sister, Jadzia was comforted to know that at least a little of Ziranne's life would be remembered by one of Trill's symbionts, and shared with all the others resting in the pools. She wanted the joined of the future to know what she knew now: that many, maybe even most, of the unjoined people of Trill felt no less a part of their complex species than those who hosted symbionts. And that at least one of them, with no desire to be part of the continuum of joined memory, would still risk her own life to bring a symbiont safely home."
This would have been a good episode of DS9.
This collection could have been WAY juicer.
January 10, 2022
Biggest trouble with short story books written by different authors it’s that it’s hard to rate the book as a whole so I won’t. I’ve went with a rating based on a rough average.
Ezri 5/5 - i really wish they had added this story into the series. It would have made Ezri’s character so much more unique and special instead of a poor replacement for Jadzia. This story would have gone so much better instead of the one with her family.
Leela - another 5/5 story. Looking at the early warp years of Trill society from the perspective of a young politician. Stories like that bring me hope about current affairs and that’s exactly what Trek was meant to be, showing us a better way.
Tobin - 2/5 - incredibly difficult to read, with questionable fit within the canon. Very action packed so maybe would have worked better as an episode however the premise was certainly bizarre.
Emony - 1/5 - nothing but McCoy fanfic. They’ve likely done more character building to a stick than they have to Emony. McCoy is the main character from the very beginning and Emony is nothing but pleasant eye candy.
Audrid - 4/5 - not a big fan of the format but the story does not disappoint. Again an unnecessary mention of Captain Pike which considering Emony was contemporary with McCoy she either died very young or Pike would have retired… however the story is classic Trek with a bit of excitement and everything.
Torias - 4/5 - solid but not too impressive
Joran - 4/5 - short but overall good
Curzon - 4/5 - the story is told from the perspective of Sisko, which is very disappointing as most we know of Curzon is from Sisko who clearly adored and respected him. This story has some story line incongruences, which unless Sisko was very old ensign and got promoted very quickly do not make sense. I.e. him knowing about Joined trills which the federation only finds out in tng, picard era. The story is quite an interesting one but speaks more to the development of Sisko than it does about Curzon. It certainly provides little new information about Dax, and no character building for him either.
Jadzia - 5/5 - the characters are true to the ones we see on the screen in a way that few of the other stories felt like. It just blends in and adds to the lore beautifully.
Ezri 5/5 - i really wish they had added this story into the series. It would have made Ezri’s character so much more unique and special instead of a poor replacement for Jadzia. This story would have gone so much better instead of the one with her family.
Leela - another 5/5 story. Looking at the early warp years of Trill society from the perspective of a young politician. Stories like that bring me hope about current affairs and that’s exactly what Trek was meant to be, showing us a better way.
Tobin - 2/5 - incredibly difficult to read, with questionable fit within the canon. Very action packed so maybe would have worked better as an episode however the premise was certainly bizarre.
Emony - 1/5 - nothing but McCoy fanfic. They’ve likely done more character building to a stick than they have to Emony. McCoy is the main character from the very beginning and Emony is nothing but pleasant eye candy.
Audrid - 4/5 - not a big fan of the format but the story does not disappoint. Again an unnecessary mention of Captain Pike which considering Emony was contemporary with McCoy she either died very young or Pike would have retired… however the story is classic Trek with a bit of excitement and everything.
Torias - 4/5 - solid but not too impressive
Joran - 4/5 - short but overall good
Curzon - 4/5 - the story is told from the perspective of Sisko, which is very disappointing as most we know of Curzon is from Sisko who clearly adored and respected him. This story has some story line incongruences, which unless Sisko was very old ensign and got promoted very quickly do not make sense. I.e. him knowing about Joined trills which the federation only finds out in tng, picard era. The story is quite an interesting one but speaks more to the development of Sisko than it does about Curzon. It certainly provides little new information about Dax, and no character building for him either.
Jadzia - 5/5 - the characters are true to the ones we see on the screen in a way that few of the other stories felt like. It just blends in and adds to the lore beautifully.
December 1, 2017
This review will get more detail after the inevitable re-read. But for now, I'll say that this is one of my favorite "Star Trek" books.
The lack of one star is due to the fact that, like others, I was disappointed that each story didn't start and end with a new joining, and that instead they were just a collection of short stories featuring a different Dax host. But they were all interesting stories, and I enjoyed all of Dax's hosts. I also wish the Trill and their homeworld had been more developed in this book; a species like that would surely develop countless cultures with differing views on who if anyone should be joined, for instance. But I don't want to complain too much about what we got, because it was good as it was.
The best thing about this book is Jadzia's chapter, which frankly develops her far more than all six seasons of her onscreen time did (that is, developing the Jadzia part, as opposed to the Dax part or the Trill in general). We finally learn that her original surname was Idaris, and her occasionally mentioned sister is a teacher named Ziranne, both of which are beautiful names that I love.
I also really enjoyed the cameos in all the stories; McCoy in Emony's (canon from the show), Captain Pike in Audirid's (I think), Odan in Leela's... you might say these are forced, but it's no worse than what scifi shows normally do with prequels, and it was done well IMO.
The lack of one star is due to the fact that, like others, I was disappointed that each story didn't start and end with a new joining, and that instead they were just a collection of short stories featuring a different Dax host. But they were all interesting stories, and I enjoyed all of Dax's hosts. I also wish the Trill and their homeworld had been more developed in this book; a species like that would surely develop countless cultures with differing views on who if anyone should be joined, for instance. But I don't want to complain too much about what we got, because it was good as it was.
The best thing about this book is Jadzia's chapter, which frankly develops her far more than all six seasons of her onscreen time did (that is, developing the Jadzia part, as opposed to the Dax part or the Trill in general). We finally learn that her original surname was Idaris, and her occasionally mentioned sister is a teacher named Ziranne, both of which are beautiful names that I love.
I also really enjoyed the cameos in all the stories; McCoy in Emony's (canon from the show), Captain Pike in Audirid's (I think), Odan in Leela's... you might say these are forced, but it's no worse than what scifi shows normally do with prequels, and it was done well IMO.
September 30, 2021
The Lives of Dax is an anthology of short stories that all equal up to the larger, nuanced character of Dax as we understand her. Whether such layers come from a politician fighting against traditions of isolationism, a mother atoning with regret, or a meeting of new friendships, The Lives of Dax delivers a multifaceted character in many stories.
Each short story covers a different Dax—bookending with Ezri—and all together covers the many decades of Dax’s life. They weave through various tellings of romance, mystery, horror, and sheer drama. The anthology format is taken full advantage of with each story being wholly unique which makes for a fun read throughout. While not impenetrable, the book is certainly for fans of Star Trek and, more specifically, Deep Space 9 fans will benefit from having knowledge of the series beforehand. Couple that with a few particularly jarring instances of exposition and the book can drag a bit.
The Lives of Dax is a fun group of stories for fans of Star Trek. It provides many looks at the unique character of Dax in an entertaining and varied package. Deep Space 9 fans will find great joy in the references and solid storytelling of this book.
Each short story covers a different Dax—bookending with Ezri—and all together covers the many decades of Dax’s life. They weave through various tellings of romance, mystery, horror, and sheer drama. The anthology format is taken full advantage of with each story being wholly unique which makes for a fun read throughout. While not impenetrable, the book is certainly for fans of Star Trek and, more specifically, Deep Space 9 fans will benefit from having knowledge of the series beforehand. Couple that with a few particularly jarring instances of exposition and the book can drag a bit.
The Lives of Dax is a fun group of stories for fans of Star Trek. It provides many looks at the unique character of Dax in an entertaining and varied package. Deep Space 9 fans will find great joy in the references and solid storytelling of this book.
May 31, 2024
Star Trek's answer to Doctor Who's regeneration process is handled with a lot of care and did not disappoint. The only downside I can think of is that I'd like to have had it be a good deal longer. I want to toss out a few memorable cameos, and the balance of hilarity and unlikelihood that they presented - but that's part of the fun you'll have in taking this trip through time in the STU.
I have always liked the idea of Dax (specifically Jadzia Dax), and have felt that she wasn't cast very well - from an acting perspective. When this is the case, following the character in print can be more rewarding than following them on screen.
No cheap installations in this collection, and nothing I'd rate below a 3. I went to 4 because of fan energy - from a literary perspective, it's probably not as high quality (again, not that anything is written poorly).
Are you a fan of DS9? Then you hardly need me to recommend this, but I'm doing it anyway.
I have always liked the idea of Dax (specifically Jadzia Dax), and have felt that she wasn't cast very well - from an acting perspective. When this is the case, following the character in print can be more rewarding than following them on screen.
No cheap installations in this collection, and nothing I'd rate below a 3. I went to 4 because of fan energy - from a literary perspective, it's probably not as high quality (again, not that anything is written poorly).
Are you a fan of DS9? Then you hardly need me to recommend this, but I'm doing it anyway.
August 29, 2022
Jadzia Dax is one of my favorite fandom characters of all time, and her death in the Season 6 finale of Deep Space 9 (which I watched for the first time two days ago) has devastated me worse than nearly any other media death (I think the end of Peter Capaldi's run with Doctor Who is up there). So of course I seized the chance to read this collection of short stories, one from each of the lives of the Trill symbiont Dax.
Because each chapter was written independently, there are highs and lows. Some chapters I skimmed or skipped pages, but Audrina's chapter captivated me through the entire letter. It's also clear this novel was complied in the '90's, because some of the terms and phrases, and some of the ways we as a culture discuss gender/bodies/etc. has changed a lot in the past 20+ years. Overall enjoyable, but dated.
Because each chapter was written independently, there are highs and lows. Some chapters I skimmed or skipped pages, but Audrina's chapter captivated me through the entire letter. It's also clear this novel was complied in the '90's, because some of the terms and phrases, and some of the ways we as a culture discuss gender/bodies/etc. has changed a lot in the past 20+ years. Overall enjoyable, but dated.
October 11, 2019
I thoroughly enjoyed this anthology book containing one short story for each host of the Dax symbiont. I enjoyed the characters of Jadzia and Ezri Dax on DS9, so getting to learn more about the other hosts was a real treat for me. I especially loved the cameos of key Star Trek characters within these stories: Leonard McCoy, Pike, Saavik, as well as mentions of Kirk and a male Admiral Janeway. I especially loved the story about Joran Dax, the psychopathic killer host; I'd have loved a full-length novel about that host. A solid first entry into the DS9 relaunch series; Ezri's story (split into the prologue and epilogue) takes place shortly after the events of the series finale 'What We Leave Behind," I am looking forward to getting into the relaunch series properly soon.
January 13, 2022
A fascinating glimpse into the lives of the previous hosts of the Dax symbiont. They get referred to in passing during some episodes of DS9, but this book gives each of them their time in the spotlight.
The contributing authors have done their research well and written great stories.
My personal favourites are Joran and Curzon. They've got more of a dark side to them than the others and their personalities are more conflicted.
The only aspect which seems a little contrived is the fact that almost every host seems to have some connection with Starfleet and the Federation. Given the Trills' intense privacy and their former isolationist stance, this seems somewhat unlikely. But I suppose the stories had to be written that way to make them more accessible for Star Trek fans.
The contributing authors have done their research well and written great stories.
My personal favourites are Joran and Curzon. They've got more of a dark side to them than the others and their personalities are more conflicted.
The only aspect which seems a little contrived is the fact that almost every host seems to have some connection with Starfleet and the Federation. Given the Trills' intense privacy and their former isolationist stance, this seems somewhat unlikely. But I suppose the stories had to be written that way to make them more accessible for Star Trek fans.
February 23, 2021
What an excellent anthology series focused on the different individuals that the Dax symbiote was attached to. All of them were great, but I particularly enjoyed the creepy story involving Audrid Dax and featuring the late, great Captain Christopher Pike.
I couldn’t think of one that wasn’t well-written. Sure, these stories, as all anthologies are, are piecemeal in nature, yet I think they all gave us important glimpses into the lives of Dax over the centuries. If I was disappointed in any one story over the others, truly it probably involved Jadzia Dax, though it did feature the return of a DS9 villain.
Great anthology, and well worth the read.
I couldn’t think of one that wasn’t well-written. Sure, these stories, as all anthologies are, are piecemeal in nature, yet I think they all gave us important glimpses into the lives of Dax over the centuries. If I was disappointed in any one story over the others, truly it probably involved Jadzia Dax, though it did feature the return of a DS9 villain.
Great anthology, and well worth the read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 112 reviews