Spoilers DTI: Shield of the Gods by Christopher L. Bennett Review Thread

I assume they'll propagate out. iBooks regularly tells me there are updates to download of eBooks I have, though there's never any explanation of what they might be, and it always feels a bit odd to have them listed the same way as apps with bug fixes or new features. I'm pretty sure I've read that Kindle books do the same thing.

 

Enterprise1701, thanks for pointing out the mistake. I've updated my annotations to acknowledge your assistance. (Does that count as a No-Prize?)

 

Just read the annotations. Christopher, I like the idea of the Tales from the Vault title. Maybe they will get collected either in print or an ebook bundle someday.

 

Christopher, cannot E book content be refreshed by the distributor (ie:Amazon)?

 

You're welcome. Glad to help, Christopher.

 

I enjoyed the story quite a bit, but I must make a confession: I was slightly disappointed that the story didn't find one of those facile Star Trek endings where everything works out fine while at the same time the villain manages to prevent billions of tortured deaths. It doesn't sit well with me that the Aegis will save those who died relatively instantly but can do nothing for the victims of the Fethetrit's most horrific crimes. That's just a little more grimdark than I like in my Star Trek. And it makes this story yet another incident where the Federation supports the morally less defensible position--indeed, I'm surprised Picard wasn't a part of the "let them die" decision making.

However, I do like to imagine the Baku were one their conquests.

 

I gave it an average. It's ok. I guess it's a somewhat satisfying ending for a minor character? ....

 

I'm about halfway through. I like it very much, although I'm curious:

Spoiler: easter egg

Is that the Bill & Ted reference I think it is, the one where Rodal arranges to have a scout ship waiting for his group to escape the dampening field? Garcia even says "Most excellent."

Also, what (if any) significance is there to calling this a "Matheson-Solomon" event? What do those names mean?

 

Yeah that first part is a reference. As for the second, it is explained in Christopher's annotations, but I don't remember off the top of my head.

 

You need to host the cover someplace else or upgrade your account.

 

It worked very well for me. I thought this was another very good DTI novella. The end conveyed just enough without being too much. Well done.

 

I seem to remember reading that all existing DTI novellas were originally written as a single work, and later sectioned off into their individual parts. Can anyone confirm?

Oh, and I hope the "teaser" regarding Lucsly...

Spoiler: Lucsly

that he is an Aegis operative

...doesn't turn out to be true. Sure, he's strict, humorless and unyielding (I knew there was a reason I can relate to him so well ) but otherwise just a regular guy. Why not let him stay that way?

One other thing: Wouldn't the temporal defense grid have some way of preventing events like those depicted here? Has it been abandoned (by the writer), or is it not yet operational from the perspective of Daiyar and the others?

 

Wow, no way. If that were the case, I wouldn't have been under such deadline pressures to write the third one.

I wrote The Collectors as a standalone work, submitting the manuscript in January 2014. Nine months later, Margaret Clark asked me for another one or two DTI e-books, with an eye toward the possibility of collecting three novellas into one mass-market paperback (though no such prospect has yet materialized). I pitched two ideas, but she only accepted the one that became Time Lock, which was completed in September 2015. I later came up with a new idea for the third novella, Shield of the Gods, which was completed in November 2016.

I can only guess that someone read a mention of the latter two novellas being developed with a potential one-volume collection in mind and remembered it backward.

People really are reading too much into that gag. I've been hinting since the first book that Lucsly has hidden mysteries -- this is just one more theory out of many.

It protects future factions from attacking each other directly, which is the whole reason they needed to wage a Temporal Cold War in the past, before it was built. It can't prevent time travels that take place prior to its establishment, otherwise Trek would have no time travel at all.

 

The Grid is supposed to allow for agreed-upon time travel. How does that work? What's to stop someone from hacking a Grid satellite or faking authorization?

 

I'm sure Daiyar was quick enough on the uptake that she could have managed her way around the grid.

 

I "need" to do nothing.

If the cover isn't shown in the post anymore because of Photobucket's annoying change of TOS that's sad, but I'm not forced to get into every forum post I ever made to check if there are pics I have to replace.

I most probably will do that for all the Review Threads very soon (and would have done so without your "nice" post here), but it is not something I "need" to do. Since there are quite a few review threads I have posted the covers for and I want to do it in one go, it'll have to wait until I have the time to do it.

What you really need to do is get some manners. I can't remember reading a post by you that isn't assholeish or demanding people to do something.

 

Future Science! (oooo-weeeee-ooooo!)

 

FWIW I have replaced the links in the review threads for this year's releases since I already had them hosted on my blog, older review threads will have to wait a while longer I fear.

 

Thank you!

i think it'd be fine to just delete the now-broken links on the old threads. We can live without pictures.

I can go through and do it for you if you want.