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After giving it a quick look-through, I was impressed -- as I have been with their other products -- on the production values: the paper stock is top-notch, the binding solid, and the full-color artwork is not prone to fingerprints or smudging. The book is laid out with expanded construction rules, adding to the one in the Narrator's Guide and you could use either book to build custom designs. The second, and larger part, are in depth reviews of some of the more common ships seen on the various series.
The new starship rules expand the number of options a starship designer has for the various propulsion, weapons, and more exotic systems he might want to use in a new starship (or to build one of the few canon vessels not covered in this guide.) There are separate 'alien' systems, to give non-Federation ships more flavor; previously, the rules were more generic. I took a few minutes and designed a few ships -- both Starfleet and otherwise. The process was quick and painless, and the designs were pretty close or exactly what I wanted. The only thing I found annoying is that some of the cost for systems -- shuttlebays, etc. -- had to be referenced in the Narrator's Guide. My guess is this was due to the word count restrictions for this particular book.
Included in the starship construction rules were a few new maneuvers for combat, as well as new rules for starship renown (and how that renown aids/hurts the characters in play.) These could be handy during play; the idea that dropping the name of a particularly famous ship -- like Enterprise -- might just give the character a bit more clout (or get him beat like a narc at a biker rally, if in the wrong crowd) reflects the 'ship as character' feel of the shows and movies. Another addition is the ability of the players to throw experience to the ship, increasing or customizing the systems as they adventure. This will especially capture the Voyager flavor; the crew is able to modify and improve on their ship until it takes on its own character, of sorts.
As for the ship designs: they were all solid, and lacked the uber-vessel quality that some of the write-ups in the Starfleet Operations Manual had. The histories and ideosyncracies of the ships are a good read and should aid the GM in providing their vessels with flavor. The layouts are one on four pages and feature art that most of the players I've talked to have liked, but I found a bit bland. Some of the ships don't even look like the vessels they're supposed to. Without the art, and using screencaps, Decipher could have compressed the number of pages on the write-ups and included a few more designs. It would also have kept the look of the books consistent: up until now, the line has made extensive, and effective, use of images from the shows and movies -- making the products look slick, professional, and engaging.
The number of vessels covered is a delight: the major vessels, from the NX-01 to the Sovereign class are covered, as are a majority of the designs seen on screen. The Klingons, Romulans, and Borg all get their due, as do the Cardassians and Jem Hadar. Lesser races like the Kazon, Orions, and Species 8472 get space, as well. The GM will find a ship or two for just about any canon foe they need, in any era they need.
Overall, the Starships book maintains the high quality of product seen in both the Star Trek and Lord of the Rings RPG lines. There is plenty of material for the GM and players to use, and the new rules do not plug any holes in the rules, but do add new depth to them. The book is a bit expensive, a common complaint on the Trek RPG boards, but the cost to the company was probably pretty steep, with the full-color layouts and the amount of color on each page. I thought it worth the price, myself, and strongly recommend it.
An item of note: Decipher forgot to credit one of the people who worked on this fine project: Don Mappin, the founder of TrekRPG.net. I just thought I'd give him his due here...
