Instruct: Classify Amazon reviews into positive or negative sentiment
Query: Painful to read

Although I understand that this book was written when TNG was first on TV, I still believe that the author should have either waited for characterizations to develop on the series or possibly done better research before publishing this book. Especially for someone of Carey's caliber, I am constantly annoyed by the characterizations in this story. It is almost as if someone got only the physical descriptions of the characters and maybe a few catch phrases and then decided to write something they deemed worthy of Star Trek canon. Instead of her deciding how the characters felt (and in such depth), maybe she could have treated them more superficially until official canon had developed them. Otherwise, the storyline itself is very interesting, and in fact, the only reason I am struggling to finish the story, even though it means skipping PAGES of characterizations with which I feel she should have never taken such license.