Book Review: ‘Vanguard: Precipice’ by David Mack

April 28, 2023 at 6:27 am | Posted in Books, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Star Trek | 2 Comments
Tags: david mack, vanguard

Star Trek: Vanguard: Precipice is the fifth novel in the Vanguard series by David Mack. It was released by Pocket Books in December of 2009. 

Reading the Vanguard books has been a challenging process. I read Harbinger in 2017 and did not particularly love it. I then read Summon the Thunder and Reap the Whirlwind in 2020 and liked them even less. I waited yet again until 2022 to read Open Secrets, and while I enjoyed that book more than the others, it still felt mediocre overall.

This book, however, breaks the mediocre streak and tells a really interesting story!

The best part about this book is the characters and the fun of the story. The previous installments have been so bleak and dark, this story was overall lots of fun to read. This book also focuses on the Shedai the least of all the books thus far, and I think that is what really works for me. The Shedai are uninteresting to me as villains, and the focus of the political factions and the inner workings of Starfleet and Vanguard mixed in with the interpersonal dynamics work much better for me. 

My favorite storyline followed Pennington and T’Prynn. Their dynamic on this book was humorous and their quest for information was just pure fun to read. When you couple this with the plotline of Quinn and Bridy Mac, the book just feels like nonstop adventure and intrigue. Plus, I was really rooting for Bridy Mac and Quinn to somehow end up together. 

I also enjoyed what little happened on the Vanguard in this book, although it actually took a substantial step back in its own series. 

What didn’t work for me in this book was the  Diego Reyes and the Klingons subplot. I really enjoyed reading about Reyes in previous installments, but here he was sidelined and when used, he was boring and felt out of place. Maybe this is all payoff for future books, but here it just felt unnecessary. 

Overall, this was an entertaining book. Nowhere near my favorites list, but certainly the best in this series, a step in the right direction, and the first to feel like a great book. I’ll give it a four out of five.  Hopefully I enjoy the next three books just as much if not more!

Reviewed By: Jonathan Koan for Roqoo Depot.

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