The actual plot was a good one. We assume, of course, that Takedown isn't real, that the objective is different from that being claimed, and I enjoyed the mystery. Knowing that this almost certainly isn't a "military objective" story, that the matter's undoubtedly more subtle and complicated than that, definitely works in the book's favour, especially since we can easily speculate that the eight are on some secret assignment. The revelation is fun, too, in that the assignment indeed isn't intended to provoke a war, but isn't benevolent or carried out at the behest of the Alpha/Beta quadrant powers (which was what I was assuming). It plays with the reader's assumptions as well as the characters'.
That leads me to Cytherians. Cytherians!
I've wondered if they were ever going to show up again (why, yes, Federation, let's not
bother following up on the friendly, approachable super-advanced people who can warp ships thousands of light-years and turn people into super-geniuses
) and this was a great way to bring them back. The descriptions - or hints, really - about Cytherian nature and the various means by which the two people/facets involved relate to each other were intriguing. The conflict between them was also a rather fresh take on the Trek superbeing tropes, both laughably mundane when reckoned against the political stakes of the local powers, and yet undeniably significant and weighted with importance in their own way.
I like the idea behind the Romaine Centre, and it is appealing to have the simulations and interrogations revealed as the product of something not only benign but helpful, rather than sinister. It ends the novel on a satisfying, comfortable note, and a very humane one. The facility is pretty logical as an extrapolation of the Federation's not-too-infrequent encounters with mind-altering beings.
I do wonder, though, how the station fared during the Dominion occupation of the Betazed system...
Bretorius was fun. I can't even call him a villain - he couldn't possibly aspire to being something as important or noteworthy as that.
He was just
there, and sometimes an irritant to the others - which is the whole point, of course. That's his life.
The introductory scene in which he privately bemoans not being invited to join the Shinzon coup was amusing. Is it just me, or did he almost feel like a
New Frontier character?
