Spoilers TNG: Indistinguishable From Magic by McIntee Review Thread

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Thrawn, Mar 22, 2011.

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Rate Indistinguishable From Magic

  1. Outstanding

    51 vote(s)
    28.5%
  2. Above Average

    69 vote(s)
    38.5%
  3. Average

    27 vote(s)
    15.1%
  4. Below Average

    16 vote(s)
    8.9%
  5. Poor

    16 vote(s)
    8.9%
  1. MatthiasRussell

    MatthiasRussell Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Re: Star Trek: TNG: Indistinguishable From Magic Review Thread

    So are there some characters that require editorial permission to kill off, like Rees, Choudhury, or Chen? I know the death of Janeway was editorially directed but was Scotty (if her's dead)? Does there have to be some level of consent to kill characters off?
     
  2. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: TNG: Indistinguishable From Magic Review Thread

    Well, there has to be "some level of consent" to do anything in a tie-in novel. Regardless of whether the idea originates with the author or the editor, everything in a tie-in has to be approved by the licensor as well as the editor.

    Other than that, though, it's not like there's some formal list somewhere of characters you can't kill off, not that I know of, anyway. If there were still a Trek series on the air, then obviously any books set during the run of that series would be forbidden to make any fundamental changes in its continuity, including cast fatalities. But since all current Trek Lit (aside from the young-adult Abramsverse Starfleet Academy novels) is based on productions whose onscreen runs are concluded, we basically have carte blanche. And there's certainly no reason why CBS would forbid killing off characters created specifically for the literature like Choudhury or Chen.
     
  3. Lonemagpie

    Lonemagpie Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: TNG: Indistinguishable From Magic Review Thread

    Today's the official UK release date...
     
  4. JB2005

    JB2005 Commodore Commodore

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    Re: Star Trek: TNG: Indistinguishable From Magic Review Thread

    Wow...I got mine a month ago!
     
  5. Lonemagpie

    Lonemagpie Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: TNG: Indistinguishable From Magic Review Thread

    I know... I know... There's "official" and there's when it actually turns up. But it seemed like an appropriate moment to plug it again!
     
  6. JB2005

    JB2005 Commodore Commodore

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    Re: Star Trek: TNG: Indistinguishable From Magic Review Thread

    Hehe well I can't blame you for wanting to plug it! I can't remember if I've already said this but in case I haven't it is a fantastic book! Definitely one of my favourites! And definitely deserving of some plugging!
     
  7. BrotherBenny

    BrotherBenny Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: TNG: Indistinguishable From Magic Review Thread

    Other than the two book issue, I thought it deserved an 8/10 - and I grade unfairly.
     
  8. USS Intrepid

    USS Intrepid Commodore Commodore

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    Re: Star Trek: TNG: Indistinguishable From Magic Review Thread

    Apparently, my copy is currently en route to me courtesy of Amazon.co.uk. Very much looking forward to it.
     
  9. Dale

    Dale Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: TNG: Indistinguishable From Magic Review Thread

    I am really enjoying this book. Just getting started and I'm already drowning in old friends! Forgive me for this, but kick-ass job, Lonemagpie.

    I LOLed at that, by the way. Literally. My wife came in to see what was up.
     
    Last edited: May 13, 2011
  10. SD70ACe

    SD70ACe Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Re: Star Trek: TNG: Indistinguishable From Magic Review Thread

    Finished the novel last night. Quite good, though some of the more advanced mathematical constructs took my head for a spin. The ending seemed a bit too abrupt, but it was still hard to put down! Hopefully we'll see more of Scotty and Rasmussen again...
     
  11. JWolf

    JWolf Commodore Commodore

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    Re: Star Trek: TNG: Indistinguishable From Magic Review Thread

    So what pages are they in the ePub edition?
     
  12. Lonemagpie

    Lonemagpie Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: TNG: Indistinguishable From Magic Review Thread

    Haven't a clue - I've never seen one. It's Chapter 6 though.
     
  13. USS Intrepid

    USS Intrepid Commodore Commodore

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    Re: Star Trek: TNG: Indistinguishable From Magic Review Thread

    My copy arrived yesterday. I'm about 140 pages in and really enjoying it. I really appreciated the conversation about what the universe can absorb before triggering the creation of a new timeline.
     
  14. JWolf

    JWolf Commodore Commodore

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    Re: Star Trek: TNG: Indistinguishable From Magic Review Thread

    Something
     
  15. JWolf

    JWolf Commodore Commodore

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    Re: Star Trek: TNG: Indistinguishable From Magic Review Thread

    So what change needs to be made to fix the error? Since I have the ePub edition, I can make the change fairly easily.
     
  16. Lonemagpie

    Lonemagpie Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: TNG: Indistinguishable From Magic Review Thread

    The part was meant to be replaced by just a Romulan Admiral
     
  17. JWolf

    JWolf Commodore Commodore

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    Re: Star Trek: TNG: Indistinguishable From Magic Review Thread

    I did find one other error in chapter 19.

    When Bok first woke, his head was filled with...including Rasmussen. The name Rasmussen as the end of that paragraph should be Ras-mew-son as it's Bok's thoughts.
     
  18. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: TNG: Indistinguishable From Magic Review Thread

    ^Yeah, it's in his thoughts, not his speech, so I don't think phonetic spelling would be called for there.
     
  19. Rosalind

    Rosalind TrekLit's Dr Rose Mod Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: TNG: Indistinguishable From Magic Review Thread

    Finally finished the book properly last night. My overall impression is that it was a fun read and a page turner. However, there were quite a lot of little things in this book that pulls me out of the story every now and then that I can't rate it as 'outstanding'.

    Some of these things are very minor mistakes, for example a missing/extra quotation mark. Some are just words that read a bit awkward to me, one that pops to mind is "opponent's ship's shields" which is a bit of a mouthful when I tried to read it, and it broke the flow of my reading. There were also conversations where I didn't know who was speaking, this is especially the case on p452-3 where the second section started with Geordi and Leah walking, 10 lines later we were told Vol was the only other person left on the ship, then we had a conversion which started with Geordi but it wasn't until the end of the conversation I realised that he was talking to Leah when she kissed him. One mistake was scientific: just because Challenger is accelerating at 0.1g towards somewhere, and the ship had a gravity of 0.5g, it doesn't mean the people in the ship will experience 0.6g, in fact the probability of that happening is very small. It's more likely that the characters experienced acceleration in some random direction, as 0.1g is roughly change of 0 to 100kph in 15 seconds, and they might experience a change (+ve or -ve) in gravity.

    So I think this book showed the editorial turmoil behind the scenes in Pocket over the last year, as all of these things can be easily corrected.

    OTOH, I didn't have too much problem with the two book in one thing other people in this thread had. Maybe because I knew about it going into the book. Same with Scotty's medical situation.

    Anyway, this was a fun read, the story was engaging for me and I loved seeing all the old familiar faces and loved Geordi's journey through it. Oh yeah, I giggled at the Belgium reference. Looking forward to your next novel, David. :Bolian:
     
  20. JWolf

    JWolf Commodore Commodore

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    Re: Star Trek: TNG: Indistinguishable From Magic Review Thread

    Can you give me the name you would have used please so I can make the correction?


    But the term hew-mon was used so I do think the phonetic way would be correct there.
     
    Last edited: May 17, 2011