Still one of my favorite Trek books ever, that.
Spoilers NF: The Returned, Part III by Peter David Review Thread
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Still one of my favorite Trek books ever, that.
I just finished reading The Returned, after spending the year on-and-off catching up on the New Frontier series.
It doesn't work as a series finale, which would entail a happy ending and an emotional sendoff to the characters.
the pon farr[/] notion seemed like something Calhoun made up to salvage his friendship with Soleta, so I was surprised it turned out to be the actual explanation for her behavior. I wonder whether this half-Romulan pon farr is a freak mutation of Soleta's, or if all Romulan/Vulcan hybrids can suffer from it. It may have been aided by Soleta not suppressing her emotions, unlike Saavik.
Q was uncharacteristically brutal. It would've worked as a sequel to The Eternal Tide, explaining his emotional state, but q participated in Cwansi's upbringing.
Nobody mentions, or is concerned with, that the Excalibur returns to the planet it subjected to orbital bombardment less than a year ago. The New Thallonian Protectorate appears to be more of a banana republic than a multi-species confederation aiming to bring peace and stability to Sector 221-G.
Also, two Galaxy-class starships are now equipped with cloaking devices. I liked how it was used routinely on the Excalibur during the trilogy but I wonder whether it will have any consequences.
Why would the interior of the ship (the shuttlebay) be visible when the shuttlebay doors are opened under cloak?
Who is or are the eponymous returned?
Part I mentioned the New Thallonian Protectorate is a Federation member, but the rest of the story portrays it as an independent nation. It's the Danteri Empire mess-up all over again.
It doesn't work as a series finale, which would entail a happy ending and an emotional sendoff to the characters.
the pon farr[/] notion seemed like something Calhoun made up to salvage his friendship with Soleta, so I was surprised it turned out to be the actual explanation for her behavior. I wonder whether this half-Romulan pon farr is a freak mutation of Soleta's, or if all Romulan/Vulcan hybrids can suffer from it. It may have been aided by Soleta not suppressing her emotions, unlike Saavik.
Q was uncharacteristically brutal. It would've worked as a sequel to The Eternal Tide, explaining his emotional state, but q participated in Cwansi's upbringing.
Nobody mentions, or is concerned with, that the Excalibur returns to the planet it subjected to orbital bombardment less than a year ago. The New Thallonian Protectorate appears to be more of a banana republic than a multi-species confederation aiming to bring peace and stability to Sector 221-G.
Also, two Galaxy-class starships are now equipped with cloaking devices. I liked how it was used routinely on the Excalibur during the trilogy but I wonder whether it will have any consequences.
Why would the interior of the ship (the shuttlebay) be visible when the shuttlebay doors are opened under cloak?
Who is or are the eponymous returned?
Part I mentioned the New Thallonian Protectorate is a Federation member, but the rest of the story portrays it as an independent nation. It's the Danteri Empire mess-up all over again.
We saw the same effect in The Voyage Home with the interior of the Bounty, and in ENT: "The Communicator" with the cloaked Suliban cell ship. So evidently there's a type of cloaking device that's more a kind of active camouflage built into the hull than an enveloping bubble effect or whatever.
I really enjoyed reading The Returned and felt it managed to wrap up a lot of the plots which were left outstanding from the previous books. I think, if Peter David never writes another volume of the series, then this is a pretty good stopping place for the series. It's even a happy ending of sorts as Captain Calhoun, Soleta, and Eppie come to a good sort of place.
There's one big plothole of course in the fact the genocide of Captain Calhoun's people get paid back with genocide of their own. That Captain Calhoun would want to blow up their world is no surprise to me. He's certainly not thinking straight but I think the Excalibur's culpability in it is terrible, especially since it was the action of the Visionary. We also never really got any sense of why he was doing this. It was such a pointless and nightmarish display of cruelty when the book makes the people much more sympathetic.
It's also rather glossed over.
What happens to Soleta and Calhoun is something I'm not happy about but, really, it's something I'm okay with sweeping under the rug too. Xyon's behavior is awful but, like Calhouns, understandable given the circumstances.
Still, I overall enjoyed the three books.
There's one big plothole of course in the fact the genocide of Captain Calhoun's people get paid back with genocide of their own. That Captain Calhoun would want to blow up their world is no surprise to me. He's certainly not thinking straight but I think the Excalibur's culpability in it is terrible, especially since it was the action of the Visionary. We also never really got any sense of why he was doing this. It was such a pointless and nightmarish display of cruelty when the book makes the people much more sympathetic.
It's also rather glossed over.
What happens to Soleta and Calhoun is something I'm not happy about but, really, it's something I'm okay with sweeping under the rug too. Xyon's behavior is awful but, like Calhouns, understandable given the circumstances.
Still, I overall enjoyed the three books.