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The Never-Ending Sacrifice is a Pocket DS9 novel by Una McCormack. Part of the Deep Space Nine relaunch, and released on 25 August 2009, the novel focuses on the Cardassian people.

Summary

From the back cover
A boy looks up. He sees a Cardassian's hand on his shoulder and knows that this is usually a prelude to a beating or, if he is fortunate enough, arrest. The boy knows how many disappeared during the Occupation of Bajor. So he does the one thing he can think of: he bites the Cardassian. Then the nightmare begins.
He is ripped from the family that took him in as an orphan, clothed him, fed him, always loved him unconditionally. And no matter how earnest, how caring the commander of Deep Space 9 is, the boy knows this is all a horrible mistake. How can someone from Starfleet judge him by what he looks like, not by what he is? He prays to the Prophets; he is Bajoran. They all keep telling him that the test proves the large Cardassian man is his father, that the other Cardassian – that oily gul – took him away from his father. But the boy keeps telling them that he is Bajoran, he only wants to go home with his father. So they send Rugal home - to Cardassia.
On the homeworld of the Cardassian Union where sacrifice and devotion to the state are surpassed only by the government's need to keep its people in check, one very lonely boy discovers that if he doesn't resist, his life – like those of so many others – will be added to the tally of the never-ending sacrifice.
Solicitation blurb
Rugal is an orphaned Cardassian who has been raised by the people his race once conquered, the Bajorans. Reluctantly repatriated to Cardassia as a teenager, Rugal becomes the living witness to the downfall of the proud people to whom he was born, first by the invading Klingons, then during the Cardassians' unholy pact with the Dominion – a partnership that culminated in a near-genocide. Through it all, Rugal's singular perspective illuminates the choices that brought the Cardassians to their ruin... even as he learns that the Cardassian soul is not as easy to understand as he imagined.

Excerpts of copyrighted sources are included for review purposes only, without any intention of infringement.

Characters

Rugal Pa'Dar
Kotan Pa'Dar
Skrain Dukat
Tora Ziyal
Tekeny Ghemor
Proka Migdal
Elim Garak
Miles O'Brien
Keiko O'Brien
Benjamin Sisko
Jake Sisko

(Referenced only)

Corat Damar
Natima Lang
Iliana Ghemor
Enabran Tain
Darhe'el

Background information

Reception

  • Robert Lyons of TrekMovie.com described The Never-Ending Sacrifice as "unlike any Star Trek book I have ever read before". [1]
  • Jens Deffner of Unreality SF gave The Never-Ending Sacrifice a review score of 90%. He commented "The Never-Ending Sacrifice is not only a very strong Star Trek novel, but simply an outstanding coming-of-age novel, since even if you stripped it of everything Star Trek-related, it would work just as well". [2]
  • In March 2010, The Never-Ending Sacrifice won the Unreality SF story of the year poll 2009/2010 with 19% of the votes. [3]

Cover gallery

External link

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