Spoilers DSC: Drastic Measures by Dayton Ward Review Thread

[Leto_II]

He was around for a lot longer than a day -- remember that Dayton's novel establishes that Kodos had been working his wiles on the colony's government for weeks or even months prior to the catastrophe (the book mentions that he'd arrived some time earlier from Earth), and by that point had amassed many, many supporters on the council and even on Governor Ribiero's own staff. When he finally made his move, he had all the pieces in place that he needed.

 

[The Wormhole]

I liked it, and my apologies if I missed it, as I listened to the audiobook in the car during commutes, but I didn’t come away with a strong understanding of WHY Kodos and his henchmen felt like exterminating 4000 colonists was the only solution. I mean, there was discussion of doing it for selfish reasons, but Kodos was in power for what, a day, before the killings? How do you convince dozens of people to go along with something like that literally overnight?

Food shortage, no relief ships expected for over a month or longer, a reputation as an expert in crisis management, and demonstrating a more decisive attitude than the colony's actual governor, pretty much gave Kodos the clout to convince his people to follow his extreme instructions.

 

[Avro Arrow]

a reputation as an expert in crisis management

This was mentioned a number of times in the story, but I get the impression that he was actually lying about it... but IIRC the book never said one way or another, just that people weren't sure what event the reputation came from. Do we know if the authorial intent was that Kodos actually had these skills, or was it just something he claimed/made up?

 

[DEWLine]

I get the sense this was something he was working up to long before he left Earth. And that claiming Klingons, Andorians and Spartans as his inspirations was a cover for something Worse...

 

[thribs]

Still needed Kang.

 

[The Wormhole]

This was mentioned a number of times in the story, but I get the impression that he was actually lying about it... but IIRC the book never said one way or another, just that people weren't sure what event the reputation came from. Do we know if the authorial intent was that Kodos actually had these skills, or was it just something he claimed/made up?

My interpretation is that it was something that was that was probably embellished on. EG, Kodos might have just said something vague like "so this one time on Vega Colony..." and suddenly everyone is thinking him an expert. In fact, it's possible Kodos never actually intended to pass himself off as an expert on crisis management, but rather his followers bestowed that title on him due to their own wishful thinking.

 

[Damian]

Just finished up Drastic Measures. I rated it as above average. There were 2 or 3 chapters in the latter half that I had difficulty getting through (during the sabotage and rescue of the hostages scene--I don't know why but that part felt like it was dragging to me). The rest of it was excellent, esp. the parts involving Commander Lorca.

I thought it tied in nicely with what we know of Kodos from before. I was looking to see if there were any little bits from Shatner's Academy: Collision Course which also featured Kodos but I didn't see anything (I wasn't expecting anything major as Shatner's novels have always existed in their own continuity). I wasn't sure if there'd be any Easter eggs. I'd be curious if anyone noticed any that I missed.

All in all, I thought it was a good read and it had some good character development. I have only seen the premier episode of Discovery on CBS (I'm waiting them out for a Blu-ray release). I can tell you even if you haven't watched the show, the book is still a good story and I didn't get the impression it was necessary to see any episodes to read it.

 

[Riverside2233]

I just finished on Audible. I don't usually do audio because I tend to miss a lot of the details and descriptive language in the car, but I had a credit to use.

Overall, it kept my interest with the Lorca search team action sequences, and I enjoyed the different TOS threads woven in here from the story lines we already knew.

I guess the really tough draw of a flashback on the existing Kodos storyline is knowing the general outcome, but Drastic Measures did a commendable job of making it a worthwhile backstory while tying it to Discovery.

 

[Leto_II]

I thought it tied in nicely with what we know of Kodos from before. I was looking to see if there were any little bits from Shatner's Academy: Collision Course which also featured Kodos but I didn't see anything (I wasn't expecting anything major as Shatner's novels have always existed in their own continuity). I wasn't sure if there'd be any Easter eggs. I'd be curious if anyone noticed any that I missed.

It's not quite as Shatnerverse-compatible, but Dayton's DSC novel is highly compatible with Greg's "Though Hell Should Bar the Way" short story from the Enterprise Logs anthology -- over in our Facebook Trek timeliner-group, we posted up an extensive, day-by-day (and even hour-by-hour, I think) breakdown of how the two stories successfully overlap and intertwine from a continuity-standpoint.

 

[David cgc]

I can't even tell if that group is public to look for that breakdown, because all I find searching is groups focusing on the the Timelines mobile game.

 

[Jinn]

I can't even tell if that group is public to look for that breakdown, because all I find searching is groups focusing on the the Timelines mobile game.

Nah, it isn't.

 

[Oz Trekkie]

This was mentioned a number of times in the story, but I get the impression that he was actually lying about it... but IIRC the book never said one way or another, just that people weren't sure what event the reputation came from. Do we know if the authorial intent was that Kodos actually had these skills, or was it just something he claimed/made up?

I got the impression it was made up. His expertise was in mathematics or other science discipline.

 

[MarsWeeps]

Didn't care for it. You know how people say they couldn't put a book down? Well I had a hard time picking this one up after I started reading it. Maybe part of the reason is because we all know Kodos got away so there was no surprise ending. I guess I didn't like the way Georgiou and Lorca were shoe horned into the story. It just seemed a bit contrived like the author took a well known story and forced the new series characters into it. Also, I wonder if the author knew Lorca was from the mirror universe before writing the story. It seems the character was written to explain the personality of Lorca, not knowing he was from the mirror universe. In other words, I don't see a difference between this Lorca and the MU Lorca.

 

[Tuskin38]

not knowing he was from the mirror universe.

The end of the book seems to imply otherwise.

 

[MarsWeeps]

The end of the book seems to imply otherwise.

I'll need to re-read the ending. I know I was in a hurry to finish it because it was taking me forever to get through it.

 

[The Wormhole]

I'll need to re-read the ending. I know I was in a hurry to finish it because it was taking me forever to get through it.

You must have been in a damn hurry if you somehow missed that. It's not subtle at all.

But as it's apparently not clear to you, Dayton Ward has already stated he knew Lorca on screen was from the Mirror Universe while writing this novel.

 

[MarsWeeps]

You must have been in a damn hurry if you somehow missed that. It's not subtle at all.

But as it's apparently not clear to you, Dayton Ward has already stated he knew Lorca on screen was from the Mirror Universe while writing this novel.

I read the Kindle version. I initially didn't see the part added at the end after the "Acknowledgements" section. Similar to watching a movie in a theater, most people leave while the credits roll, they don't stick around to see if anything has been added.

 

[Christopher]

Similar to watching a movie in a theater, most people leave while the credits roll, they don't stick around to see if anything has been added.

By now, though, you'd think they'd know better.

 

[Damian]

I read the Kindle version. I initially didn't see the part added at the end after the "Acknowledgements" section. Similar to watching a movie in a theater, most people leave while the credits roll, they don't stick around to see if anything has been added.

By now, though, you'd think they'd know better.

OMG. I totally missed that part of the book. And I do read the acknowledgments (usually to see if they referenced anyone else's work, which is usually noted here). I stopped there and didn't go any further. Glad I read this thread or I would never have caught it since I finished the novel about 2 weeks ago.

I'll admit, being as I haven't seen the show it doesn't make a lot of sense. Hopefully someday when it comes out on Blu-Ray and I get to see it, the ending will make more sense for me.

 

[thribs]

The Enterprise novels have good acknowledgements. They go through great detail explaining where all the references come from. They are very useful