The Lost Era: The Buried Age

This imaginative and complex story about a part of a familiar character’s life that’s only obliquely referred to in the series is well worth the read. One reads the acknowledgments and sees the care and breadth of Bennett’s research, yet he is also a spellbinding and meticulous storyteller. There are reasons for everything he says, and there are no loose ends, no superfluous additions of characters or places just to fit them in, and no actual hero worship (so tempting when dealing with an icon like Picard). At one point, I was a bit miffed at Bennett’s portrayal of Picard in a less-than-flattering light: as vindictive or obsessive. But Bennett’s skill at keeping it real made me want to find out how his protagonist was going to evolve into the character in TNG, and Bennett does so with kindness, depth and understanding.

I don’t read a ton of ST novels, and, frankly, many have vaguely disappointed. I am glad I read this one.

This is an EXCELLENT prequel to TNG, and creatively retcons many things you see on the series that wouldn’t otherwise make sense. It takes you from Picard’s final day aboard the Stargazer right up to his first day on the Enterprise, and it is an INCREDIBLE ride. This book is adding to a list of novels that are starting to convince me that Star Trek novels are better than the TV series or movies. You won’t regret this read.

I am an avid star trek fan. TNG is my favorite series. I've read well over a dozen novels, own the series, geek-like knowledge of it and TOS too --

I have NEVER read such a gripping, well-told Star Trek novel! WAY better than ANY of the many others I've read!! For specific reasons:

1. Good characterization true to characters --

We've all read those novels where e.g, Picard is speaking and we just can't imagine him saying the words being put in his mouth. His characterization, and that of Data, Troi, Guinan, etc, is done SO well, you'll never find yourself having to suspend disbelief. I don't know how this author did it!

The scene where Data meets Picard actually choked me up it was so believable and lock-step with the true characters. My wife too.

2. Author sticks to the mysteries of the universe as his main plot focus

None of the cheap switcheroos where the plot starts out intriguing, then devolved into one of (a) cheap soap opera & romance, (b) story about strategic space battle, or (c) story where all the potential of uncovering some super advanced civilization doesn't get explored because the characters are too tied up doing other boring nonsense.

3. Unbelievably thorough and accurate storytelling across a range of situations, with unusually perceptive insights:

How a Vulcan would think and act as a lawyer, accurate theoretical physics, ridiculously thought-out detail about how civilizations would evolve over hundreds of millions of years, how a being with a certain type of power would come to think about the world.

IF YOU ONLY EVER READ ONE STAR TREK NOVEL IN YOUR LIFE, THIS MUST BE IT.

I write this out of sheer passion for what I've just spent 2 days reading out loud to my wife. It was like watching the very best episodes of the series again! I can't believe how this guy did it ...