The Final Reflection by John M. Ford: Review

While I’ve only read a handful of the Star Trek books the Final Reflection certainly stands out as one of the better ones. Focused around Klingon culture the book roughly takes place in the generation preceding the original Star Trek series with even McCoy’s grandfather and Spock as a young boy making a brief appearance. Given the militarized nature of the Klingons there’s certainly a lot of combat – John M. Ford in fact kicks off the story with a live player bout of the Klingon strategy game Klin Zha being played by some high ranking members of their military – but in truth has a wealth of information to offer on the functioning of Klingon society and how that in turn shapes their perceptions of other species. Final Reflection however does have its flaws. Because the story is principally about events in the past when the Federation was still in its infancy during their initial attempts to reach accord with the Klingon empire whom they had been clashing with as the two civilizations expanded, the prologue and epilogue that take place with Captain Kirk feel largely out of step with the rest of the narrative and tacked on more as an afterthought.

That said it’s a light read, and an enjoyable one. If you’re a fan of the original series I’d certainly recommend picking it up.