TP: Seize the Fire by Michael A. Martin Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Thrawn, Nov 21, 2010.

?

Rate Seize The Fire.

  1. Outstanding

    6 vote(s)
    5.2%
  2. Above Average

    25 vote(s)
    21.6%
  3. Average

    33 vote(s)
    28.4%
  4. Below Average

    33 vote(s)
    28.4%
  5. Poor

    19 vote(s)
    16.4%
  1. Almost Unique

    Almost Unique Lieutenant Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2010
    Location:
    Marquette, MI
    Re: Typhon Pact: Seize The Fire review thread

    Just picked up my copy from my local book shop. Yay! I'm not holding it for ransom though. Just gonna love it. And I'm glad I found out I can check my local bookstore a whole week "early."
     
  2. nickyboy

    nickyboy Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Jan 23, 2005
    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
    Re: Typhon Pact: Seize The Fire review thread

    My copy is on the way!
     
    Last edited: Nov 25, 2010
  3. Count Zero

    Count Zero No nation but procrastination Moderator

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2005
    Location:
    European Union
    Re: Typhon Pact: Seize The Fire review thread

    Mine, too. Hooray! :)
     
  4. Steve Roby

    Steve Roby Rear Admiral Premium Member

    Joined:
    Feb 25, 2002
    Location:
    Ottawa, ON Canada
    Re: Typhon Pact: Seize The Fire review thread

    Got mine from Amazon.ca a couple of days ago, but I have to finish reading Simon Forward's unpublished Doctor Who novel Equilibrium (Third Doctor and Liz Shaw) before I get to it.
     
  5. Man of Steel

    Man of Steel Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Jun 25, 2006
    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
    Re: Typhon Pact: Seize The Fire review thread

    Got mine on Fri. Wow this thing is huge. Shorter chapters then ZSG but 500 pages.
     
  6. Julio Angel Ortiz

    Julio Angel Ortiz Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2004
    Location:
    Pennsylvania, USA
    Re: Typhon Pact: Seize The Fire review thread

    (EDITED: Never mind, I found it. Thanks to your post on the Doctor Who forum. ;) )

    And regarding Seize the Fire, still haven't gotten my physical copy! Guess I'll just grab the eBook version and move forward with just those versions on my Nook.
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2010
  7. BXsainttj

    BXsainttj Ensign Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Nov 3, 2010
    Location:
    BRONX, NY
    Re: Typhon Pact: Seize The Fire review thread

    Just picked up the book from Barnes and Noble over at CitiGroup here in NYC. So far so good i have to say. Been waiting for an inside look into the Gorn Hegemony. Funny how it supposed to be released on the 30th but some stores have a limited number in stock.
     
  8. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2004
    Location:
    Arizona, USA
    Re: Typhon Pact: Seize The Fire review thread

    The date given is not a set street date, it's just an approximation. I've seen books popping up as early as the first week or two of the month, even when the date is one of the last couple days of that month.
     
  9. Brefugee

    Brefugee No longer living the Irish dream. Premium Member

    Joined:
    Oct 12, 2007
    Re: Typhon Pact: Seize The Fire review thread

    Really? ZSG has 45 chapters and is 336 pages long. StF has 31 chapters, plus a prologue and an epilogue and stands at 488 pages long. Now by my reckoning, that means ZSG has the shorter chapters.

    Anyway, it came in the post yesterday, I started it last night and on page 65 and to be honest, so far, it's not great, but then again, I've only ever liked Cathedral and the first two Titan novels by Michael A. Martin (and Andy Mangels)
     
  10. Man of Steel

    Man of Steel Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Jun 25, 2006
    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
    Re: Typhon Pact: Seize The Fire review thread


    You don't have to get so technical dude. :)
     
  11. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2004
    Location:
    Arizona, USA
    Re: Typhon Pact: Seize The Fire review thread

    I pre-ordered this for my Nook today, but I won't actually be able to download it until Tuesday.
     
  12. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    Re: Typhon Pact: Seize The Fire review thread

    So... you're getting it from the same place the Enterprise-B got its equpiment?
     
  13. Enterprise1981

    Enterprise1981 Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2008
    Location:
    Tethered to a large plant
    Re: Typhon Pact: Seize The Fire review thread

    The rumor going around is that the USS Musashi has an extra copy. ;)
     
  14. Almost Unique

    Almost Unique Lieutenant Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2010
    Location:
    Marquette, MI
    Re: Typhon Pact: Seize The Fire review thread

    Well, I finished it last night, and I've got mixed feelings about it. For the first hundred pages, it seemed rather slow going. I was struggling with Mr. Martin's writing style. This is the first book by Michael Martin that I've read that wasn't graced by the contribution of Mr. Mangels, and it seems to suffer from Mangels' absence. It seemed a bit clunky, a bit flat, and too dragged out. That said, the overall story was interesting, and I kept reading because I did care and want to know what was going to happen. And the last few pages makes me wish the next Titan book was coming out sooner. I voted Average on the poll. He may have overused the word cloaca.
     
  15. Aranamac

    Aranamac Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Dec 23, 2000
    Location:
    Pacific Northwest
    Re: Typhon Pact: Seize The Fire review thread

    This feels like a book with some great ideas and potential that ends up making some very strange choices. There were many places where the writing felt very repetitive, like little things where Christine Vale is introduced to the reader as Riker's executive officer, after that's already been established in dialogue and interaction.

    Basically, everything from here on out are spoilers. Should I put my whole post in spoiler code?

    Other things that left me confused were the moments when major events would happen off-screen. For example,

    When Tuvok mind-melds with the ecosculptor, the event happens entirely off-screen. This seems like a wasted moment, as we're denied a chance to learn more about the ecosculptor's mind and thoughts. It's an encounter that's foreshadowed early in the book, leading me to look forward to a tense, creative, and insightful dialogue between Tuvok and the ecosculptor. Instead, we're limited to Vale's perspective, arguably less dramatic and interesting.

    The same thing happens when the two Gorn return to the Gorn ship with Riker to confront the Gorn captain. This is same captain who tried to execute Ssyrrix (spelling?), and whom Riker deceives during the tractor beam "malfunction". This could've been a very tense, dramatic, character-driven scene. Instead, we get more ship battle logistics with Vale.

    In general, the book seems to err on the side of space battles and violent solutions when something more…*Trekkian? could've happened?

    At the very end, Riker's only misgivings about the destruction of the ecosculptor are only about him being sad that they couldn't get anything useful from it…*not that a millennia-old intelligence had been destroyed at his say-so. There were no ethical qualms, just practical and tactical losses. Something about that response felt wrong.

    Overall, I felt that a lot of interesting ideas were brought up with worthwhile payoffs promised (such as Tuvok's experience with terraforming in the past) that failed to deliver, resolved with excess violence, in a few perfunctory pages, or "off-screen" (whatever the printed equivalent is of that). Characterization felt off, other things felt redundant and repetitive. Troi's empathy seemed overpowered. I had none of the sense of wonder and exploration of compelling ideas and new races that all previous Titan books have had. Definitely a bit a slog to get through.

    On the positive side, there were some really fascinating concepts, such as the Gorn possibly having a religion grounded in an ancient terraforming device, the world of Hranrar, Gorn castes, more of Titan's diversity, the ecosculptor itself being sentient.
     
  16. Almost Unique

    Almost Unique Lieutenant Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2010
    Location:
    Marquette, MI
    Re: Typhon Pact: Seize The Fire review thread

    ^^I agree with virtually all of that.:shrug:
     
  17. RonG

    RonG Captain Captain

    Joined:
    Dec 21, 2007
    Location:
    Fluidic Space
    Re: Typhon Pact: Seize The Fire review thread

    I'm sorry to say that I agree with most of the criticism.

    I think the book had some wonderful ideas and concepts, but didn't utilize them to their fullest potential (at least IMO).

    I wasn't expecting the ecosculptor to remain intact for the UFP to use, as that would undermine the current (and still new) post-Destiny status quo, but I felt that we could have used more drama and insight into the "character" of the ecosculptor (indeed, setting up a classic Trek dilemma regarding using a sentient AI as a tool).

    All in all, I have to say that the series so far has left me a bit underwhelmed.. :shrug:
     
  18. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2004
    Location:
    Arizona, USA
    Re: Typhon Pact: Seize The Fire review thread

    I was able to download my copy today. Although after reading the comments here I'm not quite as excited for it as I had been.
     
  19. Brefugee

    Brefugee No longer living the Irish dream. Premium Member

    Joined:
    Oct 12, 2007
    Re: Typhon Pact: Seize The Fire review thread

    And I'm considering giving up on it. That would be a hat trick of books I've given up on by this author. I gave up on Last Full Measure and and Rogue aswell.
     
  20. Aranamac

    Aranamac Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Dec 23, 2000
    Location:
    Pacific Northwest
    Re: Typhon Pact: Seize The Fire review thread

    it's odd... I've liked other books by the same author, esp the Romulan war series, and everything he cowrote with Mangels. But for whatever reason, this one didn't gel.


    Another thing that's strange about the timeline of the book: the pirate Gorn had the ship for a whole year? It took a year between the solar flare and the encounter with the ecosculptor? That seems like a ridiculously long time for people suffering major radiation injuries. Did anyone catch something that I missed about that?