‘Echoes in Eternity’ combines an engaging space adventure with big questions about mortality, the afterlife, and the nature of our interconnected universe.
To help celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Star Trek franchise, veteran novelist David Mack crafts a decades-spanning narrative that explores the bonds that tie us to this earthly realm, and how those bonds are perhaps just a taste of what lies beyond.
We’ll keep the story summary light to avoid spoilers. During his first five-year mission, Captain James T. Kirk is tasked with retrieving an alien object that crash landed on a planet, KX-1, which is being pulled apart by gravimetric forces from nearby singularities — no easy mission in the best of circumstances. Throw in a bit of time dilation and the fact that the planet only is accessible once every 10 years or so, and it’s a challenge unlike Kirk has ever faced. Of course, Romulans show up to complicate the problem, and ultimately the Enterprise leaves the system empty-handed and down a member of their crew — the curious and determined Lt. Anlij Rao, who became trapped in the alien object and presumed dead.
The narrative unfolds over the next two decades, following Anlij’s daughter, Saanvi, and her relentless efforts to prove her mother is alive — a conviction driven by persistent messages received in her dreams. Alongside Saanvi’s quest, the story highlights the solemn responsibility felt by Kirk and his crew as they seek to recover Anlij’s body and aid wayward extra-galactic aliens, all while striving to protect this extraordinary find from hostile hands and the threat posed by the singularities themselves.
Rounding out Mack’s cerebral narrative is a compelling Romulan named Tovek. He begins this story in a place of privilege, but ends up falling from grace and into the claws of the Tal Shiar — but even they can’t contain this man as he pursues revenge and then, to his own surprise, enlightenment. Tovek’s story is a fine compliment to Saanvi’s, as the daughter desperate for validation ends up keenly aware of the ethereal ties that bond a mother and child across time and space.
In a neat touch, Mack breaks up the three time periods of this book with interludes that serve as poetic, imaginative illustrations of the narrative’s ethereal themes; moreover, these illustrations are based, we believe, on characters both from Echoes in Eternity and elsewhere in the Star Trek universe. Philosophers will find plenty to chew on here — such as the intriguing conversation between Kirk, McCoy, and Spock near the end of the book about the possible ramifications of a proven afterlife. The answer isn’t so clear cut and certainly gave us something to think about.
It’s clear after reading this novel that Mack has some sophisticated and profound thoughts about the meaning of life, what happens when we die, and the possibility that our linear existence is just the starting point for a much larger, more complex journey. Echoes in Eternity is some weighty science-fiction — the kind of meaty storytelling that uses the genre to explore the most potent questions of our lives. Is there an afterlife? Is there some kind of surreal interconnectedness to the existence of all living things? The characters in this book get their share of exposure to these questions and many more.
The best Star Trek is that which pushes our understanding of ourselves, the notions of what we think is true, and that makes us believe there’s more to life than meets the eye. Mack certainly is aware of this — after all, he has written more than 30 books in this franchise. Echoes in Eternity is one of his most compelling works because it wraps Star Trek’s ethos into an energetic story about loss, love, life, death, and everything in between. It’s a great celebration of this franchise and an easy recommendation for Star Trek fans.
You can order Star Trek: Echoes in Eternity on Amazon.
Stay tuned to TrekNews.net for all the latest news on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, Star Trek: Section 31, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Prodigy, and more.
