"Worlds of Deep Space Nine: Volume Three" left us with a broken, bleeding Kira and an equally broken, bleeding Ro, it also planted one small, significant seed of doubt in the readers’ hearts and minds: there was a traitor onboard Deep Space Nine, and he or she had caused the destruction of the Sidau village. That same collection also caused Taran’atar to lose his faith in the Founders, causing a psychotic breakdown that ended with his assault of Kira and Ro, and his attempt to flee the station…

…and Warpath begins with a Cardassian Woman on the planet of Harkoum being chased by a Klingon assassin. However, chapter two gives us what everyone was waiting for: the dying bodies of Kira and Ro. What follows in a taut, tense thrill ride spanning time, space, and the universe. It is a story of faith: to question what an individual holds dear; to wonder if gods can and will forsake; to ask for divine intervention—and wondering if prayers will be answered, and if not, what then.

It is a story of revenge: a father, believing the worst, knowing a monster has taken the only thing he has to live for; a woman, whose face is her own and not her own, knowing peace will come through mutual destruction; a woman, whose face is her own and not her own, knowing peace will come only through understanding and murder.

It is a story of identity: a soldier knows obedience brings victory, victory is life, yet questions his orders; an engineer must find a cure for that which he despises; a herald must choose in which hand her destiny lies; a man must choose between vengeance and answers.

There are several dynamics and play in Warpath. It was, obviously, a tricky, daunting, heavy task. Every character figuring prominently into the Deep Space Nine mythology is presented carefully and perfectly; they act, speak, and feel as if this were a scripted, televised drama. Even Prynn and Vaughn seem real and familiar, as if their angst and fear is our own. David Mack plays off the characters’ and readers’ emotions expertly; the reader is, whether one likes it or not, emotionally invested in the storyline as much as the characters. The scene where Sisko is in sickbay, relating the story of the three brothers from Jokala to Kira, is one of the most heartfelt and poignant moments I’ve stumbled across in my readings lately, which is saying something; Mack, in a few short paragraphs, manages to show just how fragile existence is.

Ultimately, the novel comes to a crescendo with Vaughn hunting Taran’atar on Harkoum, an encounter that will be, ultimately, even more frustrating than the end of Worlds of Deep Space Nine: Volume Three. Which doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be read. Or reread. Perhaps twice.

In Warpath, David Mack manages to keep the reader enthralled with every word, hanging on for dear life as if we were lying comatose on a bed communing with our respective god or gods. Expertly written, a prose painting with jaw dropping-moments and brisk characterization, Warpath is a standout novel in the ongoing Deep Space Nine fiction, a tremendous achievement underscored only by the fact that the story is, ultimately, to be continued…