Star Trek: Picard: The Dark Veil

By: James Swallow

Narrated by: Robert Petkoff

The thrilling untold adventure based on the acclaimed Star Trek: Picard TV series!

The Alpha Quadrant is mired in crisis. Within the United Federation of Planets, a terrorist strike on the shipyards of Mars has led to the shutdown of all relief efforts for millions of Romulans facing certain doom from an impending super­nova. But when the USS Titan is drawn into a catastrophic incident on the Romulan-Federation border, Captain William Riker, his family, and his crew find themselves caught between the shocking secrets of an enigmatic alien species and the deadly agenda of a ruthless Tal Shiar operative.

Forced into a wary alliance with a Romulan starship commander, Riker and the Titan crew must uncover the truth to stop a devastating attack — but one wrong move could plunge the entire sector into open conflict!

©2021 CBS Studios Inc. All rights reserved. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. (P)2021 Simon & Schuster Audio

Great continuation of the new time-line

it's great to see Trek getting its timeline synced. this story really meshes well with the new series. thank you for finally getting everything together.

Can't go wrong with this one

Once again great writing and performance by Robert Petkoff. Plenty of action and surprises.

I loved it

It is always great to hear stories about the TNG crew. I hope we can get even more stories in the future.

really good book highly recommend 🖖🖖🖖🖖🖖

loved it I highly recommend reading this book the writer James Swallow really knows how to write for riker

Great Backstory

The book builds on the events leading up to the TV series very well. Made me appreciate how nuanced the characters have become.

Captain Riker learned from the best

Of the three Star Trek tv series that aired in 2020 the first season of Picard was the most disappointing for me. As a kid Next Generation was as close to a foundational text as a sci fi tv show can be. Jean Luc Picard was a unique type of super hero, showing someone that didn't use brute force or super human powers to solve problems, just diplomacy and careful thought. Though he was in his 30s William Riker was a great stand in for youngsters (because Wesley Crusher sucked) and always grew with the lessons Picard passed down. Without making this a review of the show it had plenty of really fun moments but never felt like it reached for the same ideals Next Generation and that era of Trek tv did. (Go watch Lower Decks it's not just great Trek but the best tv show of 2020)

This is the second book based on Picard, after The Last Best Hope last spring. Like that book this one is technically a prequel, though it's connection to the show is much more tertiary and in fact Picard only shows up in any capacity for a few pages. This doesn't hurt the book and in fact I easily enjoyed this one quite a bit more.

The plot unfolds a year after the main inciting inciting incidents of the Picard tv series, when androids attacked Mars, the Federation abandoned rescue efforts of the Romulans and Picard leaving starfleet. These events merely serve as the backdrop to this story, which follows an older, wiser Riker as he captains the USS Titan.

What unfolds is an adventure full of all the techno babble, somewhat predictable twists and a Starfleet captain willing to use diplomacy over violence whenever he can that makes Star Trek great. Swallow writes all the characters incredibly well, whether it's characters established in the tv series, adapted from the now non canon Titan series from a few years ago or his own creations. I enjoyed 5 year old Thaddeus Riker especially. Since children in Trek are usually rather annoying it was refreshing to have a kid who acted more or less like any kid his age.

The pacing and style could easily fit as an episode of 90s Star Trek or as a film sequel to Nemesis. It's not high brow science fiction, and as I alluded to many of the moments framed as twists were perhaps too predictable and overly choreographed, but it's the most fun I've had yet with a Star Trek novel.

great continuation of Next Generation.

Great continuation of Next Generation and Back story to Picard. Great series a definite read for any Star Trek Fan

a good middle

a good middle before the Picard series. but doesn't the tv series have rulers son die??

much better than previous picard story

Even though Picard is only briefly in the story we have enough other beloved characters and a bit more of a true star trek feel without so much of the political noise from in the last book. I enjoyed it much more and there glimmers some hope of returning from the gloom back to what we expect from our heroes in the Federation. The previous book felt like someone spent the entire novel clipping Picards wings and no one wants to see that. Cmon writers....you have the best character and the best actors to portray them now write something where i can feel inspired by humanity. Let the heroes of the Enterprise come together and do what they do best. Really good to have so much of Will and Troi in this book though. Their son is a compelling character and we get some exploring done too. On the right track again.

Fantastic

I read no books growing up but the narrative here is perfect. I want MORE!!!