MU: Rise Like Lions by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Re: Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions review thread (spoiler

Well I finished it today, it was a great book.

 

Re: Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions review thread (spoiler

Got a bit fannish wank when Picard showed up on the Enterprise-E essentially and in a black and grey uniform calling his XO Number One.

David? Wormhole jaunt tech? Memory Omega had a century to name this stuff and they DIDN'T?

 

Re: Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions review thread (spoiler

^

1) It's not the Enterprise-E. It's a different ship named Enterprise.

2) Part of the idea of the MU stories is to show parallels to the prime universe. Picard assigning the nickname to his new XO is part of that tradition.

3) They did name the technology: they call them "jaunt drives" and "jaunt ships".

 

Re: Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions review thread (spoiler

I finished it, but the ending seemed unsatifying. I will reevaluate after I have reread it.

 

Re: Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions review thread (spoiler

Lots that can be mentioned about the book, but one huge question mark in my mind after the epilogue...

Spoiler: Question on the epilogue

The Gamma Quadrant include caught me by complete surprise, but the one major question I had...Taran'atar - Mirror Taran'atar, main universe Taran'atar, or deliberately left vague for future story purposes?

 

Re: Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions review thread (spoiler

^ Mirror would be my guess. The last time we saw the RU version of that character was at the end of The Soul Key when he was in fact in the RU, and was answering a distress call from a civilian ship.

 

Re: Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions review thread (spoiler

What we saw at the end is surely in the Mirror Universe, since

Spoiler: Epilogue

it's set in 2381 and has the Dominion intact and discovering the wormhole for the first time.

There's also the fact that the Historian's Note at the beginning says unambiguously that all events in the novel take place in the MU.


On the question of Mirror Jadzia being named Dax... was she really? We never actually see her call herself Dax. The only people who call her that are Sisko, Jennifer, and Jake, once each. The only person who directly addresses her by that name is Sisko in "Through the Looking Glass" -- and Jadzia looks pretty damn bewildered after he does so, which could've been more than just puzzlement at his actions. Maybe Jennifer called her that because Sisko did, and Jake would've called her that because he was more familiar with his own Jadzia. So we don't have absolutely certain proof that Mirror Jadzia called herself Dax. Sure, it's a stretch, but a lot of continuity fixes are.

 

Re: Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions review thread (spoiler

I don't think there was ever any question whether the SCENE was in the mirror universe, just what the origin of the Taran'atar in the scene was. The question was whether he was indigenous to the mirror universe, or the Taran'atar from our universe.

 

Re: Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions review thread (spoiler

He was pretty clearly the Mirror version, since he was still a loyal servant of the Vorta. And when Eris reflected on his background, she seemed aware of his history and considered it normal aside from his intellect and lack of White dependency.

And there were a ton of characters who showed up in cameos and they were all Mirror versions, not the originals who somehow inexplicably crossed over. So I don't see why the question would be raised in this particular case.

 

Re: Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions review thread (spoiler

^ My intention was that he is the Mirror Universe's Taran'atar. Given the implication in the text that he has had a long history of service with Eris, it seems obvious to me that he is the MU version — especially since, after the events of Warpath, Fearful Symmetry, and The Soul Key, I doubt "our" Taran'atar would willingly serve another Dominion, in any universe.

 

Re: Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions review thread (spoiler

Oh, don't worry, I thought so too, I was just clarifying the original question.

 

Re: Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions review thread (spoiler

Just hit Part II and I'm loving it so far.

Tell me we're getting another one of these in the next 12 months...

 

Re: Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions review thread (spoiler

Finished it a week ago and enjoyed every page of it. David's MU books have far surpassed the Shatnerverse MU trilogy.

 

Re: Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions review thread (spoiler

Wrong thread.
Please delete this post.

 

Re: Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions review thread (spoiler

You mean the ones that had sentences like, "When the galaxy walked the line of fate and prepared to take the plunge into the abyss, one man stepped forward to make a difference and have fun doing it:
James. Tiberius. Kirk."

Yes, Mack did a much better job.

 

Re: Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions review thread (spoiler

 

Re: Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions review thread (spoiler

Finished Rise Like Lions well into the early hours this morning. (Couldn't put it down last night)

I thought it was a great follow-up to the previous MU stories and ripe with potential for further exploration. Although I'd like to see more of how Memory Omega developed/acquired most of their tech. (Especially how exactly they perfected Genesis Tech and potentially how that relates to the Mirror Shedai and their equivalent of the Taurus Meta-Genome.

Hope this one sells well enough to garner further work in the mirror universe.

 

Re: Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions review thread (spoiler

Is that really a line from one of the Shatnerverse books?

 

Re: Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions review thread (spoiler

Heres a direct quote

A thousand trailing sparks, stars fading.
Kirk couldn’t speak. Couldn’t stand. Stumbled back, knees buckling.
Spock caught him.
Kirk looked up at his friend, searching for one last chance, one last victory against the death that stalked him.
But he knew the truth when he saw tears in Vulcan eyes.
James T. Kirk had saved a universe.
But he had not been able to save his wife.

 

Re: Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions review thread (spoiler

I liked the first three Shat books very much, especially "The Return". His mirror stories started well but quickly became self-glorifying drivel. When I finished with Preserver, which made NO sense other than to mirror Shat's wife's death and his emotion, I was finished with Shatner fiction.


Something I found interesting about Lions is how well Mack wrote Neelix and Kes. I remember him saying he dislikes Neelix most out of the main Trek characters yet he made Neelix very courageous and gave him an honorable death.