Elena. reviewed Articles of the Federation by Keith R. A. DeCandido
A year in the life of the president of the United Federation of Planets
5 stars
Content warning largly spoiler free review with a small but not insignificant spoiler at the very end, specially marked, with space before and after, so you almost can't read it accidentally
This is a really good, never boring look into the Federation government, which unfortunately we don't ever really see on screen, with a few short exceptions. Without a doubt, this book is one of my favourite Trek novels. It's so good.
The book follows the newly elected president throughout one year, January to December, with one or two month breaks in between. The way that was done I found to be a cool way to tell a story.
Each segment (=month) of the book is lead by a chapter of civilians of various planets watching the political commentary and discussion show "Illuminating the City of Light". There the participants discuss the crises and their outcome, that we just read about in the segment before. I liked that a lot.
I also liked the extensive number of races and characters that appear, just as it should be in a Federation of over 150 member states. There are quite a few cameos, some shorter than others, some of more importance than others, some of on screen characters, some of books-only characters.
After the Strange New Worlds episode "Ad Astra Per Aspera" left me wanting a Star Trek legal show, I now want a political show as well. Maybe combine the two themes. Maybe make it a limited series, taking the structure of this book as model.
I discovered one mistake: On page 184 Starfleet's motto "Ad astra per aspera" is translated as "To the stars for hope". That's wrong. The correct translation is "To the stars through hardship". Unfortunately a whole speech is based on that wrong translation.
Interview with the author on Literary Treks podcast: www.trek.fm/literary-treks/265
SPOILER further down . . . . . . . . . . . . . SPOILER AHEAD
There is one thing however that I did not like at all: The involvement of Section 31. It is never named, but I guess that “they” are meant to be Section 31. The more I think about Section 31 the more I dislike it. I want it out of Star Trek. I want it completely dismantled and never to re-surface again. That would be a great episode of Star Trek.
END of SPOILER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #StarTrek #StarTrekBooks #StarTrekNovels #TrekLit