Had to give up. If a novel starts with an abrupt major character death for which to understand I would have to read novels from a WHOLE DIFFERENT SERIES OF BOOKS that's something I just can't accept. It's bad enough that Star Trek obviously abandoned the concept of standalone novels (that I loved and cherished, personally). But this here becomes so much like the Marvel Cinematic Universe that my wish to read this books just died. I love the show. (Except for ENT I loved all the shows.) But how the novel 'extended universe' evolves is just not what I want to read. And not what I wish for Star Trek to be as it seems all the books from now on are dark and about war and conspirecies instead of the fun, banter and exploration that once was Star Trek. But even that could have been acceptable - if at least there wouldn't be any crossovers in the series. If they wanted to make a common series with common history, why not actually create it as a chronological freaking series of different ships under the same series name and numerology?!