REVIEWED: Get assimilated with ‘The Borg and the Delta Quadrant’

The Borg and Delta Quadrant: Akritirian To Krenim
The Borg and Delta Quadrant: Akritirian To Krenim

For those of us who breathe, eat, and sleep Star Trek, this new book from Eaglemoss’ Hero Collectables is a must. Like their other work, this new book — The Borg and the Delta Quadrant fills in the blanks for readers who want to know more about the spaceships they’ve seen on The Next Generation, Voyager, and some of the Trek films.

I can say that I am one of those types of people. If there’s a ship on screen, I’d like to find out more about it. In some fandoms, that’s practically impossible, and the non-canon stuff just isn’t the same. Luckily, Hero Collectables is here for us Trek fans. And The Borg and The Delta Quadrant delivers, just like their DS9 Illustrated Handbook did.

Learn more about the Benthan Coaxial Drive Prototype ship and others with cool schematics.
Learn more about the Benthan Coaxial Drive Prototype ship and others with cool schematics.

Masterfully illustrated, with a ton of new 3D models and renders by Rob Bonchune, Fabio Passaro, Ed Giddings, and Adam “Mojo” Lebowitz. The volume was written by Marcus Riley, Ian Chaddock, and Mark Wright, with Ben Robinson as the chief editor.

This latest edition of the Star Trek: Shipyards series covers ships used by the Borg for the first few pages, then dives deep into U.S.S. Voyager territory. Over 30 ships from the Delta Quadrant, from the Akritirian patrol to the Krenim warship are broken down by size, ability, crew compliment, weapons systems, and more. If only Captain Janeway had this book as a guide during the seven year journey back to Earth.

Not only is the physical description available, but also a lot of background. The writers made a point to give context and backstory to the various ships. The Borg section begins with a brief recap of how the Borg were first encountered and how Starfleet reacted. This section is complete with screen grabs from those TNG episodes like “Best of Both Worlds” and “I, Borg.”

And after reading this section, just like Captain Picard in Star Trek: First Contact, you too will be able to identify the best spot to concentrate fire.

Need a better look at the ship Q created? Here it is!
Need a better look at the ship Q created? Here it is!

From there, fans can get a better look at the ships that pestered and terrified the crew of the Voyager. Remember the episode “Alice?” Now you can sit down and look at how the ship was put together, and ponder how Mr. Paris felt so closely connected to this strange ship.

A personal favorite of mine was the pages that covered the Delta Flyer and its opponent in the Trans-Stellar Rally (as seen in the episode “Drive”). You’ve got to give it to the creative minds on Voyager. They had a task to come up with varied ship designs, all about the same size for this race. Finally, they are slow enough to examine!

As said before, this is a must-have for fans of Star Trek and Voyager. The Borg and the Delta Quadrant book is available now from booksellers like Amazon and Barnes and Noble. This fall, the follow-up title, The Delta Quadrant: Ledosian to Zahl, will be available on bookshelves.