Newcomer Star Trek author Alex White makes a stunningly confident franchise debut with their new novel Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — Revenant, a Jadzia Dax story that dives deeper into the mythos and backstory of the Dax symbiont and Trill society.

White has crafted an exciting and touching murder mystery, which makes great use of the Dax character(s) and Deep Space Nine staples like Kira, Bashir, and Worf.

I’ll be honest: after my deeply mixed and emotional reaction to the Star Trek: Coda trilogy, I was hesitant about jumping into a new Star Trek novel without a little time away — which is why this review is coming much later than it normally would.

That was a huge mistake on my part, though, and I am ready to hype Alex White’s work from the rooftops!

Published back in December 2021, Revenant is set during the early part of Deep Space Nine’s fourth season, and involves Jadzia Dax being pulled into a murder mystery plot involving Trill symbionts and the secrets of the Symbiosis Commission.

This is exactly what I want from an “episodic” novel set during the series’ run: it doesn’t feel like a throwaway adventure; there’s meaningful character growth that ties directly into what was seen during the series; it’s a fun adventure with your favorite characters at the height of their abilities.

Unlike some previous newcomers’ work — where the characterization of established Star Trek characters felt pretty shaky — White totally nails the voices and personas of the Deep Space Nine characters used in this book. At the heart of that is Jadzia Dax, as vibrant and tenacious of a character as Terry Farrell’s memorable on-screen performance.

Revenant is far and away a Dax book; not an intimate character study just of Jadzia, but also Joran and Curzon as well. To say more about the Joran angle would spoil some of the book’s biggest moments, but suffice to say it is great to get a deeper exploration of Joran — his history, his motivations, and his experiences with the Dax symbiont — which includes a few welcome flashbacks to Curzon as well.

White does a terrific job of weaving together the different hosts’ experiences, giving spotlight moments for at least five Dax hosts along the way.

That’s part of the reason why I really enjoy Star Trek literature as a supplement to what’s on screen. On screen, the internal dynamics of host and symbiont can only be shown in the one actors’ performance — while on the page, the constant swirl of thoughts and experiences that make up the seven lifetimes of experience of the Dax symbiont can play out in much more intimate and interesting ways. It’s one thing to see it on an actor’s face; it’s another thing to get completely inside a character’s head.

Getting inside Dax’s head also allows for a much deeper exploration of Trill society, and how joined living functions. Deep Space Nine was ahead of its time and deserves a lot of credit for its exploration of gender issues in the 90s, but… it was still only the 90s, and we’ve come a long way in the last three decades. Alex White does a very commendable job of exploring some of the ideas of what hosts experience with past hosts of multiple genders, and the kind of experiences and broader understanding of life that affords a joined Trill.

Revenant is by no means a novel about gender – it’s an exciting murder mystery that you can’t put down, with more than few genuinely scary moments! – but White finds appropriate moments in which to unpack some of the deeper ideas behind Trill society Oof which Deep Space Nine only scratched the surface.

And while this is a Dax novel and a big exploration of the Trill, there are supporting roles for Kira, Bashir, and Worf throughout this book. Since this is early Season 4 — just a short time after Worf joined the DS9 station crew — the romance between Dax and Worf has not yet begun to blossom, though White carefully lays some of the seeds of the romance that would later follow in the events of this book.

They also do a great job of realizing the character of Kira too; any time those two characters share the stage is a real joy.

In conclusion, if you have been sleeping on Revenant because it was published right around the busy holidays, now is the time to get yourself a copy. I really hope that we see more Star Trek novels from Alex White in the future; they are a welcome addition to the already strong lineup of Star Trek authors!