Spoilers TNG: Available Light by Dayton Ward Review Thread

[JoeZhang]

I really didn't like this - this version of the TNG universe has basically run itself into the ground and I'm frankly looking forward to it all being erased when The Picard show comes on-air.

The book has the same problems as a lot of the later TNG books, it's got a moral vacuum at its core and the actions of characters like Picard and Bashir as presented in books over the cause of the last decade or so simply didn't ring true to me. The opening section with the conversation between Picard and Akaar is symptomatic of that problem - none of it had any sense of reality. I know some of this stuff is going to be picked up in the next book but I doubt that ends with Picard being sent to New Zealand.

 

[DEWLine]

Or Tantalus V, if that place is still operating.

 

[flandry84]

A necessary evil but the constant exposition seriously slowed this one down for me.Anytime a character entered or mentioned something there would be a paragraph or so of explanation.
None of which is the writers fault but may be an indication that the whole interconnected story arc is beginning to strain a little.
Otherwise a good story,although the inclusion of Louvois does seem a little “small universe”.

 

[Little_kingsfan]

A necessary evil but the constant exposition seriously slowed this one down for me.Anytime a character entered or mentioned something there would be a paragraph or so of explanation.
None of which is the writers fault but may be an indication that the whole interconnected story arc is beginning to strain a little.
Otherwise a good story,although the inclusion of Louvois does seem a little “small universe”.

Part of the "paragraph of explanation" is Dayton Ward's style of writing, I've noticed. Sometimes it'll bother me reading one of his books (especially if I read two or three of his books back to back and book three references something that happened in book one that I just finished reading hours/days/weeks earlier), but for the most part, I believe the author does that for at least two reasons: one, he loves the characters and the franchise and he doesn't want people to be confused or have to spend/waste time looking up these references for themselves (I mean, who else (besides me!) would put down their book, go to Memory Alpha and/or Beta, type in the name of some Dominion War battle or random Starfleet admiral or something that was going on in Star Trek's 21st century?); and two, so that new readers could just pick up a copy of one of his books without reading the entire Trek-lit and still understand who's who and what's what.

Of course, this is just my opinion!

 

[Reanok]

I've enjoyed

Spoiler: Available light

reading the story but was really wasn't expecting Admiral Ross and his Jag lawyer to be killed that was a real suprize.

I like the story of Picard's crew exploring the alien ship and helping them. My favorite scene was Picard and Beverly talking about Min Zife and the Tezwa mess and the guilt he's carried for along time.That he needs to forgive himself.

 

[flandry84]

Oh absolutely I agree that sometimes the mini-recaps are necessary.
It does slow the action though.

The Ross conclusion now,are we sure that it really happened?

 

[David Weller]

I like the recaps. I read a lot of books and can’t remember everything.

 

[Enterprise1701]

I would say that the recaps are unnecessary when we have the Internet, but Wikia Fandom always slows my computer / phone to a crawl, and thus Memory Beta is limited in its usefulness.

So three cheers for Dayton Ward!

 

[GaryH]

I would say that the recaps are unnecessary when we have the Internet, but Wikia Fandom always slows my computer / phone to a crawl, and thus Memory Beta is limited in its usefulness.

So three cheers for Dayton Ward!

The other thing is that the books would not survive if only bought by people who know Memory Beta exists.

 

[Christopher]

It's a basic rule of good writing that any story should be understandable to the reader without requiring them to have prior knowledge from outside sources. I had the principle "never assume your reader already knows something" drilled into me in high school English class, which was weird to me at the time, since the only person who'd read my papers was the teacher, and I knew the teacher already knew the subject. But it was training for writing for other people.

 

[Ronald Held]

Finished it. Seemed tedious in spots. I suppose the Fate of Picard will be told in the next TNG book?

 

[Csalem]

I had to vote Average. The story was good but the constant recapping got tiresome. It felt like every time someone had a thought or experienced something it reminded them of a previous event and then the story had to stop for a paragraph or two to recap that previous event. If this was a tv episode it would be like one of those clip shows like Shades of Gray.

 

[JohnChod]

Haven't kept up with TNG novels all that much, but had to buy this book as we haven't seen anything new in quite some time.

I've followed DS9, Section 31 and read the Data resurrection trilogy. I know a little about Min Zife but don't recognize the 'Tezwa mess' cited above.

Are there any other books I ought to read before getting into Available Light? Not planning to read it until end of May when I go on a vacation, so I've got a month or so to catch up if necessary.

 

[Tirius]

... but don't recognize the 'Tezwa mess' cited above.

Are there any other books I ought to read before getting into Available Light?

In light of the first statement: the "Tezwa mess" is the main plot of David Mack's A Time to Kill and A Time to Heal. The following 2 narratives in the story, A Time for War, A Time for Peace and Articles of the Federation (both by KRAD) both touch upon the aftermath as well, the latter a bit more than the former.

It's a basic rule of good writing that any story should be understandable to the reader without requiring them to have prior knowledge from outside sources.

Something related to this, is perhaps how the 'information dump' is handled in the pages. Especially books like this one that follow up on a long-running narrative and have a big time gap since the previous release must struggle with it at times. I've always enjoyed the way Avatar handled it at the start of the DS9 Relaunch, by having a few "previously on Star Trek" pages setting up the state of things before the actual story started. It freed up space in the narrative, and it was easy to look something up in them even partway through your reading.

 

[Christopher]

Something related to this, is perhaps how the 'information dump' is handled in the pages.

When feasible, I try to find a more interesting way of handling exposition than just giving a text lecture recapping an episode. After all, you want to balance the needs of the reader who doesn't know the information with the needs of the reader who knows it by heart and would be bored with a lengthy recap.

I've found that sometimes you can avoid an infodump and just work the necessary information into character dialogue and action. It often helps if you can add drama to it by having two characters argue over the thing you're explaining, or have one character trying to pry it out of someone reluctant to talk about it. If it was emotionally charged, you can have the characters hash out their feelings about it and convey the information that way.

In general, I try to reveal some new information along with the old, so even the experienced readers get something new out of it. For instance, I retell the story from a different perspective, showing something that went on behind the scenes or reinterpreting the event from the other side's point of view.

 

[JohnChod]

In light of the first statement: the "Tezwa mess" is the main plot of David Mack's A Time to Kill and A Time to Heal. The following 2 narratives in the story, A Time for War, A Time for Peace and Articles of the Federation (both by KRAD) both touch upon the aftermath as well, the latter a bit more than the former.


Something related to this, is perhaps how the 'information dump' is handled in the pages. Especially books like this one that follow up on a long-running narrative and have a big time gap since the previous release must struggle with it at times. I've always enjoyed the way Avatar handled it at the start of the DS9 Relaunch, by having a few "previously on Star Trek" pages setting up the state of things before the actual story started. It freed up space in the narrative, and it was easy to look something up in them even partway through your reading.

Thank you for your comments.

 

[Reanok]

I finished reading this book last night I liked the story for the most part except I thought some of the scenes of doing computer repairs on the alien ship seemed to go on too long in some of the chapters with T'ryssa Chen.I voted above average.I liked Picard discussing the events of the Section 31 fallout with his crew and they supported his decision to go back to earth.

 

[DEWLine]

The other thing is that the books would not survive if only bought by people who know Memory Beta exists.

This is truth.

 

[DEWLine]

I finally got my copy this weekend, and I've been reading it front-to-back. I have to admit to finding the Uraei fallout more interesting, through no fault of Dayton. It's just my preferred focus.

And did we discuss where the Odyssean pass is supposed to be?

Update: I note from TNG: Armageddon's Arrow that it was indeed identified as the spaces immediately past Beta Stromgren, Canopus and Veridian (among other points of interest)...

 

[tomswift2002]

Something related to this, is perhaps how the 'information dump' is handled in the pages. Especially books like this one that follow up on a long-running narrative and have a big time gap since the previous release must struggle with it at times. I've always enjoyed the way Avatar handled it at the start of the DS9 Relaunch, by having a few "previously on Star Trek" pages setting up the state of things before the actual story started. It freed up space in the narrative, and it was easy to look something up in them even partway through your reading.

One thing with the TNG, DS9 & Voyager lines is that this narrative has been running since 1999 with the publication of “The Lives Of Dax”, and has the 24th century continued in the TV series after Voyager, we’d probably be upto the 2009/2010 TV season, in terms of where the novels are now in 2019. And in the “A Time To...” series, we are talking about books that were published in 2004, and a lot has happened over the last 15 years, so the info dumps, while they may slow the story, when you’ve been reading the books as they came out and you haven’t re-read those older books since, a lot of the detail has faded due to time. It’s a necessary evil when a storyline like this has been going on for 20 years.