Spoilers DS9: The Long Mirage by David R. George III Review Thread

The Section 31 Bashir novel is out next month.

 

About halfway through. Lots more history dumps than normal. Only thing of some interest is the hunt for Vic.

 

Voted outstanding.

It was really good to see DRGIII being able to do what he does best. Write characters and motivations for them. This book was about people, not events. How they responded to each other and their interest in the well being of others. The events were there, but not the main focus. So yes, very well done.
The infodumps are hardly as bad as some people claim them to be. Sure, they are there, but not nearly as longwinded as they have been in the past, and the big ones we had were needed to explain things that we haven't witnessed in other books yet, like the explination of what happened between Vic and Morn and what happened to them seperatly.

I like how the falsework plotline and the crisis on Bajor was handled. Some claim it was wrapped up to neatly. I say it isn't resolved at all. Yes, some things were made more clear as to what it isn't, and that calmed some things down. But that doesn't change the fact that it's there, and that this moon is still something constructed. There is still some level of unease on Bajor.

Curious to see how the plotline with the Dominion refugees will develop. Certainly an interesting development.

So yes, I for one am very, very happy with how this novel concluded, expanded and creates plotlines. But mostly, I loved the characters and their internal dialogues in this one. More insight in how some of my favorite characters work and think is always welcome.

 

3.5 out of 5. We finally get some movement on stories that have been lingering for a while, especially the Vic story. The Kira/Bajor story also saw some nice movement as well. Not sure where the DS9 story goes from here. One thing I do know, I hope we can have Bashir back after David Mack's "Control" and please give us Sisko back as well. DS9 is not the same without him.

It would also be nice to find a place for Dax, either give her, her own series or make her more apart of the DS9 continuity, otherwise it's a waste of a good character and awesome ship.

 

Voted average.

I liked the Kira/Bajor subplot although Kira's actions were a bit self-righteous. She has trust issues, especially in superiors, and of course she's been burned before, but her attitude becomes a bit tiresome. Absolutely loved her short reunion with Odo. Their relationship felt so real within the series, and George managed to rekindle that with just a few phrases. Also loved the Altek-twist - obvious now that it's in the open, especially since it's not the first time someone was transported from a parallel universe, but in this case the endless repetition about him being from the distant past worked in me not even thinking of other possibilities. I'm curious to see where this plotthread on Bajor is going next. Also where Odo's is going next with the Dominion-refugees.

But unfortunately this was just a third of the novel, the other 2 thirds didn't work so well for me as I'm simply not interested in either Vic or Morn. On the other hand, those plotthreads are led to a (temporary?) conclusion, that's something at least. Quark and Ro's relationship is over. Wouldn't have minded them being a couple, but not if Ro keeps cheating on Quark and/or their goals for the relationship continue to differ. I could have done without the endless repetition of how hurt Quark is, or how sorry Ro is for hurting Quark... again, the situation is not that complex. Nog's obsession with restoring Vic was heart-felt, given that he in a way owes his recovery to Vic. But the situation within the programme dragged on way too long, and I'm not sure I like the sentient/non-sentient-conundrum. First of all, what's the agenda of the scientist? And secondly, we already had such a question with Data, the Doctor and with Moriarty. I'm not sure I need this issue on DS9 as well.

So overall, I really hope the next novels will focus on Bajor, DS9, Odo, bring back Sisko... now that all those loose sideplots with Vic, Morn, the Ascendants (in previous novels) have finally been resolved.

 

Honestly, I did like it for one thing: it was finally outright admitted that an attempt at AI can seem sentient without being so. Vic might be on the road there, but this is one of the only times in Trek I've seen where it was outright stated that just because a program interacts with people, gets along with them, seems to be communicating with them, that doesn't automatically mean that they're sentient. I mean, look how much people connected with Eliza when it was first developed, or Chatterbot. This was the first time in the Litverse I've seen it made blatant that people can interact with, connect with, and empathize with a hologram without that on its own implying the sentience of that hologram.

Compared to things like the "holostrike" from back in the first Voyager relaunch that seemed to have a subtext (thankfully ignorable as text) that literally all holograms were sentient, it was kind of a breath of fresh air.

 

I just wanted to remind people who are wanting more Sisko that it appears we'll be getting a novel devoted entirely to the Robinson later this year.

 

Has that been confirmed or is it still ideal speculation?

 

That's still pure speculation. We can hope it's true though.

 

There was a Pocket Books catalogue with the description "Robinson: First Mission".

 

Could be Vics life, Adrens life, the falsework, thematically they all work. Could be a tongue in cheek comment about all the gap filing that's had be done since the leap forward in the last few years, could even be a cheeky way of saying 'this isn't quite where we planned on going, but now we have this as our story instead of wherever else we were going'. Could be all of these things at once. It works as a title.

 

Looked everywhere for some indication that there would be a Robinson novel and came up empty handed. I think that people wanting Sisko back are looking for him to be apart of the DS9 story, in a way that puts him on the station again. I mean, make him an admiral of the Bajoran sector, he's so right for that kind of responsibility and have the Aventine in the Gamma Quadrant and apart of the main narrative. TNG and VOY have a majority of their crews together, DS9 is struggling in the book, I think, because so many people are missing and the "replacements" have just not been all that successful in filling the spots.

 

Pure speculation at this point, but:

http://defcons-treklit.blogspot.de/2017/02/speculation-december-drg-iii-novel.html

 

Oh, interesting. I will say, personally, this is not what I want for Sisko. Him just being another starship captain is not exciting. To me he's always been the best candidate for the admiralty of all the Trek captains we have seen. Especially since his time with Ross in the Dominion War, he's a big picture guy, someone that has what it takes for that job.

 

The problem is that the "replacements" haven't really had any screen-time so far. There's Blackmer, Mirage featured Candlewood... and the 2nd officer (the one over whom Blackmer got promoted) remained rather a bland version of ambitious career officer... so bland that I don't even remember his name. So there's a lot of work to be done here. I wouldn't mind Sisko returning in a more permanent capacity (although we've spent quite a few books with him yearning to get out into the gamma-quadrant, I definitely wouldn't need him sulk over being recalled now), but I definitely don't need the Aventine. I loved Ezri back in the TV-series, but the books have turned her into a malcontent wise-cracking know-it-all that I can't stand anymore...

 

I agree with you on the replacements, they have all been bland. I would say, DS9 seems to have had more of them and less investment in them all at the same time than a series like TNG of VOY has. I personally love Ezri and the Aventine. I also don't want Sisko to be done with the Prophets and Bajor. Honestly the DS9 series was once my favorite, but it's just not anymore and I think it's because they lost so much of the crew that the place has stopped feeling like the series and what I loved.

 

Sorry about the confusion, I forgot that it was just speculation at this point.

 

If you want to ask David R.George questions about the upcoming book Original sin you can go to his official site at https://www.drgiii.com

 

Trust me, most of us wish it was fact by now.