Star Trek: The Next Generation: Klingon Empire: A Burning House

Keith R.A. DeCandido brings fans of the IKS Gorkon series deep into the lives of Klingons in "A Burning House." Picking up after the events of the third IKS Gorkon novel ("Enemy Territory") left off, "Empire" finds Captain Klag and the crew of his Chancellor-class ship returning home for a bit of shore leave while the ship is being repaired.It gives the reader a very unique look into the lives of an alien race that has almost always been seen as nothing more than barbaric, feudal warriors. From poverty to local celebrations, DeCandido covers it all. Sound boring, right? But as he always does, KRAD makes the story work.He makes the story work by splitting up members of the Gorkon's crew and putting them into what might appear to be mundane situations. Of course, this is Qo'noS, so nothing is truly mundane.Klag spends most of this story in the background until the last quarter of the book. His family problems are addressed once again (fans of the series know what I'm talking about already). The Gorkon's doctor, B'Oraq, faces her contemporaries at a Klingon medical summit where she defends her grafting of Klag's father's arm onto Klag's body. Members of the proud Fifteenth Squad are also placed into tough situations. G'joth visits his old community in the Kenta district, and finds that it isn't necessarily the same as he remembers. In his tale, we get a glimpse at poverty and the Klingon opera. Wol and Goran show us Klingon farm life when they accompany Kagak to his old home on Pheben III. Rodek seeks out a cure (or at least an explanation) for his dreams in which he recalls memories that shouldn't be his.Klag's story is intertwined with Rodek's. In fact, Rodek's story is the meatiest of the bunch, revealing a number of secrets in the Klingon empire that include such recognizable characters as Worf, Dr. Bashir, and Ezri Dax. B'Oraq's tale is essentially a look into political power plays in Klingon culture. It includes a subplot that involves Leskit and Kurak. G'joth's adventure shows the relationship between the haves and the have-nots. Goran, Kagak, and Wol's story is primarily used as a light interlude between the tougher stories of Rodek and Klag.Fans of the IKS Gorkon series will recognize all of these characters. Fans of Star Trek in general, in particular Deep Space Nine, will recognize many of the key characters in this book as well.As always, DeCandido builds his characters with solid descriptions. It is very easy to visualize not only the characters who have made appearances on television, but those who have only appeared in the books as well.Once again, Goran is my favorite despite have a somewhat smaller role in this book than he had in some of the others. Wol and G'joth stand out as well.If you haven't read any of the other IKS Gorkon books, you'll be able to grasp most of what's going on by the end of the first few chapters. With just a few words, DeCandido catches up readers new and old alike on what happened before this book.A Klingon dictionary is provided in the back of the book to give the reader a bit of assistance on the many Klingon words used in the book.Overall, "A Burning House" is a wonderful addition to the Klingon world of KRAD. He has expanded and developed the Klingon culture to an extent not even touched upon by other authors or any of the television shows.Highly recommended.

THE BURNING HOUSE is disappointingly the last of the Klingon Empire/I.K.S Gorkon novels and while it ends on a satisfying note, I can't help but think of the New Frontier novels by Peter David which lasted for a decade. It's perhaps better to quit while you're ahead but the fact there are "only" four books in the series disappoints me greatly. I am almost never lacking for Klingon content and thus will have to turn to other sources in order to get my fix.The premise for this book is Captain Klag has returned to Kronos for some much needed R&R and to explain why he got the Klingon Empire in another war where they got heavily pounded despite the fact the aliens had no contact with other species. The other Klingons go to visit their families and deal with the fact life in the Klingon Defense Force is not all there is to be a child of Kahless.Really, the big appeal of this book is the fact we get to see the Klingon Empire is not completely composed of soldiers and meet members of their race who are involved in manufacturing, opera, and farming. This has both good and bad points because: A. Obviously there are Klingons who are not warriors. B. It makes them a bit too human as Klingon society really starts to look like human society with just a dueling and professional fighting culture.There's also a subplot about medical taboos and the fact the Klingon Surgeon General is hopelessly retrograde. I am both back and forth on this. I love plots about reforming cultures to be better but I never actually thought the Klingons were going to be bad at science or medicine. As one friend of me said, "The trick to playing Klingons is they're not stupid. They just act that way." I generally follow the view their blood knight philosophy ends generally whenever when it would make victory harder.In short, I would think the Klingons would have great medicine rather than the opposite as you'd think they'd want to get their soldiers patched up quickly to send back in the field. Even orcs have great medicine in the Peter Jackson films as while they're cannon fodder, you don't want to waste a good tool and I wonder how many Klingons would want to live as invalids. Oh well, the issue was a source of decent intrigue throughout. Transplants were also very taboo in Japan so it's not an unheard of sentiment.One thing the book does deal with that I appreciated was the handling of the "Kurn" plotline which I felt was resolved in an insane manner on DS9. For those unfamiliar with the episode, Worf's brother is suicidal after his discommendation so they wipe his mind and have him adopted by another house. The character became Rodek and served on the Gorkon without his memories of being a Son of Mogh. The ending to said plot is satisfying as it doesn't go all roses and sunshine.In conclusion, it has been a long and fascinating ride that I'm sorry has ended here.9/10

The IKS Gorkon series comes to an apparent end with this book - which is renamed Klingon Empire, and takes on a broader look at Klingon life and culture rather than just the crew of one ship.While the series has been excellent up to this point, A Burning House raises the bar and goes even further to fleshing out the Klingons in a way never seen before.It is a massive part of Klingon life to be honourable, and die in battle if you're a warrior. For TV, that's fine, but if you delve into it, a society cannot be filled with warriors and expect to survive, let alone expand.This novel shows how the Klingon Empire has in fact held to the beliefs and teachings of Kahless and applied the concepts of honour and glory to various aspects of everyday life - from keeping order on the streets of the homeworld, to living on a subjugated planet - in harmony with its natives, no less - and performing more mundane tasks for the greater good. Even the undesirable "spy caste" of Imperial Intelligence is expanded upon - exploring the Klingons' need for a necessary evil in Klingons who don't behave like stereotypical Klingons.It manages to do this by having the Gorkon in drydock for the majority of the novel and having the various characters enjoy some shore leave; providing many opportunities for personal story arcs to be developed or resolved.As with all of KRAD's novels, this has a witty and fast-paced narrative, written in such a way that you'll start thinking like a Klingon before long! There are many moments of humour, and a lot of the plot points are not predictable.It's just a shame there aren't any more, but here's hoping we'll get to see a continuation of the Gorkon's missions and the Klingon Empire as a whole as it continues to rebuild after the Dominion War.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! My only complaint is that because it was entitled Star Trek: Klingon Empire, I thought that it was perhaps a new series but in fact it follows on from  Diplomatic Implausibility (Star Trek, the Next Generation)  and a trilogy of books called "IKS Gorkon" concerning the exploits of that ship and its crew. On the plus side, I now can't wait to go back and read all of these. You don't need to have read any of the other IKS Gorkon books to read this novel, but if they are half as good as this then I can say they would definitely be worth a read.A Burning House follows on from the last IKS Gorkon book,  Star Trek: The Next Generation: I.K.S. Gorkon: Enemy Territory Bk. 3  and deals with various members of the crew as they take shore leave. There are five strands, the frustrations of trying to be a good Klingon doctor, the perils of being a military advisor for an opera dramatising your own exploits, how to celebrate yopta' yupma' with family and guests, plus coming to terms with having a split personality and the aftermath of the break-up of the Klingon-Romulan colony on Carraya. Throw in a bit of Chancellor Martok, Ambassador Worf and a family dispute for Captain Klag and you have a wonderful mix of Klingon life in all its head-butting glory.Anyone who likes Klingons will love this book (and if you don't then you are a useless petaQ!). It's a bit light on the great warrior exploits in all their gory detail, but it shows that there's more to being a good Klingon that splitting someone's head open and drowning in Blood Wine.One final comment about the IKS Gorkon series. It's outrageous that these seem to be out of print. At the time of writing, Part 1 can only be bought 2nd hand, unless you want to pay £25 and it's not available as a Kindle edition!! Also parts 2 & 3 are available on Kindle but as paperbacks only through re-sellers at over £20 for new copies. Maybe they should have published in the original Klingon. After all, it's the only way to truly appreciate the literature. Diplomatic Implausibility (Star Trek, the Next Generation)Star Trek: The Next Generation: I.K.S. Gorkon: Enemy Territory Bk. 3

An excellent written story and the loose ends regarding Worf's Brother Kurn are brought into the light and now I'll have to read the 3 novels of the I.K.S. Gorkon, I contacted Keith on Facebook and asked if I had to read The Gorkon Novels first before A Burning House and he said no it was written that way so you could jump right in but after reading it it leaves you with that thirst for more Klingon Adventures and The Tales of The I.K.S. Gorkon.

A great book in a great series more please.

Die Story und die näheren Info's über die klingonische Gesellschaft fand ich spannend. Ein Highlight wie immer ist Worf. Einzig bleibt der sporadische Verdacht, dass es hier gelegenlich doch ein bisschen sehr menschelt bzw. sternenflottelt, was Werte und Umgang miteinander betrifft. Andererseits würde eine Gesellschaft mit noch mehr Härte wahrscheinlich auch nicht funktionieren.Also eigentlich 4-5 Sterne für ein tolles Lesevergügen.