In his announcement, Bennett brought up the following questions, which he seeks to answer in the book:
How did an alliance forged in wartime become the peaceful union we know? How did its founding members balance their differing views of what the Federation should become? What did they each contribute to the UFP government and Starfleet? How did that Starfleet end up being so similar to the United Earth Starfleet, and what familiar elements owe more to the Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites than we might have realized? What challenges did this fledgling union face in dealing with neighboring powers unsure of its intentions or threatened by its unity? What new enemies arose in the wake of the Romulans?
The news seems to have been met positively, and I for one am very happy to see the story of ENT continue. After the Romulan War duology had ended I was afraid that it meant the end of ENT novels for some time. Fortunately it seems that Pocket Books have decided to keep going.
I'm really interested to see where Bennett goes with this. I've always been interested in the early days of the Federation, how these four disparate peoples managed to put aside their differences and forge an alliance for the betterment of all, and how their union affected the rest of the species living nearby. Hopefully this will be good. Bennett's books are usually pretty solid, and he's really good at finding little bits of continuity and working them into the story organically, so I think it will be.
Chris Bennett, all right!
