Spoilers S31: Disavowed by David Mack Review Thread
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Well, some of them do.
It would be nice if there were cultural idioms, but it's hard work then to keep remembering them. And authors would apply them inconsistently, perhaps. That could be argued to be a good thing - challenging mono-culturalist ideas and expressions ('In Kahless's name' for example).
And the Breen - a culture about the loss of cultural idiom - is more challenging in this respect - they epitomise, to an extent, blandness because they are all equal.
And the Breen - a culture about the loss of cultural idiom - is more challenging in this respect - they epitomise, to an extent, blandness because they are all equal.
That was certainly one hell of a ride. I feel I can re-read it straight away. 
Although some little plotpoints were a bit obvious, it didn't take away from the overall experience and the thrill. I felt like
The biggest thing I guessed halfway though, was...
Although some little plotpoints were a bit obvious, it didn't take away from the overall experience and the thrill. I felt like
Bashir himself, when he realized what he'd been through in such a short amount of time, right after his tribunal.
The biggest thing I guessed halfway though, was...
that the ship found in Silent Weapons, was the ShiKar and the Breen commandos were responsible for it crashing in 2383, creating a little timeloop.
Well, you can always assume that they use Breen idioms, but the universal translator rendered them into easy to understand English idioms for your convenience, just like everything else they say.
I'd rather wonder why? they would use idioms at all. After all, idioms are a unique part of a language, and in the same of sameness they scramble their languages, while idioms could be a give away... Or maybe they're always translated into respective idioms in other Breen languages and/or simple rendered in a simple, non-idiomatic phrases in case of lack of equivalents.
I'm overthinking it, ain't I?
Millennium established that the MU was under Prime Directive protection. I'm not sure if it's shown up in anything that's properly in the relaunch continuity, but that's where that started.
It's Patrick. He was just pretending to be child-like. He's the mastermind 
"That's a stupid question!"
"That's a stupid question, too!"
It's Patrick. He was just pretending to be child-like. He's the mastermind
I noticed that, yes. Although I suppose Odo is indeed still in charge, he's just gone AWOL.
Can god-rulers do that? Whether he likes it or not, I imagine Odo is indeed still considered the leader of the Dominion, by the Dominion at least and possibly by most of the Alpha/Beta quadrants.I keep thinking about poor Weyoun and Rotan'talag, who for all we know are still waiting at Idran, Fry's-dog-on-Futurama-style.
Plus he's left Laas as default leader, which is...questionable judgement at best. He hasn't handled Kira's loss very well at all, has he? He's going through a Sisko phase.
Didn't - and I know I'm going to screw up the acronym - NYTBSAKMFB do the same thing with the Commander in the most recent Voyager novel? He didn't end up being an established character.
Anyway, we all know Maxwell Smart ends up in charge of Control.
'Control' did make me think of all those 70s/80s spy and Blake's Seven-esque sci-fi thrillers that inspired some of the S31 shenanigans of Una McCormack's Hollow Men. I do hope some of those agents (Enderby, Jedburgh) reappear at some point too.
Strangely, reading this novel, I did feel a bit sad what happened to Cole and his team (including surprise Sakonna) - sure, people up to no good, yet what moral highground did Memory Omega have over them? Indeed all their MO-connected operations were zero casualty, which was an unexpected turn of events.
Strangely, reading this novel, I did feel a bit sad what happened to Cole and his team (including surprise Sakonna) - sure, people up to no good, yet what moral highground did Memory Omega have over them? Indeed all their MO-connected operations were zero casualty, which was an unexpected turn of events.
Y'know, what if we have a species whose primary language cannot be produced with the (English-speaking) human mouth whatsoever? How do we even begin to assign names?
Well, you can always assume that they use Breen idioms, but the universal translator rendered them into easy to understand English idioms for your convenience, just like everything else they say.
I'd rather wonder why? they would use idioms at all. After all, idioms are a unique part of a language, and in the same of sameness they scramble their languages, while idioms could be a give away... Or maybe they're always translated into respective idioms in other Breen languages and/or simple rendered in a simple, non-idiomatic phrases in case of lack of equivalents.
I'm overthinking it, ain't I?
Come to think of it, here's one of my nitpicks about sci-fi in general. Why should alien names not utilize standardized spelling?
i.e. it is unlikely that Skrain Dukat and Corat Damar are fluent and literate in English given the existence of universal translators. So do we say that "c" and "k" in their Federation-rendered names represent the same sound and somebody arbitrarily assigned different letters? Or do we say that "c" and "k" in fact represent different sounds in the main Cardassian language but beings with human voice capacity pronounce both like the English "k" sound for convenience?
You're kidding, right?
Once again, here are the novels in related continuity with Disavowed (all but one of which was written by me).
Section 31: Abyss by David Weddle & Jeffrey Lang
Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions
Typhon Pact: Zero Sum Game
Cold Equations II: Silent Weapons
The Fall III: A Ceremony of Losses
As for those complaining of "inconsistent" or "confusing" characterization regarding Sarina Douglas and her motives, that's one of the hazards of writing in a shared continuity. I can't control what other authors do with these characters, or how they portray (or fail to depict) their inner lives.
I've always seen Sarina as a double agent against S31 and always true to Bashir.
Bits of Millennium were referenced offhandedly in Watching the Clock in a couple of ways, possibly in other novels as well (though I don't remember other references), but the full series itself as-is is incompatible with more recent Treklit continuity as a whole; the MU not having a Bajoran wormhole and present-day Vash going back in time permanently to ancient Bajor being two significant divisions that come to mind.
Edit: Oh, wait, I misread your post; you were probably already aware of this. Thought you said you weren't sure if Millennium showed up in relaunch continuity. :P
Anyway though, that can't be what was going on in Disavowed, because Cole said that it was a recent law passed by the Federation, not a Prime Directive issue.
That's fair, and knowing that's the authorial intent here actually helps, so thanks
I still don't think she's my favorite character either way, but it's not a deal breaker. So much other great stuff going on in this one.
