[Review] — "Star Trek: Discovery: Somewhere to Belong" is a Slow-Burning Trek in Space

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"Star Trek: Discovery" is my least favorite "Trek" series for many reasons—too many to list here. All the characters are unlikeable, especially the main character, Spock's unheard-of adopted human sister, Michael Burnham, played in the television series by one-dimensional Sonequa Martin-Green. No, I'm not being rude here; the actress can't act worth a lick. And, no, it's not the writing (well, it is, but that's a whole other thing). The actress acted the same way in The Walking Dead series, so she's naturally a horrible actress.

Despite my love for Star Trek novels, I've only read one Star Trek: Discovery novel, Somewhere to Belong, the ninth and newest entry in the series, published by Gallery Books. If I dislike Star Trek Discovery, why would I want to read a tie-in novel set in its world? Well, I have only one reason: it's by Dayton Ward, a science fiction author who has told many stories set in the Star Trek universe.

Somewhere to Belong takes place in 3189, several weeks after the episode "That Hope is You, Part 2" and four months before the "Kobayashi Maru" episode. Michael Burnham is now captain of the U.S.S. Discovery, a 900-plus-old ship that has been slightly refitted by Starfleet only because it has a spore drive. Starfleet is trying to reconnect with various worlds—the ones lost after "the Burn," an event caused when an alien teenager screamed a bit too loud and destroyed most of the dilithium, aka the crystals that make starship warp cores run. Yeah, this was the actual plot in the third season! Dumb, right?

The novel's prologue, a.k.a. Chapter One, is set in 2258, where Captain Pike and the USS Enterprise have a brief cameo. Then Chapter Two jumps forward to the 32nd Century, or otherwise what I consider an "alternate timeline," where the USS Discovery picks up a distress signal and runs across a Xahean ship, a race of aliens first introduced in the "Short Trek" Runaway, forcing the crew to deal with a new crisis.

Listen, Dayton Ward is an incredible writer, but he could only do so much with Star Trek: Discovery's problems, and by that, I mean its unlikeable characters, which he does his best to add some much-needed depth to, and for the most part, he does succeed in that aspect. Somewhere to Belong is a drawn-out drama; some might call it a slow-burner. Usually, I like these types of stories, but I tuned out after Captain Pike left in the first chapter. Didn't I mention that I dislike the Discovery crew? If I can't connect with a character or characters, I lose interest in the story; unfortunately, that happened here. It took me over two weeks to read the novel because I didn't care about the characters. Sure, the story was interesting, thanks to Dayton Ward's writing talents, but it wasn't enough to keep me invested. ╌★★½✰✰