The first Star Trek: Strange New Worlds novel — The High Country by John Jackson Miller — is one of the best Star Trek novels published in years. Perfectly capturing the Strange New Worlds characters and aesthetic, Jackson Miller weaves a high adventure tale that is a lot of fun, and has a number of surprising connections to the Star Trek canon that deepen and enrich the story as a whole.
 
I have to admit: when I first heard the premise for The High Country, I was skeptical. Pike, Spock, Una, and Uhura get stranded on an alien planet without the use of technology, and the planet has a human population with a culture remarkably similar to the Old West. Really? Hasn’t that been done in Star Trek a couple of times before? And isn’t this just an excuse to write a Western novel with Star Trek’s closest analogue to the classic Western hero, Christopher Pike?
 
This isn’t the first time I have gone into his books with a little skepticism…really, Klingons and magic? (Prey.) Rios and the Sigma Iotians? (Rogue Elements.) Georgiou and the smoke monster that killed most of the crew on the Farragut? (Die Standing.)
 
Every time Jackson Miller has surprised me with a great story, and I’m privileged to be able to tell you: The High Country is the best of the lot.
 

I am going to keep the plot details of The High Country as spoiler free as possible in this review, because as a reader you deserve to be as surprised by it as I was. But any objections or questions you might have about the premise are, in fact, a key part of the story’s narrative. And it takes you to some surprising places along the way that makes The High Country part Strange New Worlds novel, part sequel to… something else!

Jackson Miller absolutely nails the Strange New Worlds characters to the wall. Sometimes, the first novel related to a new Star Trek show can feel a little ropey in the characterization. The author, often working on the novel before the series has even premiered, is working just from scripts or notes to build the characters’ voices and identities. I don’t know how much of Strange New Worlds Jackson Miller had access to when he wrote this novel, but he excelled at capturing exactly the voices, styles, and mannerisms of the Enterprise crew.

Christopher Pike is the perfect brooding, thoughtful, and kind captain that we see in the series. Una is serious, intelligent, and infused with all the regal qualities that Rebecca Romjin brings to her performance. Uhura is unsure, but determined, resourceful, and possessing an inner strength not obvious on the surface. The Spock of The High Country perfectly channels Ethan Peck’s interpretation of the character, and though he is more of a secondary character in this novel, Jackson Miller does the best with – and has the most fun with – the characterization of Chief Engineer Hemmer.

That’s a word I cannot stress enough when it comes to The High Country: fun. This is a fun book. It’s a fun book filled with fun characters having fun adventures. And though the challenges our characters face our serious, and some of their experiences perilous, Jackson Miller infuses the same air of fun into The High Country as he did successfully into Rogue Elements before it. You’re going to be excited, and you’ll think, and you’ll have a lot of fun reading this book.

There is also a massive amount of worldbuilding that Jackson Miller has done to create this story. Our heroes become separated and trapped on a planet where technology will not function. And it’s a big planet, with lots of different aliens and cultures interacting with each other. Jackson Miller does an excellent job of fleshing out the different parts of the planet, with its different geographies, people, and eccentricities. The book even includes maps at the start of each section that help to ground you in the location of the events of the story relative to everything else.

And in addition to doing a great job with the established Strange New Worlds characters, The High Country includes a number of great original characters as well. One of the primary antagonists for Pike, a person from his past, is very well drawn with complex motives that lead to the character making a number of interesting choices. Having someone connected to Pike’s past also allows us to explore a bit more of the character’s backstory in an interesting way.

Since the pilot of Strange New Worlds opened with the iconic shot of Pike on horseback riding through the snow, it has felt inevitable – both in the show and in print media – that was something that would be revisited. Anson Mount is a natural horseman, and the Pike character shares the same rugged qualities that make Mount a little bit of a man out of time; if we wound the clock back 60 years, Mount would be one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood’s glut of Westerns. The High Country grabs right at that, and where it could have been hokey, it’s completely successful. Just a good fun time all around.

If you enjoyed the first season of Strange New Worlds and are craving a sweeping, episodic adventure that has a surprising connection to Star Trek’s history and feels grander than even the already big TV show can accomplish, look no further than The High Country

Now if Simon & Schuster could see to announcing a few more Strange New Worlds novels, or more Star Trek novels of any kind (only one more Discovery novel and one more Prodigy middle grade book remain on the schedule), that would be great.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds — The High Country is in stores now.