Spoilers TNG: Ship of the Line by Diane Carey Review Thread

[Jarvisimo]

But do you think her Broken Bow criticisms were valid? I've not read either BB or shop of the line. I think the only ones I read of Carey's were Final Frontier (dinosaurs!), as well as her 90s crossover series books. But I enjoyed those then (as a teen) - I'm not sure about now.

 

[Idran]

But do you think her Broken Bow criticisms were valid? I've not read either BB or shop of the line. I think the only ones I read of Carey's were Final Frontier (dinosaurs!), as well as her 90s crossover series books. But I enjoyed those then (as a teen) - I'm not sure about now.

They were barely even criticisms you could judge. It was literally having the characters mock the events going on in their internal monologues or during "off-screen" conversations interspersed with the on-screen events. Basically a published MSTing.

 

[JD]

Even if the comments are valid, that still seems to me like kind of a rude thing to do.

 

[rfmcdpei]

But do you think her Broken Bow criticisms were valid?

Could some of the dialogue and worldbuilding have been better? Sure! My point's orthogonal to that: if you're going to criticize a show, you shouldn't do it in the pages of the manuscript you're writing for the series premiere's novelization. That's just common sense. (That is, it is if you actually want to continue writing for the people who commissioned you to write said novelization.)

 

[Stevil2001]

The amazing thing is how long she got away with it though-- Equinox is filled with the same thing I recall.

 

[JD]

Maybe they were paying closer attention to Broken Bow's novelization since it was the pilot. I think this story is the first time I've ever actually heard Braga and/or Berman refer to a Trek book.

 

[thribs]

I really enjoyed this one. Made me want Captain Frasier Crane be the captain of the Enterprise a little bit. That argument he had with Riker about the Klingons was awesome and he brought up some really interesting points.
The book does a good enough explanation into the differences between TV Picard and movie Picard which I know has been a big issue here on this site. Learning more about Kirk and how he did things seems to have influenced Picard in a big way which explains him acting more Kirk like in the movies.
I did note some weird discrepancies in this book. Picard mentions that the Enterprise is only 12 years old in 2266 when in fact it's 21 years old which makes me think that the author didn't think TAS was canon at this time. There was also that weird line about "warp communications" not being a thing until the late 2270s which means they only went a light speed meaning it would have taken decades for messages to get from A to B. I always assumed they had subspace communications.
The photon torpedo reference was another one but that could have been true then, before Enterprise.

Another thing I picked up is that it seems like they recovered the Titantic at some point in time. I first thought that the whole ship was at the starbase which would have been impressive but I think it was just parts of it.
I also hope they kept the remains of the Mary Rose wet as I recall when I saw it when I was younger in Portsmouth that it was constantly being sprayed with water. Something to do with preserving it.

Is there a novel about how Kirk got the Enterprise? That might be a good read.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Is there a novel about how Kirk got the Enterprise? That might be a good read.

Vonda McIntyre's Enterprise: The First Adventure has some references to "the Ghioghe incident" which sort-of won Kirk his Enterprise command.

 

[Little_kingsfan]

I read this story years ago, remember liking it, and pretty much ignoring all of the continuity errors...but the only thing I remember specifically is Cmdr. Riker telling Capt. Bateson that "in the 24th century, we strive to better ourselves" in response to the Enterprise-E's mission to patrol the borders for counterfeiters or bootlegers or something like that and Bateson replying "and just who is it you think your better than?" That quote stopped me almost as much as it did Riker. In fact, I think I've used that quote or some derivation of it in one of my own unwritten fanfiction stories (with proper credit, of course!).

 

[Mage]

Necropost is very necro.......

 

[DimesDan]

Necropost is very necro.......

And yet fully acceptable here in Trek Lit.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Carey's Enterprise: The First Adventure has some references to "the Ghioghe incident" which sort-of won Kirk his Enterprise command.

Enterprise: The First Adventure was written by Vonda McIntyre.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Is there a novel about how Kirk got the Enterprise?

 

[thribs]

Ha ha.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Enterprise: The First Adventure was written by Vonda McIntyre.

Oops, my bad. Fixed.

 

[KRAD]

I read this story years ago, remember liking it, and pretty much ignoring all of the continuity errors...but the only thing I remember specifically is Cmdr. Riker telling Capt. Bateson that "in the 24th century, we strive to better ourselves" in response to the Enterprise-E's mission to patrol the borders for counterfeiters or bootlegers or something like that and Bateson replying "and just who is it you think your better than?" That quote stopped me almost as much as it did Riker. In fact, I think I've used that quote or some derivation of it in one of my own unwritten fanfiction stories (with proper credit, of course!).

And the bog-obvious answer to that question is "who I was."

 

[David cgc]

And the bog-obvious answer to that question is "who I was."

You'd expect a therapist to be better at back-talk than that.

 

[CDP]

Batesons first officer´s name was Gabriel Bush. Bush????????????

Ship of the line is also a Hornblower novel, and the first lieutenant's name is Bush! I always imagined that that was the reference.

This really is one of the worst trek novels I've ever read. Even worse as I bought the hardback when it came out

 

[Stevil2001]

Ship of the line is also a Hornblower novel, and the first lieutenant's name is Bush! I always imagined that that was the reference.

That's definitely the reference. Aren't the chapter titles all Hornblower novels or something like that?

 

[Kilana2]

Ship of the line is also a Hornblower novel, and the first lieutenant's name is Bush! I always imagined that that was the reference.

This really is one of the worst trek novels I've ever read. Even worse as I bought the hardback when it came out

For me the worst novel ever was Red Sector (Double Helix), also by Diane Carey. In Ship of the Line Bateson acted always unlikeable. And I had much sympathy for someone who was thrown out of his own time.