The Final Reflection

John M. Ford’s Star Trek: The Final Reflection focuses on the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise under Captain Kirk encountering a novelized history of the Klingon Empire and the Federation that has demoralized much of Starfleet. Kirk getting the novel and his reaction to it serve as a framing device, with the majority of the book focusing on the Klingon narrative itself. The Klingon story follows the life and career of Krenn, a captain who begins life as a piece in a living chess match and advances through the ranks when a Thought Admiral, seeing Krenn’s tactical skill, adopts him. One of Krenn’s missions is to ferry a Federation ambassador to the Klingon homeworld as part of negotiations, establishing conflict within the Klingon military between an older generation who want war and a new generation who seek to negotiate peace in order to avoid defeat against the Federation. Linking the Klingon narrative back to Kirk and the Enterprise, Ford describes Krenn meeting Dr. Tom J. McCoy, the grandfather of Bones from the U.S.S. Enterprise, as well as a young Spock, Sarek, and Amanda Grayson during his time on Earth to meet the Federation ambassador and other Federation delegates (pgs. 146-149; 157-159).

Ford originally published this novel in 1984, so parts of his history of the Klingon Empire’s early encounter with the Federation were later retconned out by Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Enterprise. Further, Marc Okrand began developing the Klingon language for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock around the same time Ford wrote this story, so his klingonaase words do not match up with the later language, though this novel does reference the trefoil emblem for the Klingon empire that Matt Jefferies designed for The Original Series episode “Elaan of Troyius” and which later became a standard insignia (pg. 49). Ford also refers to the homeworld as “Klinzhai,” though later stories established it as Qo’noS, translated as Kronos in English (pg. 103). Finally, in liking this story to themes of The Original Series, Ford foreshadows the show’s Cold War-era allegories, even referencing the episode “Balance of Terror” – though that episode featured the Romulans rather than the Klingons (pg. 227). Like his portrayal of the Klingons, Ford’s depiction of Earth differs from how subsequent shows and films portrayed it during this early period of the Federation, but his “Back to Earth” movement resembles the ”Terra Prime” movement seen in Enterprise. Despite subsequent series retconning this novel from canon, it inspired Ronald D. Moore when he wrote about the Klingons while working on The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine as well as Kenneth Mitchell, who portrayed Kol in Discovery. Three years after writing this, Ford wrote a second novel centered on the Klingons – though not a direct sequel – titled How Much for Just the Planet?, thereby creating the Worlds Apart duology.

I purchased this volume from the Klingon Language Institute, who sell it in addition to Michael Jan Friedman’s Star Trek: The Next Generation – Kahless and various Klingon translations of classic texts as an example of Klingon culture in order to better understand the context of the language, much like how J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium informs the historical context of his constructed languages. Though subsequent work retconned much of this away, Ford deserves credit for portraying the Klingons as a more diverse, well-rounded people as opposed to the one-note villains that appeared in The Original Series. His story itself is one of the strongest, and most original, novels based on Star Trek: The Original Series. ( )

As Captain Kirk said at the end, "I am . . . fascinated, as Spock would say." John Ford took the Klingons and gave them a depth of background that I loved. I wish more of it had ended up in the "canon". This is one of my favorite Star Trek books. ( )

One of my half-dozen favorite Star Trek books. ( )

A fine and unusual Star Trek novel, in which the major figures only play a minor role as they read a popular new historical novel, "The Final Reflection", which tells the tale of a Klingon captain who finds he must decide whether to fight against his superiors' plan to shatter the Federation in a galactic war. This story about a principled Klingon's unfamiliar quest for peace is avidly read by the crew, and with good reason. It's a page-turner which reveals more about Klingon culture than had been previously known. It also includes a chess encounter with a seven-year-old Spock (a nicely done bit), and an infant McCoy. A good one. ( )

The Final Reflection is a Star Trek novel written by John M. Ford. Its the first Star Trek novel I've ever read, and from my understanding its pretty atypical. Ford, like the Enterprise liked to go where no man has gone before. Even himself. He actually wrote a second Star Trek novel, How Much for Just the Planet, which is a musical if you can believe it.

The main twist in this book, is it doesn't follow the adventures of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, but rather it has a Klingon as the main protagonist. Vrenn, is a houseless orphan who was trained to play the live version of the game klin zha, a much more complicated form of chess. During a match he gains the notice of a prominent Klingon admiral, and ends up being adopted into his line. Vrenn is now able to fulfill his dreams of becoming a naval officer. Vrenn eventually is forced to take the name of Krenn, as a political expediency, and is made captain of his own ship. Part of the price of this is he must travel to Earth to bring back a delegate from the Federation. Kreen becomes a key figure in a plot to bring about a war between the Klingon Empire and the Federation. He must determine who he can trust in order to prevent a needless, honorless war.

Ford does masterful work in representing the Klingons as noble , honorable characters, not the hated barbarians they had always been portrayed as. Keep in mind this was written in 1984, well before The Next Generation introduced us to Worf, and the concept that Klingons were anything other than "the enemy". Ford takes a universe all of us are familiar with, and makes it his own. The trouble with so many tie-in novels is that the authors have little room for original creation, but Ford never seems constrained by those limits.

I really enjoyed this book. Any fan of either Star Trek books, or Ford's work should definitely pick this up. I will be moving his other Star Trek book up in my to be read pile.

8.5 out of 10 ( )