I am now two books into the A Time To series. Still have faith in the really positive comments about it, but I found A Time To Die less interesting than A Time To Be Born. I didn't dislike the first one, just had some problems with it.
A Time To Die made little effort to embrace the story lines it had created in the first novel. Riker gets command of the Enterprise, but I found it annoying that after taking his command away Picard would be allowed (even unofficially) to go back on the Enterprise, even if he were in the care of Cabot. I know this is all explained by saying that Wes was able to show Cabot and Commodore Korgan enough about the Rashanar battle area to get them to rethink there point of views. Putting Picard back on the Enterprise so easily just reminded me of my distaste for the way it was done in the first place.
I also though John Vornholt really lost his way around Chapter nine of the book. At that point the Enterprise crew has reached Rashanar and is trying to find ways to expose the mimic ship that was responsible for all of the problems since the Dominion War battle. I liked seeing the random scavengers again. The Orions, the Pakleds, and the Androssi all trying to take advantage of the hulks and relics, but Vornholt's writing in Chapters Nine and Ten seemed really shallow. There was a seen were some of the scavengers just give a cloaking device to Picard's group and their mission at that point was really distracting.
I found the character of Fristan, the Androssi with some knowledge of the mimic ship, to be interesting. That is, until the Enterprise crew (yes I know they did not have the full crew compliment) pretty much allowed him free run of the ship...and he releases the captured Ontailians. It just seemed weak.
I did enjoy the return of Wesley and was glad to see what the character had been up to. I found the last 50 pages of the book much better than the start, partly because of the way Wes's vision was explained. I also enjoy the fact that he is still a traveler. The romance he had with Cabot was okay, and I love the implication that Wes has identified Commodore Korgan as a "prospect".
Peace
A Time To Die made little effort to embrace the story lines it had created in the first novel. Riker gets command of the Enterprise, but I found it annoying that after taking his command away Picard would be allowed (even unofficially) to go back on the Enterprise, even if he were in the care of Cabot. I know this is all explained by saying that Wes was able to show Cabot and Commodore Korgan enough about the Rashanar battle area to get them to rethink there point of views. Putting Picard back on the Enterprise so easily just reminded me of my distaste for the way it was done in the first place.
I also though John Vornholt really lost his way around Chapter nine of the book. At that point the Enterprise crew has reached Rashanar and is trying to find ways to expose the mimic ship that was responsible for all of the problems since the Dominion War battle. I liked seeing the random scavengers again. The Orions, the Pakleds, and the Androssi all trying to take advantage of the hulks and relics, but Vornholt's writing in Chapters Nine and Ten seemed really shallow. There was a seen were some of the scavengers just give a cloaking device to Picard's group and their mission at that point was really distracting.
I found the character of Fristan, the Androssi with some knowledge of the mimic ship, to be interesting. That is, until the Enterprise crew (yes I know they did not have the full crew compliment) pretty much allowed him free run of the ship...and he releases the captured Ontailians. It just seemed weak.
I did enjoy the return of Wesley and was glad to see what the character had been up to. I found the last 50 pages of the book much better than the start, partly because of the way Wes's vision was explained. I also enjoy the fact that he is still a traveler. The romance he had with Cabot was okay, and I love the implication that Wes has identified Commodore Korgan as a "prospect".
Peace
