TOS: Allegiance in Exile by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

[Enterpriserules]

Procutus wrote:

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OK, that has me intrigued. I'm currently about a third of the way through, and I find I'm enjoying it. I see that a number of others didn't like Kirk's story arc in this, but I feel his introspection, particularly at this point in the mission, seems natural enough. Who knows, I may feel differently by the time I finish reading it.

I love the introspection, I think it fits perfectly with the Kirk we see later in TMP

[Sxottlan]

Kind of an odd duck. The earliest description made it sound like a Kirk book. But while he certainly features in the novel, this is really a Sulu book. I wasn't sure of the pacing until they got to the second planet and found the second city. I was thinking it was weird that the first planet incident took up a third of the book and then seemingly moved on.

By the time they get to the second planet, I was getting into it. However, I was a bit confused because it seemed that the book had been shifting back to Kirk's future.

Anyway, it was a little distracting about how obvious the guest character and guest Starfleet vessel were red shirts here. I agree that the hints at Trinh's past seemed to be left dangling. If it was supposed to connect back to her first husband, I didn't really get the connection. And Sulu's issue with Kirk was a little out of left field and obviously temporary as we see the two serving together again later.

But overall I liked the mystery and the last minute revelation about the two alien species was pretty cool. That's most of what I've wanted to see from TOS books: connections with other series. It was a bit last minute however. I wish it had come up earlier.

The revelation did raise some questions though:

Did Kirk ever ask the Bajorans about the Ascendants? Or about what they worship as a planetary religion? It feels as though they would have figured out about the wormhole pretty quickly afterwards.

Was there any particular reason the Ascendants did not find and attack Bajor right after coming out of the wormhole? How exactly did they find out that the Bajorans worshiped the same aliens?

Also, When are we going to see Sulu's eventual family?

[ATimson]

Sxottlan wrote:

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Also, When are we going to see Sulu's eventual family?

The Captain's Daughter.

[Freman]

I'm loving this book so far.

[James T. Vader]

Kirks introspection was a real downer in this book. The whole thing was kind of solemn and sad.

[JD]

That is actually pretty common for a DRGIII book. They tend to be great books, but overall they aren't light hearted romps.

[Enterpriserules]

JD wrote:

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That is actually pretty common for a DRGIII book. They tend to be great books, but overall they aren't light hearted romps.

I like to focus on character more than action. For me it's always better when characters drive the story and not the reverse.

[James T. Vader]

Enterpriserules wrote:

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I like to focus on character more than action. For me it's always better when characters drive the story and not the reverse.

His Typhon Pact duology was just about the greatest DS9 movie I have ever read.

[Enterpriserules]

James T. Vader wrote:

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His Typhon Pact duology was just about the greatest DS9 movie I have ever read.

I completely agree! I loved talking to him on Literary Treks about it because he really knows and loves the DS9 relaunch!

[Therin of Andor]

Avro Arrow wrote:

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I preferred Schuster & Mollmann's pick for Rahda's first name over the one presented here, which was just another use of the "use the actor's first name" idea.

Rahda has definitely been called "Naomi" in novels before, but I can't see that it's ever been referenced in Memory Beta - and, when I went through my own notes just now, I realised that DRG3 had actually referenced Sitara Rahda in "Crucible: McCoy"!

I finished up "Allegiance in Exile" this week, just as my plane finished landing at London Heathrow airport, on my way to Glasgow. Amazing timing! A very enjoyable read with lots of seeds sewn for possible future stories (and links to a few older ones). Many thanks to DRG3! I really enjoyed it. Some interesting Kirk/Sulu friction (perhaps vaguely influenced by real world Shatner/Takei friction?) - and how cool to add another 23rd century Andorian to my database?

I was fortunate enough to spend time with DRG3 and his wife, Karen, during my recent US adventure last January and he really made my day when he handed me an advance copy of "Allegiance in Exile".

As we explored Vasquez Rocks and fought a few Gorn together, he suddenly asked if I'd read his recent Sisko novels and I had to admit that I'd fallen way behind in my Trek reading of late, but that I'd heard they were, umm, controversial, and I couldn't wait to get to them. Then he said that he thought he'd planted a Tuckerism for me in one of his recent books, but he couldn't recall which one. "When I'm writing, I just tend to throw them in," he said.

Well, imagine my thrill this week when one minor character in "Allegiance in Exile" shared a surname of a family of Trek friends who were with me the first time we'd met David and Karen, in Sydney, in 2007. Coincidence?

Then a new Andorian character was introduced. Always likely to get my attention! At first, I was just excited there was a brand new Andorian, Veldaclien ch'Gorin, on the Enterprise during the fourth year of its 5YM, but a few pages later, the crew had contracted the Andorian's name to "Clien". (Maybe?)

Message back from DRG3 yesterday to Ian McLean: "The Andorian was indeed named in your honor."




David R George III and Ian McLean, 2007 by Therin of Andor, on Flickr

[rfmcdpei]

Sxottlan wrote:

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The revelation did raise some questions though

Did Kirk ever ask the Bajorans about the Ascendants? Or about what they worship as a planetary religion? It feels as though they would have figured out about the wormhole pretty quickly afterwards.

Was there any particular reason the Ascendants did not find and attack Bajor right after coming out of the wormhole? How exactly did they find out that the Bajorans worshiped the same aliens?

My impression is that information about Bajoran religion was acquired as part of the first contact mission Kirk left on the surface of the surviving colony, and not automatically privileged. What reason would Kirk et al have to believe that the Bajorans actually had an empirically verifiable faith?

Looking at the script for "Emissary" again, it looks as if it took Jadzia Dax taking advantage of extensive Bajoran and Cardassian databases along with knowledge of the location in the Denorios Belt where Odo appeared in 2345 to track down the wormhole's existence. Absent information Kirk couldn't have had, especially contacting a distant colony world rather than Bajor itself, the wormhole's non-discovery for the next century seems plausible enough for me.

As for the vector of the Ascendants, I assumed that the Prophets ensured that the Ascendants would be cast out on their exit to a location distant from Bajor. (Wondrous are their ways.) The Ascendants and Bajorans may both be children of the Prophets, but the Bajorans are the only ones who have lived continuously on the Prophets' doorstep for the past milllennia. Will have to revisit book.

[/QUOTE]

[Dave Scarpa]

I'm about 3/4 of the way thru, it does certainly have a TOS feel to it, didn't know it would be a sulu love story thou, but so far it's ok, but i'm not sure I buy Sulu's resentment against Kirk, surely by this point in their travels sulu knows the dangers of Landing party assignments, especially after what happened to him, and he knows how Kirk feels after losing a crewman, I know it's a initial reaction, but one would think Sulu would reassess his feelings quickly.

[FatherRob]

My thoughts are up over at my review site:
http://trekbook.blogspot.com/2013/02...-in-exile.html

[ProwlAlpha]

In the first half of the book, pretty much read like any other TOS book where they find a long lost civilization with a mystery. Like the trend of Trek books in the last decade, the author surely went crazy with reference TOS episodes, almost like Super Troopers Meow.

Yet, we get to see the consequences of Kirk's actions and it was nice to see that Kirk acted like a true leader and see that his choices do affect others.