I`m over the Borg
So I just finished the Terok Nor series and I have to say it was a difficult transistion. We go from a rich description of a culture and planet to this flat, boring and overplayed storyline. Almost all the DS9 books have so much depth and a continuation of their characters while TNG books have been a recyling of old material and a slidshow of characters. The first part of the book was a recap of the past few books. Yeah, I know what happened. I read them. Please don`t insult our intelligence with a refresher. Then of course we have to rehash all of Voyager`s adventures (loved the series, the relaunch was lame with those last two horrible books and looks like no one wants to touch it). So, we beat the Borg storyline to a pulp, as we will continue to do so in the next few books. And what was the theme of this book? Family and children. Yes, we understand it. It was so clearly played out in every aspect of the book that it felt like overkill.

My humble advice to authors. First, read the Terok Nor series and get some stylistic ideas from them. Second, get a new story (no more Borg!), third stop killing off and introducing new characters. Published books are no place to be testing out characters to see if they stick. We want to meet these new and exciting people and get attached to them. Can`t do that when they get killed or assimilated in each book. I know these are great authors, let`s finish off this story arc and move on to something new! Get a new Titan book out!

Just more of the same. I am giving up on this now.
Honestly, I did not like this novel at all. Simplistic language, narrowminded dialogues, clichéd characterisations, and most importantly a dull storyline left almost nothing for me to appreciate. I had high hopes for this installment beforehand, since I really liked Bennett's TOS novel "Ex Machina", which I found to be very well written with a tight story.

After several mediocre TNG novels, this is just one more to add to the pile. For me, only Peter David's "Before Dishonor" has been worth its time and money, and obviously just because David's writing managed to push it up to at least a decent level. Picard, Crusher, Geordi, and even Worf seem more like shallow marionettes than anything else, these days.

I have read Trek novels for more than ten years, and while there naturally always have been better ones and worse ones, the overall quality of them seems to have decreased severely these last couple of years. Vanguard, SCE and DS9 are still good, but I am stepping off the TNG train now. These books just does not appeal to me.

Suffers from "middle child" syndrome
"Greater Than the Sum" suffers from "middle child syndrome."

The story is set between last year's 20th anniversary set of TNG novels and this year's big Trek publishing event by David Mack, set to hit stores in October. This leaves the usually reliable Christopher L. Bennett with a conundrum of a book that is supposed to set up the next set of novels and try to reconcile some of the inconsistencies of last year's set of stories, especially the rather disappointing wrap-up novel by Peter David. (Which it pains me to say that as I tend to love all of David's Trek universe offerings).

Set a few months after the last Borg attack, "Sum" picks up with...wait for it...another Borg threat coming into Federation territory. The threat is a new alien race that has the ability to create a new kind of warp conduits and holes in space, allowing faster travel. The Enterprise is sent into the fray to try and make contact with the aliens who have this technology and keep it out of Borg hands. With this new technology, the Borg would be even more seemingly unstoppable and able to invade the Federation at will.

Along the way, we have some interesting character developments and it appears a fresh start for the TNG relaunch. Instead of just being "TNG 2.0" it appears the series is finally allowing the characters to be who they are and develop their own stories instead of trying to craft them into molds of the old TNG crew. It's a refreshing development, but given that the DS9 relaunch decided to follow this path from day one, it makes you wonder why it took these books four books to get there.

The book does try hard to explain away some inconsistent characterization and some odd choices in "Before Dishonor," and to put elements in place for the on-going storyline. Bennett pulls together threads from previous Trek novels and the television run in ways that feel realistic and plausible.

And while I enjoyed the novel while reading it, I came away feeling as a bit unsatisfied when the final page was turned. A large part of this is that this story is being used to set up some things for the big three-part Trek novel epic coming soon to a bookstore near me. But I think another part is that while we can identify with the characters we've seen on-screen, there aren't any of the newer characters who jump off the page and into the imagination like Vaughn or Tarrantar for the DS9 relaunch.

Borging
Bennett is a master Trek novelist. He has the ability to create stories that would fit perfectly as episodes of the series. His characterizations are top notch, and he weaves multiple character plots into the main story line.

What keeps this from being perfect is the Borg. I guess it is just the nature of TNG novels to be Borg fests but to me they are just too Borging. The problem is it has been done to death.

At any rate, the novel is excellent but the subject matter is redundant.

A fitting rebound from "Before Dishonor"
I actually would have given this 3.5 stars due to something that happens near the end of the book. It's not the killing off of a "major" player this time, but it is someone who I felt did deserve better.

When an author spends the equivalent of two chapters undoing the work of a previous author, it's safe to say the previous author screwed up royally. So combining that with the fact Bennett may have been forced to go with a certain ending (which could have contributed to the event I mentioned, although it could have easily been done differently), this book is a job well done given the subject matter. Original concepts with the new race and a surprising number of tie ins to prevous TNG shows (including one rather obscure one) help to hide the fact this book is about the Borg, again, and will lead in to another trilogy about them.

The new characters were well written, and I had no issues with the characterizations of any of the TNG regulars as I did in the previous novel; Bennett gets what Peter David didn't. The characterizations don't have to be perfect, and never will be (if there's one character who might have been done wrong, it's Picard at certain points, and even that one is understandable given it's no less accurate then previous authors have been), but they do have to be something resembling accurate in order for the reader to enjoy the story.

I know David Mack has been tapped for the next 3 books, but I would welcome another Bennett contribution.