Spoilers TNG: Headlong Flight by Dayton Ward Review Thread
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Both in fact, their names are together cited.
I got on fine, but they have it down as a pre-order and don't have an excerpt up yet.
Bought my copy today at Chapters!
I had to vote average. I have greatly enjoyed Ward's work in the past but this one committed the cardinal sin of not living up to its premise. Part of that was the stricture that all "stand alones" have to deal with, the necessity of putting things back in the box where you found them. But even beyond that, it just didn't deliver. Not that it wasn't enjoyable, but it just should have been better.
Maybe downloads start tomorrow?
Tomorrow's the official release date, so that'll be when they're available, yeah.
Mine appeared, starting it later today.
Finally finished Jonathan Haidt's The Righteous Mind (rather remarkable that Haidt never once cites or acknowledges George Lakoff's writings or theories, and yet they fit together so well [albeit with some of the same wrong assumptions and conclusions]), and so I'm now a chapter into the present opus.
As it is, it seems to be a bit of a slow start, compared to CLB's most recent opus. Then again, I'm an ADF fan, so unless I'm already having trouble staying awake, slow starts don't really bother me.
As it is, it seems to be a bit of a slow start, compared to CLB's most recent opus. Then again, I'm an ADF fan, so unless I'm already having trouble staying awake, slow starts don't really bother me.
I got the biggest kick out of a reference to a certain original series event. It's subtle, but I caught it right away. 
For me, the best part, as always, were about the characters. And I loved the depiction of the enemy; it wasn't the usual two-dimensional evil cardboard enemy as often depicted (to my annoyance), but more like this race was depicted in the original series.
Fun read, but I needed a chart to keep track of everything (for my review, up tomorrow, I had 3 pages front and back of notes on the story).
For me, the best part, as always, were about the characters. And I loved the depiction of the enemy; it wasn't the usual two-dimensional evil cardboard enemy as often depicted (to my annoyance), but more like this race was depicted in the original series.
Fun read, but I needed a chart to keep track of everything (for my review, up tomorrow, I had 3 pages front and back of notes on the story).
A lot here that I loved. I really liked bringing back the Bloodied Talon and its crew; they were a great, if brief, part of Vanguard (and the different historical track was great). The aliens were awesome, and I loved the concept of the book. It was great seeing the alternate crews interact, and I thought the scene of Picard and Crusher on the Ent-D was perfect, it touched all the right emotional notes.
The only thing I can say really bugged me was a part of the ending: it was the focus on giving the transphasic torpedo schematics to Riker so that the Federation could potentially destroy the Borg. I know that this book was meant to be more stand-alone, so going into the minutiae of Destiny and the details of the Caeliar would've been really hard without an exposition dump, especially since they had nothing at all to do with the actual plot. But one of my favorite parts of Destiny was that we didn't destroy the Borg, we saved them. It was an incredibly Star Trek way of dealing with such a devastating threat, by rescuing them from their fate rather than just killing them all. Not only did it feel kind of vengeful from Picard to a degree that he really seemed to move past in the post-Destiny timeframe (especially after that final scene of the trilogy), but in-universe it seems like he just as easily could have let Riker in on the origins of the Borg and given him a pointer towards the Caeliar to repeat the restoration of the Borg in that dimension, only this time before 63 billion people died. It really seemed too...bloodthirsty?
But overall, a great read!
(I also loved the little shoutout to CLB and the reference to your Vulcan travel guide.
)
The only thing I can say really bugged me was a part of the ending: it was the focus on giving the transphasic torpedo schematics to Riker so that the Federation could potentially destroy the Borg. I know that this book was meant to be more stand-alone, so going into the minutiae of Destiny and the details of the Caeliar would've been really hard without an exposition dump, especially since they had nothing at all to do with the actual plot. But one of my favorite parts of Destiny was that we didn't destroy the Borg, we saved them. It was an incredibly Star Trek way of dealing with such a devastating threat, by rescuing them from their fate rather than just killing them all. Not only did it feel kind of vengeful from Picard to a degree that he really seemed to move past in the post-Destiny timeframe (especially after that final scene of the trilogy), but in-universe it seems like he just as easily could have let Riker in on the origins of the Borg and given him a pointer towards the Caeliar to repeat the restoration of the Borg in that dimension, only this time before 63 billion people died. It really seemed too...bloodthirsty?
But overall, a great read!
(I also loved the little shoutout to CLB and the reference to your Vulcan travel guide.
)
I'm only a chapter in. Have I already missed it?I got the biggest kick out of a reference to a certain original series event. It's subtle, but I caught it right away.
Outstanding!
This is a character piece, and the theme appears to be leadership. I love venturing into alternate dimensions, so revisiting the D didn't feel like a retreat of an old series. Is this the only timeline we know where Yar receives a happily-ever-after (for now)?
On Picard providing the schematics: it's said to be about defending the Federation, no destroying the Borg. I was thinking of ST:FC... In Engines of Destiny, the Federation is doomed without Picard.
On a slightly more nightmare-fuel note, the original 1701 is casually mentioned as having been destroyed. With no one stopping the amoeba, doomsday device, Denevan parasites, etc, the galaxy is basically doomed.
This is a character piece, and the theme appears to be leadership. I love venturing into alternate dimensions, so revisiting the D didn't feel like a retreat of an old series. Is this the only timeline we know where Yar receives a happily-ever-after (for now)?
On Picard providing the schematics: it's said to be about defending the Federation, no destroying the Borg. I was thinking of ST:FC... In Engines of Destiny, the Federation is doomed without Picard.
On a slightly more nightmare-fuel note, the original 1701 is casually mentioned as having been destroyed. With no one stopping the amoeba, doomsday device, Denevan parasites, etc, the galaxy is basically doomed.
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I enjoyed it - voted above average.
It doesn't do anything particularly radical but it's a interesting story told well. I've mentioned in the frustrations with Trek Lit thread that what TNG needed was a period of smaller stories with some proper character development and less of the us and them aspect between the old timers and the new batch. This gave us the former (though Smrhova has been sidelined in the last two books and could do with some more attention, we know Chen & Elfiki are friends but it would be nice to know what relationship, if any they have with Smrhova) but the latter is still in place. In fact we got the contrast at the end between the entire Enterprise D crew sitting down to play poker and Picard only gathering together Worf, Crusher & Geordi to get their thoughts. Some more interaction between new and old would be nice.
It was nice apart from a bit of shooting from the Romulans that the situation was the problem rather than any out and out villains. I was wearily half expecting a twist from the Romulans or aliens at the end so I appreciated the way it played out.
My main issues were early on some of the background stuff from the Enterprise D was too long winded and stopped the narrative dead in its tracks. We know the background already - all we needed to know was that Picard died during the Borg crisis - the extra details of how it happened added nothing, the same with all the Pegasus and Riker/Troi stuff. It also seemed a lost opportunity not to hear more from Yar since she's the biggest difference between the two crews.
I suppose at the end of the day the whole thing seemed to have more impact on the Enterprise D and the Romulans. The Enterprise E crew seemed more like the mature responsible ones helping the others through it. Though there was Picard's final decision which may have more impact further down the line. The concept of destroying the Borg didn't worry me too much but you think it might have occurred to Picard that by disrupting the timeline he makes it less likely the Caeliar would be in the right place at the right time and potentially make it more likely the Federation is destroyed.
It doesn't do anything particularly radical but it's a interesting story told well. I've mentioned in the frustrations with Trek Lit thread that what TNG needed was a period of smaller stories with some proper character development and less of the us and them aspect between the old timers and the new batch. This gave us the former (though Smrhova has been sidelined in the last two books and could do with some more attention, we know Chen & Elfiki are friends but it would be nice to know what relationship, if any they have with Smrhova) but the latter is still in place. In fact we got the contrast at the end between the entire Enterprise D crew sitting down to play poker and Picard only gathering together Worf, Crusher & Geordi to get their thoughts. Some more interaction between new and old would be nice.
It was nice apart from a bit of shooting from the Romulans that the situation was the problem rather than any out and out villains. I was wearily half expecting a twist from the Romulans or aliens at the end so I appreciated the way it played out.
My main issues were early on some of the background stuff from the Enterprise D was too long winded and stopped the narrative dead in its tracks. We know the background already - all we needed to know was that Picard died during the Borg crisis - the extra details of how it happened added nothing, the same with all the Pegasus and Riker/Troi stuff. It also seemed a lost opportunity not to hear more from Yar since she's the biggest difference between the two crews.
I suppose at the end of the day the whole thing seemed to have more impact on the Enterprise D and the Romulans. The Enterprise E crew seemed more like the mature responsible ones helping the others through it. Though there was Picard's final decision which may have more impact further down the line. The concept of destroying the Borg didn't worry me too much but you think it might have occurred to Picard that by disrupting the timeline he makes it less likely the Caeliar would be in the right place at the right time and potentially make it more likely the Federation is destroyed.
