TOS: Unspoken Truth by M. Wander Bonanno Review Thread (Spoilers!)

[nx1701g]

I picked this (and The Needs of the Many) up at Wal-Mart today...

A social experiment was conceived. Its goal was to breed the best, the brightest, the most malleable and most loyal soldiers to ever serve. To this end, the Romulan Empire used its own children, blinded by the belief that anything that would bring glory to the praetor was justified. And when the winds of politics changed, these children were abandoned, left to die on a world so horrifying that it was dubbed–by those who dared to cling to life–Hellguard.

One wild child, Saavik, was rescued by Spock. He took the half-Vulcan, half-Romulan child home to his parents, knowing that if anyone could reach and rescue Saavik, it was them.

Now a Starfleet officer, Saavik has striven to honor her mentor and her Vulcan heritage. But recent events have shaken her. Left behind on Vulcan while the rest of the Enterprise crew goes to face court-martial for stealing and destroying their ship, the young science officer is adrift when two men from her past confront her. Tolek, another Hellguard survivor, tells Saavik that the survivors are being killed one-by-one and only they can discover who and why. The other, a Romulan who claims to be her father, swears it is the Vulcans who are eliminating the Hellguard survivors because they are an embarrassment to all of Vulcan, but that she has the power to stop it, by bringing down the Vulcan ambassador, Sarek.

Not knowing where to turn, not knowing whom to trust, Saavik must find her own answers, and discover who she truly is.

This is a discussion thread so spoilers are permitted. You have been warned.

[JD]

You got it already? Amazon is the webite I can find that has it off of pre-order.

Have you started it yet?

[nx1701g]

^ Actually I haven't started it or TNOTM. I'm debating which to read first.

[nx1701g]

Since I can't edit I decided to go with TNOTM first. Has anyone else picked this up?

[Agenda]

Saavik calls Amanda "mother" in this. And then she marries her "brother"! Someone start the banjo twanging.

[ClayinCA]

Not that this will make the slightest bit of difference to my enjoyment of the book (I'm really just idly curious), but am I right in thinking that the background for Saavik in this book and the one in Carolyn Clowes' excellent The Pandora Principle are contradictory?

[Defcon]

ClayinCA wrote:

---

Not that this will make the slightest bit of difference to my enjoyment of the book (I'm really just idly curious), but am I right in thinking that the background for Saavik in this book and the one in Carolyn Clowes' excellent The Pandora Principle are contradictory?

From my interview with Margaret Wander Bonanno last year:

“I’m relying somewhat on Carolyn Clowes’ excellent novel The Pandora Principle,” she reveals. “In the novelisation of The Wrath of Khan, Vonda McIntyre makes passing reference to Saavik’s being half-Romulan and an orphan from a planet called Hellguard, but isn’t able to go into a lot of detail. Clowes takes that concept much further, showing us a feral child surviving on a hostile world when the Romulans abandon it. I’m paying homage to that in a number of flashbacks, tweaking it a bit to fit my story.

[Paris]

I just got my copy last night (along with the STO tie-in) and I'm 2 chapters in. So far so good . I love that MWB has been a part of treklit again in these last few years. Thanks Margaret!

[ClayinCA]

Defcon wrote:

---

From my interview with Margaret Wander Bonanno last year:

Oh, very cool - thanks!

Either way, I've very much been looking forward to this book, as I've thoroughly enjoyed MWB's writing in general and her take on Vulcans in particular - but knowing she's taken the Clowes book into account as well is icing on the cake.

[seigezunt]

I was just starting the DS9-R, but I may have to pause for a Bonnano-thon (a Bonanno split?), as this is now the second book of hers I am dying to read, after Burning Dreams. Especially because two recent books I've read by newer authors have been less than stellar (though I'm enjoying Avatar, and it was written bythe co-author of the limp Inception), and MWB has long been a favorite. She "gets" TOS.

[Thrawn]

I haven't started Unspoken Truth yet, but I decided to read Pandora Principle first, and I just gotta say - anyone that hasn't read this one should order themselves a used copy PRONTO. This is just a thoroughly fantastic TOS novel, with brilliant characterization all around. I'm enjoying it much much more than I was expecting to.

Unspoken Truth is up next.

[ClayinCA]

Absolutely. It's one of my favorite TOS novels of all time, and one of the very few set during its period. The sequences of Spock (of all people!) effectively trying to be a parent to young Saavik are both hysterically funny and genuinely touching and poignant. Honestly, the depiction of Spock and Saavik's relationship is one of the reasons that I could never quite wrap my head around the idea that Saavik eventually became Spock's wife. Just didn't (and doesn't!) seem right to me.

[Thrawn]

ClayinCA wrote:

---

The sequences of Spock (of all people!) effectively trying to be a parent to young Saavik are both hysterically funny and genuinely touching and poignant.

Yes.

[Reanok]

I really think The Pandora Principle is one of the best Tos novels that I've read recently. I just started Unspoken Truth and it definitely harks back to the flashbacks of Saavik as a child and her thoughts about Spock and Amanda and Sarek have been really interesting to see from her pov.Margaret does a nice job using elements from Carolyn Clowes novel.

[seigezunt]

Great. I'm never going to get to the Destiny trilogy at this point.