A Singular Destiny review thread (possible spoilers)

[Claudia]

Well, I just finished ASD and have to say that I really enjoyed it. But it is IMO rather a "filler" book that explains more or rather sets the scene than it actually contains a plot. But that's not a bad thing as it introduces new and interesting key players (I "like" those Kinshaya - well, it was about time that some kind of theocratical state appears in ST instead of just your random fundamentalist) and lets our protagonists take a deep breath before the next political, rather than humanitarian, crisis appears.

I enjoyed Sonek Pran very much so far, and I hope he'll make another appearance some time soon. The only point of criticism I have is that he comes across as a little two-dimensional. I'd have wished for a more emotional outburst when he learned of Rupi's death, at least some kind of inkling as to a more darker side to his personality.

I'm still not too comfortable with the Aventine and her crew - I thought that silent treatment of Altoss' towards Sonek was quite a bit childish and ridiculous because ultimately, it wasn't Sonek's decision to go to Maxia Zeta... and he could have argued till hell freezes over when that equally childish lieutenant whose name I conveniently forgot now, had just adhered to her orders.

And given the small amount of ships available - why was Titan sent out on her exploration mission already? I mean, can't Riker help with relief operations first, and then set out again?

ASD's quite a good follow-up to the Destiny-trilogy, setting out pieces of the story until they all come together at the end to form an intriguing mosaic. The only thing I'm a bit concerned about is that ST might get a bit too political for my taste right now. I don't see any opportunity for a light-hearted story of exploration or first contact, at least not in the A-Q. And I certainly don't need another BSG-like monster-arc in ST... But I'll reserve judgment on that for now.

[rfmcdpei]

ProtoAvatar wrote:

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The enterprise/vulcan sous/relaunch novels may borrow from the rihannsu books in some parts, but they also contradict the books in other part. That's why I said that we should only include the relaunch novels - there are enough contradictions in filmed trek as it is, and including everything will prevent this conversation from ever reaching a conclusion.

Including everything, sure, that's a bad idea. Including things which have been explicitly integrated into the novels isn't at all.

Of course not. We all choose what to retain from star trek movies, novels etc.
We should not include in this conversation the part of the rihannsu (and other) novels that doesn't contradict canon because if we would, the discussion will last forever. And i didn't read the rihannsu books.

Pity, that. They're good.

I count the Rihannsu novels inasmuch as they can be counted upon because the detail that they include about the Romulans has been adopted--as much as possible, of course--into the novels. If Krad goes so far as to include Artraleirh, the Romulan colony world that supported the first two Free Rihannsu victories against the RSE, in A Singular Destiny, on top of all of the other details which have been incorporated into other relaunch novels in different series, then it's justified to conclude that the Rihannsu series are, if not novelverse canon, then novels which are freely mined for canon.

About taking wing - a fleet of ships - some centuries old - with weapons mounted on them is not enough to threaten the security of the romulan empire. If they are, then the romulans are pathetic.

Post-coup Romulus must have been chaotic. That said, the Remans explicitly threatened to attack Romulan cities if they didn't get what they wanted; Remus would presumably have been depopulated, but I don't think that they cared.

The romulans may have a xenophilic facet. The romulan conspirators from Nemesis don't (exept Donatra). And Tal'Aura leads RSE.

The ones that we see, sure. Romulan society before the split was established as chaotic and factionalized; other factions and other individuals, not seen in the movie, were also in play.

As for the thalaron weapon being used against a fleet - I explained in detail in my previous posts why this isn't feasable.

But Picard thought that a thalaron weapon made out of the deflector would be a viable defense against an entire Borg fleet. Even if the fleet was stationary, four thousand Borg ships would still have occupied a huge area of sky as seen from Enterprise's position. The thalaron weapon sounds like it was a wide-effect weapon, sterilizing things within dozens of degree of its point of generation.

[DEWLine]

As I understood it, Titan and the rest of the Luna-class ships still active - probably a few hundred other ships as well to varying degrees - are all being sent back out for at least three sets of reasons:

1. Morale/PR - reminding the public of the UFP that there's still Reasons to Go On. Exploration feeds that.
2. Strategic - getting a sense of the as-yet-unexplored spaces near the UFP and its neighbours. Playing the long game, as it were.
3. Tactical - being out there was how Titan found the Caeliar, which led to Solving the Borg Problem Permanently Without Being Genocidal.

They can't afford to not do this.

[Claudia]

Well, but those reasons are a bit counteracted by the restrictions on material for repairs and the building of new ships - and I'm not talking about no exploratory missions for all time, but to at least postpone them until the immediate crisis is over (i.e. the refugee problem etc.).

[Sci]

Claudia wrote:

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Well, but those reasons are a bit counteracted by the restrictions on material for repairs and the building of new ships - and I'm not talking about no exploratory missions for all time, but to at least postpone them until the immediate crisis is over (i.e. the refugee problem etc.).

Ultimately, both reasons for or against exploration right away are equally logical. Personally, I think it's irresponsible not to continue exploring -- amongst other things, you never know what else might be out there and might be able to help you or hurt you.

[JD]

Claudia, if you want a good old fashioned Trek exploration story, you really should check out Over A Torrent Sea. I'm about 110 pages into it, and so far it seems to be exactly what you were describing.

[Claudia]

JD wrote:

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Claudia, if you want a good old fashioned Trek exploration story, you really should check out Over A Torrent Sea. I'm about 110 pages into it, and so far it seems to be exactly what you were describing.

Oh, - I'm just waiting for amazon to finally send it to me...

[KRAD]

Thanks to everyone who's managed to squeeze in actual reviews of ASD in the midst of the arguing. (Not that I'm complaining about the arguing, it's actually fun to watch....) Glad people are digging the book.

Claudia wrote:

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And given the small amount of ships available - why was Titan sent out on her exploration mission already? I mean, can't Riker help with relief operations first, and then set out again?

That's covered in Over a Torrent Sea.

[BrotherBenny]

Finished ASD today and I have to say that I really enjoyed every moment of it. I've read others' comment on what they didn't like but I found that Pran was quite three dimensional as a character. Yes, the loss of his family and the family issues might have been a little cliched, but that kind of thing happens in real life all the time. I've had similar events happen in my own family, just not in such a violent manner.

I loved seeing the Palais staff again, those that we did, and the "big picture" events were very interesting. I would personally have said Pran was more Cussler than Clancy but I loved the book all the same.

Here's hoping for more from Bacco, Pran and Dax.

One question though. Why is it called the Typhon Pact? Surely the Tholians, Gorn, Breen, Kinshaya, RSE and Tzenkethi have their own name for the Typhon Expanse. Why name their alliance/government after the Federation name?

[JD]

Maybe it's just the way the Universal Translator translated it.

[Turtletrekker]

^That was my thought as well.

[T'Ressa Dax]

^That's my thought too...or they'd have to call it by a different name depending on who they were speaking with. Like Bacco using theTholian name for that area when speaking to Tezrene for example.

[Sci]

Maybe "Typhon" is just the honest-to-goodness local name for that region of space and the Federation and the rest of the galaxy adopted it?

(What, is that any more unlikely than aliens that call themselves Vulcans and Romulans and Remans?)

[BrotherBenny]

Sci wrote:

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Maybe "Typhon" is just the honest-to-goodness local name for that region of space and the Federation and the rest of the galaxy adopted it?

(What, is that any more unlikely than aliens that call themselves Vulcans and Romulans and Remans?)

We don't call 40 Eridani A (or Epsilon Eridani, can't remember which), Vulcan, and Diane Duane has the Romulans and Remans actually calling themselves Rihannsu and Havrannsu respectively. Although I accept that for on-screen Trek such allegories were used for ease or lack of imagination within timescale for production, but I would like to see more alien races called by their name for themselves than our name for them.

I'd also like to know where the names for some races came from, like Bajoran or Cardassian.

[Sci]

Xeris wrote:

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We don't call 40 Eridani A (or Epsilon Eridani, can't remember which), Vulcan, and Diane Duane has the Romulans and Remans actually calling themselves Rihannsu and Havrannsu respectively. Although I accept that for on-screen Trek such allegories were used for ease or lack of imagination within timescale for production, but I would like to see more alien races called by their name for themselves than our name for them.

I'd also like to know where the names for some races came from, like Bajoran or Cardassian.

Well, we know from "Horn and Ivory" that Bajor's name has its origins in the Bajora, an ancient nation-state that engaged in military conflicts with neighboring nations in Bajor's distant past as part of a campaign to spread their faith in gods they called "the Prophets" -- the faith that later came to dominate that world's culture.