Spoilers DS9: Enigma Tales by Una McCormack Review Thread

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Defcon, Jun 17, 2017.

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Rate Enigma Tales

  1. Outstanding

    24 vote(s)
    49.0%
  2. Above Average

    19 vote(s)
    38.8%
  3. Average

    4 vote(s)
    8.2%
  4. Below Average

    1 vote(s)
    2.0%
  5. Poor

    1 vote(s)
    2.0%
  1. Snaploud

    Snaploud Admiral Admiral

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    Pulaski comes across as a bit of a paranoid whacko in this book. Garak is entertaining as usual, though, and it was nice to see Cardassia doing so well.
     
  2. Mage

    Mage Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Una made me cry again. She's good at that.
     
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  3. Ronald Held

    Ronald Held Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Hobus should have little direct impact on Cardassia Prime, so in principle, no mention of the disaster might be feasible?
     
  4. Jarvisimo

    Jarvisimo Captain Captain

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    Well, something like that :D

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    Although how did the Dominion thus skip the border to attack the Fed from Cardassia as in "In the Pale Moonlight"? Or is that a journey under/over the plane of this 2d map?
     
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  5. Mage

    Mage Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Well, first, I don't think these maps are actually canon. People who worked on both the show(s) and the novels worked on them I believe, but they aren't official.
    Second is, yes, the maps are a 2D representation of a 3D enviroment. Going 'deep and under' or 'high and over' might be a longer route, but could mean you could skip borders.
     
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  6. Jarvisimo

    Jarvisimo Captain Captain

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    Indeed, and the Romulan front of the dominion war was a big part of two of McCormack's novels, and there was contact throughout the 24th century not through the Federation, so there must be contact somewhere.

    Oui, none of what we discuss is canon :p and canon is utterly contradictory too :D
     
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  7. Dsven43

    Dsven43 Lieutenant Junior Grade Red Shirt

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    Was Bashir mentioned at all?
     
  8. Jarvisimo

    Jarvisimo Captain Captain

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    Last edited: Jul 2, 2017
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  9. Mage

    Mage Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Dude, all I'm saying in, he's one of the reasons I had to cry so much during the last page of the book. But the last sentence of this novel, those last few words..... They killed me.
     
  10. DS9forever

    DS9forever Commodore Commodore

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    I think I'd like Pulaski to fall down a turboshaft anytime now.
     
  11. Starfury

    Starfury Captain Captain

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    The turboshaft would just spit her out again.
     
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  12. Paris

    Paris Commodore Commodore

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    I see what you did there. Very clever :techman:
     
  13. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Haha, I see what you did there. Good one.
     
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  14. Reanok

    Reanok Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I finished this book and voted Above average. I thought it was an intriguing story with the way the story unfolded and all the mystery and past history coming back to clobber the cardassians about awful things they did during the occupation of Bajor and consequenes ofthose acts.
    I did the like the ending scenes with Bashir with Katherine Pulaski bringing Kukalaka to Julian and the end scene where Garak is reading to Bashir. Julian petted Kukalaka . I hope Julian will return and will be able to speak and being recovering and learn to walk and talk again that he won't be left an invalid forever in the books.
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2017
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  15. David cgc

    David cgc Admiral Premium Member

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    I noticed that was becoming less subtextual starting with "Control," when Garak was uncharacteristically overt about his jealousy when Sarina was around.
     
  16. hbquikcomjamesl

    hbquikcomjamesl Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Huh?

    At any rate, I thought this to be one of the best DS9 novels I've read. (But I must qualify that with the admission that DS9, especially when it got away from the original "galactic crossroads" concept, and into the Dominion War, and then the pah-wraiths, was not my favorite of the broadcast ST series.)
     
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  17. David cgc

    David cgc Admiral Premium Member

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  18. hbquikcomjamesl

    hbquikcomjamesl Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Oh, yes. Now I remember. Didn't actually see the episode, but I remember, and (to my great surprise) I didn't need to follow the link in order to remember.

    Personally, I liked Pulaski during her one season of TNG. Not to the point where I'm not glad Crusher came back for the final 5 seasons and the feature films, but I'm also glad that Pulaski had a season, and that she occasionally shows up in TrekLit.

    At any rate, after a lot of vacillating between "very good" and "outstanding," I ended up voting with the majority, and giving this piece one of my extremely rare "outstanding" ratings.
     
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  19. jaime

    jaime Vice Admiral Admiral

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    And that was a better novel about spies than other Trek attempts. It helps that Cardassia is as it is.
    My only nitpick is that a phaser set to stun at close range is supposed to do more damage than happens to Pulaski.
    Oh..and not a nitpick...but how distasteful is she? She's a xenophobic idiot. I started wishing someone better was in her place...but by the end, the book had highlighted how utterly out of touch she was really well.
    Top marks for bringing the...oh everyone else has put in spoilers...but yes. That is the first thing a chap would need...under the circumstances. The one good thing Pulaski did was ferry that item there.
     
  20. Mage

    Mage Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I have to admit, I could stomach Pulaski here. One of the reasons I didn't really care for The Missing was because of her. Cannot stand her. Thankfully, she was a bit less herself in this one. ;)