SPOILERS FOR BOOK 1 Star Trek Coda: Moments Asunder The result is Star Trek Coda, a trilogy of novels, one written by each of the three architects of this scheme, tying together all the loose ends of their shared universe, with the aim of giving the heroes of this timeline one last chance to make a difference. But authors Dayton Ward, David Mack, and James Swallow worked out an idea and made a plea: could they close out the post- Nemesis Trek-lit continuity with a bang? Could they create a “Coda” for that timeline so that those stories would still matter and not just be wiped away without any kind of closure like Lucasfilm did with the Star Wars tie-in novels after the Disney acquisition? And wonder of wonders, CBS said, “yes.” And of course, we have already seen this happen with multiple novel tie-ins for Picard already, including the recent Rogue Elements. While novels were never part of the official canon, any new novels would be expected to tie into the canon established by the new Star Trek Universe shows. Patrick Stewart announcing his return as Picard at Star Trek Las Vegas, August 2018 But with Picard – and later Lower Decks and even Discovery – setting new post- Nemesis canon, all of that Trek lit found itself out on a limb. Big events, life-altering events, all tied together in a tight continuity shared between authors. Ezri Dax became the captain of her own ship, Riker was promoted to admiral, and Picard and Crusher were married and had a son. Station Deep Space Nine was destroyed and then rebuilt. Sisko returned from the wormhole, Picard participated in a plot to topple the Federation President, Janeway was killed and then brought back to life, and the Borg were completely defeated.

Unfettered by the need to tie into any new films or television series, dozens of books followed over the last two decades taking fans to some fascinating places. So CBS gave the editors and authors of the tie-in novels unprecedented freedom to write interconnected adventures for the TNG-era characters. Since Nemesis, the onscreen Star Trek adventures featuring The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager characters were essentially finished, with Paramount eventually moving Star Trek into the completely separate Kelvin Timeline in the J.J. But for the authors of the Star Trek tie-in novels, the joy was mixed with a twinge of concern. When Patrick Stewart announced in 2018 at Star Trek Las Vegas that he was returning to the role of Jean-Luc Picard in a brand-new Star Trek series set 20 years after Star Trek Nemesis, virtually every Star Trek fan rejoiced and began waiting in anticipation. The release of Dayton Ward’s Star Trek Coda: Moments Asunder kicks off a new trilogy which is the beginning of the end to an entire era.

Coda 2 review