Star Trek: Rihannsu is a series of interlinked novels, written by Diane Duane and Peter Morwood, published by Pocket Books from 1984 to 2006.

She told Jeff Ayers in Voyages of Imagination (2006) that she wished "somebody would drop in a women" who would give Kirk "a run for his money.

[3]: 68–70  Inspired by Edith Hamilton's The Greek Way (1930) and The Roman Way (1932), Duane structured the novel as a cultural history using a Starfleet agent in deep cover within the Romulan Empire as a proxy for the reader.

[4][3]: 118 Duane had outlined Swordhunt/Honor Blade and The Empty Chair after completing The Romulan Way, and after some delay she was able to recover the "lost impetus" to write the conclusion to the series.

[5] C. J. Anders, of io9, said Duane's novels gave the "pointy-eared warriors" a complex backstory, and a believable world "more so than what was explored in the television series or the film Star Trek: Nemesis.

[6] Dan Gunther, host of Literary Treks from Trek.fm, lauded Duane as a master world builder, and for "creating such an interesting and vibrant culture, as well as telling a hell of a good story while doing so.