The Returned, Part 2

Star Trek: New Frontier #20

by Peter David

The second installment in a brand-new three-part digital-first Star New Frontier e-novel from New York Times bestselling author Peter David!Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and the crew of the U.S.S. Excalibur are back, picking up three months after the stunning events depicted in New Blind Man’s Bluff. Calhoun's search of Xenex has failed to find any survivors, and now he is bound and determined to track down the race that killed them—the D'myurj and their associates, the Brethren—and exact vengeance upon them. His search will take the Excalibur crew into a pocket universe, where he discovers not only the homeworld of the D’myurj, but another race that shares Calhoun's determination to obliterate his opponents. But is this new race truly an ally…or an even greater threat?

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Fiction, Media Tie In

180 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 3, 2015

About the author

aka David Peters

Peter Allen David, often abbreviated PAD, was an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films, and video games. His notable comic book work includes an award-winning 12-year run on The Incredible Hulk, as well as runs on Aquaman, Young Justice, SpyBoy, Supergirl, Fallen Angel, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Captain Marvel, and X-Factor.
His Star Trek work included comic books and novels such as the New Frontier book series. His other novels included film adaptations, media tie-ins, and original works, such as the Apropos of Nothing and Knight Life series. His television work includes series such as Babylon 5, Young Justice, Ben 10: Alien Force and Nickelodeon's Space Cases, which he co-created with Bill Mumy.
David often jokingly described his occupation as "Writer of Stuff", and he was noted for his prolific writing, characterized by its mingling of real-world issues with humor and references to popular culture, as well as elements of metafiction and self-reference.
David earned multiple awards for his work, including a 1992 Eisner Award, a 1993 Wizard Fan Award, a 1996 Haxtur Award, a 2007 Julie Award and a 2011 GLAAD Media Award.

Reviews

[Bobby Underwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mackenzie Calhoun books in the Star Trek universe have been mostly enjoyable, breathing fresh life into the franchise. This novella trilogy from Peter David, who created the character who starred in the New Frontier books has also been very enjoyable. I’ve decided not to rehash what happened in book one in the trilogy in this review, as you can pop over and read my thoughts and those of others on that book to get an idea of the story-line, which begins after many of the Calhoun novels in the series — I haven’t read them all myself. Book one in The Returned ended on a cliffhanger, with Calhoun and the Excalibur crew in a pocket universe, discovering a D’myurj vessel dead in space, with only one survivor.

What happened to the D’myurj involves the Dayan, a blue, six-armed race who are seeking to wipe out the D’myurj and Brethren, and appear to have the means to do so. However, an alliance of sorts between Calhoun and Nyos, the captain of the Dayan ship, proves tricky. The Dayans need Calhoun because of the cloaking device Soleta has installed on Excalibur, but can this warrior type race be trusted? Burgoyne doesn’t think so, but as always, the crew of the Excalibur will follow their charismatic captain anywhere; including into a pocket universe on a rogue mission to rescue Federation survivors. That mission, however, is soon obscured by the lust for genocide — both Calhoun’s and the Dayan race.

What’s amazing here is just how much is going on, and how it all ties together. By the time the reader reaches the end, and a shocking twist is revealed, they feel as though they’ve read a much lengthier novel in the Star Trek universe — a good one. McHenry and Lefler have terrific moments far away from the main action. Robin finally discovers Mac’s true feelings for her, and Mac discovers newfound abilities to heal people. The Thallonian leader prays to the Awesome, and those prayers are answered — at first. On another romantic front, Soleta’s love for Calhoun is nearly exposed — he’s still a bit oblivious — because the Dayan leader is able to sense it. Kalinda discovers Xyon’s tracer, and knows the cloak did not fail, as it first appeared to in book one of the trilogy. And an act of sheer brutality by Nyos in regard to a crewman who’s tangled with the formable Kebron — and lost, of course — starts the process of drawing a line between the genocide Calhoun wants — or thinks he wants — and the genocide the Dayans want.

Author Peter David begins the second book slowly, but interestingly, and the narrative gradually builds to an action-packed and startling ending which has ties to the larger Star Trek universe. How it all will play out in the final portion of the trilogy, I’ll be tackling after I’ve put a few books between me and this one. There is a lot going on here, and as in the first book in the series, the relationships abroad the ship, and off, drive the narrative as much as the fascinating story-line. Deep friendships, unrequited love, distrust and incredible loyalty make this a fabulous read.

The best part about The Returned trilogy is that the really feels like we’re back in the Star Trek universe. Last time I spoke of the ending to the first as being thrilling, but it pales in comparison to the last word uttered in this one. Wow! I didn’t see that coming at all. I’m really looking forward to finishing this trilogy. I may even go back and pick up some of the earlier Calhoun books I don’t remember well or didn’t read if the opportunity presents itself. I do highly recommend that you read the first in The Returned trilogy in order to know what’s happening before tackling this one. However, beyond that, I believe a reader with even just a passing knowledge of the Star Trek universe can pick this up and very quickly get a handle on Captain Calhoun and the other characters, and their ties to each other. Great fun, and highly recommended!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Middle installments of a trilogy can suffer a bit from treading water. We had the rising action of part one and we get to see it all hit the fan in part three, leaving little room for any significant development or plot advancement in part two.

This is not the case with Peter David's second installment for The Returned.

David gives us enough action, suspense and character development to fill three other Star Trek novels. Exploring the pocket universe where the race that destroyed his world came from, Calhoun finds an even bigger threat waiting. But is he so consumed by a desire for vengeance that he'll overlook this and put not only his ship but the entire Federation at risk?

Meanwhile, Mark Henry, Robin Lefler and Cwansi are back on New Thallon and dealing with the politics of that world and Cwansi's role as the next in line to rule the world. Oh yeah and Mark is dealing with people finding out he has god-like powers and can heal people.

One of the best things in the Trek publishing world, New Frontier proves as delightful and page-turning as it always has. David's freedom to explore his own pocket of the final frontier gives him the freedom to take chances and pay them off -- something he does admirably here.

And just when you think it can't get any better, David pulls off one hell of a cliffhanger that left me eager for the next installment.

If you haven't read the series, this is not a good jumping in point. Part one might be better. But honestly, do yourself a favor and start from book one. It's really worth your time.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley.

[Crystal Bensley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great continuation of the story but man those cliffhangers are a pain!

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In some ways, The Returned, Part 2 suffers from what Matthew Rushing and I have termed "middle book purgatory." It's difficult to give a solid rating to a story that is incomplete. There are a lot of interesting themes and ideas up in the air, and I am looking forward to seeing how they are resolved in Part 3. Part 2 was definitely enough to hold my interest, and I once again find myself wishing I had the third part already downloaded. September can't come fast enough!

Full review: http://treklit.blogspot.com/2015/08/N...

[Aron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun story,...lookin forward to the final installment.

[Sean Randall · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a little while since I read new Frontier. I'm surprised the "part" approach hasn't been done before given David's comic book ties, although the first 4 books were of course released in omnibus early on.

There seems to be a vague sense of recycling about the whole thing - many of the characters find themselves in situations which ring familiar. Nonetheless, you very much know what you're getting and what I got I liked.

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second part of the grand finale to the STAR TREK: NEW FRONTIER books. Robin Lefler has returned to New Thallonia with her baby, only to be targeted by countless murderous assassins. Captain Calhoun is on a mission of vengeance to find the people who butchered his people. Oh and Soleta is now in love with Captain Calhoun. Lots of interesting beats but it's also way darker than I'm really comfortable with. Still, I like the history of Thallonia.

[James Mourgos · Rating 4 out of 5]

A filler and a chiller

So Callahan makes it to a pocket universe and runs into an enemy of my enemy is not really my friend. Peter David style and the way he creates his characters. It’s really quite fun. But so far the first and second books have ended on a cliffhanger and do not stand on their own. Interesting take on Star Trek.

[Meg Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got an advanced copy of this from Netgalley...

It is exactly what I expect from a Peter David, Star Trek book :c)

[David Palazzolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

By my counting, Star Trek: New Frontier: The Returned: Part II is not just the second part of a series-within-a-series, but the 20th novel under the NF banner and 30th chapter overall. Wow I can’t believe I left it hanging in my que for for so long—I actually read this some time ago. I now can’t quite remember all the reasons why I give it a rating that I did I just remember I was not entirely happy with it, and I can’t find any of the notations I made for myself to help collect my thoughts for a review. So I’m not sure if my dissatisfaction with Part II is due to either Peter David’s riding or just my inflated expectations for a story that I’ve been waiting so long for. Eventually I will re-read this book because I really do enjoy the series and I will re-read it all once again probably in about seven or eight years now and I’ll review it then. But in the meantime, I do remember feeling it did conform well to my tongue-in-cheek description of this series being Star Trek: The Prime Time Soap.

[Andy Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

David delivers the first of two big climaxes to the New Frontier closing trilogy. Enjoyable enough but for the story holes, the tapped tropes and my biggest personal peeve: the utter OTT of exposition. David has always used exposition heavily in the past and is one of the few authors to make this work. This works because his writing voice is just darn difficult to dislike. This read doesn't satisfy as previous New Frontier instalments have: it'll be the tight finale syndrome: too much to do, so little space. It's a good try. The shorter ebook length and David's style mean the trilogy can be read in a few days.

[David H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second of three parts of this serial novel, we finally get to see where the D'myurj come from. Calhoun meets a new species who are possible allies, and we also get to see Robin and McHenry on New Thallon (with some fun flashbacks to the beginning of the Cwan dynasty). I enjoyed seeing Calhoun's self-questioning after the genocide of the Xenexians.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

We go not only between dimensions but also between different time periods in this trilogy. It does proof an interesting concept and keeps the readers on their toes. An old nemesis, or maybe better said to be a thorn in the side, of numerous Federation personnel comes to light as being the Awesome. This should make the final installment very interesting. Definitely recommended

[Walt Mccluskey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The returned part ii

Interesting but confusing in its flow of time. Too many tales going at once with no guide to the way one part might tie to another.

[Marcia McFadden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Getting very exciting

It's the second in a series so gives some good back story. Looking forward to the final book. Hope it resolves some of the questions I have.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

True to Trek

I have really enjoyed the New Frontier series of Star Trek. All the characters work well together, I hope the New Frontier continues

[Coulter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know, I get that Calhoun is upset but I don't agree with how he is showing it and how the crew seems so complicit.

[Shane Amazon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The warning came upon the dying breath of a fallen enemy... “Run!”.

>Minor Plot Spoilers Ahead<

At the end of The Returned Part I, we left off with Mackenzie Calhoun and the crew of the Excalibur successfully navigating their way through a wormhole and into a previously unexplored pocket universe. Once through, the crew find Mackenzie's arch enemies, the D'myurj, ruthlessly slain by a yet unknown enemy force. Now, surrounded by the broken corpses of those he, himself, came to slay, he is now faced with an even greater threat to himself, his crew, and potentially the universe from which he came. Who are these savage beings able to reap such destruction upon the race that slaughtered his own kind? Will he and his crew face the same fate as the Excalibur sensors pick up an incoming ship on long range sensors? And will this new threat end his quest for vengeance?

But the questions that surround Mackenzie Calhoun are just one of three major storylines that The Returned Part II offers. Back home in the Milky Way galaxy, Robin Lefler and Mark Henry also have their fair share of going-ons, as Robin and Mark continue to repel the enemies of the young prince Swan. New found attractions and the acts of kindness open new doors for the duo along the way, too. And power struggles and fate twist the futures of many once and future kings, as The Awesome hand picks the head unto which the crown sits.

But danger on the horizon is far from the only thing that The Returned Part II has to offer, as Peter David intertwines his usual sense of humor, suspense, and out-of-nowhere plot twists along the way. You think you were surprised at the cliffhanger in Part I, well just wait til you see the cliffhanger ending in Part II!

The Returned Part II is a great second entry in to the three part series and builds a lot of suspense and anticipation for Part III, but I would be failing as a reviewer if I did not point out some of the shortcomings of the second installment. For me the Calhoun story, and the Lefler story are great story arcs, my issue is with the enemies that Mr. David has created in this offering. The savage and barbaric enemy force that Calhoun is now faced with reads very unevilish (and, yes, I know that isn't a word). In fact every enemy in this pocket universe(and sometimes out of it) is the nicest group of mass-murders one can think of. They read the polar opposite of what every evil villain that has come before should read as. And, yes, Peter David does create his characters to be vastly different than most found in other books, and that is why we love him, but here they read off. Now this makes for a more threatening force when the enemies contradict their established ways, but to me anyways, I would have preferred a slightly less non-threatening cast of villainy.

Overall, I love this second installment and look forward to the third with great anticipation. Read it.

Four stars.

*Offered in exchange for an honest opinion.

[Bookend Family · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Hail to the King, Baby!”
Star Trek: The Returned Parts I, II and, III
By Peter David
Review by: Brennan Palm

Star Trek: The Returned is probably one of the trekkiest book to have ever trekked. On top of that it’s also a good story. This three part book really surprised me due to the fact that most Star Trek (and Star Wars for that matter) books are over glorified fan service, and hold almost no entertainment value for all but the most diehard fans. These books more or less ditch that format and goes boldly where no one has gone before without completely abandoning its roots. I know it sounds confusing that I just said it was the trekkiest book to have ever trekked but at the same time different, but it just is.
I feel that Mister David was concentrating more on writing a good book than on writing a Star Trek book on which I praise him highly for. A few of the steps that made this book more good fiction than fan fiction included using a completely new crew and ship, including almost no appearances by any TV series characters, and slightly changing the usual Star Trek themes here and there.
As far as the story goes I’m not going to reveal much, as there are plenty of cliffhangers and massive plot twists and surprises, a few of them I didn’t quite grasp, as I haven’t read the other books in the series.
Our story begins with our main character, Captain Mackenzie Calhoun searching the planet Xenex for survivors of an alien attack and slowly deciding that once he finds the aforementioned aliens, he’s going to make them all dead aliens. Remember when I said the author changed the usual Star Trek tropes? Anyway Cap’n Calhoun and the crew of the Excalibur decide to go to a pocket universe to kill all the hostile aliens. Once they get to their destination they meet with an alien species with similar goals and decide to team up even though the Excalibur crew suspect something’s up. Anyway the alien’s double cross the Excalibur and Big Mac’s rage is brought to an end as he realizes the aliens want to escape to our universe and end all other sentient life, like a bunch alien space Nazis. Q is also involved though the Excalibur crew does not know why.
Anyway this trilogy contained a final plot twist that was both massive and felt like it came right out of an unaired episode of the original series. The whole story was well written and very original and is easily worth every penny of its purchasing price. To Mister David I say well done. My only problem is that the last book had some twists that helped the story but didn’t match some of the characters personalities. 4 stars and for trekkiness I give it a Tribble / 10.

Full reviews available at: http://www.thebookendfamily.weebly.com

[Amy Softa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through Net Galley for an honest review.

Disclaimer time this was going to be a three star read right up until that very last word in the last chapter and bam mind-blow and cliff-hanger agony at the same instant. There were some issues I had with the book and the second half left me wanting a bit, but man that last word changed everything!

We are now following the crew around this pocket universe and now that I’m a bit more familiar with the characters in this series I must say Calhoun feels off to me. Granted I’m still missing most of the books in the series, so I’m looking forward to seeing how the Calhoun I just left in book four becomes the one I find here. He just seems a little unhinged, but then again he did just deal with the extermination of his species…

I was a bit more into the Lefler/McHenry story line than I was watching Calhoun seek to sate his blood-lust. Their plot was juicy and fun to follow. There was another thread on Thallon, not NEW Thallon…, that I didn’t quite get until the end. It was a series of flashbacks about the Cwan line of rulers and their God called the Awesome. Quite frankly I just didn’t make sense and I wish the author had given me a bigger clue that these were flashbacks so I had paid better attention.

Not having read book 18 or earlier titles I was interesting to learn a bit more about the D’myurj in this part. I still don’t get why they destroyed Xenexian, but I am starting to agree with Calhoun and want to see them wiped out. The other ‘villain’ in this story, the Dayan, could have been handled a bit better. I agree with some of the other reviewers and they just felt off.

Over all still enjoying the mini-series inside a series. Still feel a little left out as I’ve not read much of the earlier books, but I’m working on catching up. I have put in a request for the last part and hope I’m approved because with one word Mr. David has captured my undivided attention!

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would like to thank Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books and NetGalley for providing me with an electronic copy to review. After passing through the wormhole to the pocket universe, Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and the crew of the U.S.S. Excalibur come across a living D'myurj among the wreckage of his ship. Shortly after a landing party starts to investigate, the ship is overtaken by a breed of aliens new to the Federation crew called the Dayan. When Calhoun is asked to assist the Dayan in annihilating the D'myurj, he sees the chance to get his revenge on them for exterminating his own people. The biggest problem that I see with this book is that a Captain in Starfleet would never go so far against the prime directive as to help a race completely destroy another. In his effort to show Calhoun as, above all, loyal to the now fallen Xenexian people, author Peter David has completely gone against the main tenet of the Federation. The side story regarding Robin Lefler's son Cwansi as the next ruler of New Thallon is interesting, but it really does not seem to have a place in this book. The inclusion of this just pulls the focus away from the main plot and I would have rather liked to have seen the story arc as its own book instead. I would like to read Part Three, mainly because there are so many questions that have yet to be answered. If you are a fan of the Star Trek Universe, you will like this book if you can get past the fact that some liberties has been taken.

[John Purvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Return Part 2” eBook was published in 2015 (August) and was written by Peter David (http://www.peterdavid.net). Mr. David has written over 50 novels and many short stories. This novel is the 20th in his ‘Star Trek: New Frontier’ series.

I obtained a galley of this novel for review through https://www.netgalley.com. I would categorize this novel as ‘R’ as there are instances of Violence. This Science Fiction novel is set in the future of the Star Trek universe.

This novel picks up where Part 1 ended. The primary character is Captain Mackenzie Calhoun who is Captain of the USS Excalibur. Calhoun and the crew of the Excalibur are in the pocket universe of the D'myurj. They meet a new race, the Dayan. They are extremely powerful and want to wipe the D’myurj from existence.

Calhoun strikes a deal with them to find the D’myurj homeward so that Federation prisoners can be rescued. The Dayan, while overtly friendly, raise the concern of many. How good, and how long the Dayan will be allies seems in doubt.

Meanwhile, Mark McHenry, Robin Lefler and her son establish a stronger position on the Thallonian home world.

The story fell into the model of most Star Trek yarns. I enjoyed the 3.5 hours I spent with the story and I give this novel a 3.8 (rounded up to 4) out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at http://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

[Ralph Blackburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Returned, Part 2 by Peter David- In this second part of a three-part story in the Star Trek: New Frontier series, Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and the crew of the Excalibur have entered a pocket universe in their search for the D'myurj home world to revenge the genocide on Xenex and to also track down the Brethern, who aided in this atrocity. The story moves along very swiftly and some surprises await. One such revelation is another race also bent on the D'myurj destruction. Will they be friends or enemies? The book is quite short(161 pages) because they have taken a normal length novel and segmented it into three parts, which seems to be the trend in publishing and especially in e-books. (See Scalzi, Atwood, et.all). The book is entertaining and easy to get into and there is some good space opera set within the limitation of the Star Trek Universe.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a prepublication copy of this book (August 3, 2015) through NetGalley with the understanding that I would publish are review on my blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Google + pages along with NetGalley, Amazon and Goodreads.

I requested this book as I have read Part I and I am interested in how the story ends (Part III to go). Also, I have enjoyed other novels by the author Peter David.

This was a fast and engaging read. The first book in the series took some time as I have not read any of the other New Frontier novels. This one, in my opinion is much better than the first. The introduction of new characters is melded in seamlessly and does not detract from the main story line.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Star Trek or science fiction with the obvious caveat to read Part I first. This is not meant to be a stand alone novel.

[Mark Gardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked part two better than part one. The odd déjà vu I felt in part one was gone from part two. The ending of part two didn’t have that unfinished feeling that part one did. And what an ending it is! I can’t wait to read part three, as one of my favorite Star Trek characters shows up on the last pages.

My only complaint would be the comically uninteresting villain in the Excalibur storyline. The Lefler story remains interesting in part two, and I look forward to everything concluding in part three.

[Al Tarancón · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tras el primer libro que basicamente sentaba las bases del regreso de los protagonistas de manera magistral, en este segundo libro entramos en el meollo del asunto. Aunque la trama es interesante, hay una subtrama que a mi parecer resulta demasiado larga y que francamente entorpece la lectura del libro, para mi gusto. Aunque su conclusion es genial y te deja con ganas del siguiente, creo que el espacio que se le eedica es excesivo... Mientras leia esas partes solo estaba deseando que acabaran, que la trama volviera a centrarse en los protagonistas...

No puedo decir mucho mas sin spoilear...

[John Keegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Trek: New Frontier: The Returned: Part II

I'm just glad Peter David got to revisit the New Frontier set of characters and storylines, because there was no guarantee that it would happen at all. I was a bit distracted during the week or so I read this, but even so, it introduced a number of interesting ethical dilemmas and a big reveal at the end (that I should have seen coming). Can't wait to see how this wraps up!

[Mrklingon · Rating 4 out of 5]

More fun with Mac and the Excalibur!

Peter David never fails to deliver- he's got a good sense of Trek, of humor and hour to tell a spritely story! Biter I have to wash floor the next installment, dang!

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Starship Excalibur has made it into the pocket universe and runs across a decimated enemy ship. They run into another race which is happy to ally with them to take down their mutual enemy's homeworld. Meanwhile, on New Thallon, McHenry does what he can to keep Lefter and Cwansi alive.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well it is good fun. As with several of these... I don't really know why it was broken into three parts though. Book II is definitely not "stand alone"!