Star Trek: Discovery: Drastic Measures

Really struggled to get into this one, nearly gave up on it which is very unusual for me. The narrative jumps around a lot early in the book and subject matter is a bit harsh, but eventually the book does settle and the characters become more relatable. It is interesting to see both Lorca and Georgiou earlier in their careers but I think the need to bring in existing Star Trek Enterprise characters from other series is being forced rather than a natural progression of the story – Discovery's characters should be able to stand on their own feet and why not use characters that are either new or very minor to existing storylines instead of forcing the connections.

It's a clever premise for a Star Trek: Discovery novel, even if it does equal fan service to a certain point. The timeline works out so why not have two of the main characters from Discovery present at one of the horrors alluded to in the Original Series? It's a little convenient that both Lorca and Georgiou both ended up on Tarsus IV at that time but that's fan service for you.The author's bio says that he spent 11 years in the U.S. Marines and his appreciation for strategy and military procedure show up in this book. At certain points, it starts to become a little wordy in that regard and sounds less like a Star Trek novel.The novel does a decent job of patching a plot hole from the original episode as to why so few people had seen Kodos and why Kirk had to rely on a fairly primitive voiceprint reading to identify him. Kirk and Thomas Leighton make appearances as their younger selves.I'm about 40% of the way through the book at this point and it's well written, if a little dry and procedural at times.

I’m sorry to say that i found this book to be tedious, monotonous, and uninteresting. I was a huge fan of the first book. This was dragged on, presenting self righteous, unbelievable characters that frankly i never fell for.

We know the fate of Kodos the Executioner, former governor of Tarsus IV, from the original series episode “The Conscience of the King,” but what really happened on Tarsus IV? In Dayton Ward’s version of events, Lieutenant Gabriel Lorca is stationed on Tarsus IV the night of the mass executions, and it is he who tracks down Kodos and his followers to bring them to justice. Meanwhile, Commander Philippa Georgiou arrives on Tarsus IV as the head of a Starfleet relief team and finds herself caught up in the action. This is a fast-paced book, but it still leaves time to get to know these two Discovery characters, and Lorca in particular, a bit better. Already knowing what becomes of Kodos doesn’t take away from the enjoyment either. The ending, which meets up with some of the characters ten years later, is a nice surprise and ties back in to the events in Season 1 of Discovery.

I found Gabriel Lorca to be one of the most fascinating characters of the first season of Star Trek: Discovery, and I've been hoping for more of him ever since. I've also enjoyed much of Michelle Yeoh's work and so to see her character of Philippa Georgiou be expanded upon as well, made this a compelling read. I also enjoyed the setting, the tragedy of Kodos and the colony on Tarsus IV, more than I expected. I felt for a time that this was a story that Trek had told perhaps too much already, but this book provided a fresh perspective on the entire event. I think I'll go watch the Original Series episode "Conscience of the King" again soon. Dayton Ward does a terrific job with giving the reader a look into the psyches of Lorca, Georgiou and even Kodos himself, making the latter a bit more than just a one episode antagonist, albeit an important one in Trek lore.

What a great read. I am a huge Star Trek fan that unfortunately have not been able to see ST Discovery yet. That did not matter in reading this book. You are told everything you need to know in this book. Dayton gives you a backstory to the characters that cements my wanting to try the series. It is a prequel of sorts to the TOS storyline “Conscience of the King”. It gives you the backstory in a unique and interesting way. Great characters both established in Discovery and new ones. Well worth the read.

This was a good story that was based on an episode of ST:TOS where the villain was discovered by James Kirk, hiding within a troupe of Shakespearean actors. This book fleshed out the backstory of that episode in excellent fashion. Character development was also excellent, making me wish that a key character of this book could have lived on in the ST:Discovery world. But she lives on in ST:Discovery-Difficult Hours and this book. Hope that she returns in future books!!I recommend this book to all ST:Discovery fans and to all fans of Star Trek as it continues to outline the tenets of Starfleet in a fine way.Great read!

For months, I had been looking forward to this novel, Dayton Ward's take on the events of Tarsus IV 20 years prior to TOS "Conscience of the King." It did not disappoint.I enjoyed seeing the younger Georgiou and Lorca, and I hope that future novels and stories will give us more looks into their respective careers before the events of Star Trek: Discovery.

It's okay. First third of the book I quite enjoyed, middle third I was (sadly) a bit bored, last third I kind of enjoyed again (but I was annoyed at having to sit through the middle section which was hard work.)Lorca and Georgiou were both great, as were all the ties to Star Trek new and old. If you watch "The Conscience of the King" straight after (as I did!) you'll see that everything presented here in this novel fits perfectly. I've seen some criticisms of the cameos but I liked them!Would have preferred less time spent with the book-created original characters and more time with Lorca and Georgiou. Seriously, there's a few long chapters midway with nothing but the supporting characters with stuff happening that ultimately didn't matter or have any consequence and I'd have preferred those chapters to be gone and either make the novel shorter or flesh out the earlier third of the novel with lots more of Lorca's situation pre- and post-Sacrifice etc. It felt like a big chunk of padding to fill out the page count, when I'd actually have been happier with a novella without the mid-novel bloat. (and yes, I'd have paid the same price for a high quality novella.)Always a treat having new Trek fiction but was a tad disappointed here... but it's still worth a read!

Like ‘Desperate Hours’ whose publication preceded it, ‘Drastic Measures’ is set some time before the opening episode of ‘Discovery’. It isn’t really a prequel to the series as such though as events primarily take place ten years before it, have little bearing on it and involve younger versions of only two of its characters; Georgiou and Lorca, when they are still both only Commanders.Weirdly it is more of a prequel to an episode of the original series, ‘The Conscience of the King’. Although it mentions Kodos early on, this probably isn’t necessarily obvious unless you’re reasonably well-versed in the original series. Personally, I didn’t realise until a certain cameo halfway through. The novel works well in serving as a prequel to the above episode. In fact, better than it does at being part of ‘Discovery’. Indeed, the weakness of this being a ‘Discovery’ novel is that Georgiou and Lorca could easily be replaced by other characters and it would make little difference to the main storyline.Although it is quite an appealing idea to tie this into an old episode it probably works to the novel’s detriment. After it virtually opens with the big, dramatic and horrifying incident that forms the background to ‘The Conscience of the King’ everything else feels a little underwhelming. It also can’t come to any definitive conclusion as such because that already happens in ‘The Conscience of the King’. Perhaps, that’s why the novel feels like it is meandering for a fair portion of its length. However, some of these effects might be lessened with no prior knowledge of Kodos and these events.The major connections to ‘Discovery’, Georgiou and Lorca, don’t really seem that close to their onscreen counterparts, even given that they are considerably younger. Lorca’s characterisation, in particular, seems fairly off. Considering when this was published though it might partially be due to the character’s path onscreen not being fully disclosed to the author when this book was written.The novel has a strong and intriguing beginning but it doesn’t continue to live up to this start and eventually becomes a little dull. However, there are some nice touches in its closing stages, especially with Georgiou, and the little ‘elsewhere’ section that almost seems to be hidden at the end of the book (after the acknowledgments, etc) makes for a good denouement.

I love the series and am excited to see a series of novels coming out about Star Trek: Discovery. I cannot review it yet as I haven't read it but I am really happy with my purchase. Looks like a great buy.

Finally someone is filling in a gap in the history of star trek. I enjoyed the adventure. Interesting plot and ending with maybe another book to finish the link.

I am a huge star tek fan but unfortunately I thought this story to be clumsyly written and far too focused on always pointing out that "our" guys, meaning the characters from the series, are morally superior and just generally the better people. It really gets on your nerves after the few couple of pages. I did not even finish it.