Book Review: ‘Force and Motion’ by Jeffrey Lang

October 6, 2023 at 5:55 am | Posted in Books, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Star Trek | 1 Comment
Tags: deep space nine, jeffrey lang

Star Trek: Force and Motion is a novel from the Deep Space Nine line of books by Jeffrey Lang. It was released from  Simon and Schuster’s Pocket Books in June 2016 (as part of the 50 year anniversary of Star Trek). 

I won’t bury the lead on this one. This is by far the best Star Trek novel I’ve read in a long time. For sure in my top five standalone Star Trek novels!

This is a much smaller novel than most of my favorites. This story follows Chief O’Brien and Commander Nog as they go out to visit O’Brien’s longtime friend, Benjamin Maxwell on the research station Robert Hooke. One of the research projects goes awry, causing chaos and problems for the characters involved.

This is a way deeper book than I expected. It really tells a compelling story about redemption and forgiveness, as well as one about responsibility and greed. Despite it’s short length, Jeffrey Lang packs quite a lot of themes into here.

He also has quite a bit of story, backstory, and action. As someone who never knew about Benjamin Maxwell (I forgot about the episode “The Wounded” from TNG or have never watched it), I was hooked by his story and the way that Lang told it. The book really is his story throughout. Nog and O’Brien are key POV characters to be sure, but the real heart and focus of this book is Maxwell.

I also really enjoyed a lot of the flashback sequences featuring Nog and O’Brien. Lang made their scenes feel like moments from the Deep Space Nine series. And the book as a whole felt like it could have been a longer/reworked script from DS9. This is an excellent mark of a media tie-in author!

The problem that occurs on the research station felt quintessentially like Star Trek. It (and the story as a whole) reminded me a lot of Star Trek The Motion Picture and the beginning of Star Trek Generations. Those aren’t normally movies paired together, but if you read the book you’ll see why I include them. There was also an element from the movie Independence Day that I enjoyed. There was also a well-placed redshirts joke in there. 

This is a very difficult book to sell to fans, as it doesn’t have the main characters from Deep Space Nine in it, nor does it have the main characters from The Next Generation. O’Brien is technically a main character, but he’s never been one to carry a line of books. Yet the editorial team at Pocket Books decided to release this book anyway (and in a monumental year celebrating 50 years of Star Trek). If Lang ever returns to write another Star Trek book, especially one in this style, I will definitely read it on release day!

This isn’t a book review element per se, but I must point out that this is a gorgeous cover from Doug Drexler and Ali Ries. This is definitely a favorite Trek cover for me!

There were some extended sequences in the Penal colony, specifically with Maxwell’s therapists that I thought could have been cut down in favor of more action or character moments in the present. That’s probably my only gripe with the book. 

Overall, this is a phenomenal book. Jeffrey Lang gets top marks in almost every category, from action, character work, sci-fi elements, and Star Trek lore. While having high stakes, the book has an element of being a “comfort book”, as it doesn’t have huge galactic spanning threats like the other post-Nemesis books, which really helps it stand out. It is a real shame that more people haven’t read this book, because it is excellent. Five out of five! Way to go Jeffrey Lang!

Reviewed By: Jonathan Koan for Roqoo Depot.