Star Trek: Treaty's Law (Day of Honor Book 4) - Dean Wesley Smith & Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Title: Treaty's Law
Author: Dean Wesley Smith & Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Published: 1997
Chronological Period: 2268 (Framing Story: 2288)

Available at:
Amazon
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Review:
“Treaty’s Law” by Dean Wesley Smith & Kristine Kathryn Rusch is the fourth book in the “Day of Honor” series, a collection of Klingon focussed cross-over Star Trek novels. Whilst it is the fourth book in the series, it is actually the first book chronologically and involves a standalone plot so there was no issue in regards to reading it out of series order.

The story is set during The Original series period on the planet Signi Beta, a planet ideal for farming which both the Klingons and Federation wish to claim. The Klingon’s have a stronger claim but Kirk really doesn’t want to lose it, especially when his old adversary, Commander Kor is involved. However, when the Klingon Colony is attacked by powerful, unknown aliens, it is up to the crew of the Enterprise to work alongside the Klingons in order to survive.

The story was well written and fast paced with a fair amount of action. It reminded me a bit of the usual Kirk centric action plots you would see on the TV series. This feeling I had was enhanced by the characters who are well captured and easily match what we know of them from the TV series. However, the authors also added in a few new characters such as the Klingon Kerdoch. He was a well-rounded character who was used well to add different views into the story without eclipsing the regular characters. In a way he reminded me of the usual “Guest Stars” you would have seen during the TV series, who have prominent roles but are used alongside the regular cast rather than instead of.

One disappointing aspect of the novel is in regards to Kor. He basically spends most of the novel injured and doesn’t really say that much. Therefore there is very little of the enjoyable verbal sparring that you would normally get to see between him and Kirk. It wasn’t a huge issue, but I would have enjoyed seeing a little bit more of him, especially considering he is quite prominent on the cover.

Overall this is an enjoyable original series novel although I don’t think it adds that much to my knowledge of Klingons. Still, if you are interested in Klingons you may as well still pick it up for a read as there are the odd interesting elements present. Like in regards to the non-warrior aspects of Klingon culture.