Spoilers TTN: Fallen Gods by Michael A. Martin Review Thread

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Sho, Jul 21, 2012.

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Rate Fallen Gods.

  1. Outstanding

    3 vote(s)
    3.1%
  2. Above Average

    15 vote(s)
    15.6%
  3. Average

    40 vote(s)
    41.7%
  4. Below Average

    26 vote(s)
    27.1%
  5. Poor

    12 vote(s)
    12.5%
  1. MatthiasRussell

    MatthiasRussell Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I agree that these names are realistic. However, as a reader who is trying to develop a mental picture of what is going on, that flowing image is broken up when I come upon a name which takes a few seconds to figure out how to say. And I have to figure out that name so I know who is being talked about in conversation and so I can remember that person when he/she comes up again in a later chapter.
     
  2. Thrawn

    Thrawn Rear Admiral Premium Member

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    Just finished. This... just wasn't good. At all.

    Martin just isn't very good at this. Comparing his ridiculous evil-shady-Tholian + evil-shady-Andorians and ridiculous technobabble to DRG3's surprisingly affecting story of racism in Raise The Dawn...it just isn't even close. The whole Andorian story in this book makes no sense. Let's say that this guy did have an experimental transporter tech he wanted to test. Can anyone think of a single reason why he would go chasing the Titan all the way the hell out here in order to test it on abducted Federation officers? For that matter, how did the Andorians get all the way the hell out here anyway? Titan is supposed to be incredibly far away from the Federation. The whole thing was just dumb. And telegraphed from the moment of the first transport, too, thus creating half a book's worth of "tension" that didn't pay off at all. Grr.

    AND as JWolf pointed out, we have the same "religion screws up a society" plot Star Trek has done a million times, with no subtlety at all.

    AND Martin once again fails to in any real way characterize anyone; all he can come up with is pathetic little echoes of character arcs that have already happened. Keru still hates the Borg. Everyone's a little sensitive about Vale being "poached" from the Ent-E. Ra-Havreii is still upset about his disaster with the Luna. Melora is still struggling with telepresence as opposed to real presence. Etc, etc. No one has changed, no one has grown, and the only new character (White/Blue) gets killed off in the end.

    Sigh.
    Cartoon-like villains, terrible writing (incredibly, both overly wordy and full of anachronistic slang at the same time), no character development, stereotypical plotting, predictable ending.

    This is the kind of crap people think of when they put down tie-in novels as being lesser than original fiction. Mack, George, Beyer, Bennett, McCormack, and so many others over the past few years have shown that TrekLit can be the equal of any other sci-fi running; this kind of nonsense gives everyone a bad name.
     
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  3. DEWLine

    DEWLine Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Reassigned back to the Gum Nebula project due to resources freed up elsewhere, perhaps?
     
  4. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    I wondered about that myself, but then, I wondered why Titan left the Gum Nebula so soon in the first place (actually in Sword of Damocles). I mean, the space within the Gum Nebula is about equal in size to the Federation and all its neighbors combined, enough to spend centuries exploring.

    Also, there's a jump of a whole year between Synthesis and Seize the Fire, so a lot could've happened in the interim.
     
  5. Ben Sisko

    Ben Sisko Lieutenant Junior Grade

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    Well it appears we know who the real talent was behind the martin\mangles duo back in the early 2000's. His books must sell, because they keep giving him contracts. SOmeone said above about planets in trouble because of religion. This has been a martin trope from the begining. He's the single most polictially influenced writer since Diane Carey. With books dedicated to Cindy Sheehan and now the Occupy Movement and the Al-quaeda supported rebels who murdered Ghadaffi in cold blood in the streets, this has been my last Martin purchase. With only one trek book per month I wish they'd fill up the space for more of mack and george and bring back KRAD for GOD SAKES.
     
  6. CommodoreNero

    CommodoreNero Captain Captain

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    As someone who is trying to finish his first novel, I will absolutely give credit where credit is due and congratulate the author on finishing his work. That being said, however, I will say this one was not my particular taste. It fell a little flat for me. The Andorians felt like cartoons, the plot was very by the numbers and I didn't care about the aliens. I wanted to know more about their progenitors, because they seemed actually interesting. All in all, not my favorite.
     
  7. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I hate to say it since I love Titan, but based on the reactions it looks like I might be skipping this. I already own but haven't read the first Romulan War book and Seize the Fire, so I'll probably wait to make my final after I've read those, but it's not looking likely.
     
  8. Ronald Held

    Ronald Held Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Just started. The alien names take too long to process and determine their agenda. I wonder if Riker is happy for very long, since he got command of the Titan. Not certain about the subplot to marginalize the Andorians left in Starfleet.
     
  9. Mage

    Mage Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I'm a bit concerned about the reactions about this being bad. I'm about 50 pages in, and sofar it's grabbing my attention more then Seize The Fire. Then again, still have 300 pages to go, and knowing Martin's work, this can still go down hill.
     
  10. Thrawn

    Thrawn Rear Admiral Premium Member

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    StF gives you some neat stuff about the Gorn but the story is pretty weak (though I actually liked the kind of ridiculous, old-school sprawl of the whole thing). This is much shorter and contains nothing interesting.

    The good news is that you pretty much can skip both of them. Martin doesn't really do characterization, so you won't have missed any actual story arcs or character development. Whoever writes the next one, and I'm seriously hoping it isn't Martin again, you'll be able to jump right in no problem.

    I'd say skip this one for sure, and StF isn't a priority either.
     
  11. Julio Angel Ortiz

    Julio Angel Ortiz Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Thus far, I'm thinking this is an improvement over Seize the Fire but both of these Martin novels just don't have that "wow" factor that previous entries in the series have had. I really hope they bring in a different author for the next installment.
     
  12. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    Yep. The Historian's Note in "Fallen Gods" suggests it falls "about two months" after the conclusion of "Seize the Fire" or "approximately two weeks after the finish" of "Paths of Disharmony", roughly November 1, 2382.
     
  13. JWolf

    JWolf Commodore Commodore

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    I'm not really liking Pava all that much. I also find Ra-Havreii still going on about the Luna disaster a bit much. I thought we got past that by now. Melora and the telepresence is just silly. There's probably going to be more as I read on. I just hope that future Titan novels don't refer back to this one if it doesn't actually get better.

    Why are we stepping backwards in character development instead of forwards?

    I'm on page 137 of 281 and my vote is currently teetering between average and below average.

    One thing I find a bit odd is the use of ... in places it seems inappropriate.

    OK, we started off with an alien race with names that take you out of the story to try to figure out how to pronounce them. Then we get a decision from Starfleet regarding Andorian crew that harks back to WWII that does seem out of character for Starfleet. The alien presence taking over Tuvok doesn't work becuause how can you get machine code to be compatible with a Vulcan? That's just ridiculous. So why not wire up yet another machine to Tuvok's brain? After all, one machine can do it, why not another be in his head. And the machine code just left the machine it was running in and landed in White-Blue and bounced from there to Tuvok. I do not see how a computer program can run in someone's brain. There are other nits that can be picked, but these are so far the big ones.
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2012
  14. DaveR

    DaveR Commander Red Shirt

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    You're not alone. I really had to fight myself not to put it down during that horrible prologue.

    It got better after that, but still not impressive at all.
     
  15. Senjus

    Senjus Ensign Red Shirt

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    I agree with the posts here about weak characterizations.

    So there is the scene with Akaar and de la Fuego that seems like its setting up something "deep and mysterious" and then nothing. There was the mention of a mind control device that goes nowhere. Maybe it's all set up for later books but is seems kid of sloppy to me
     
  16. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    It's very obviously setup for later books.

    Meanwhile, even though I don't think Martin is very good at characterization, I'm glad he had the decency not to have Andor join the Typhon Pact.
     
  17. Thrawn

    Thrawn Rear Admiral Premium Member

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    This really bugged me too. We DID all that stuff already.

    Honestly I think this is probably the worst 24th century novel published since some of the early A Time To novels.
     
  18. Sho

    Sho Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    ^ Which are my next reading project after Vanguard ... yay.

    As for Fallen Gods, it's situating itself at the bottom of the ranking table it seems ...
     
  19. Thrawn

    Thrawn Rear Admiral Premium Member

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    Since I suspect you already own them, this is likely fairly pointless, but for the record, if you're trying to catch up quickly, the first 6 A Time To... books are highly skippable. The books aren't awesome, very few important things occur, and those few things are carefully summarized in later books anyway. You just wanna make sure you read Mack's pair and KRAD's finale.

    But I suspect you're a completist like me and that won't stop you :)
     
  20. Sho

    Sho Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Yeah, readers like us just have no choice I think :). But thanks for the warning.