Star Trek: First Contact

By: J.M. Dillard

Narrated by: Gates McFadden

The official novelization of the acclaimed feature film Star Trek: First Contact, based on Star Trek: The Next Generation and the legendary science fiction universe created by Gene Roddenberry.

From the darkest reaches of space comes the Federation’s most relentless enemy: the Borg, a cybernetic species driven to assimilate all intelligent life into their collective consciousness. Years earlier, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise was captured and transformed into Locutus of Borg before being rescued by his crew and freed from their control.

Now the Borg have returned—more powerful and determined than ever. Launching a devastating attack against the United Federation of Planets, they set their sights on Earth itself. But this time their plan reaches beyond conquest: the Borg travel through time in a daring attempt to alter humanity’s past and prevent the birth of the Federation.

As Captain Picard, Commander Riker, Data, and the crew of the USS Enterprise pursue the Borg across space and time, they must protect humanity’s most important moment—the first contact between humans and an alien species. Facing overwhelming odds and the lingering trauma of Picard’s past assimilation, the Enterprise crew confronts the Borg Collective in a battle that will determine the future of Earth, Starfleet, and the entire galaxy.

Packed with action, adventure, and classic Star Trek storytelling, this official novelization expands the epic science fiction film and brings fans deeper into the unforgettable confrontation between the Federation and its greatest enemy.

Resistance is Futile... mostly

this is a good adaptation of an excellent movie.
it adds nice bits of character background and is different in the right places. unfortunately for SOME REASON every single line from every character is read by the same clearly soft female voice. this make ZERO SENSE for characters like Picard, Riker and Worf. it is disconcerting especially if you're already familiar with the original film actors. I would have gone for at least one more male voice actor. also the SFX while pretty good could be easily improved by simply taking them from the movie in many few places especially weapon sounds which sound weak and nowhere near as good as the movies.

Nice movie story line.

I usually like to have more details than the movie but this pretty much followed the script. It was entertaining none the less.

What an audible book should be

At first I was hesitant purchasing this title since I have seen the movie multiple times. I never thought an audible version could come close to being as compelling. But I was pleasantly surprised to discover I could not be more wrong. Most books are a solely narration and if you are lucky the narrators talent can enhance the listeners experience. In this title sound effects, musical scoring, and narration are all skillfully interwoven like no other audible book I can recall. This makes for a unique audible experience. And the writing is superb in my opinion.

I am not reviewing the story here so as not to spoil it, and only wish to comment that for me the production aspects of this title were unique and made it worth purchasing. There is also a small amount of content which was not in the movie but is added in the audible book giving it new substance and meaning at times.

Overall 5 stars across the board for me, performance by Gates McFadden was excellent,believeable, and on spot, and the story which I won’t comment in detail here is compelling, dark at times, and humorous.

was a good movie adaptation

was a decent book based off a movie. it was an enjoyable one though. would recommend for all star trek fans.

Like The Movie - Got TNG Wrong

**Gates McFadden did a great job as usual.**

I know these are hard to justify because you don't want to spend a credit on something that is 3 hours or cost less than the price of 1 credit but after listening to Imzadi I figured I will get my money's worth on relistens because having the cast read with the added sound effects really does feel like watching an TNG episode.

I was not a fan of the movie (I choose to live in a reality where none of the TNG films happened) but naively was hoping the novelization would add more depth and context to the plot. Sadly I was wrong. While I do enjoy this over the film there is hardly any diplomacy on display in this action-heavy story. No character development of any Enterprise members except for Picard and they wrote him as if they did not watch the show, filled with anger and violence throughout the plot and in general does not feel like JLP.

It's not terrible but decent with several frustrating elements.