Star Trek: Borg

Star Trek: The Next Generation

by Hilary J. Bader

In this thrilling adventure, you will be dropped deep into another spectacular culture - the Borg, the strange and powerful race eager to assimilate the Federation. Cadet Qaylan Furlong's father was killed by the Borg in the battle of Wolf 359. Now, ten years later, the Borg are attacking again, and Starfleet won't allow Cadet Furlong to stay aboard the Starship "Cheyenne" to avenge his father's death - but Q will. He'll do better than that, in fact, taking the cadet back in time ten years and putting Qaylan on the same ship as his father to give him a chance to save him - and the entire Federation - on a mission of extreme danger, difficult choices, and surprising results.

John deLancie (in his role as "Q") headlines a "Star Trek" cast and crew in this chilling experience of the future and the adventures of the heroic Starfleet officer who must save the Federation

Genres: Star Trek, Audiobook, Science Fiction, Time Travel, Fiction

Audio CD

First published December 1, 1996

About the author

Hilary Bader was born in Brooklyn, and attended State University in Stony Brook with a major in Mathemathics. She also studied Mime in Paris and toured with Edmond Felix. She was a fan of Star Trek, and relocated to California to become a freelance script writer.

Primarily writing for Star Trek series, Bader rolled into DC productions when she wrote "Chi of Steel", and episode of Lois & Clark. She was asked aboard the writing staff for the DCAU, and contributed to their shows until her death.

Hilary Bader died in 2002 from metastasized breast cancer. She was married to Jay Broad.

Reviews

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

2025 Review 025. Star Trek Borg by Hilary Bader, narrated by John De Lancie and Howard McGillin

Audio duration : 1 hour 15 mins

Star Trek Borg was always one of my favourite video games and I've listened to the audio book so many times that I class it as probably my favourite audio book.

I've already listened to it twice this year (once in January and now once in February) because I wanted a short book after several very long books.

I'm happy to say that I will definately listen to it again this year.

If you have played Star Trek Borg then I recommend this book as it has more details in it than the video game does.

5*
*****

[Roderick Vonhogen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable story based on an old CD-Rom game, nicely reworked into an audio-play by adding a first person perspective from the main character. John deLancie as Q is terrific as always. The music and sound effects really enhance the experience.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

OMG I am such a total nerd, I have this game and love it, but the only way I can play it is to go out and get a small, (Like 500MB) Hard drive to replace the one in my old Packard Bell 486DX2-66, So that I can reinstall the original software and then use the window 95 upgrade disk to go from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95a, Because believe it or not, This game only works on Windows 95 A not B or Win98 or XP etc... I have never finished the game but this book provides the complete walkthrough and story which is great because of Q. This was a Good Read

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This audio adaptation of a game I never knew existed is fun and fast-paced, despite the repeated "Game Over" scenarios (or perhaps because of it). The listening experience is enhanced by decent sound effects and voice acting.

[David Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was too young to play the game of this when it came out, and so when I learned that an audio drama had been made of it, and it featured none other than John de Lancie himself, I threw my credits at audible.

However, several things caused me to knock 2 stars off the rating.

First of all, the only shining light in this was John de Lancie. His delivery was as perfect and witty as ever. Unfortunately, it was painfully clear that this had been adapted from a game.

Every time the cadet died, a sort of game over music would sound and the main character was reset. There were even typical video game things like being handed a 'special' tricorder, and a 'special' hypospray with certain settings on it.

Also, the guy reading the part of the cadet sounded like he was trying to do a pained version of Shatner throughout. Always straining his voice and pausing for dramatics.

Another thing which irritated me, was that when I purchased the audiobook, this was advertised as being directed by Jonathan Frakes (as it says on the book cover, as you can see). I thought, amazing!

It wasn't. That error is a glaring one. I suspect it refers to the original game rather than the audio production.

But finally, the audiobook is described as being 2.5 hours long. It isn't. It's 1hr 10mins, the credits roll, and then for some unknown reason, the audiobook jumps back to a point 10 mins into the story and repeats the rest all over again.

Why?

No friggin' clue.

Overall, I love a bit of Star Trek, obviously, and John de Lancie's Q was criminally good, but in truth, that is all that prevented me from DNFing this production.

[Sasha Wolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this surprisingly light for a Borg story. At times its origin as a game novelisation was a little too obvious in the plot structure, but that would have been difficult to avoid. Q felt like little more than a plot device, but since I normally find his character annoying, that was a relief OveralI, I would describe this as an entertaining romp.

[Rob Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazingly nostalgic trip back to mid-90's Trek with this audio adaption of the CD-ROM game. The sound effects and voice actors are spot on and led to me thinking about using the original footage for a Picard style continuation/flashback.

[Jeremiah Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool find on Hoopla!

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great adaptation of the series with the main characters dealing with the infamous Borg while guided by Q.

[Debra Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Q helps a cadet learn to fight borg and meet his dad.

[S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and entertaining

[Federico Lucifredi · Rating 5 out of 5]

An audiobook conversion of the 1996 videogame. Blast from the past!

[Nicolas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never played this game, but found this audio adaptation to be a pretty good time. Always fun to hear John De Lancie as Q, even if the characters motivations in this story don't make a ton of sense.

We did a Next Gen spotlight over on the All the Books Show awhile back. Here it is: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/ep...

[Timothy Morrison]

classic time travel revenge story with Q

[Matthew Kresal · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

Part novelization and part audio drama adaptation, Star Trek: Borg is a curious beast of a Trek tale. Based on the interactive movie of the same name and utilizing some of its cast with new additions, including John de Lancie as Q, it's an intriguing mix of familiar Borg elements with a time travel/adventure narrative. To the credit of Hillary Bader, who also wrote the original game, it wonderfully captures the "try and try again" nature of gameplay in narrative style by allowing its protagonist to repeat events as a player would. As an audio drama, it does lack some polish in places (at least compared to productions this reviewer has heard from other outlets), including an over-reliance on narration and variable performances. Even so, it's still a heck of a listen and a compelling narrative in its own right, particularly since the game itself has fallen out of print at present.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an old-school audiobook that came out in 1996 as tie-in for a video game (on CD-ROM). This means the protagonist experiences repeated GAME OVER scenarios (death or assimilation) but thankfully has an omnipotent being on hand to serve as the Reset button. The primary narrator is rather monotonous, but otherwise the listening experience holds up pretty well.