The Romulan War: Beneath the Raptor's Wing - Discuss (SPOILERS)

[ProwlAlpha]

He has shown as the naive kid who blindly received the call to join up or at least that is how he was portrayed. Secondly, with the reporter, I failed to see the relevance with that plotline other than the fact to show the "bad" military and censorship.

Also, the story was extremely slow and Archer, pretty much, whined the entire time.

[TerraUnam]

BTRW has to show Earth and its allies losing. Just like the US lost for the first six months of the Pacific War until Midway. The reporter lets us see the civilian fear and reaction that the war creates.

The similarities between real-life WWII and the Earth-Romulan War aren't coincidental. Two enemies with huge cultural gaps, different visions, and a race war boiling underneath. Plus Starfleet gets most of its big ships blown up just like the US Navy had a good portion of its carriers sunk in action.

[ProwlAlpha]

Nope, reporter plot does not accomplish that and secondly only a couple of carriers were taken out in the early phase of the war, the Lexington and the Yorktown.

I don't see the Earth-Romulan War in comparison to WWII. The author portrayed it more like the atmosphere of the Iraq War, especially with the Mars Indian colony scene.

[TerraUnam]

Nope, the Lexington, Yorktown, Hornet and Wasp were all sunk. The three remaining carriers were the Ranger, Saratoga and Enterprise. Ranger didn't count because it was too small.

[ProwlAlpha]

Ok, I goofed on the carriers, but the Lexington and Wasp were sunk when the US and Allies were fighting a defensive war and the Yorktown and the Hornet were sunk during pivotal battles that turn the tide of the war. Either way, the Earth-Romulan War and World War II were not similar at all.

On another note, I really don't get the massive Daedalus numbers in the novel, especially when you have ships such as the Intrepid, Delta-hull ship, the Sarajevo, and the Steamrunner-like ship from Home that should have played a better part in the war. Not the NXs getting their ass kicked with Daedaluses falling with them.

[DigificWriter]

I apologize for necro'ing this thread, but I just finished this book and wanted to review it.

This didn't occur to me until I finished reading it, but this book reminded me very much of 'Destiny', 'Full Circle', 'Rough Beasts of Empire', and 'Plagues of Night' in terms of its narrative structure, although its scope isn't as far-reaching.

There were parts of the story that probably would've made slightly more sense if I had read the previous 3 published ENT novels (Last Full Measure, The Good that Men Do, and Kobayashi Maru), but I was never so confused about what was going on that I was pulled out of the narrative.

I really liked the number of plot threads and perspectives the book dealt with and the number of different characters it introduced and followed (some familiar and some new), and was also pleasantly surprised by some of its plot twists (such as Travis leaving the Enterprise).

The perspective that I think I liked the most aside from the main characters from ENT was that of the reporter Gannet Brooks. Her character was one I wasn't familiar with from the series, so this book was my first introduction to her.

I also really liked the explanation given for the technological 'downgrade' necessary in order to reconcile ENT with later chronological canon. It gave the book a very nuBSG-esque feel that I thought was neat.

In fact, I liked all of the various attempts to reconcile ENT with later chronological canon.

Overall, I thought the book was very good, and the ending made me really want to start the second novel (which I've since started and am really enjoying).

[Christopher]

DigificWriter wrote:

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The perspective that I think I liked the most aside from the main characters from ENT was that of the reporter Gannet Brooks. Her character was one I wasn't familiar with from the series, so this book was my first introduction to her.

Wow, then you must've missed "Demons" and "Terra Prime," which are a very important 2-parter and essentially the de facto series finale (since we didn't see the actual NX-01 crew in "These Are the Voyages"). I'd recommend correcting that oversight.

[DigificWriter]

^ Yeah, I unfortunately never had a chance to see either episode when they first aired (I've forgotten why) and definitely ought to find and watch them.

I also liked Valdore's involvement in the story, and could really hear/picture Brian Thompson as I read he parts of the book that dealt with him.

[Christopher]

^If you have Netflix, every episode of every Star Trek series is available for streaming there.