Book Review: Babylon 5 - Deadly Relations: Bester Ascendant by J. Gregory Keyes (Psi Corps Trilogy #2)

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Develops the character of Bester and brings him to life

Cons: Poor plot and weak supporting characters

The Bottom Line:

With no real plot

This reads like biography

Only fans will care

More a Character Biography than a Real Novel

Deadly Relations is the middle book in a trilogy focusing on the Psi Corps and Bester from the TV show Babylon 5.

As those familiar with the show know, the Psi Corps was an organization created to control telepaths when they began to show up in the human population. Alfred Bester, played on the show by Star Trek vet Walter Koenig, is a Psi Cop, a stronger telepath trained to enforce the rules. He made a few appearances in the early seasons, but became a more important part of the story as the series progressed.

Deadly Relations opens as Bester is 6 years old, growing up in the Psi Corps center in Switzerland. The book follows his life as he struggles with his ambition and his desire to be loved. Interestingly for fans of the show, the characters of Lyta and Byron have cameos and this book ends with Bester about to leave for his first trip to the space station featured in the TV series.

Fans of the series will enjoy this book. J. Gregory Keyes has done a good job of capturing Bester and making him sympathetic. Bester truly becomes a well-rounded character whose motives we can understand, even if we don't agree with them. This is something I enjoyed about the show itself, and I'm glad to see it continued here.

However, this book suffers from the same problem as the first in the trilogy - no real plot. It follows Bester for 68 years, and as such reads more like a biography. There is no real climax; it just ends. The other characters just serve the purpose of helping us understand Bester and are not super interesting on their own.

Fans of Babylon 5 will enjoy Deadly Relations only if they want more back story on Bester. New comers to the franchise will only be interested after they've viewed the show.