Lt. Saru takes center stage in Fear Itself, the third novel from the Star Trek: Discovery line… and the final book on the Pocket Books publishing schedule, currently in limbo as the publisher and studio continue to negotiate over renewing the Star Trek novel license.

I have to be honest; it has taken me a few weeks to both finish the book — and to write this review — as I sought to savor the experience of the last novel on the publishing schedule for the foreseeable future. I hope you can forgive me this indulgence!

While I sincerely doubt this is going to be the end of the Star Trek book line (though the year-long radio silence on the matter is quite frustrating!), Fear Itself is certainly a well-earned entry in Trek‘s literary library. As both an adventure story and a character exploration of Saru, Fear Itself really serves as a solid prequel to Saru’s arc throughout the first season of Star Trek: Discovery.

Over the course of Discovery’s first fifteen episodes, we see Saru mature from a snappy coward in “The Vulcan Hello” to a more confident and sure-footed acting captain of the USS Discovery by the end of “Will You Take My Hand?,” set nearly a year after the series premiere.

His is a character who really finds his mojo, and has one of the more subtle (but enriching) arcs of Discovery so far. Fear Itself shows us an earlier point in Saru’s career – four years prior to the Battle of the Binary Stars – in which he begins that journey.

While we do not learn a huge amount more about the Kelpians or Saru’s origins — something Discovery’s writers are likely reserving for the television series — we still receive a deeper appreciation for the character and his motivations through Saru’s actions, and we get a window into his mind during a tense situation.

We also dive further into the Saru/Burnham relationship, something also explored in 2016’s first Discovery novel, David Mack’s Desperate Hours. The bickering between the two featured in “The Vulcan Hello” and “Battle at the Binary Stars” is on full display in Fear Itself, but we get a better understanding of where that originates.

The first season of Discovery implied, but did not go into much detail, that Burnham and Saru are more alike than they first appear, and Fear Itself dives deeper into that idea, and adds satisfying layers to their relationship as it plays out in the show.

Author James Swallow does the best jobs of the three Discovery authors to date in absolutely nailing the character voices and the tone of Discovery. Doug Jones’s performance as Saru leaps off the page, as does Michelle Yeoh’s Captain Georgiou and Sonequa Martin-Green’s Michael Burnham. You can really see the characters in your mind’s eye speaking the lines, and the Discovery milieu is very well adhered to.

He also integrates a number of canon elements into the novel from later shows that fit seamlessly. The Tholians are the main antagonist, and it is a lot of fun to see Discovery characters going up against another of Star Trek’s more unique and beloved alien races. In addition, the Peliar Zel (who appeared in TNG’s “The Host”) and the Gorlans (who merit only the barest of mentions in “Mirror, Mirror”) each have big roles to play.

The other characters of the USS Shenzhou also appear, including a third appearance in the novels for Captain Phillipa Georgiou. Again, Georgiou is rendered in this novel most alike Michelle Yeoh’s performance on the screen, with all the shades of a determined captain and a leader of people who works to cultivate their best qualities and overcome their defects that Yeoh brought to the role.

We may only have seen Prime Georgiou on screen for a short time, but she is absolutely one of Star Trek’s best captains. I hope the tie-in material continues to explore her character, while the on-screen version version of Discovery continues to follow Emperor Georgiou in future episodes.

Overall, if you are a fan of Discovery, I highly recommend pickup up Fear Itself. The action is well paced, the character moments land, and the story feels true to both Discovery and the wider Star Trek canon. As he has done so many times — seriously, go check out his other Trek novels! — Swallow has produced a fine book that will scratch the itch of any fan awaiting the return of more Trek to our televisions.

Here’s hoping we learn more about new Trek novels from Pocket Books soon — hopefully some kind of announcement might be made at STLV in August — because James Swallow’s Star Trek books are always a delight. It would be a real shame if there weren’t any more of them.

*   *   *

If you liked Fear Itself, you should check out:

• Desperate Hours by David Mack – The first Star Trek: Discovery novel is set one year before the Battle of the Binary Stars, and dives deeper into the Burnham/Spock relationship, with plot threads for Georgiou, Saru, and an appearance by Captain Christopher Pike’s USS Enterprise!
   
• Drastic Measures by Dayton Ward – The second Star Trek: Discovery novel is set ten years before the Battle of the Binary Stars and ties into the classic Trek episode “The Conscience of the King” to give us a story of the prime universe’s Lorca and Georgiou dealing with the massacre on Tarsus IV.
  Leka Trionz
   
• Terok Nor: Day of the Vipers by James Swallow – My personal favorite of James Swallow’s previous Trek novels, this story — which kicks off the Terok Nor trilogy, but is largely a standalone story — explores first contact between the Cardassians and Bajorans, which would eventually lead to the Cardassian Occupation.

Novel #4: "The Way to the Stars"

Novel #5: "The Enterprise War"

Novel #6: "Dead Endless"