Robert Lyons at The Trek Lit Report has finally posted his review of The Body Electric, the final volume in my bestselling Star Trek: The Next Generation trilogy Cold Equations … and aside from the prologue and the epilogue, he really didn’t like it.

Of the prologue and epilogue, he wrote:

“As we enter into the prologue of The Body Electric, Mack is once again on course for a true KO of a story. His recounting, in retrospect, of the death of Lal, from her point of view, is nothing short of breathtaking. His epilogue, which serves to fill in further detail concerning Lal, is equally moving. These two elements of the book are some of the most meaningful prose ever penned surrounding android life in the Star Trek universe.”

Unfortunately, the rest of the book disappointed him greatly:

“The Body Electric suffers from an incomprehensible ‘enemy’, a pedantic man-child, and a misidentified android, and leaves a very empty, hollow feeling in the stomach upon completion. Mack’s development of Data 2.0 goes too far opposite of all we came to know about Data in the collective TNG experience of him, and leaves me very fearful for the future direction of this beloved member of the Next Generation family.”

Ah, well. That’s the way it goes sometimes. Robert, I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy the book, and I hope my next novel, A Ceremony of Losses (November 2013), is more to your liking.