Spoilers TP: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Sho, May 19, 2012.

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Rate Plagues of Night.

  1. Outstanding

    59 vote(s)
    51.3%
  2. Above Average

    38 vote(s)
    33.0%
  3. Average

    11 vote(s)
    9.6%
  4. Below Average

    5 vote(s)
    4.3%
  5. Poor

    2 vote(s)
    1.7%
  1. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

    President Vaccine's running mate was a version of a former Enterprise security chief from yet another parallel timeline, and they campaigned on a platform of making peace with former enemies. The opposition's campaign slogan was, "You shall have no treaty, no Vaccine, and no Lieutenant Yar!"

    (Ohh, brother, that's reaching.)
     
  2. DigificWriter

    DigificWriter Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

    I hate trying to post from my phone. It's easy to screw stuff up.
     
  3. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

    :bolian::bolian::bolian:
     
  4. DigificWriter

    DigificWriter Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

    Steering this back on topic and moving on from my phone being stupid, I also enjoyed Sisko's involvement in the story. I'm one of the few individuals I know of who didn't have any problems with the way Sisko was portrayed in Rough Beasts of Empire, and was glad that, based on the backlash he got on a professional and personal level, DRGIII didn't backtrack on where he'd taken Sisko's character in RBoE. The way he piggybacked Sisko's thoughts on where he'd been and where his relationship with Rebecca and Kas was going with the larger story arc worked very well, especially as he interacted with Prynn and Bashir.
     
  5. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

    Thot Snot :guffaw:
     
  6. Ronald Held

    Ronald Held Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

    I cannot top the typo brigade. Typos go up markedly while posting from a phone.
    Is there anything about Ambassador Spock returning to the Federation that contradicts anything in ST XI? I believe that it does wrt to comics series Countdown.
     
  7. star trek

    star trek Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

    Outstanding.

    My only few gripes about the novel is how Sisko and Tenmei kept on moping about. I skimmed through those chapters. It took awhile for the action to pick up and it did ... at the end ... which left on a spectacular cliff hanger.

    I'm glad the next book is coming out in a few weeks. June 26!
     
  8. DS9forever

    DS9forever Commodore Commodore

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    Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

    ^ After all that has happened to them and their families, I would think they would be entitled to "mope about"!
     
  9. Sho

    Sho Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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  10. RonG

    RonG Captain Captain

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    Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

    I voted Above Average - I think I wanted to like this novel more than I had.

    It was quite nice, combining plotlines from previous TP novels and creating a single tapestry. But I just kept waiting for some *Wow* moment / feeling, that never actually came. Though it had good character moments, I found the action scenes lacking (excluding the final scenes).

    Also, even if I were to wait for Book 2 in order to look at the complete duology, I doubt it'll bring a great big finale to the Typhon Pact arc (as we already have future TP solicited), so I hope I'm wrong, and I'll certainly give the next book a try, but I fear that it'll be "just another" TP story.

    Maybe it's because it's "just" Book 1 of 2, but I'd expected a little more.

    Oh well - the second book's almost here...
     
  11. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

    ^Again, the Typhon Pact isn't an "arc," it's just the new status quo. It's like the Klingons and Romulans being around in TOS, or the Romulans and Cardassians being around in TNG. There wasn't any endgame for those political relationships.
     
  12. Defcon

    Defcon Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

    My estimation is pretty similar, only that I voted average.

    (That's more an effect of the rather limited voting choices here than anything, I would have probably given this one an above average, but in comparison to some other novels I gave the above average because of the lack of an option between above average and outstanding in past TrekBBS novel polls this one isn't quite on the same level.)
     
  13. DigificWriter

    DigificWriter Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

    For me, the novels we've seen released under the Typhon Pact banner have been at their best when delving into character development. Seize the Fire was, for me, the weakest book because there wasn't a whole lot of character development, given that the previous Titan novels had pretty much handled the bulk of it and there weren't any new long-term characters introduced, an issue that the other books didn't have because they either introduced new characters or developed existing characters in new ways.

    This book, like RBoE, ZSG, and PoD, has tons of character development intermixed with the politics, and that's why I think it succeeds as well as it does, especially because I think DRGIII has a knack for handling character development that rivals CLB, David Mack, Kirsten Beyer, and S.D. Perry.
     
  14. RonG

    RonG Captain Captain

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    Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

    I'm sure you're right Christopher, however when presented as a title, Star Trek Typhon Pact implies IMO some sort of contained narrative (whether mini series, close ended series etc), otherwise why bother with a new title and not have the TP an ongoing presence in the currently-ongoing novel series?

    Also, while the Aliens in TOS, TNG and VOY were a part of the status quo (though something can be said in regards to the Klingon/Worf "arc" on TNG), DS9 did have a resolution-of-sorts to various plotlines regarding Cardassians, Bajorans and especially the Dominion.
     
  15. Ronald Held

    Ronald Held Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

    yes things are picking up. I think it would be good to see a resolution to the Typhoon Pact. I am unconvinced that it is a stable alliance in the long run.
     
  16. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

    Because Pocket Books has a history of doing Star Trek series that are thematically linked rather than ones that present a single narrative.

    Star Trek: Section 31 did not tell a single, unified narrative. Neither did Star Trek: The Lost Era, or The Captain's Table, or Invasion!, or Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Day of Honor.

    Obviously, they've done plenty of novel series that did tell a single story -- Destiny, Gateways, Terok Nor, etc. But it's never been automatically the case.

    Like Christopher said, there is no Typhon Pact arc -- anymore than there was, say, a Cold War arc to James Bond or John le Carré novels. The Typhon Pact is the new status quo, not the new problem to be solved.
     
  17. RonG

    RonG Captain Captain

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    Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

    By all indications, the TP novels tell a unified (though understandably large in scope) narrative - the TP novels are happening in a (more or less) chronological order, with plotlines spanning several novels. Further, there are no non-TP-related novels from the participating series (even IFM was linked to the post-Destiny / TP era).

    Even if that's not the intent, the novels from 2009 onward dealing with the TP tell an arc of sorts, which would lead to a climax (if not an outright resolution) to at least some of the main TP plotlines (Slipstream Drive, involvement of secret "spy" organizations such as Tal Shiar and S31, Andorian situation, etc).
     
  18. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

    I really don't think this assertion bears much scrutiny.

    Now, obviously Plagues of Night is touching on or advancing plot points from previous Typhon Pact novels. But the other TYP stories -- I'm using "TYP" as my abbreviation, both to fit with the standard three-letter abbreviation and because "TP" always makes me think of toilet paper.... -- were not interconnecting in any meaningful sense. Zero Sum Game was a self-contained DS9 novel that left the door open for continued Bashir/Serena stories, but which had seemingly resolved the quantum slipstream arc. Seize the Fire was a self-contained story that hasn't been followed up on at all. Rough Beasts of Empire was a DS9/TOS novel with its own self-contained narrative about the fall and rise of the Romulan government. Paths of Disharmony was a TNG novel that advanced an arc from the DS9 Relaunch and hinted at events from Star Trek: Vanguard. The Struggle Within was an episodic TNG novella that hasn't been followed up on at all.

    Meanwhile, one of the key political developments from the TYP series, Andor's secession, is apparently going to be more followed up on in the next TTN novel, Fallen Gods, than it will in an actual TYP novel.

    Not really. The only "broad" TYP arc you could construct would be "The Typhon Pact tries to gain a quantum slipstream drive," and that arc only applies to Zero Sum Game, Plagues of Night, and Raise the Dawn. There hasn't been a single story (with an introduction, a rising action, a climax, and a resolution) to TYP apart from that, and that doesn't apply to four out of seven novels.
     
  19. shanejayell

    shanejayell Captain Captain

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    Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

    Finished!

    Liked this one a LOT. David did a great job tying together strands from all the earlier TYP books, while also advancing Sisko's story and the DS9 plots. Did drag in bits, which is why I gave it a Above Average rather than Outstanding, but still very good.
     
  20. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

    It's mainly a sales/marketing decision. Destiny sold well, so they wanted another big branded crossover event. That event,Typhon Pact, sold well, so they wanted to do more of it. And it's because it is open-ended that it's so easy to do more of it.


    Eventually, after seven years, and the former two continue to play a role in subsequent novels.