TP: Brinkmanship by Una McCormack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

[ICW]

Pigboy wrote:

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Just finished it, and it only took me a day so it is either great or good by my scale.

Ms. McCormack, like in Hollow Men, takes two stories that seem to be seperate, then unites them in the end giving you that "ohhh, that's what was going on" feeling.

Picard doesn't seem to be doing much in this book. Ezri just seems to be there to cast suspicion on Peter and to have the Aventine be there to recover Efheny. Poor Crusher gets shafted for the greater good. Beverly tries to put her ideals into practice but soon finds out that she is on the bottom rungs of the totem pole and the rungs up top don't have time for her nonsense. The Federation is in a "with friends like these..." situation in that the Ferengi will cut a deal on their own if it suits them and the Cardassians have their own plans.

Did Efheny go a bit mad? I still don't quite get why she stayed. Did Alex go a bit mad as well? It seems that spies aren't doing a good enough job blending into Tzenkethi society and it's only the belief by the locals that they're lower caste trying to be upper caste, is what keeps them from being caught all the time.

Picard should change the expression from "anyone remember when we were explorers?" to "anyone remember when we had principles and ideals?" I know they have mortal enemies surrounding them and all but, it's gettin pretty grim.

I liked the fleshing out of the Tzenkethi and the Venette were an interesting addition to the Trek races. The OCD in me was looking at Geoffrey Mandel's Star Charts to see how you can border the Cardassians and the Ferengi at the same time.

The Lotus Flower was my favorite story in World's of DS9. The Neverending Sacrifice was great but Hollow Men was average. I'll give Brinkmanship an above average.

SPOILERS:







I felt that she wrote Picard a little too grumpy right from the beginning of the novel. Don't get me wrong...she wrote Picard effectively and she made it easy to see how he can (and probably will) become an ambassador someday. But I got that "grumpy Picard" vibe right from the very beginning.

Efheny stayed because ab-Tzenketh is such a remarkable world in every single way, especially compared to Cardassia. There's practically unlimited resources there.

[Edit_XYZ]

ICW wrote:

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Efheny stayed because ab-Tzenketh is such a remarkable world in every single way, especially compared to Cardassia. There's practically unlimited resources there.

Rhetorical generalities with little substance.
'practically unlimited resources'? Not for her - not for most Tzenkethi. She - they - are slaves. Most, perhaps, willing slaves - due to their genetic make-up and brain-wash. That's the limit of their lives.
'every single way'? Obviously not. If you're talking about positives, that is.

[Ronald Held]

Just got my copy downloaded. I expect to start tomorrow.

[ICW]

Edit_XYZ wrote:

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Rhetorical generalities with little substance.
'practically unlimited resources'? Not for her - not for most Tzenkethi. She - they - are slaves. Most, perhaps, willing slaves - due to their genetic make-up and brain-wash. That's the limit of their lives.
'every single way'? Obviously not. If you're talking about positives, that is.

To her it was a place with great resources. She kept remarking how lovely it was to have water, where it's (understandably) limited on Cardassia. She fell in love with the world and that's why she chose to stay. In her mind it's a lot better than Cardassia.

[Rush Limborg]

So Ezri only has a bit part, then? Not much purpose?

Shoot. I was hoping for some character development--reflections on past events, ZSG, etc. But...she doesn't do much, here?

I hope I'm reading Pigboy's review wrong...because if Ezri's just there to be "there," I'll be very disappointed...especially with the sorry cover image.

[CaptainDonovin]

Haven't finished, about half way through & really am enjoying it. Love how she put it together so far, liking forward to the end.

[CaptainDonovin]

Rush Limborg wrote:

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So Ezri only has a bit part, then? Not much purpose?

Shoot. I was hoping for some character development--reflections on past events, ZSG, etc. But...she doesn't do much, here?

I hope I'm reading Pigboy's review wrong...because if Ezri's just there to be "there," I'll be very disappointed...especially with the sorry cover image.

So far Ezri's been in a fair amount. Only about half way through but no complaints from this member of the Aventine fan club.

[Rush Limborg]

^That's a relief. I'm waiting for my copy to come in.

[rfmcdpei]

Edit_XYZ wrote:

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Rhetorical generalities with little substance.
'practically unlimited resources'? Not for her - not for most

Cardassia Prime has been described as a sere world, a world with a barely manageable history of poverty and chaos, its recent experience marked by terrible instability, want, and mass death.

Ab-Tzenketh as experienced by Efheny is none of these things: temperate, stable, capably-managed. From my perspective I'd argue that Tzenkethi civilization is much more brittle than Cardassian--how would the Tzenkethi handle being defeated and occupied after war like the Cardassians if their elite ensures most of their species doesn't even know about aliens? not well I'd bet--but from the perspective of a Cardassian who is very afraid of instability Tzenkethi civilization doesn't look at all bad.

Tzenkethi. She - they - are slaves. Most, perhaps, willing slaves - due to their genetic make-up and brain-wash. That's the limit of their lives.
'every single way'? Obviously not. If you're talking about positives, that is.

Ab-Tzenketh does have a certain potential attraction to Cardassians, in that the Tzenkethi appear to have successfully established the sort of paternalistic authoritarian civilization that the Cardassians had tried to create. The Federation agent, Andy, is right to note that Cardassian civilization hewed closer to the norms of Tzenkethi civilization than that of the other Typhon Pact states.

[Deranged Nasat]

Bother. Mine apparently shipped a few days ago, but isn't here yet. It will probably arrive tomorrow, but I'm leaving tonight for a mini-holiday with relatives and won't be back until Monday. I had hoped to take it with me.

[dispatcher812]

After hearing all the hype and praise for Ms. McCormack, I was looking forward to this book. I just finished and I must say I was not impressed. I rated it an average. While it only took me less then 12 hours to read, (shorter then I expected) I did not feel this stood out more then other recent books I have read.

I enjoyed the crew of the Aventine very much. Aside from the TNG crew I think they are my second favorite so seeing them half the time was nice.

I REALLY enjoyed the scenes with the Tzenkethi. Their way of class really made sense. You know who you are and what you do. No questions. I can see why Efheny wanted to stay. It simplifies things in a very complicated universe.

As far as the convention, I liked their no BS approach to things, say what you mean, be honest.

I would have liked to see more action in this. I know this is supposed to be a political series but honestly, politics bore me. Especially now when in our own time that all we hear about. Don't get me wrong I am enjoying this series but not as much as a had hoped.

I must admit that I did not realize I had read the rest of Ms. McCormick's books until did a little cross referencing on some of the titles previously mentioned. I think in the interim before the TNG trilogy, I may re-read them in hopes to find the praise everyone mentioned.

[dodge]

A question for those who have read it...

I've picked this up today but haven't read Plagues of Night/Raise the Dawn yet. My local bookshop didn't have them so I've ordered them online, but it'll take a week for them to get here. How spoilery is Brinkmanship regarding the plot of PoN/RtD? I already know that

DS9 gets destroyed

, but that's the only thing I know.

So, should I wait till PoN/RtD get here, or can I dig in now?

[Edit_XYZ]

rfmcdpei

George Orwell: "If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever."

The Tzenkethi civilization is the materialization of this prediction, in its purest form - that can enable a relatively long-lived civilization, that is.

The Cardassian civilization was ever only a contestant to this title; ultimately, it fell short.

A person who desires to live in the tzenkethi civilization is a person who wants to be nothing more than a mindless tool. Its choice is irrelevant, by its choice - much like it's nonsensical to consider what a computer wants -, because it forwent anything resembling free will.
At most, one could wonder about the extreme psychic deviancy that leads to such a choice.

[dispatcher812]

Edit_XYZ wrote:

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A person who desires to live in the tzenkethi civilization is a person who wants to be nothing more than a mindless tool. Its choice is irrelevant, by its choice - much like it's nonsensical to consider what a computer wants -, because it forwent anything resembling free will.
At most, one could wonder about the extreme psychic deviancy that leads to such a choice.

Yes and that's what I find I like about it. No responsiblility outside what you are supposed to do, no hard decisions to make. No coworkers not pulling there weight or complaing about the job. In my line of work by the time I get home my head is fried. Sometimes a mindless job would be a blessing.

[JRoss]

I've only read the first chapter on Google Books. I'm not impressed.