Twist of Faith is an omnibus collecting four Star Trek tie-in novels and a novella that continue the story of Deep Space 9 and its crew. In short: I loved this book. I'd wanted to read the beginnings of the DS9 relaunch for ages now and this omnibus edition was the perfect solution (as opposed to buying all the books separately).
The stories were all very well put together, giving attention (and a very good voice) to those regulars that were left behind on the station (or from elsewhere in the ST verse) at the end of the series while skillfully introducing new characters to round out the crew.
The books take place over the course of about a month, three months after the end of the tv series. This was also my only complaint about the books, since so much happens in all of them, it kinda feels like overload to have it take place all in one month. Although this could have been caused by reading all the books in a row without pause.

The first book starts with the station being attacked by Jem'Hadar after three months of relative peace and quiet. The station is still undergoing repairs and not at all equipped to deal with attack. Fortunately, they manage to survive, although not without casualties. Thus begins the search for how and why the Jem'Hadar attacked. Intertwined with this is Jake's story as he tries to deal with his father's disappearance and a mysterious prophecy he is given. The third strand is the murder investigation of a Bajoran Vedek who gave Jake the prophecy. The Jem'Hadar and murder strands are brought to a close by the second book. Jake's story isn't done yet, however, and he sets out to find his dad.

The third book is a Bashir-centered one where he, together with a few friends from DS9, goes off on a mission for section 31 to stop another genetically enhanced human. I found this one the weakest of the books, the solution seemed to be too easy. It felt a bit sudden.

The fourth book is a Gateways book, telling a story about the Iconian gateways that suddenly open throughout the galaxy. Here it just so happens that one of those gateways connects the Delta Quadrant with the orbit of a Beta Quadrant planet. A Malon waste freighter stumbles upon the gateway and decides to dump it's toxic waste into it. The waste threatens the planet on the Beta Quadrant side and a massive evacuation needs to be undertaken to save the people. Against the backdrop of this evacuation a way is being sought to close the gateways while Quark gets in over his head trying to negotiate the buying of the gateways for the Orions.

The fifth story tells the tale of Kira who gets lost in a gateway at the end of the fourth book. It is a lovely story about Bajor's past and offers insights into Kira's mind.

All in all, it was a ride I enjoyed immensely and I can't wait to continue the relauch series with the Mission Gamma books and Rising Son where we will finally learn (among other things) what happened to Jake.


2009 (so far)
01. Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear - A Companion to Wolves
02. P. Nowee - Arendsoog. Vogelvrij {Eagle-Eye Outlaw} [Dutch]
03. Maggie Tallerman - Understanding Syntax (translated into Dutch and edited for Dutch students by Jan-Wouter Zwart) [Dutch] [school]
04. Hanneke Houtkoop & Tom Koole - Taal in Actie. Hoe Mensen Communiceren met Taal {Language in Action. How People Communicate with Language} [Dutch] [school]
05. Erica van Boven & Gillis Dorleijn - Literair Mechaniek. Inleiding tot de Analyse van Verhalen en Gedichten. {Literary Mechanics. Introduction to the Analysis of Stories and Poetry.} [Dutch] [school]

06. Star Trek: DS9 - Relaunch 1-5 - Twist of Faith (S.D. Perry, David Weddle & Jeffrey Lang, Keith R.A. DeCandido)