Spoilers Prey: Book 3: The Hall of Heroes by John Jackson Miller Review Thread

[Mage]

I know this is licensed material but all the toys seem to be where they were at the start of the trilogy. I was hoping for more consequences.

I loved Riker's last line though.

I know what you mean, but I think what happened here was a new door into longer consequences. The Breen have really been pushed down in the hierarchy in the Pact, and the Kinshaya could be leaving. This might seem small potatoes, but in realworld politics, this can have lasting impact. Other authors can work with this, changing dynamics in the relationships between pact members (the Gorn and Romulans are more open to the Federation than others) and how non-Federation and non-Pact words look at both sides and influence the relationsips between all of those. So, yeah, it might seems as nothing much, but long terms, this could do quite a lot.
Not the to mention the stronger bonds between the UFP and Klingon Empire.

 

[GaryH]

I know what you mean, but I think what happened here was a new door into longer consequences. The Breen have really been pushed down in the hierarchy in the Pact, and the Kinshaya could be leaving. This might seem small potatoes, but in realworld politics, this can have lasting impact. Other authors can work with this, changing dynamics in the relationships between pact members (the Gorn and Romulans are more open to the Federation than others) and how non-Federation and non-Pact words look at both sides and influence the relationsips between all of those. So, yeah, it might seems as nothing much, but long terms, this could do quite a lot.
Not the to mention the stronger bonds between the UFP and Klingon Empire.

I see your perspective. I still feel a bit unsatisfied although you are factually correct. I guess I just wanted more for the characters, although I am more more interested in Kahless than I ever would have expected to be in fairness.

 

[Mage]

I see your perspective. I still feel a bit unsatisfied although you are factually correct. I guess I just wanted more for the characters, although I am more more interested in Kahless than I ever would have expected to be in fairness.

Trust me, I know how you feel. I felt the same after reading it at first, but then it sunk in a bit. Also agree on Kahless. Wasn't to big on him sofar, but this trilogy made him work, quite well.

 

[E-DUB]

I enjoyed it but wish that there were more to the "defense of the alliance" than what we got to hear. Sisko's undercover mission to the Empire to expose the Martok changeling during a time when open hostilities were taking place would have merited a mention.
But that's minor.

 

[jaime]

I was never a fan of the Klingons, or Worf, or Ardra, and have not been the biggest fan of the 24th century books direction of late, but I enjoyed Prey, and echo those sentiments expressed around Kahless.

 

[Ronald Held]

I see Thot Pran reappeared. Maybe earlier typo? Slightly more interesting than the other books.

 

[Ronald Held]

Finally finished it. Good better over time, due to more Federation chapters. Short of Shift, all's well .

 

[Daddy Todd]

I listened to the audiobook, so I wasn't and to skim the seemingly endless amount of Klingon "honor" stuff.

I mean, i can't see ANYTHING honorable about excommunicating multiple generations of descendants because of the "sins" of their parents/grands etc. That's just culty, as far as I can see (and having been raised in - and escaped from - a cult, i know it when I see it.)

Worf is OK, but most Klingons are fragile snowflakes, constantly trying to convince themselves they're honorable, when they clearly aren't.

 

[cml898]

The idea of Klingons not being as honorable as they make themselves out to be has been around a long time. Worf best represents the "ideal Klingon" presumably because he wasn't raised in the real Klingon culture but instead strove to be what he'd heard them to be like. Near the end of DS9 he confronts this reality when he challenges Gowron and sets up Martok (someone uncorrupted by politics) to be the new chancellor.

It should also be noted that this book specifically challenges the dishonor placed upon multiple generations notion, and that challenge again comes from Worf, personification of the Klingon ideal thy as a culture don't always live up to.

Sorry to bump up a thread from May (hope nobody minds, lol) but I just finished this trilogy today. At least 3 Trek books came out that were "must read immediately" status forcing me to take a break from this. But I did truly enjoy this trilogy. One thing I have to comment on is I love the way this particular author likes to take throwaway plots from TNG and follow up on them making them more interesting and grander than they were before. In this case it was the Ardra episode but previous stories have followed up on The Next Phase and The Nth Degree.

 

[langdonboom]

Outstanding trilogy in every way. Totally redeemed the Kahless clone in my opinion, really served the character in ways I hadn't thought possible - and I extend that same praise to the wonderful expansion of the Ardra character/world (also heretofore not my favorite story/character - though I appreciated the reference to the comic book story!) - and of course it's always a thrill to see such a 'big screen' team-up with Enterprise, Titan, and Aventine, ala Destiny. This was by far my favorite Trek trilogy since at least Cold Equations (which I loved) and probably even Destiny. Heartfelt story with the redemtion of the Unsung and really made the entire Klingon Empire interesting and relevant to 'current' Star Trek. WELL DONE/Qapla!

 

[Julio Angel Ortiz]

How much does the Titan crew feature in this trilogy? And in which books?

 

[jaime]

How much does the Titan crew feature in this trilogy? And in which books?

It’s across all three if memory serves, Riker is basically on the Klingon Home World dealing with political shenanigans, and I believe he gets the very last scene in the book as well. He’s on the Titan throughout, but I do t remember the crew getting to do much. Might be my memory though....

 

[thribs]

It was pretty good. Some good one liners. Strange that Spock's role was so minimal though. i expected his plan involving kidnapping Spock.
Speaking of which, the writers need to be more consistent on Spock's role. It was stated in a previous novel that Spock was done on Romulus and that he was leaving the organisation to his peers and he was returning as a Ambassador. I get that he might visit Romulus every now and then but it's implied that he hasn't left Romulus for awhile. Something that isn't true if you read

Spoiler: SPOILERS

Star Trek Prometheus

The Breen need to go. They are just annoying. Starfleet should wipe them out.

 

[JD]

I tried searching the thread and it doesn't look like this has been addressed yet.
We get several brief appearances from Klag here, and he's referred to as Captain, but I thought last time we saw him, in either A Singular Destiny or Q & A, he was a general. Was this a mistake or am I just remembering wrong?

 

[USS Firefly]

I tried searching the thread and it doesn't look like this has been addressed yet.
We get several brief appearances from Klag here, and he's referred to as Captain, but I thought last time we saw him, in either A Singular Destiny or Q & A, he was a general. Was this a mistake or am I just remembering wrong?

I believe he was a general in A Singular Destiny

 

[JD]

I finished this up yesterday, and I thought it was an awesome end to the trilogy.
I was very happy with the way things were tied up.
I think it's pretty safe to say at this point the Breen are pretty solidly our post-Borg big bads.
I was curious how they were going to deal with the Unsung, and I thought them going off with Kahless to learn from him, and serve as the Spirits' Forge Sentinels.
I loved how Kruge fate played out, with both the Klingons and the Federation getting a figurative shot at him.
Shift's fate was the biggest surprise for me. Has she popped back up at all since Prey?
This one get a solid outstanding rating for me.

 

[Burning Hearts of Qo'nos]

I finished this up yesterday, and I thought it was an awesome end to the trilogy.
I was very happy with the way things were tied up.
I think it's pretty safe to say at this point the Breen are pretty solidly our post-Borg big bads.
I was curious how they were going to deal with the Unsung, and I thought them going off with Kahless to learn from him, and serve as the Spirits' Forge Sentinels.
I loved how Kruge fate played out, with both the Klingons and the Federation getting a figurative shot at him.
Shift's fate was the biggest surprise for me. Has she popped back up at all since Prey?
This one get a solid outstanding rating for me.

I don't believe Shift has made a return yet and we've only seen random Breen post-Prey.

 

[Kilana2]

Finished it and voted outstanding. I loved the cameos of all our beloved characters.

One thing remained

Spoiler: Fate of Shift

having Shift alive and acting as a Breen means trouble for the future.

 

[Jinn]

Being written by John Jackson Miller, it's really no surprise that this was very good. My reading of this trilogy is somewhat uneven, I read the first two books and the first 50-ish pages of the third in 2018, then read very little since then( mostly TOS, Ascendance and The Long Mirage) so jumping into this book again was weird, but I did remember a surprising amount from the previous two books.

I love the entire idea of the Circle of Jilaan, and that there's an entire culture of con-artist, lurking in the cracks of the Trek universe, a universe that mostly concerns itself with big, interstellar goverments and small, planetary goverments. I actually tried to watch "Devil's Due" after this, but really couldn't get into it.

The books also makes great use of the Breen concept, with Shift genuinely thinking the Breen way is the best. Furthermore, using the Breen as surprise villains for this worked well. It was also interesting to see the Kinshaya in a somewhat more neutral capacity.

The least interesting thing in this book was probably Worf And Kahless hanging out on the Phantom Wing. I didn't really get very invested in these characters (although that may be due to the two-year gap in my reading...), so them being tought about Klingon culture was just filler to me.

Korgh was great, I love him, and his villanous-ness and his last-ditch attempt to win. I loved him in the first book, where he and the Klingon lords seemed more like comic relief, for a lot of the time, and I love him as the mastermind of all of this.