Headlong Flight

Star Trek: The Next Generation

By: Dayton Ward

Narrated by: Robert Petkoff

Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

An exhilarating thriller from best-selling author Dayton Ward set in the universe of Star Trek: The Next Generation, following Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew as they explore the previously uncharted and dangerous Odyssean Pass.

Surveying a nebula as part of their continuing exploration of the previously uncharted Odyssean Pass, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the starship Enterprise encounter a rogue planet. Life signs are detected on the barren world's surface, and then a garbled message is received: a partial warning to stay away at all costs. Determined to render assistance, Picard dispatches Commander Worf and an away team to investigate, but their shuttlecraft is forced to make an emergency landing on the surface - moments before all contact is lost and the planet completely disappears.

Worf and his team learn that this mysterious world is locked into an unending succession of random jumps between dimensions, the result of an ambitious experiment gone awry. The Enterprise crew members and the alien scientists who created the technology behind this astonishing feat find themselves trapped, powerless to break the cycle. Meanwhile, as the planet continues to fade in and out of various planes of existence, other parties have taken notice....

©2017 CBS Studios Inc. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All rights reserved. (P)2017 CBS Studios Inc. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All rights reserved.

More Unabridged Star Trek TNG!

Good Story but honestly, I would buy a Star Trek TNG book even if it was unanimously panned by critics. (Please Audible, bring more UNABRIDGED Star Trek books. I'm listening to Hell's Heart now and I don't see any other unabridged TNG books to listen to after I'm done.) Anyways, the story itself is interesting if not particularly exciting. still, it's great beaming back into the prime universe during the Star Trek TNG era.

Quintessential TNG

This book isn't flashy or dramatic but it is a really enjoyable listen for a TNG fan. We've got the scanning of phase variances and reconfiguring of photon torpedoes and re routing of power from the rear deflectors - a typical Star Trek story, with all my favorite characters behaving just as one would expect. It was like curling up in front of a fire on a cold night. With hot chocolate. And the narrator was spot on, I could always tell who was speaking, and he got the cadences and accents down very well.

It does bear mentioning that you should pay attention to the chapter headings - I sometimes let those flow over me, but I realized they were key to knowing where/when you are in the dimensional shift.

All around enjoyable, solid 4 star listen. I recommend to other fans!

Boredom from another dimension

Let me preface this by saying I am a huge trekker. I have watched every show and movie and I have a read a number of Trek books. Yet, never in my life have I been this bored. I could summarise this book in 3 lines, and all the rest is just filler, with the story (if you can call it that) moving at an excruciatingly slow pace as it shifts in each chapter to the perspective of another crew (be it Enterprise E, D, or the irrelevant Romulan comic relief). With lots of technobabble. In fact, that is the main way the author tries to elicit a sense of excitement. Another technical malfunction or puzzle that Geordi and his merry men have to resolve. Oh boy!

To make matters worse, the villains (again, in the loosest sense of the word) in this book are beyond irrelevant and absolutely toothless, and in the end just serve to add a few more tiresome chapters and additional characters you could not possibly give a damn about.

Even in the epilogue, I found myself praying that something would happen. Something unexpected, surprising or exciting. I didn't even care if it made sense at that point.

The only plus side is that the narrator does a really great job at portraying all the 1000000000000 characters that we are forced to learn about. My hat off to him, he really made each one stand out as an individual.

Just like a mediocre episode

I have read over 100 Star trek books this is one is ranked somewhere in the bottom 5.

Good, but!!

this was a good book but I have to say I just really wish they would not bring in sexual preferences of characters.

as usual Dayton and Robert delivered

would've loved to have seen this adapted for the small screen. great storytelling as always.

play the hand you're dealt

this is very well done. The story was excellent, the vocal performance was very good. took me a little while to get through it. but it is definitely worth another read-through

A Big, Dull Dud!

What disappointed you about Headlong Flight?

First, I love that Audible is offering unabridged STAR TREK. That said, wow this book was disappointing. The set up was great. The crew of Enterprise E encounter their alternate universe counterparts on the Enterprise D. Seemed cool, but the book never chose to do anything interesting. I love Dayton Ward and Robert Petkoff. But this book is not a good representation of their efforts. Lots of missed opportunities. Skip this book.

Another enjoyable Star Trek adventure

It took a little extra concentration to sort out who was who in the beginning but once I got it straight in my head it was a fun listen as well as a good story.

Narrator is amazing

This story is classic Next Gen material. Very faithful to Star Trek’s original universe. But the big factor here is the reader’s ability to sound like Picard, Riker, Data, LaForge and such. Not only “sound” like them, but he imitates their speech pattern and emphasis. This made me picture the cast and the ship clearly in my mind. Wonderful experience.

The next generation at its best.

If you miss TNG then look no further. All your favourite characters captured perfectly and a few new ones

Very true to the spirit of TNG!

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Headlong Flight by Dayton Ward

Hello to my readers! I hope you are all doing well. Now that I’ve finished my two overdue reviews for Thrawn and Dune that I’ve been planning for quite some time I think I’ll go back to the world of Star Trek. Although this time I’ll be focusing on the adventures of The Next Generation crew. Captain Picard and crew were how I was introduced to Star Trek so I have a fondness for them all. Much like The Original Series there are quite a few Next Generation based novels and audios. Now I think it’s time to get to today’s review.

Headlong Flight is a 2017 novel and audiobook by Dayton Ward who I mentioned when I reviewed Agents Of Influence. He is certainly one of the most prolific authors of Star Trek media having written more than 30 novels either solo or alongside Kevin Dilmore. Ward isn’t the only Trek writer of note for novels and other tie-in media however with other examples being John Jackson Miller, Una McCormack, David Mack and Christopher L. Bennett among others.

The plot of Headlong Flight is as follows: The crew of the USS Enterprise-E has been given a new mission to explore and survey a nebula in the previously uncharted Odyssean Pass. To begin with all is well for Captain Jean-Luc Picard and company…until they find a planet that simply wasn’t there when they first began their scans. The planet does display life signs but the Enterprise receives a message from the planet to stay away for their own safety. Determining to provide assistance if at all possible, Picard sends Commander Worf at the head of an away team, only for an emergency landing to occur and the entire planet to disappear. Just what is occurring with this planet? And what will happen when the Enterprise isn’t the only ship or power of note scanning this mysterious world?

This was a very entertaining return to The Next Generation! This novel is technically set in the future far beyond the film Star Trek: Nemesis but that’s somewhat beside the point. The characters are very much in the spirit of the originals with Picard, Worf and the surprisingly prominent LaForge being the main examples. When the other ships appear in proceedings (which are somewhat spoiled by the excellent front cover art!) they pique the listener’s interest well. Just what happened on this planet? How can the problem be solved? And how will the character dynamics between the multiple ships come into things?

The book original characters – who I believe all come from previous Trek novels either written by Ward or others – are also quite endearing characters. Even if they are new to readers or listeners like they were to me First Contact Specialist Lieutenant ‘Trys’ Chen and Chief Science Officer Dina Elfiki among others make quite a positive first impression and prove to be somewhat instrumental in the overall story. By the end of Headlong Flight I was quite keen to jump ahead to the sequels and see what happened to the crew after this. What were they in for!? I can’t promise that it’s an all time classic (everyone has their own tastes and preferences in Star Trek especially!) but it is definitely an enjoyable story and one I would recommend to fans of The Next Generation in particular and Trek in general. Just keep an eye out for magically appearing planets and certain time displaced starships!

When it comes to the audio edition, the narration is once again excellently performed by the returning Robert Petkoff. He plays his parts wonderfully with particular mention to his Worf, Picard, Data and the aforementioned First Contact Specialist Chen. Petkoff also brings some detail and personality to the tale’s aliens, making them feel more like true people so you do start to empathise with their plight. This story is definitely somewhat different to Agents of Influence. There is a decent sprinkling of action throughout but it definitely feels more like a character piece designed for the dedicated Trek fan or the knowledgeable casual which Petkoff makes even more clear to listeners of the excellent audio adaptation.

In conclusion Headlong Flight is an entertaining foray into the more classic sci-fi side of Star Trek with alternate dimensions, character exploration and some baffling but fun technobabble courtesy of engineering. It was certainly something I’m glad I took a chance on and I’ll be sure to see what’s on everyone’s Hearts and Minds (forgive the terrible sequel pun) in the future. It may be more for the Trek fans than my previous journey to the United Federation Of Planets but it is still something I hope I can persuade a few of you to join me in giving this a listen. As for my next venture? Who knows!? But we’ll find out together. See you all soon.

Sayonara!

Nephrite

Headlong Flight

Wow wow and wow really enjoyed this. Great story well read by Peter.
This has opened up another arc if they wish to follow it 10/10. A good listen or read

Brilliant, Original and Technical Sci Fi Tale.

This audiobook was brilliantly narrated by Robert Petkoff who continued to enthrall and captivate Star Trek fans with his excellent narration. He proceeded at a fine pace which was not too slow or too fast. He gave good dramatic exposition of the various characters speech and of the descriptive prose of the audiobook. He continued to be an absolute delight to listen to.
The audiobook was original and scintillating to listen to. It was exciting to follow. The technical scientific details were a great asset to the story and can easily be appreciated.
This audiobook deserves multiple listening to enjoy the story many times over. A great Star Trek TNG audiobook!!!!!

A story worth every second.

I personally loved every minute, it was exciting and imaginative, I could visualise the ships, the decor and the characters reactions perfectly, the only thing that could make this even better would be if it was an actual episode or movie,

An amazing story, beautifully told, thrilling and easy to follow, I recommend the purchase, 10/10, (*****) 5 star easy, all trek fans will love this audio book.

Brilliant Story Line

Cannot understand why anyone would give this less than a 5 star rating. Well worth listening to.

Easy listen

Nice story, easy listening could get a little boring at times but if you like TNG, you will like this.

For fans of Star Trek Generations this is a must!

I love Star Trek Generations and loved this book. I have literally devoured this over two days aswell as Hearts and Minds..., I recommend this one hundred percent.

Not enough action

I enjoyed this book, I like story with either take place in multiple time periods or multiple locations or as in this book multiple dimensions. The characters were well rounded and the interactions with each other were very entertaining but the action was a little tame and besides being stranded in other dimensions there seemed to very little perils for the crews to overcome

not star trek

this is a love hate story..either you love it or hate it..tried this authers books a few times..but he cant quite get the magic of star trek..no real adventure an very slow an drawn out .an very poor writen characters that feel vein an one dimensional.picard was done well but it stops there with well wrriten characters..the tory feel like it could have been told within an hour an the rest is just filler..as i said start trek in name only