I dug this out of my mother's attic especially for release Down Under :)
Howard Weinstein writes well but has a tendency to be over-enthusiastic about hammering home his points. Power Hungry is no exception, even though I agree heartily with his principles! Still, it's very much worth the read as he has a good eye for the characters.

Amazon Synopsis:
Sent to deliver emergency famine relief to the planet Thipoa - the Federation's only allies in a critically important sector of space - the crew finds a brutal dictatorship, one more concerned with preserving its own powers than protecting its citizens, or the world they all share.

Thanks for the stowaway microsquid! I haven't read this one before - it looks good (well, they all are ... heehee).

This is a typical Trek plot - a little bit clichéd. Nevertheless, the lack of a unique premise is made up for with the quality of the writing.

I agree that the author is a tad over-enthusiastic about hammering home his points, but isn't that what Trek is all about?!