Having read all of the Shatner/Reeves books, I was only truly let down in the first book of this trilogy, 'Captain's Peril.' It lacked what made the other Shatnerverse books exciting and good reads; the action, the appearances by numerous Trek characters, the almost epic-sized missions for Kirk to take on. I was hesitant to read 'Captain's Blood' for these reasons. I was unsure after the last book if it was worth the money and time, so waited until some used copies came around at a decent price.
'Captain's Blood' is one of the best Shatnerverse novels. It seems to step past the events of the last book where it seemed uncertain where the trilogy would go. This book has multiple plots flying around, something for everyone in my opinion. It opens with a major character's assasination. Kirk and McCoy team up and go on a mission to investigate the murder, taking with them Joseph, Kirk's son. Along for the adventure? Picard, Crusher, La Forge, Voyager's EMH and Scotty. Who else makes an appearance, adding life and a new level of excitment to the book? Admiral Kathryn Janeway, Captain Riker of the Titan Deanna Troi, and Worf.
For what I thought didn't work and took away from the novel; there are a lot of plot threads going on. It seems as if the authors had a few ideas of what to base the novel on and tried to find a way to use them all. You have the assasination, you have the continuing Romulan-Reman conflict, you have the Totality as introduced in the previous book, then there's Starfleet Intelligence's involvment and their own mission in the mix of things. Some of these plot lines seem to just end without being given more life or interest. They're introduced, solved and replaced by something new. Another thing that I as a reader found a little distracting is simply the Kirk character. All of the Shatnerverse novels of course center around Kirk in the 24th Century. Its a bit of an ego-trip as Shatner again makes Kirk a super-hero who can fight, out-think Spock and make the other characters seem near useless.
I had to laugh at how Worf, apparently still an ambassador even following his un-explained appearance in 'Nemesis,' often times being portrayed as growling and annoyed. He does give Kirk good advice on raising Joseph. Crusher is put at communications, reduced to an Uhura-role but is given the chance later on to flex her muscles a bit. She just seems to be tossed in for the heck of giving Picard someone to talk to. Again, 'Nemesis' seemed to have it where Crusher was going off to run Starfleet Medical again (read the A Time To... series) but in Shatner's novel, it comes off as if she has nothing else to do but tag along with Picard. Scotty seems equally useless in the novel. There was no mentioning of his role in the Starfleet Corps of Engineers and his scenes seemed to nearly copy what was seen in 'Star Trek Generations' during his appearance. Picard was more true to character but it seemed distracting that he would put his association with Kirk above his own dudy.
That being said, the good: I wondered what Shatner would do with a follow-up to 'Star Trek Nemesis.' I can't exactly picture Shatner sitting around and becoming an expert on the film but then again, he does have two authors working with him who have impressive novels under their names. This did seem to add more substance to 'Nemesis,' something which I really enjoyed since the movie lacked Trek's commentary on life and upped the action sequences. The Remans way of life is given more exploration, making their coup of the government in the movie more understandable. 'Shinzon' seems to live on but only haunts Picard in one scene. The fear of another Shinzon rising seems to worry Picard and Kirk. While I do not truly understand the Totality, the main focus of this trilogy, I think they fit in best with the Original Series feel of the novels. It's a bad guy that can get to Kirk and others, one who seems to be a throw-back to the old series and their 60s' inspired aliens of the week.
What I also liked about the novel was that Shatner does provide a good role or two for some of Trek's less explored characters. Troi actually has a role but it's not like the usual counselor duties. She's there for Riker, coming off more as a first officer than a ship's counselor. There's a great scene where Troi basically runs the meeting between the Titan's group and Kirk and she has to verbally spar with Worf, showing that the Betazoid has grown as a character since her TNG episode days. Another surprisingly good role was Admiral Kathryn Janeway. Her interactions with Kirk were in my opinion great and on mark based on her VGR days. She's friendly but there comes a time when she seems to draw the line and go completely professional. It seems as if Kirk both likes and hates Janeway, knowing she has something over him and that she's one of the few women who don't fall for the Kirk charm. Learning she was the admiral put in charge of the Romulan-affair follwing Nemesis was great. Learning she wasn't exactly successful but has lots of expectations to meet following her Delta Quadrant days made her even better fit for the role. She interacts with all the characters, truly coming forth as a great part of the novel. She does appear in other Shatner books, such as Spectre, but only as her Mirror self.
I think Shatner and his associates hit the nail on the head with this one. Instead of writing a novel that seems to work outside the other shows, this one fits in better with the rest of Trek as we know it by having the actions take place sometime after Nemesis. It was a quick read, fun, action packed but with a lot of thoughtful observations on situations and characters that took me by surprise somewhat. This is definately worth the read and has its flaws but as a total work, it works perfectly and stands on its own as one of Shatner's best novels, and one of the Post-Nemesis era's best installments as well.
