I haven't read the other books in the Invasion series; this one stands pretty well on its own. It grabs you from the very beginning with the mystery of the 5,000 year old Defiant and connects the plots between the station and the Defiant very nicely. It really reads quite like a DS9 episode. On the downside, I didn't really like the author's characterization of Odo much. He can be biting and sarcastic a lot of the time, but this book takes place at the end of season three, when he's got a healthy respect for his comrades on DS9. Otherwise, the characterizations are very good, and I particularly liked the Vulcan scientist T'Kreng. Overall, this is a great read, and you don't need to read the other Invasion books to understand the story.