Babylon 5: To Dream In The City Of Sorrows by Kathryn M. Drennan
What would you think about a book with a poorly painted cover and a blurb mentioning it's relationship to a television show would be this good? And it's written by Mrs JMS, who is a MUCH better writer than Mrs Stephen King.

The worst possible thing that could befall a novel based on a work from another medium is that it could either be too much like the television show or way too far away. I think the obvious examples of both ends of the spectrum are those Kevin J. Anderson crap-fests. Someone really 'ought to break that man's fingers so he can't write any more of those mind-numbing, spirit-crushing "Jedi Academy" books. If you don't know of them, consider yourself extraordinarily lucky. Lets just say they concern Luke Skywalker training a new generation of Jedi (a disproportionate amount of whom turn to the dark side for no more reason than simple plot convenience).

The danger's a thousand times more inherrent when you try to write a novel based inside the extremely tight continuity of Babylon 5, where even the comics are considered official canon. A lot of the B5 books before this took place on the station, and were glorified, sub-standard episodes (their quality hovered somewhere along the lines of the "All Alone In The Night" episode). But this one is vastly different.

Although the other books were considered canon, this is 100% so. It's based on a JMS outline and written by his wife, Kathrynn M. Drennan, who, judging from this book, is a very gifted story teller in her own right.

This book answers a few of the eternal questions of the Babylon 5 universe: How the hell did Jeffery Sinclair of "The Gathering" transform into Jeffery Sinclair/Valen of "War Without End Parts One and Two"? Whatever happened to Catherine Sakai? What exactly did Valen accomplish on Minbar a thousand years ago, anyway? What exactly happened to Marcus's brother, and what of this woman he claimed to have "fancied"? How much do the Vorlons know? Why is Ulkesh Naranek so damned evil, and how many of the characters recognize this evil? And why don't we ever hear anything about the damned Worker Caste ?

Believe it or not, this book fully explains all of this, or, more appropriately B5-ish, explains all that will be revealed. We see Earth Force Commander Jeffery Sinclair turn into Entil Zha Jeffery Sinclair. We witness the transformation of Marcus Cole from bitter and serious businessman to the greatest of all the Anla Shok. And more Sector 14!!

I don't know how she did it, but Ms Drennan was able to make this book stand equally with the best two dozen episodes of Babylon 5. I can see even non-B5 fans enjoying this book, since a lot of the concepts of the Grey Council, the Shadows, and the Rangers are explained in depth, even moreso than on the show.

And is it just me, or were the Vorlons downright TALKATIVE in certain sections of the book?

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Michael Keegan
5.9.1999