VAN: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

[Relayer1]

Christopher wrote:

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Nahh, she only goes out with girls.

The old T'Prynn would've assassinated him. The new T'Prynn chose to spare his life despite her orders.

I sort of assumed as much ! You can never be sure with women though, they're vicious !

[MatthiasRussell]

David Mack had said it was important for T'Prynn to find redemption. Not killing Quinn and finding him a better life was part of that redemption and finding inner peace.

I thought it was interesting that how later Pennington realized that was the last time anyone saw Cervantes Quinn. I'm wondering if that meant he later sees/meets Quinn under his new identity.

[Defcon]

MatthiasRussell wrote:

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I thought it was interesting that how later Pennington realized that was the last time anyone saw Cervantes Quinn. I'm wondering if that meant he later sees/meets Quinn under his new identity.

They never met again. At least that was David Mack's intention according to this post earlier in this thread (it's behind the spoiler button).

[David Mack]

MatthiasRussell wrote:

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I noticed now that the Maker was left out in the depths of space so it wasn’t captured and destroyed. So we could have a Shedai in a later story.

Actually, by the time the Wanderer opens the Conduit to the Progenitor, the Maker has rejoined the Colloquium (see p.227). She is captured along with all the others when the trap is activated, and she is destroyed with the others at the novel's end. Post-Vanguard, the Shedai are no more.

[MatthiasRussell]

^Awww, man. I haven't gotten to that part yet (the second time around). Guess I didn't remember that bit. So that Shedai ARE all gone.

So if they are all gone, does that mean the Tholians no longer have any fear of the Taurus Reach? If so, any remaining Shedai technology could be a threat since the Tholians have the ability to use it and wouldn't be worried about waking any Shedai who would then enslave them. Shedai tech in the hands of the Tholians could make the Typhon Pact very dangerous.

[Relayer1]

MatthiasRussell wrote:

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Shedai tech in the hands of the Tholians could make the Typhon Pact very dangerous.

Possibly, but if we discuss it any further in this forum it won't be ! Strictly no story ideas please !

[Christopher]

MatthiasRussell wrote:

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So if they are all gone, does that mean the Tholians no longer have any fear of the Taurus Reach? If so, any remaining Shedai technology could be a threat since the Tholians have the ability to use it and wouldn't be worried about waking any Shedai who would then enslave them. Shedai tech in the hands of the Tholians could make the Typhon Pact very dangerous.

If that were the case, then the Tholians would most likely have already used that tech long before. It's not like joining the Pact has suddenly made the Tholians hostile to the Federation; on the contrary, they brought that pre-existing hostility with them when they joined. So if they haven't used that tech before, there's no reason that would change now.

[Dimesdan]

Christopher wrote:

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If that were the case, then the Tholians would most likely have already used that tech long before. It's not like joining the Pact has suddenly made the Tholians hostile to the Federation; on the contrary, they brought that pre-existing hostility with them when they joined. So if they haven't used that tech before, there's no reason that would change now.

Unless now that new pair's of eyes are looking at the Shedai tech and thought, hey, we could use this against the Federation or hold it is reserve as a MAD deterrent against any possible future Federation aggression.

[MatthiasRussell]

Perhaps they didn't have the ability to exploit the Shedai tech themselves but do now with the resources of their allies. Maybe they had the tech but didn't feel secure enough to let everyone know that but do now that they have allies.

Or maybe they just didn't want to reveal that they have Shedai based WMD. In "Paths of Disharmony," the Tholian ambassador said they are a patient people. They seemed to be content to let everyone remain in ignorance of what happened in the Taurus Reach until the events in that book.

[MatthiasRussell]

Relayer1 wrote:

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Possibly, but if we discuss it any further in this forum it won't be ! Strictly no story ideas please !

I'm not giving a story idea. Besides, the foundation for this has already been laid. I think if I were crossing a line, Christopher would have said so, or at least not joined in the discussion.

Believe me, I'm not wanting to derail anyone's book.

[Relayer1]

MatthiasRussell wrote:

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I'm not giving a story idea. Besides, the foundation for this has already been laid. I think if I were crossing a line, Christopher would have said so, or at least not joined in the discussion.

Believe me, I'm not wanting to derail anyone's book.

I am 100% sure you didn't, and Christopher would certainly have flagged it.

It is, however, very easy to wander into 'what if X finds Y and does Z' territory though, and before you know it, the story you were so hoping for is a copyright impossibility...

[MatthiasRussell]

If only derailing events in the real world were so easy.

[Ronald Held]

All of the awakened Shedai are dead or all of them?

[MatthiasRussell]

I just reread Storming heaven and it was every bit as good the second time.

As the Tholians were attacking Vanguard, a thought occured to me:
Why wasn’t the Tkon array used to assist in the Battle of Vanguard? Sure they couldn’t target the Tholian fleet or take the array to full power (as Xiong told Jackson), but just switching it on would have brought great pain to all the Tholians on the attacking ships, hopefully making them unable to attack. Afterall, if the Tholians are all on the floor in pain, they can't fly their ships or fire weapons.

[David Mack]

^ The amount of power it would have demanded might have compromised the power needed for the station's massive defensive screens and weapons arrays.