DS9: Section 31 - Abyss by D.Weddle & J.Lang Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Deep Space Nine: Section 31 - Abyss by David Weddle and Jeffrey Lang



[LEFT]Blurb:
SECTION 31™
They are the self-appointed protectors of the Federation. Amoral, shrouded in secrecy, answerable to no one, Section 31 is the mysterious covert operations division of Starfleet, a rogue shadow group commited to safeguarding the Federation at any cost.
Mere days after the startling events of AVATAR, Dr. Julian Bashir faces his darkest nightmare when Section 31 compels him to undertake amission to stop one of their own. But this renegade is no ordinary agent. Like Bashir, Dr. Ethan Locken is genetically enhanced, a human superior in body and mind. But Locken dreams of remaking the galaxy in his own image -- and creating a new human empire based on the example of the infamous Khan Noonien Singh.
And as he begins to understand the terrifying truth about his opposite number, Bashir will learn more about himself than he ever wanted.

NO LAW.
NO CONSCIENCE.
NO STOPPING THEM.

______________________________

I actually read (the German translation) of this one before I read the Avatar duology, simply because Heyne (the German ST publisher back then) published the S31 miniseries, but didn't publish the rest of the DS9 post finale novels. So I was a tad confused at first because of the new personnel and constellations among the characters. But even without the knowledge from the previous two books I really enjoyed the book and thought that it was a very well written piece. Once I had read the Avatar books, I reread the book and liked it even more.

German cover (Cross Cult reprint):



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Re: DS9: Section 31 - Abyss by D.Weddle & J.Lang Review Thread (Spoile

For the benefit of non germans, those were drafts posted by CC before publishing the book:







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Re: DS9: Section 31 - Abyss by D.Weddle & J.Lang Review Thread (Spoile

I reread this book several months ago . I thought it was well written it was nice to see Julian Bashir's character finally getting a more in depth exploration of his being genetically enhanced and seeing being a spy.Also nice seeing Ezri Dax realizing she didn't know Julian Bashir as well she thought she did. I also like Ro's and Tarantator's story too.

 

Re: DS9: Section 31 - Abyss by D.Weddle & J.Lang Review Thread (Spoile

As much as I liked Avatar, Abyss was really the novel that sold the Relaunch to me, especially as it focused on the main characters that did not feature that heavily in Avatar. Both the A plot (Bashir's excellent next step in the Section 31 arc) and the B plot (fleshing out Ro and Taran'atar's roles in the series) meshed well and I thoroughly enjoyed both. An easy "outstanding" vote.

 

Re: DS9: Section 31 - Abyss by D.Weddle & J.Lang Review Thread (Spoile

Bashir was so well written in this one, everytime he said something, or his thought patterns were described, I heard Alexander Siddig. The writers really did a superb job here. Taran'Atar was excellent, Ro was really fleshed out here. And even Ezri, who I loved in season 7 but had some real issues with in TrekLit, was good here.

Yes, where a lot of Trek stumble with the first episode after a pilot, this one really kept the pace and tone set by Avatar (the pilot, in this Relaunch) going.

 

Re: DS9: Section 31 - Abyss by D.Weddle & J.Lang Review Thread (Spoile

I reread this recently, and it's a great read, and a good followup to Avatar.

 

Re: DS9: Section 31 - Abyss by D.Weddle & J.Lang Review Thread (Spoile

Taran'atar was amazing in Abyss. I love the scene where Kira is trying to tell him that he doesn't have to use lethal force against any of Locken's Jem'Hadar and he just doesn't see why he wouldn't use lethal force. He has a great line, something like "You may consider these Jem'Hadar already dead".

I also like Vaughn's role in the novel, something I hope David Mack is revisiting in Disavowed this year.

 

Re: DS9: Section 31 - Abyss by D.Weddle & J.Lang Review Thread (Spoile

Another outstanding vote for me.
Like a lot of people said earlier, this one really helped to solidify the DS9R. I'm a big Ro and Bashir fan, so I loved how much this one focused on them.
Fun Fact: Jeffrey Lang's co-writer, David Weddle was a writer on the DS9 TV series, Battlestar Galactica, CSI, Falling Skies, and now The Strain. I was really hoping this would start a trend of the TV series writers writing for the Relaunch, but, so far at least, David Mack is the only other person to write for both the TV series and the Relaunch. (DRGIII co-wrote a Voy. episode, but never DS9).

 

Re: DS9: Section 31 - Abyss by D.Weddle & J.Lang Review Thread (Spoile

Bradley Thompson (David Weddle's writing partner on DS9 and BSG) nearly wrote a DS9 novel; it was to have been a DS9-R novel called Walking Wounded, with a focus on Dominion War veterans.

 

Re: DS9: Section 31 - Abyss by D.Weddle & J.Lang Review Thread (Spoile

I just finished this last week. Easily an Outstanding vote from me. I'm a big Bashir and Taranatar fan, and thought this book was excellent. All the characters rang true for me, and the story itself was really great! Another winner for Jeffrey Lang. Everything i've read by that guy has been Outstanding! From Immortal Coil, this, and The Light Fantastic...it seems like JL should be one of Pocket's go to guys for treklit.

My expectations for Disavowed skyrocketed after finishing this book. I wish the absolute best of luck to Mr. Mack

PS- When reading the acknowledgments, I got the impression that Mr. Weddle helped provide the story "idea", but that he may not have actually had a hand in writing the actual manuscript of Abyss. Is this true? I'm sure he was busy writing TV scripts at the time...

 

Re: DS9: Section 31 - Abyss by D.Weddle & J.Lang Review Thread (Spoile

Another outstanding vote from me. Definitely the strongest novel in the original Section 31 tetralogy and a great DS9 story.

 

Re: DS9: Section 31 - Abyss by D.Weddle & J.Lang Review Thread (Spoile

According to Voyages of Imagination:

"The plot for Abyss was originally developed by David and Marco, shortly after the Deep Space Nine television series had ended. Marco recalled, 'One of the great things about David's involvement in the project was that Abyss was the story that immediately followed up on Avatar. It was extraordinarily cool to have one of DS9's TV writers developing a story for the post-TV fiction, with its mix of old and new characters.'

"David was to have written the book himself, but had to bow out when he got a new TV-writing gig. Marco then turned to Jeff and offered the project to him. Jeff remarked, 'My contributions to the story were plot details and character bits. [...] The writing and publishing process were pretty straightforward: Marco said, "Here's the outline; can you have the book back to me on Thursday?"'"

Marco must have decided that Lang was good at wrapping up others' projects, as he later rewrote J. G. Hertzler's manuscripts for The Left Hand of Destiny.

 

Re: DS9: Section 31 - Abyss by D.Weddle & J.Lang Review Thread (Spoile

Actually, DRGIII did contribute to the DS9 Relaunch, right before I did — he wrote "Olympus Descending," the Dominion segment of The Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Vol. 3, whose events set up (and were immediately continued) in my DS9 novel Warpath.

 

Re: DS9: Section 31 - Abyss by D.Weddle & J.Lang Review Thread (Spoile

^I think JD is saying that DRGIII never wrote for the show DS9.

 

Re: DS9: Section 31 - Abyss by D.Weddle & J.Lang Review Thread (Spoile

I gave Abyss a fairly glowing review back in 2013 when I did a re-read. This one really proved to me that the whole "re-launch" thing was going to work way back when I first read it. DS9 was my favorite series, and I remember being so thrilled that it would continue in book form!

 

Re: DS9: Section 31 - Abyss by D.Weddle & J.Lang Review Thread (Spoile

It's gratifying to see Abyss get some attention. It was a fun project, though, if memory serves, produced under a tight deadline. As noted above, Marco and Davod Weddle developed the outline and I was brought in to write the ms. when David had to bow out. As I recall, the outline was very similar to a TV show beat sheet, noting the key events for each act and the arches of the main characters. I don't believe I added any major plot points, but the character bits were mine. I remember particularly enjoying writing the interactions between Ro and Ezri (who hadn't interacted much at this point) and Taran'atar and Everyone Else, because he was such a fun character. Liked writing his action scenes, too.

 

Re: DS9: Section 31 - Abyss by D.Weddle & J.Lang Review Thread (Spoile

Abyss was fun and a great way to get inside these characters' heads. Can I ask how The Left Hand of Destiny, which I love, developed from Hertzler to yourself, Mr Lang?

 

Re: DS9: Section 31 - Abyss by D.Weddle & J.Lang Review Thread (Spoile

Ah, I see my mistake now. Thanks.

 

Re: DS9: Section 31 - Abyss by D.Weddle & J.Lang Review Thread (Spoile

Since this thread is supposed to be about Abyss, I'll keep this brief. Writing Left Hand was a much different process. J.G was much more involved. He developed a very detailed outline (with Marco's assistance, I believe) and wrote a first draft. The reason they brought me in was because 1.) J.G. had to go onto other projects and 2.) While his draft was fascinating, it wasn't exactly a novel. In fact, it read much more like a play -- a Shakespearean play, at that. All the characters spoke in very high-flown language and were bigger than life. It was exhilarating... and exhausting. As I recall -- and it's been a while -- I tried to reuse as much of J.G.'s prose as I could, but it was very difficult to incorporate. Key speeches were used, but I had to pretty much start over from chapter 1 and retool with an eye toward making it "novel-like." Inevitably, I ended up adding characters and scenes. I'm very proud of Pharh, the Ferengi character. He was all mine.

Okay, not so brief. Here's the recipe - it was like a good mixed drink. J.G. was the booze and I added the tonic and the bitters.