Call to Arms

Star Trek: The Dominion War #2

by Diane Carey

Based on
"Call to Arms"
written by Ira Steven Behr & Robert Hewitt Wolfe
"A Time to Stand"
written by Ira Steven Behr & Hans Beimler
"Sons and Daughters"
written by Bradley Thompson & David Weddle
"Rocks and Shoals"
written by Ronald D. Moore
"Behind the Lines"
written by Rene Echevarria
"Favor the Bold"
written by Ira Steven Behr & Hans Beimler
"Sacrifice of Angels"
written by Ira Steven Behr & Hans Beimler

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Fiction, Media Tie In, Science Fiction Fantasy, Star Trek The Next Generation

267 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1998

About the author

Diane Carey also wrote the Distress Call 911 young adult series under the name D.L. Carey.

Diane Carey is primarily a science fiction author best known for her work in the Star Trek franchise. She has been the lead-off writer for two Star Trek spin-off book series: Star Trek The Next Generation with Star Trek: Ghost Ship, and the novelization of the Star Trek: Enterprise pilot, Broken Bow.

For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Carey

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not really familiar with Deep Space Nine, so, a lot of this book was lost on me. Still, the writing was good, and the story felt exciting.

[Damian Dubois · Rating 3 out of 5]

A three star book for a run of episodes, effectively a ‘Call to Arms’ through to ‘Sons and Daughters’, that are pretty much top notch, 5 star material.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry, Ms. Carey...this is an incredibly disappointing novelization for such a pivotal set of Dominion War TV episodes. Deep Space Nine deserves better...and you proved you "get" DS9 like few other authors...so why did this book end up so bland and unappealing? Best to stick to the TV version, and avoid this version.

[Sean Randall · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was really good to see some episodes taken to the page in this one. I particularly liked the focus on Martok, who even though he was an important character on the series, didn't figure as heavily in the episodes here as he is portrayed on the page. yet this is managed without changing the story very much at all, which is impressive from a writing point of view and gives us a bit of background and continuity whilst reading.

It's a shame the end of this book arc won't end the war!

[Joshua Palmatier · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a little hard to review this book since for the most part it's just a novelization of the episodes from Deep Space Nine that pertained to the Dominian War. So this will be brief.

Diane Carey does a great job of novelizing the episodes. There are a few extras here and there that make some of the connections between the episodes smoother and fill in some more of the background between scenes. The obvious advantage of the written word over what's on the screen is that the author can go into more detail about what the characters are feeling, and Diane did a great job of that here.

The opening half of this book is a little rough, mainly in the respect that once they abandon Deep Space Nine there's a pause before Sisko and crew come up with a good solid plot thread to follow. That section between those two threads is shaky. But once they get a specific mission after that--destroying a depot of ketracil white--the book picks up, and leaves off with a good hook as to the direction of the second Deep Space Nine book in this four-book series.

So, a good read, but if you've seen the episodes on TV, there's not much more going on here.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a Star Trek fan way back in the 60s ( before there was ET, Luke Skywalker or Groot ), I was excited to pick up the Star Trek novels as they came out in the 70s. And I kept up with them into the 80s. But I have not read so many of them since then. I did have my favorites among the authors and one of them was and is Diane Carey ( born in 1954 in Flint, Michigan). But this book by her, the second in a series about the Dominion War and published in 1998, did not impress. While the first of the series which featured The Next Generation ( by John Vornholt) was an original story, this one was a novelization of a number of the DS9 episodes starting with "Call to Arms," about the capture of DS9 by the allied Dominion-Cardassian armada. One of the reasons I like DS9, by the way, is that the Cardassians are such great villains. Of course, it stated on the cover that it was a novelization. But I feel that Carey did not add much at all to the story....Anyway, a generous *** because I like the author and she did write a number of good Star Trek novels...

[Kaotic · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would say my rating is more a 3.5 star.

I really enjoyed the book, the writing was good and not overwhelming with one emotional level or too much jargon. Plus the switch in writing styles for the scenes from the Jem Hadar's point of view were very nicely done in my opinion.

But, the thing that kept me loving it was that it didn't bring a new story to the fold like volume one did. The Dominion War is and probably always will be one of my favorite archs and the scenes played out in the book were excellent scenes, but I had already seen them.

I don't mind novelization of stories when I go in expecting it, but I was really hoping all four books would be something new. But I guess 50% isn't bad, and at least the writing conveyed what it needed to in a good way.

[Mandalorian Jedi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a novelized version of some Star Trek: DS9 episodes. Not very exciting.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume two in this little mini-series, and that series is pretty disconnected so far. The two books both take place during the Dominion War, but otherwise they're largely focused on different crews doing different jobs. That's not a criticism on my part, just an observation: it's an interesting way to do a short series, and I'm enjoying it.

This particular book is based on a series of DS9 episodes, and although it's been a while since I've seen the show, some of it's vaguely familiar. The part I remember most is the part that does not fit very well here, though. Worf's relationship with his son, Alexander, comes off in the book almost as a separate short story that's been tacked on at the end - a short story, furthermore, that lacks a satisfying ending. Given the constraints that Carey is working with, creating what is essentially a novelisation, this is hardly her fault, but I wonder if it wouldn't have been better to restructure the text version of the story, or even leave it out altogether or shift it to a different volume, rather than dump it all at the end.

Aside from that, it's a quick, fun read. Well, as fun as stories about wars going very badly can be... but then again, I do know the ending.

[Craig · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow, where do I begin with this? First off, the more I read Diane Carey's works the more concerned I get for how much I liked her initial stuff. I don't know if it was this bad all along she got progressively worse. This is the worst. I was curious how two novels were going to bring together 6 or 7 Deep Space Nine episodes together...turns out I should have been concerned. It's sloppy, the whole way through. It's like Carey took all of the deleted scenes from all the episodes and tried to do...something. There's no plot here, other than what peaks through from the show here and there but it is covered under her misinterpretations of the events onscreen and her sloppy additions. This is the worst of Star Trek books - this is borderline fan fiction. I feel dumber for reading this.

[Frank Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Borrrrr-innnng... Nah, that's not actually true. This is really well written and offers some insights that are left out of the TV episodes. The highlight for me was taking a look into the thoughts of the Jem Hadar and I enjoyed Carey's depiction of how their thought processes might work.

But I'm not a fan of reading novelisations and I found myself mostly just looking forward to finishing it just so that I could get on with book 3 of the series.

Still a very well written novelisation and I'm sure that you will enjoy it more than I did.

[Joey Patapas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh!
Two and a half stars reluctantly rounded up to three.
I expected this to be a novel but instead it was a novelization of several DS9 episodes. While we do get to see a few new “scenes” that were never in the tv episodes (like the events aboard the USS Centaur), most of the book will be a familiar rehash to fans. Pity it couldn’t have been a DS9 tie-in to the TNG’s adventures in book 1: Behind Enemy Lines. I think that’s what I was expecting, and why I’m so disappointed.

At least it was an easy read.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. While reading this, I loved Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and felt myself falling back into that world. It was great.

A chapter viewed the perspective of the relationship between Vorta and Jem Hadar. It fleshed it out further than the tv programme ever could. I also enjoyed Martok and Worf's conversation about having Alexander on board. These were just some of the literary gems I found while devouring this book.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Condensed and yet expanded novelizations of the Dominion war arc, Carey does an excellent job telling us what we already know and the behind the scenes info we didn't get. It's actually a lot better than the wildly over-dramatic and uneven first book in the series.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent novelization, but I couldn’t help thinking maybe it was wasted real estate not making this book a story we don’t know. With the Dominion War being as huge as it is, the possibilities were there.

[Corey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not great, better than Book 1.

Does a decent job going over several episodes of Deep Space 9, and giving insight into new conversations, longer conversations, and new happenings behind the scenes that viewers of those episodes were not privy to at the time.

[Nabil Hussain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thrilling and Exciting volume of the Dominion War Epic!!

Brilliant, thoroughly exciting, dynamically full of sci fi action, this Book delivered as a great example of innovative sci fi narrative. It was compelling to follow and I was gripped from the start. Diane Carey writes so eloquently and the drama never relented. Hats off to a splendid effort! It briefly ended on a cliffhanger and I look forward to reading Book 3.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of a two part recap of the Dominion War on Deep Space Nine with added perspectives
Annoyed with the kindle version as there are no breaks in the story. Normally there is a blank line to denote a shift in the story. None here. Like it was a bad edit.

[Colby E · Rating 2 out of 5]

Watch the show?

[Jamie Stevens · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible

Basically a word for word copy of three or four deep space nine episodes There’s nothing gleaned from a basic script copy from a TV show. Would not recommend

[Alexandr Iscenco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a good retelling of the stories from the TV series "Star Trek: Deep Space 9". Has some good action as well as some good thoughts to reflect upon.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/3rds of this book was retelling DS9 episodes. Weird because book 1 was all new stuff.

[Scott Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kinda of feel cheated on this series. Book 1 & 3 where great. But then 2 & 4 are novelizations of tv show episodes. Wha?

[Kirby Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re going to adapt three episodes of DS9, you might as well adapt from one of the best arcs in the series. A couple of good bits got missed, but that’s just the nature of the beast.

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is largely a straight-up novelization of several DS9 episodes - or at least key aspects of them. It's fully focused on our DS9 characters and doesn't give us any updates on what had happened to Captain Picard and Ro and their mission from the first book in this series.

What is nice is that we get a bit more insight into what the different characters were thinking for the covered TV episodes. How Sisko managed to get him a strategy role in the Dominion War totally makes more sense given this book along with character actions being better explained. And that helps to make this book pretty fun and an easy enough read.

[Lynee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The four stars are because I enjoy Star Trek more than the high quality or the writing.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good retelling of the Dominion War in DS9.

[Robert D · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book 2 in the Dominion War series. Loosely based on the events from the DS9 series following the evacuation of DS9 by the Federation and early stages of the war.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gute Nacherzählung der entsprechenden ST:DS9-Folge, welche mehr Details und Hintergründe darbietet. Careys Schreibstil ist sehr flüssig.
Leider fiel es mir manchmal schwer, mir die Figuren wirklich vorzustellen, da sie nicht ganz so rüberkommen wie ich sie aus der Serie kenne. Das mag aber auch daran liegen, dass ich die Serie mittlerweile nur noch auf Englisch kenne und diese mir vorliegende Ausgabe auf Deutsch ist.