[.ca] Last Full Measure (ISBN 1416503587)

MACO/Starfleet Conflict:
This book takes it's title from one of Abraham Lincoln's speeches and is very appropriate highlighting the courage and sacrifices that are needed to achieve your goal in war. The novel is set during the third season of Enterprise while they are hunting for the Xindi homeworld. What this book is really about is the inherent conflicts between the Maco contingent and the starfleet officers due to conflicting ideologies and background. In doing this it gets over one of the criticisms of Star Trek which is that characters are too perfect and thus difficult to relate to. In this story the characters are flawed and driven by recognisable humsn frailties including characters like Jonathan Archer, Malcolm Reed, Travis Mayweather and Major Hayes. I was especially satisfied to see the character of Travis Mayweather used to do something more than being an interstellar bus driver!! The book also nicely sets up the rewriting of history with respect to Trip which occurs in the next book The Good That Men Do. Michael Martin and Andy Mangels are one of the best writing teams on Star Trek at the moment. Long may they keep the Enterprise flag hoisted.