Doors into Chaos (Gateways) Book

The "Gateways" series is expanding to encompass the entire Star Trek universe, and this third volume, Doors into Chaos, is only distantly linked to the first two, One Small Step and Chainmail. They were both set in Kirk's time, while this story takes place after the film Insurrection. Across the galaxy, the ancient Iconian Gateways have re-activated, allowing instantaneous travel between star systems. Meanwhile, delegations claiming to be Iconians have approached all the major powers, offering to sell their technology. Admiral Ross instructs Captain Picard to put together a fleet of ships from the Federation, Klingons, Romulans, Gorn and others and attempt to negotiate. Picard is excited by the idea of actually meeting descendants of the almost-mythical Iconians, but they turn out not to be at all what he expected. Despite the promise of the book's idea, this contribution to the series is very weak, its main problems being far too many characters and a rather poor writing style that stops the story from flowing smoothly. The Enterprise crew is spread across several ships and there are so many new bridge officers and alien ship's captains that it's hard to keep track of them all. There's a big space battle when Picard's fleet encounters the "Iconians", who immediately open fire, but the motivation of the mysterious aliens for firing first is never made clear. However, this story is one piece in a larger picture, and it seems that all the events of the first six books will come together in the final volume, What Lay Beyond. --Elizabeth SourbutRead More