Well of Souls

Star Trek: The Lost Era #4

by Ilsa J. Bick

Captain Rachel Garrett and the crew of the Enterprise become embroiled in a web of extortion, abduction, and murder when a remarkable archaeological find that offers possible revelations about the Cardassian civilization threatens to ignite a struggle between the Qatala and its rival, the fledgling Orion Syndicate. Original.

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Fiction, Star Trek The Next Generation, Science Fiction Fantasy, Novels, Media Tie In

480 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 14, 2003

About the author

Among other things, I was an English major in college and so I know that I'm supposed to write things like, "Ilsa J. Bick is ." Except I hate writing about myself in the third person like I'm not in the room. Helloooo, I'm right here . . . So let's just say that I'm a child psychiatrist (yeah, you read that right)as well as a film scholar, surgeon wannabe (meaning I did an internship in surgery and LOVED it and maybe shoulda stuck), former Air Force major—and an award-winning, best-selling author of short stories, e-books, and novels. Believe me, no one is more shocked about this than I . . . unless you talk to my mother.

Reviews

[Jonathan Koan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this book did not work for me. It felt like 2 completely different novels that got smooshed together, and while that has worked ok in previous Star Trek novels, it did not work here.

This book tries to balance being a political thriller, while also a classic Star Trek book about alien discovery. The political elements, particularly towards the beginning of the book with the trial of Halak was absolutely riveting. Had the whole book been about that, I would have loved it. But the second half of the book tried to focus on this alien storyline with Cardassians and ancient spirits and it just didn't work. Not only was it not very interesting, but it was way longer than most Trek novels and thus really felt like a chore to get through.

The dynamic between Garrett and her ex-husband is heartbreaking, and is emblematic of so many Trek relationships that end badly, and while there are moments that lift your heart in the book, it feels like so much of it just puts Garrett through the ringer, and she is not particularly pleasant to be around for large portions of the book. Bat-Levi and Doctor Tyvan had the best dynamic in the book, but it was overshadowed by everything else happening.

Unfortunately, this was just not the book for me, and I think if it had split off and done two shorter, different books it would have worked much better. I'll give this one a 4 out of 10.

[Paul Lunger · Rating 2 out of 5]

The original Lost Era series of books was designed back in late 2003 to become a place to play fill in the blank with characters & places we hadn't been before. "Well of Souls" is the debut work for Ilsa J. Bick & to my knowledge is also one of the few (if not the only) book dealing with the characters & crew of the Enterprise-C introduced in TNG's "Yesterday's Enterprise". The base storyline eventually revolves around an archaeological find of what could be Hebitian (proto-Cardassian) artifacts that could be extremely valuable & offer inside to this long dead race. If the story kept that premise & the danger of the find Bick probably would've been fine but the story itself goes so far away from there it gets confusing. What we end up with instead is essentially a hodgepodge of subplots involving several different crew members & end up with a very dark view of life about the Enterprise-C. Captain Garrett comes across as arrogant & almost to a point mean in her berating of crew members & torn over guilt of a failed marriage & death of a first officer. First officer Halak who becomes the main focal point of the story is better written but remains mysterious in a lot of ways. The ship's doctor (Jo Stern), helmsman (Richard Castillo) & 2nd officer (Bat-Levi) & ship's psychiatrist (Tyvan) are all well written & developed but maybe moreso than was needed. Once the background info is sorted out & the story advances involving more subterfuge by Starfleet Intelligence & the Orion Syndicate there's at least at the heart some semblance of a very good story in here that is very well intentioned. It's just a shame that we've never since revisited the world of the Enterprise-C & the 2330's & '40s & that the only entry into that universe is so caught up in trying to fill in too many blanks @ once.

[Frank Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can see why this one doesn't rate as highly as the ones around it but I was able to get a lot out of it anyway. For me there were two main things that didn't sit well.

One of those things was the relationship between Captain Garret and her son (Jase) which was certainly believable but didn't flow well for me - it seemed to gain all of its significance at the end of the main story AND from that set up sprung a pretty awful section dealing with Jase's thoughts.

The other thing which I didn't love was that the story continued for over 100 epages past what I felt was the main climactic event. Perhaps it was just that the story had already gone on for long enough but after the big confrontation there followed an escape saga and then a whole lot of debriefing which flipped the veracity of the events one last time. By the time I reached the epilogue I genuinely thought, "oh, for real... there's still more!"

But the story also achieved at least two things which I found enjoyable and interesting.

One was that it managed to be a story which focused on Cardassian history and some of their beliefs while barely containing any Cardassians. They did make a brief appearance in a chase scene after the main event but that seemed rather superfluous to the story.

Another thing was that it completely flipped the narrative regarding who were the goodies or baddies at least twice, maybe thrice. This happens pretty earlyish and it causes you to mistrust everything you're learning from then on. Of course you've become so disoriented that now the author can just lead you earnestly forward even though your mind is hesitating to follow quietly and calmly along. There was one more major character flip at the end but it was in the post game section and didn't have as much impact for me.

With a lot going on and all of the table flipping I realised by the end that I had actually forgotten one group's reason for even being at the location of the main event.

Well anyway. I liked it overall.

[Matthew Rushing · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Maurice Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this look into one of Star Trek's "lost eras" because we finally get to learn about Captain Rachel Garrett of the Enterprise C. All I knew until now was that she served with distinction, had a helmsman named Castillo and wasn't afraid of long odds (she picked a fight with three Romulan warbirds who were attacking a Klingon outpost and singlehandedly changed the course of Federation/Klingon relations).

Aside from learning about her as a person (she has an ex-husband and a son), we learn how dedicated to Starfleet she is and how she's a great captain who struggles in her personal life. I wondered how an eons old archaeological site, two crime syndicates, an unregistered freighter and a first officer with a shadowy past could all come together, but the author wove all the storylines together masterfully. She even gave us glimpses at some of the characters we're familiar with (Bones McCoy, Jean-Luc Picard, Marta Batanides, Ian and Lwaxana Troi and James Kirk were all shown or referenced) without breaking the flow of the story.

In true Star Trek fashion, an ages old mystery is solved, people live, people die and an Enterprise crew comes through a trial stronger for having withstood the challenge. Definitely recommended for any Star Trek Next Generation fan.

['Nathan Burgoine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, before I'm mercilessly geeked, let me point out that I bought this book because Ilsa J. Bick's short story in 'Star Trek: New Frontier: No Limits,' was one I consider on par with the series greats like 'The Inner Light.' Wait, wait, that really doesn't help the geek situation, does it? Ah well. Geek me at will.

I'm not even all that interested in the setting nor characters, but quite frankly, Ilsa J. Bick deserved my money as a solid writer, so there I went.

[Carol Gibson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to reading this novel the earlier Lost Era novels really filled in blanks and filled out characters we only knew briefly. I was looking forward to learning more about Rachel Garrett Captain of the Enterprise C, who were briefly introduced to in an episode of TNG.

Bick instead of making heroes out of any of the crew decided to focus on their failings their guilt and jealousy. This made them more human but it also made for one of the darkest Trek stories I have read. For me Star Trek has always been a beacon of hope.

The story has a lot of subplots that eventually come together but it can be frustrating waiting for answers.

Bick is a good writer and I would read another book written by her as long as it was not Star Trek.

[Daniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book upset me and frustrated me so much that I had to go to my "want to read" shelf on Goodreads and delete two Star Trek books. In other words, it made me want to reject ST. I'll be less likely in the future to want to experient with crews and characters that we didn't see on screen (in ST tie-in fiction). Luckily, this was only .99.

[Russell Thiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have really enjoyed this Lost Era series. This book started a bit slow but finished strong. Always thought that "Yesterday's Enterprise" was one of the best TNG episodes, so it was nice to get some back story on Captain Rachel Garret. There are 2 more books in the series and I look forward to reading them both....

[Oz Trekkie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little bit slow to start with but all the sub plots were bought together nicely at the end. There were plenty of twists and turns in this one. Really had to concentrate to keep up. #TrekLit

[Robert Lewter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful mystery

This is a really good mystery/thriller within the Star Trek universe. More answers to past vague references. The Lost Era is great

[George Kingsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good who done it

Like the format of spy and murder mystery. Not like most Star Trek novels. Hope you write more on her cross over.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stuff with Rachel Garrett and her family felt so compelling and full of tension that I wish the book had been just about that.

[Burns Book Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting story with odd pacing
Well of Souls opens up with a captivating ancient Cardassian ritual. After reading this, I was very excited to see some Cardassian mythology explored similar to what Candido did in Art of the Impossible. Unfortunately, the prologue is pretty much all of the mythology present in the story. The Enterprise characters don’t even this Cardassian mystery until the very end of the book. I liked the characters in this book well enough, but half the book was spent on (what felt like) a side plot that I was never super invested in. I think that plot would’ve worked better if Well of Souls was a sequel to a previous Enterprise-C adventure, since readers would be more familiar with the characters.
Overall, the Lost Era has flowed together very nicely. I really enjoyed the connections Well of Souls had to Art of the Impossible. My only wish is that this book could’ve gotten a sequel, since the Enterprise-B ended up with 2 full books in the series.

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two and a half stars, except Goodreads doesn't award half a star; this is a tough one to read. On the one hand, kudos to Ms. Bick in creating so many characters based on just one episode: Yesterday's Enterprise. I think Bick had mainly Garrett and Castillo. On the other hand, with so many other characters to create, almost all of them require backstories, which takes time. Except for the prologue, the first few chapters are all character exposition, very little action and thus hard to follow at times.

To sum, this is not the typical "problem/monster of the week" like TNG or VOY, but more like a soap opera with some action set in the Star Trek universe.

[Lisa (Harmonybites) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up Ilsa Bick's Well of Souls because I was greatly impressed by her award-winning Star Trek short story "A Ribbon for Rosie" in the anthology Strange New Worlds II. That story moved me to tears and proved she could really, really write. Unfortunately, for me this novel fell short, although it's still evident to me Bick is a talented writer and I'd certainly be willing to read her again.

As the "Historian's Note" at the front of the book states, the "story is set in the year 2336, forty-three years after the presumed death of Captain James T. Kirk aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise-B in Star Trek Generations, and twenty-eight years before the launch of the Enterprise-D in "Encounter at Far Point." In between those two focal points this novel deals with the Enterprise-C we saw in the Next Generation episode "Yesterday's Enterprise." We barely got a glimpse of Captain Rachel Garrett in that episode, and the only character on board we got a good look at was Richard Castillo--and only for that episode. That means that for all intents and purposes these are original characters. The book then has to stand and fall as a science fiction novel--the characters aren't pre-sold, this isn't the kind of book you usually seek out in such media pro-books--the chance to spend time with characters who are old friends. About the only familiar character--and he has a small part in this--is Doctor Leonard McCoy from the original series.

The author biography in the back tells us Bick is a psychiatrist who "has written extensively on psychoanalysis" and it shows--I think to the book's detriment actually. This is her first published novel, and it has to be hard not to lean on what you know. But ultimately Star Trek in any of it's incarnations isn't about a psychiatric practice. It's about heroes and leadership and friendship and adventure and bumping into alien societies and situations that shed light on the human condition and I feel that's not focused on enough. From the start Garrett struck me as too emo, and the book is way too concerned with Garrett's guilt over the death of her former first officer, with the current first officer's guilt over the death of a former officer, and the guilt of the acting first officer over the death of her brother. At times I wanted to shout at the characters to get over themselves and do their jobs. And Garrett herself never for me comes into focus as the leader of her crew, as a charismatic figure like her Enterprise counterparts Captain Kirk and Captain Picard. At times I also thought the style a bit overwritten.

A first novel can be tough. A first novel based on someone else's universe might not have brought out the best in Bick. For all that criticism, again, this is evidently a talented author worth reading who apparently has moved on to write other novels. I just wouldn't start here.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I torn about this novel. Ilsa Bick does excellent work here with the characters -- they all display a remarkable emotional depth. Unfortunately, because we've never been adequately introduced to Captain Garrett's life & command of the Enterprise-C, it's hard to accept such heavy psychological insight into people you've just met. It's the kind of thing you could easily do with a TOS/TNG/DS9 novel, but as this is a gap in the infamous "lost years", we have to take this on faith...which I occasionally find difficult to do. Combined with a subplot about the Hebitians and Cardassians that isn't as engaging as I was hoping it would be, the end result is a novel I enjoyed reading...but missing elements that would make me enjoy it even more. To be blunt: I need proper introductions if you're going to get me to invest in this crew.

[Lisa :-) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one. There's nothing of any great substance here, but it's nice to read something about the crew of the Enterprise C. I found the plot a little complicated at times, but it all comes together nicely at the end.

[Dustin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is easily one of the worst books i've ever read

[Sherrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

.