Whereas the first book in this new Star Trek series featured the mysterious Breen, this uncovers new information about The Gorn Hegemony. It turns out that the reptilian Gorn with the compound, insect-like eyes (as seen in the original ST episode THE ARENA) are only the warrior caste. When their hatchery planet is destroyed from a natural disaster, this sets up a chain of events that causes a rogue band of warriors to come up with another way to perpetuate their genetics. They come across an ancient, million-year old device that is able to terraform planets, only they planet they have chosen is already populated by an intelligent amphibious race of beings. In come Captain Riker and his crew of the Titan to come to a peaceful solution. It's all complicated because a fleet from the newly formed Typhon Pact, which the Gorn belong, is on their way, so there's a very real time limit in which to do all of this.
The book does seem a bit too long, particularly with the Gorn characters that are introduced. Sure, it's interesting to find out about the different types of Gorn and how they differ from one another, but it's one Star Trek alien that's rather hard to relate to since they are impassive looking reptiles. Much more interesting is the interaction of the Titan crew, which includes former Voyager Tuvok and lesser characters from the Enterprise.
With this series I was hoping something much more concrete happened with the Typhon Pact rather than just concentrating on the alien members of that pact.