Survivors (Star Trek The Next Generation, No 4)
Jean Lorrah

An interesting story, but there is such a big back story that it doesn't feel like anything is really happening until halfway through the book. I skip the first chapter altogether describing Tasha's awful childhood experiences, mainly because there is a death of a feline involved. (I'm particularly sensitive about cats.) Yet another book attributing too many emotions to Data, but again useful to the story. There are very few passages that even mention the rest of the crew; this entire book involves Tasha Yar and Data.

A few quotes worth remembering:

She had no scars, no squint, no frown lines to detract from her acceptability, nor did she appear to be of that age after which, for reasons Data could not fathom, human men determined that women be accorded intellectual respect rather than physical admiration.

"Survivors are considered fortunate, Data - and the irony is that those who envy us our longevity either do not live long enough to know the cruel fate in store for us... or else they live to share it." - Warlord Rikan

From the back cover:

Treva is an isolated human colony on the fringes of known space on the verge of becoming a true interstellar community, a full fledged member of the Federation. But now the U.S.S. Enterprise has received a distress signal for Treva is in the throes of a violent revolution, a revolution led by a merciless warlord who has committed countless atrocities in the name of freedom.

Data and Lt. Tasha Yar are dispatched to investigate. Once they reach Treva, they discover the truth, and any possible solution may be far more complex than a simple rebellion. Treva's president wants more then Starfleet's good words in her fight against the rebels, she wants their weapons technology.