Sword of Damocles -- comments & opinions ****SPOILERS*****

AWESOME!

 

Just in case you haven't seen the cover yet Redjack, here it is:
http://startrek.wikia.com/wiki/Over_a_Torrent_Sea

 

I just read this book for the first time, and I'm really impressed. It's not perfect, many others have noted the confusing nature of the setup, and I personally was somewhat annoyed at the tendency for a character to suddenly realize how something worked or get a brilliant plan, only to have them run off without telling us what it was, or have them get knocked out, or have a chapter break right there, etc. Seemed like the characters knew a lot more than I, the reader, did, until the very end when it was finally explained. That kind of narrative device really bothers me, though I realize that many authors utilize it as a perfectly legitimate source of tension and drive. Mostly just a pet peeve of mine.

But aside from wanting to have some of those revelations explained a little sooner, I managed to figure out everything, and I thought it was quite a clever new take on time travel, paradoxes, etc, and kept up very well the sense of scientific wonder that Orion's Hounds started. Seems like Titan is shaping up to be the most rigorous sci-fi of the spinoff novels, and I couldn't be happier.

I also thought the darker, more conflict-heavy takes on the characters were fantastic, especially Ra-Havreii who started really annoying, only to have the reveal of the song make him more interesting. Can't wait to see where Mack takes him, Lavena, Dakal, and the rest.

I actually really hope Thorne gets to write one of the DS9-relaunch novels; I think his darker / mystical kind of tone would work brilliantly in that series. Or another Titan novel, I'd be cool with that too... Really, it's not often that I read a new Trek author and immediately start to hope they get another crack at it, the last time that happened was when I read Ex Machina, but this and Fearful Symmetry have both made me really want the next book by each author. It's cool that Woods is coming back next year, so now I'm just hoping for Thorne...

 

^^Err, Leanna Morrow isn't coming back next year. Olivia Woods, who took over from Leanna Morrow as the author of Fearful Symmetry, is coming back next year.

 

Er, why yes, you're correct. What a bizarre mistake for me to make. It's edited; thanks.

 

WOW.

Wow.

WOW.

Thanks for that.

Honestly, I'd be intimidated to try anything in the DS9-r series because it's so freaking stellar and I'd be even more terrified I'd screw something up than I was to follow M&M and CB with TITAN. Maybe something set on Bajor before the Cardassians showed up. That could be cool. I dunno. I never even considered it before this moment. DS9 is the most intricately plotted of the Trek series and the "relaunch" is even moreso. Niners are to normal Trekkers what Sehlats are to Tribbles so I'd be pretty nervous about pissing them off too.

I would LOVE another crack that the TITAN crew if for no other reason than I want to write them in a more linear story. I love those guys. I'm praying most of them survive DESTINY.

I'm hoping to get a crack at the MACOs at some point in some venue.

 

You're welcome

I'm praying most of them survive Destiny, too. After this book especially; you set up so many ongoing conflicts and dynamics that it's killing me I don't have the next book yet. If nothing else, SoD made the crew a much more complicated, layered bunch.

 

Re: Sword of Damocles -- comments & opinions ****SPOILERS***

Yeah and Dr Tourangeau is in a chair ala Pike, Thanks.
Atleast that is what the author emailed me.

 

Re: Sword of Damocles -- comments & opinions ****SPOILERS***

^ It's one way of making sure your top starship designer doesn't escape.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

Re: Sword of Damocles -- comments & opinions ****SPOILERS***

Well. yes. he's physically incapacitated but...

well that would be telling.

 

Re: Sword of Damocles -- comments & opinions ****SPOILERS***

That strikes me as unlikely. I'm sure that by 2380, Federation medical technology has advanced to the point where that would no longer be necessary. (Heck, in real life that will be the case by 2080, if not decades sooner.)

 

Re: Sword of Damocles -- comments & opinions ****SPOILERS***

That was just the running joke between me and redjack. I'm sure Dr.T is a little more mobile than Pike.

 

All this talk of TITAN inspired me to update the annotation page.

Annotations

SPOILERS ABOUND. Don't go there if you don't want things spoiled.

 

Re: Sword of Damocles -- comments & opinions ****SPOILERS***

Honestly? I wanted Sean in there. He did an awesome job and I wanted his contribution to be a REAL part of the story. Now he's a peer of Ra-Havreii's, part of his guilty past and still alive somewhere doing.....?

I have my own ideas and, if the other guys don't pick up on that character, there's no reason he couldn't pop up later in some fashion.

 

Sorry for necro-posting this topic, but I just finished Sword of Damocles and I wanted to say a few words about it.

I had trouble to enter in the story. The epilogue at the beginning was not clear for me. The beginning of the book is quite slow. Ok, we follow the different species of the Titan and we learn more about the different characters but I wasn't hooked.
But only until the shuttle was sent away. Then everything changed and I was really captivated. The characters are in danger, there is suspens, the tension grows progressively, there are twist and the author succeeded to surprise me, particularly when appears the notion of time. Each chapter finishes with a cliffhanger or a revelation and I couldn't stop to read it.

I like stories about time travels when I have to scratch my head and it was the case for this book. Sometimes it was a little confused for me, maybe because of my English level, but with the author annotations and the topics on this board, it was clearer. And it has not diminished my reading pleasure.

The final chapter with the anonymous characters was not clear for me, but again with the topics on this board I finally understood who was who. I'm a big fan of Riker, so I regret seeing him so little in this novel but I might be more lucky in the next books.

In conclusion I really appreciate reading this fourth book of the Titan series.
I hope I made myself clear as English is not my native language it's not easy for me to write a review.

 

^What's wrong with using a pre-existing thread anyway? I never understood that.

 

Indeed - starting a new thread only serves to forget all the existing discussion that has already taken place in this one. I would have thought you'd want to avoid cluttering the boards up with more than one thread on the same subject.

.

 

Actually I hesitated between opening a new topic or using an old one. I said "an old one" because there are already a few topics about Sword of Damocles and I chose the bigger one, in order to try to group the reviews. I thought it was better for me to use the old one, because my 2 cents opinion on Sword of Damocles alone in a topic is maybe not very intersting. I don't want to open a debate, particularly here, as it's not the good topic. What is sure is that I have the same concern for other books. I finished Last Full Measure and The Good That Men Do and I don't know if I have to open a new topic each time I want to give my opinion about a book. And because currently I'm mostly reading books published around 2007-2008 I will have the same concern each time. What do you prefer, moderators? To open a topic to discuss this subject or it isn't open to debate and in this case just tell me what you prefer, new topic or old topic and I will do as you say. I'm new on this board, so I absolutely don't want to create problem.

 

Exactly what I was thinking. Why should interesting and informative conversations from the past be buried away and forgotten? It's good to unearth old discussions from time to time.