I have a compulsion (or maybe, really it's a fetish--I'm a little murky on the distinction, as well as my own responses) to finish a series. This is the 5th book in the A Time to... series of Star Trek: The Next Generation novels set between the movies Star Trek: Resurrection and Star Trek: Nemesis.

I liked the first four well enough. Complex, lots of emphasis on characters I like but often aren't the focus of things.

Perhaps the reason I'm so ambivalent about this on is that, well, I never really warmed up to Riker--which is a real problem since this book, and it's sequel, which I started yesterday, really focus very much on Riker and Deanna Troi (with a bit of Beverly Crusher). Oh, and Geordi doing a Radar O'Reilly/Klinger impersonation as he sets up a secondary supply system to get the Enterprise, and other starships the supplies they need in a Dominion War aftermath depleted and disorganized Federation.

For me, this is a comfortable universe. Even a beloved one. I bought this as an ebook for my Nookcolor. As soon as I figure out how, I'm going to delete it from my library. It's taking up space I'd much rather use for...well, pretty much anything else. It wasn't a bad book. But I didn't enjoy it.