Do Not Recommend. It's sad and frustrating how badly this book missed for me, because Tarsus IV is such a juicy, engaging, emotionally fraught situation. The details here don't convince me, it reads more like a Tom Clancy hunt-'em-down novel than anything else, and to add insult to injury it doesn't even do a good job characterizing Prime Lorca, who I'd really like to know more about. Sigh. Would have been a DNF if not for my project to read every book, and that I wanted to know what happened from a canon-ish perspective.

One of the great strengths of the original episode “The Conscience of the King” was that while Kirk judges Kodos’ actions, it leaves the question of whether Kodos was truly a bone-deep monster open. Could he have been simply a person caught up in a terrifying time, given too much power, trying to apply Vulcan-style logic and making errors so huge they cannot be forgiven? His actions when he discovers his daughter’s murders certainly suggest that.

But this book leaves none of that wiggle room. We are never given a moment to consider that perhaps, when out of their mind with fear and anger and grief, humans do things that are wrong, even evil, and live to regret them. Kodos is transformed into a calculating, sociopathic dictator with a cultlike following who has no regret or remorse, even when Starfleet’s relief ships arrive early. Every character who encounters the situation instantly decides that Kodos is an irredeemable villain who must be “brought to justice,” that justice ideally being a short drop and a sudden stop. And the sentence-by-sentence writing, unfortunately, isn’t good enough to convince me that the characters really feel this way, only that the characters need to feel this way in order to justify paragraph upon paragraph of loving description of Starfleet service rifles.

I’m most angry with this because Tarsus IV is such a rich setting, and it seems like a perfect setup to showcase a truly well-developed Prime Lorca. What if Lorca’s response to tragedy - assuming the plot more or less rolls out as it does in the novel - is consistently shown to be an inner battle between his anger and the compassion that he believes he ought to show to all beings? Wouldn’t that be a more interesting comparison to Mirror Lorca? What if Georgiou, on the relief vessel, was more enraged than Lorca at the situation, having conceived of herself as a savior and appearing on Tarsus IV only to find out she was too late? What if Kodos and his followers had complex ideas about ethics????? We will never know.

In conclusion, don’t read this book unless you really have to. If you want to read a Star Trek novel about the Disco characters, read Desperate Hours. If you want to read a Star Trek novel with ethics in it, read Prime Directive. If you want to read a Star Trek novel about young Jim Kirk, read Best Destiny (it’s flawed and a little old-fashioned, but solidly enjoyable). The only reason to read Drastic Measures is to find out (SPOILERS behind the jump)...

Few tragedies had a greater impact on the history of the Federation than the massacre on Tarsus IV. There, in response to the devastation to the colony's food supplies caused by a fungus, the colony's governor, Adrian Kodos, ordered the execution of half of the colony's population so that the other half could survive on the remaining stocks. Accentuating the horror of Kodos's decision was the needlessness of it, as the unexpectedly rapid Starfleet response led by Commander Philippa Georgiou meant that the anticipated famine never would have happened. With the crisis alleviated Kodos and his supporters are on the run, chased by a determined lieutenant commander named Gabriel Lorca who is determined to bring Kodos to justice for the deaths he ordered — including those of the members of the Starfleet monitoring post on the planet and a woman close to his heart.

One of the opportunities provided by the setting of the recently-added Star Trek: Discovery series to the Star Trek franchise is that of exploring the events prior to those of the storied original series. While the series itself provided a depiction of the Federation-Klingon War referenced in "Errand of Mercy," Dayton Ward takes the opportunity in this novel to develop the events referenced in "The Conscience of the King," one of the first episodes of the show. There’s a lot to like about the novel, as Ward writes a suspenseful story and he knows how to pen effective action scenes. He also has an unusual opportunity to craft a different Gabriel Lorca from the one shown in the first season, and he balances his portrayal of the more moral and upright figure one would expect in the Star Trek universe while hinting nicely at the elements evident in the Mirror Universe counterpart from the show.

Yet while his novel is entertaining and his incorporation of both Georgiou and Lorca are effective, many of the elements of his plot are an awkward fit with the original series episode on which it's based. While part of the problem in this regard that Ward doesn't adhere to the scattered details of the massacre provided in the episode, the main issue ironically enough is his effort to conform to one major point from it: the problem of recognizing Kodos. Given all of the ways of identifying people that have emerged in just the half-century since the episode was written, Ward had to work out how a figure as public as Kodos could have remained unidentified after his death. This ends up consuming far more of the novel than it should, to the point of disrupting the story's pacing for the sake of an awkward and not entirely satisfying resolution. It's an unfortunate burden for what could have been a powerful story of Federation morals tested by circumstance, rather than an awkward fit that somehow manages to be both too faithful and not faithful enough to its source material. ( )

Flat characters, too much info-dumping, odd plot and erratic pacing. The pace only picks up in the last third of the novel. Despite the provided explanations/motivations for "Kodos the Executioner's" actions, they don't really make sense to me in terms of the events described in the novel, so the plot falls flat. Kodos is something of a non-entity, despite being the villian of the novel. Georgiou and Lorca have no distinctive personality - they may as well be any random generic StarFleet officers. Young James T. Kirk makes an appearance, so I suppose there is some sort of canon tie-in with an Original Series episode (which I haven't seen so can't comment on it). The kid Kirk is just as much an annoying, know-it-all smartass as the adult Kirk. ( )

Story of Tarsus IV massacre where half the population was selected for extermination. I am not a TOS fan so really had never heard of this. (My husband however when I said Tarsus IV he told me about the episode). It might be best to read the book before watching "The Conscience of the King." I suppose if there was ever a scifi book appropriate for a Holocaust literature class, this would be it. This is thusly really dark by Trek standards.

I selected the book because I like Lorca's mirror counterpart and we do see a lot of Prime Lorca development in this. I would have been ok with it being a little less dark. I'm Jewish, I got a little triggered by the mini-holocaust.

I would suggest the writers however check their spelling as there were typos in the book. (Hint, ordinance is spelled with an i) ( )

Dayton Ward brings to life one of the most notorious crimes referenced in Star Trek: TOS. The story of Kodos the Executioner is told in all its tragic horror in Star Trek Discovery: Drastic Measures. The planet Tarsus IV is on the brink of starvation due to a virulent disease affecting crops and food processing. Star Fleet help is on the way, but it doesn’t look like help will arrive before it is too late.

Gabriel Lorca commands a small federation outpost on Tarsus IV and bears witness to Governor Kodos’s heinous crime taken in the name of stretching the colony’s food supply. Commander Philippa Georgiou leads a rescue mission that arrives far earlier than expected but too late to prevent Kodos’s crimes. While waiting for further Star Fleet help to arrive, Georgiou must help stabilize the population, distributing food and restoring power and order. Lorca, at the same time, begins the manhunt for Kodos who, though largely reviled, still has allies among the residents. The hunt has become very personal for Lorca, who must temper his anger with his duty.

Since the ultimate fate of Kodos is known to viewers of the Star Trek: TOS episode, “The Conscience of the King”, Ward is left devising a story whose ultimate outcome many fans already know. The episode is light on the details of Kodos’s crimes, however, leaving room for a lot of exploration. The magnitude of the crimes weighs heavy over the first part of the story, even for those who know what is coming. They also lend urgency to the hunt for Kodos and the desire to make him pay for his crimes.

Ward does a good job of describing the chaos of the situation, both physically and emotionally. The stress of the situation on everyone makes it difficult for Star Fleet personnel to operate. Kodos’s actions are painted in a rather straightforward manner. He is clever and devious. The rationale for his claiming power and taking the actions he took are presented as him making a choice that was logical to him. Even though other motivations are hinted at, they are never explored.

Georgiou and Lorca are great characters and they really shine in this book. They each have difficult balancing acts between duty and desire, even if the reasons are very different. Lorca is particularly fascinating and somewhat tragic. Ward does a great job of bringing to life one of the most notorious events in the Star Trek Universe.

Robert Petkoff again does his usual outstanding job with the narration. His voice characterization is great and his tone and tempo underscore the gravity of the situation. He lends excitement to the action sequences and somberness to the more reflective moments. His performances make audio my preferred way to read Star Trek stories. Highly recommended.

I was provided a copy of this audiobook by the publisher. ( )