Star Trek: Coda, the three-part conclusion to the Star Trek literary continuity that has captured the imagination of readers for the last two decades, continues this month with its second installment, James Swallow’s The Ashes of Tomorrow.

Where last month’s starting entry, Moments Asunder, was more of a focused character piece, Swallow’s novel ups the ante significantly in the scope and scale of the story.

Moments Asunder established the threat facing the galaxy: the Devidians, an under-explored temporal race who feed on the energy of dying sentient beings and appeared the “Time’s Arrow” Next Generation two-parter, have found a way to feed on the neural energy of entire timelines, collapsing them as they consume.

The Ashes of Tomorrow continues to build on that threat, as Picard and crew must convince Starfleet and the Federation that the Devidian threat must be dealt with… or they run the risk of watching their timeline be demolished.

The Devidians were a really interesting choice of villain for the trilogy as a whole, and quite unexpected! But that is part of what makes them scary — unlike, say, the Borg — we don’t have too much experience with this race. We don’t know them any better than the characters in the book do, and as they learn about how the Devidians are feeding on entire timelines we as the readers are just as shocked as the characters.

It’s a really effective choice, as the enemy remains hidden and removed, increasing the sense of foreboding about what the future might hold.

The Ashes of Tomorrow also significantly expands (and then reduces) the cast of characters from across the Star Trek literary continuity who are engaged in the story. For this book, many more characters from Deep Space Nine, including Captain Benjamin Sisko, become key players as the Devidian threat comes to Bajor. The scope of the book is significantly increased from Moments Asunder giving us more glimpses at different characters and how they are dealing with the threat before them.

In Moments Asunder, the Enterprise and Aventine crews felt somewhat isolated in dealing with the threat of the Devidians. But The Ashes of Tomorrow has more of an Avengers vibe to it, with a number of important characters from the books and shows interacting in fun ways.

We get a rare Picard / Sisko team up, for example, and a seminal Star Trek character has a surprising and unexpected role to play that was very welcome in the way it brought together the different generations of Star Trek under one roof.

But while there is joy about all the series crossovers and character team ups in The Ashes of Tomorrow the book also has a significantly higher body count than Moments Asunder. If you were displeased at some of the major character deaths in the first book, you’ll be even more displeased by the end of this book, as there are some major and shocking character deaths that are movingly told and significant to the story.

And while a book like this does not have time to completely wrap up dangling storylines from previous novels — it has its own story to tell, after all — there are some notable storylines that draw themselves to a natural conclusion here and will hopefully provide some closure for book fans.

Though The Ashes of Tomorrow is the middle book in the trilogy, it still has a defined beginning, middle and end that worked for the story. And while it does not entirely signpost the way to the trilogy’s conclusion, there are hints about where things might be headed in Oblivion’s Gate, the trilogy’s final installment.

This book also includes several important and some fun crossovers with ideas from the new canon Star Trek installments, including connections to both Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Lower Decks which appear to begin moving pieces into position to close this story down.

To say much more would be to spoil a story that really deserves going in as fresh as possible; check out my forthcoming review with author James Swallow where we go into more details on the events of this novel. But The Ashes of Tomorrow builds on the Star Trek: Coda tale to set up a huge finale from David Mack next month.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been this excited for an upcoming Star Trek novel, and it might be some time before another installment tops this level of anticipation — the Star Trek literary continuity ride is almost over, and what’s a journey it’s been.

Dayton Ward’s Star Trek: Coda #1 — Moments Asunder and James Swallow’s Star Trek: Coda #2 — The Ashes of Tomorrow are in stores now, to be concluded in November with David Mack’s Star Trek: Coda #3 — Oblivion’s Gate.