TNG: Silent Weapons by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

[Hartzilla2007]

zarkon wrote:

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I wish I could ignore '09

Interesting but, why not save that for threads actually about Trek '09.

[Christopher]

JD wrote:

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I'm kind of baffled by the idea of the Hirogen becoming a bigger antagonistic race. I thought things between them and Voyager ended positively in the episode with the holograms?

Well, by their very nature, the Hirogen are not a single uniform society or state. They're thousands of distinct nomadic groups, all presumably operating independently of one another. Making peace with one group of them doesn't mean making peace with all of them. The hope was that the new technology and attitudes would propagate through the civilization as they found that there was a better way, but it seems likely that there would be traditionalists who resisted the change, and perhaps became more militantly devoted to their traditions as a result of the pressure to change.

[King Daniel Into Darkness]

JD wrote:

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I'm kind of baffled by the idea of the Hirogen becoming a bigger antagonistic race. I thought things between them and Voyager ended positively in the episode with the holograms?

Ditto Species 8472. As far as I can tell, in the Star Trek Online 'verse everybody is at war with everybody.

I guess space battles are more fun to play than inviting fellow captains over for a cup of Earl Grey.

[zarkon]

Hartzilla2007 wrote:

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Interesting but, why not save that for threads actually about Trek '09.

Don't try to put me into a box man

King Daniel Into Darkness wrote:

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I guess space battles are more fun to play than inviting fellow captains over for a cup of Earl Grey.

Yeah, having everyone at each others throats just works for the genre. A Final Unity is a nice cerebral TNG game though. Surprised no-one's ever tried an ascendancy style galactic conquest/diplomacy style game, would suit trek quite nicely too.

[Christopher]

King Daniel Into Darkness wrote:

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I guess space battles are more fun to play than inviting fellow captains over for a cup of Earl Grey.

There are other options. In the old 25th-anniversary computer game, I found the obligatory space-battle portions to be annoying interruptions of the main game play, which was more about exploring and solving problems and puzzles. I found the puzzles frustrating and usually had to fall back on the cheat sheet or walkthrough or whatever it's called, but at least it was more interesting than the battles.

[Ronald Held]

I just finished. This is one convoluted story in a larger arc. I wonder if the Breen will continue to try and lead the Pact, and how soon the Gorn might leave it. In the greater scheme of things, is tbe Picard family really safer on a planet than the Enterprise, given the current astropolitical crises?
Will the wormhole drive from the MU actually come into use in this Universe?

[JD]

Christopher wrote:

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Well, by their very nature, the Hirogen are not a single uniform society or state. They're thousands of distinct nomadic groups, all presumably operating independently of one another. Making peace with one group of them doesn't mean making peace with all of them. The hope was that the new technology and attitudes would propagate through the civilization as they found that there was a better way, but it seems likely that there would be traditionalists who resisted the change, and perhaps became more militantly devoted to their traditions as a result of the pressure to change.

I have to admit, I forgot that they weren't a unified state.

[Emh]

Finished the book this morning. While I thoroughly enjoyed the ongoing Typhon Pact political shenanigans and the rapid pace of the Breen's so-called master plan, I was a bit disappointed by the Breen's endgame. All of this was for a salvage operation of a new type of propulsion? The Breen really need to get over that obsession, especially since they trashed their espionage program with the Soong-type androids for the sake of that obsession. As others have already mentioned, they could have much easily have stolen the slipstream schematics with the Soong-type androids without all of their grandstanding and at the risk of losing their espionage program or their alliance with the Gorn.

That all being said, I loved the book aside from the poor payoff. Esperanza Piñiero's death is a terrible loss even if it was one I saw coming a mile away. After killing Jasminder and Esperanza, I fear who Mack will kill in The Body Electric!

While I know this isn't a fair judgment of the book, but I wish we had seen more of Data's hunt for Akharin instead of this major detour. While I'm certain The Fellowship of the Artificial Intelligence killed Hilar Tohm (although I initially thought Akharin was responsible) and will be followed up on, I wanted more of Data's journey. I was thrilled by the epilogue and pleasantly shocked that the Fellowship kidnapped Akharin although I can't see why they would.

[Claudia]

Finished the book yesterday. And it left me feeling a bit ambivalent.

First of all, it was a much easier read than PoM, certainly because there was no present tense or 1st person-PoV. There was enough adventure and quick action to make this book into a page-turner. But even though, it lacked the emotional depth of the last part of PoM. Again, I repeat what I said in my reaction to PoM: Maybe that's because I'm merely a casual reader now who has no knowledge of the prior parts of the TP. Granted, this book could be read on its own, but there's a lot of contextual information that's only hinted at - and not knowing the details IMO distracts and minimizes the pleasure of reading the story. I've often said here that I'd wish for some kind of "What happened earlier" in the books, especially in books connected to each other. But the way it was I didn't quite get the Breen's apparent obsession with that propulsion system, leading them to literally throw away the Soong androids which really could have secured them dominance if used wisely. And of course, the intricacies of the whole political situation escaped me almost entirely.

My reaction to Piniero's death was... indifferent, again. Frankly, I'd have felt more if Wexler had been killed and then used as a traitor.

I found the character moments on the E-E much more interesting. First of all, there was no real dealing with Worf's loss. Of course, Silent Weapons occurs a couple of months after PoM, but still, save for some problems with Smrhova which were mentioned in passing (because their actual interaction was quite limited), he was pretty much sidelined to putting some of the clues together. Except for 2 or 3 mentions of Choudhury, it was like nothing ever happened - which reenforced my red-shirt point of view. I'd have wished for more here.

OTOH, I quite liked Smrhova's portrayal, but I guess her ambition and her need to prove herself, coupled with her badass attitude could lead to troubles in the near future.

I didn't quite get what Beverly's problem was. Honestly, somehow I thought *she* let it go to her head that she's the "captain's" wife and shouldn't quite worry so much about Rene. It's not news, after all, that Picard has troubles keeping his relationship with a woman under his command and his duties as officer apart - that was the issue why he and Darren separated in "Lessons" after all. Back then, his focus was on his career - and even though he felt terrible putting her in danger, working together while having a relationship was not possible. The only shift in attitude from Picard was that now he's ready to resign himself and put the relationship above his career. So, what does that tell about Beverly and her perception of their relationship? And why does she criticize Picard? After all, she could have put herself between "Piniero" and Bacco as well. And if one goes one step further: What if Rene had been there? Would she really have expected and accepted Picard sacrificing his son? This was a "Change of Heart"-kind of situation. And actually, considering that his first officer has a mark on his record for that incident with Jadzia, perhaps Picard and Beverly should have made plans to prevent such situations (not going on away missions together etc). Well, the signs are there that they will leave the E-E in the near future... Who knows what will happen then to stories set on the E-E...

Finally, I was a bit disappointed by Data's role here. I loved the way he contacted Geordi and had confidence that his former colleagues would come. Then again, save for mimics and smiles his return to being the Data of old, solving puzzles, making use of his android speed, felt a bit too convenient. Especially his integration into the entirety of the Enterprise crew during the "think tank"-parts. I mean, they all know of Data, they might have heard of his return... but they don't know him and at least displayed no obvious curiosity towards him. To me that seemed a bit too much like business as usual.

I hope the 3rd part will continue Data's storyline (as the epilogue suggests it will), and in doing so be a bit more emotionally engaging than this novel. I realize that most of what I've written here is critical, but, overall, Silent Weapons is a good book. However, I'm not satisfied with good. *g*

[Relayer1]

I loved this book. It gave me a 'revisiting old friends' vibe that I don't often get, and I'm much more into the political arc in the Typhon Pact than the stand alone novels.

After PoM I thought it was unlikely to measure up, but it really did. I know Destiny is highly regarded, and it did get me back into Treklit, but it didn't press my buttons nearly as much as the Cold Equations novels are doing. I can't wait for the third one (if Amazon UK stop cancelling preorders it would help) and this trilogy is shaping up to be my favourite Trek work.

We are truly lucky at the moment - with this series and DRGIII's trilogy (I'm counting Rough Beasts with Raise The Dawn and Plagues Of Night) this is something of a highpoint of Treklit for me...

[the_wildcard]

Just finished the book myself. I thought it was a very good read. The action scenes were what I expect from a great author like David Mack. I have to say I was shocked of the number of deaths of so many familiar characters we've all gotten to read about in recent years. Mr. Mack is really shaking it up in this trilogy.

[Dingo]

Typhon Pact and the Cold Equations Trilogy have combined to get me back into TrekLit as a whole (I read through a fair bit of the DS9 Relaunch of late but I was intrigued by the stories of the Typhon Pact when I did some wikipedia reading about the Breen).

I really like how the Breen seemed to be catalysts in unraveling the Typhon Pact with their subterfuge (pissing off the Gorn in the process, and causing the Romulans to pause) and the further insight we got into the Breen as a culture based on Mack's work.

I wonder what's coming with the Typhon Pact later in the year as a result of the events of this trilogy (specifically the Breen screwing around).

[Paper Moon]

I suppose this could go in the The Body Electric thread, but since I haven't read it yet, I'll put it here.

Here, David Mack identifies three actors to play TrekLit-only characters depicted in this book:

I think Kristin Kreuk would be a great choice to play Lieutenant T’ryssa Chen; science officer Lieutenant Dina Elfiki could be played by Minka Kelly; and new security chief Lieutenant Aneta Šmrhová should be played by the Czech actress after whom she was named.

I don't know Kreuk, but she certainly looks to be the part, given the descriptions we have of Chen. Minka Kelly I know from her work on Friday Night Lights and I think she could pull off Elfiki very well. (Though I sorta wish an Egyptian actress could be found; I'm not sure how comfortable I am with the idea of an American of French and Irish ancestry playing a human of explicitly Egyptian descent. Probably a discussion for another time, though.) And googling Ms. Šmrhová led me to some... interesting results that I would advise folks to approach carefully if they are in the presence of employers/the elderly. David, did you name-drop Šmrhová in Destiny before realizing that she would get a bigger role later on?

[Christopher]

I think Dave's changed his mind about Elfiki, because back in 2008 he suggested Sarah Shahi for the role. Ever since seeing her in Fairly Legal, she's been my choice for Elfiki.

Kristin Kreuk as T'Ryssa? I dunno. She might be able to pull it off, but she's a little too gorgeous. Elfiki's supposed to be the really stunning one, with Trys being more just reasonably attractive or cute. But Kreuk is right up there with Shahi among the most stunningly gorgeous women on the face of the Earth. Besides, Kreuk is already my casting choice for Counselor T'Lana from the previous few TNG books.

[David Mack]

Ah, yes — I forgot about Sarah Shahi as Elfiki. I rescind my suggestion of Minka Kelly and revert my choice to the exquisite Ms. Shahi.

As for Šmrhová, I name-dropped her as a minor background player. It wasn't until I began outlining Cold Equations that I thought to move her up in the cast hierarchy.