TNG: The Persistence of Memory by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

[Christopher]

Turtletrekker wrote:

---

Yeah, I always assumed that that positronic signal was somehow directed at the Enterprise for the express purpose of getting their attention.

Me too, but that raises the question of why that didn't make them suspicious.

[Patrick O'Brien]

David Mack wrote:

---

I just want to pop in and thank everyone who has bought this book so far — you've helped it to debut at #30 on the Nov. 18, 2012, New York Times extended list for mass-market paperback fiction. Your support has helped me become, after more than a decade of writing books, a "New York Times bestselling author." And for that, I thank you.

Congrats Dave! I hope the next book does better.

[Anika Hanson]

Just finished it this morning. I will wait until I've read all 3 to give a proper raiting/review but I really enjoyed it. This is how a resurrection should be done imo. I'd read the countdown comics which seemed to indicate something different, which I wasn't happy with, but the way it is dealt with in this book sits well with me. Looking forward to the next book, but its not released until November the 27th in the UK.

Also congrats to the author on making the NYT bestseller list. Thoroughly deserved.

[King Daniel]

Finished it. Very much enjoyed it.

Killing off Choudhury very quickly and randomly while introducing another female security officer who might as well be Choudhury?

[Christopher]

^Why do you say that? They have nothing in common but their job, their species, and their gender. That's like saying Geordi might as well be Scotty.

[King Daniel]

It seemed to be as if one fairly generic female officer was being replaced by another fairly generic one. Hopefully we'll learn more about this newcomer (whose name I do not have the skill to type properly here on my phone!) in books 2 and 3 of Cold Equations and she'll seem less like a straight replacement.

[Christopher]

Generic? I did my best to make Choudhury unlike any security chief we've ever seen before.

[Sho]

TPoM is actually the first story featuring Choudhury I read. From my brief time with her I liked the character, especially that early chapter when she is having some private moments with Worf. She comes across as a mature adult having a credible relationship with Worf, and frankly that's better than average for a Trek romance (I've always felt that romantic interpersonal relationships were one of the franchise's great weaknesses).

[Markonian]

KingDaniel wrote:

---

Finished it. Very much enjoyed it.

Killing off Choudhury very quickly and randomly while introducing another female security officer who might as well be Choudhury?

Hint, hint: Have a look on the Enterprise-E bridge officers in Countdown.

[Jarvisimo]

She's also in Destiny, according to Memory Beta.

[King Daniel]

Christopher wrote:

---

Generic? I did my best to make Choudhury unlike any security chief we've ever seen before.

I'm afraid she didn't stand out to me, not like your original characters in the DTI novels or on Titan.
Perhaps I just never got out of the "security chief of the week" mindset from the First Contact/Insurrection era TNG novels.

Markonian wrote:

---

Hint, hint: Have a look on the Enterprise-E bridge officers in Countdown.

I guess this is final confirmation that the novelverse is setting up the events of the Countdown comic.

[Christopher]

KingDaniel wrote:

---

I guess this is final confirmation that the novelverse is setting up the events of the Countdown comic.

On the contrary: The Persistence of Memory directly contradicts the Countdown/Star Trek Online version of Data's resurrection. Apparently in that version, it was Geordi installing the emotion chip in B-4 that caused Data's memory and personality to reactivate in B-4's body. Also, The Needs of the Many says that took place in late 2385, while TPoM takes place in January '84.

Drawing on a character from a given Trek story doesn't require acknowledging that whole story's continuity as "real" -- any more than Batman comics acknowledged the Batman: The Animated Series continuity as real when they incorporated Harley Quinn and Renee Montoya into their distinct version of the universe. Heck, in Forgotten History I included a Klingon captain from the post-TMP comic strips!

[King Daniel]

Christopher wrote:

---

On the contrary: The Persistence of Memory directly contradicts the Countdown/Star Trek Online version of Data's resurrection. Apparently in that version, it was Geordi installing the emotion chip in B-4 that caused Data's memory and personality to reactivate in B-4's body. Also, The Needs of the Many says that took place in late 2385, while TPoM takes place in January '84.

But Star Trek Online and Countdown are not one and the same. Treklit and STO could both include Countdown in their post-Nemesis continuities, while getting there in different ways and then taking different directions afterwards.

Drawing on a character from a given Trek story doesn't require acknowledging that whole story's continuity as "real" -- any more than Batman comics acknowledged the Batman: The Animated Series continuity as real when they incorporated Harley Quinn and Renee Montoya into their distinct version of the universe. Heck, in Forgotten History I included a Klingon captain from the post-TMP comic strips!

True, and IIRC, Beneath the Raptor's Wing mentioned a character from Starfleet: Year One.

You'd of course know better than me what the future of Treklit holds, but I'm predicting based on this and the hints dropped in prior Typhon Pact novels (Picard being offered a job as Ambassador, Spock becoming a legal resident of Romulus when Countdown said etc) that the novelverse is going to tie-in to Countdown.

[Mr. Laser Beam]

KingDaniel wrote:

---

True, and IIRC, Beneath the Raptor's Wing mentioned a character from Starfleet: Year One.

You mean Lydia Littlejohn? Yeah, I think SCE also mentioned her.

[Christopher]

KingDaniel wrote:

---

But Star Trek Online and Countdown are not one and the same. Treklit and STO could both include Countdown in their post-Nemesis continuities, while getting there in different ways and then taking different directions afterwards.

Data's exact words from Countdown are that "my neural nets were successfully imprinted onto B-4's existing programming." That reference was no doubt the basis for the STO version, which elaborated on it. And there's no way to reconcile that statement with TPoM, in which only Data's memories, not his neural net, were downloaded into B-4, and it was a failed imprint that almost killed B-4.