Spoilers DSC: The Enterprise War by John Jackson Miller Review Thread
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I guess I'm kinda seeing the DSC versions, since that's what on the cover, although that partially due to it being closer to DSC then "The Cage." Characters who were only in "The Cage" I see as "Cage" versions (whatever you want to make of the Colt situation in this regard).
Something like that. In that podcast interview, he did mention that he did take note of pre-DSC Pike era fiction to fill in the gaps.
Yeah, in the aforementioned interview, he did mention that he was trying to reconcile the novel with the TV show, due to other novels being the best places for those little fixes. I appreciate that. (Heck, he even hinted at the reasons for the DSC configuration of the ship over the "Cage"/Where No Man Has Gone Before" one in the book).
Which is likely to be moot as soon as the next Short Treks come along, one of which depicting Ensign Spock's arrival on the pre-"Cage" but still clearly Discovery-style USS Enterprise.
The author is answering questions in the thread he started if you want to ask there.
He's not reading this thread.
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/star-trek-discovery-the-enterprise-war.297762/
By the end of Season 2 all of the questions you're asking are answered.No. I don't stream so I have to wait until it comes out on Blu-Ray in November before I'll see season 2. The last time I saw Discovery was when the Enterprise showed up at the end of season 1. I do know a few very broad strokes about what to expect (Captain Pike and Spock appear for instance, not surprising since the Enterprise appeared) but that's about all. I know nothing about the storylines from season 2 at this point.
I know, I'm like a dinosaur. I still have cable. The closest I get to streaming is watching YouTube videos on my computer.
BUT, the advantage to me is right now there is a Star Trek out there that will be all new to me.
But I infer from you comment that season 2 will answer my question about where Burnham is by the mid to late 2260s. Very interesting.
If you haven't heard how the season ended yet, I would make sure to avoid any news about Season 3 since even slightest bit of information about it would probably spoil the end of Season 2.
The clarity of streaming usually depends on what your watching it on, and what kind of internet you have. I have cable internet, I watch Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, and CBS All Access on my PS4, and it pretty much all ways comes through in full HD for me.AND, I'll get to see it for the first time in all it's digital Blu-Ray clarity. From what I understand about streaming it is not always in perfect clarity. It was nice to see season 1 for the first time with no distortion
Just posted my review on the Kertrats Productions YouTube channel. I really enjoyed this novel. The fact that it takes place over the course of a year+ meant there were some great character arcs to explore. Good stuff!
I, on the other hand, have not seen the beginning of DSC Season 2 yet, and won't until I have the DVD set in hand.
I definitely hear Jeff Hunter, Majel Barrett, and Leonard Nimoy. Not that I have much of a choice.
"Named for the city that held Satan's throne in the Book of Revelation" (page 13, 3rd paragraph)???
I have been reading the entire KJV cover-to-cover annually, over the course of the 6 1/2 weeks of Lent, for quite some years now, but I don't remember no "Pergamum." Anybody care to cite chapter and verse?
Thanks.
"Battlesuits" that provide for their occupants' ever need? Sounds like something postulated in ADF's Sentenced to Prism.
Helmets that automatically fold away when not in use? Didn't I see that in Guardians of the Galaxy?
Definitely going much slower than The Antares Maelstrom.
Helmets that automatically fold away when not in use? Didn't I see that in Guardians of the Galaxy?
Definitely going much slower than The Antares Maelstrom.
Every SF work about high-tech battlesuits owes something to Heinlein's Starship Troopers.
That's been done countless times in movies and TV since long, long before GotG -- usually with magic technology where the helmets completely disappear like they never existed (e.g. the Lost in Space movie). Here, I got the sense that it was more just a dome rolling/folding back into the bulky body of the suit, no magic disintegration/miniaturization involved.
Come to think of it, yes.
About half way through. I really do not understand the Boundless.
I just completed the book and actually rated it as 'excellent,' not something I often due with books. But I really didn't find any faults. The only minor nitpick I have is the amount of time the book takes place during, well over a year. That seems to be quite an extensive amount of time for a novel to use up. But otherwise I really enjoyed the novel.
I noted before I won't see season 2 of Discovery until it comes out on Blu-Ray. But in no way did I feel it an impediment, and the way the novel ended, with indications that it leads into season 2, it may ironically help to see season 2 AFTER reading the novel.
However, since I haven't seen season 2, other than the Discovery characters mentioned and the Klingon War going on, I largely viewed the characters and ship as it appeared in "The Cage". JJ Miller even makes mention a number of times of the events on Talos IV, which are about 2 years in the past. One positive about that is this book would be easily accessible even if you were someone that hated Discovery. This book could just have easily been an original series Pike era novel. Miller even throws in a few nods to characters and events mentioned in other Pike era novels, tying it at least loosely to those other novels.
The ending was a bit unexpected from the way it started. I started getting a feeling things weren't as they seemed about 3/4 of the way through and I started to suspect things wouldn't be as I expected.
Miller continues to work that some of the prior novels started in trying to offer up some in story explanations for some of the production and technological differences we've seen from Discovery. And I assume there are some hints about what will happen on season 2 of Discovery with the way the novel ended. I didn't totally understand what was going on with Spock but I have a feeling those questions will be answered once I see season 2.
And he features the previously mentioned ability of the saucer separation. I was waiting to see if Miller would stick with it being a rarely used maneuver, partly because they would need a starbase to put the ship back together--and I was glad to see that's still the case here. In fact he noted a number of difficulties resulting from the separation (giving more reasons why during the original series era it just wasn't done except in the most dire of situations). He also included a number of scientific references, for instance the saucer section being less dense then methane, hence it is able to float (just one of a number of examples). And there were a few nods to Enterprise as well (for instance transporters only being available on their most advanced ships when it was invented). He didn't really get into the difficulties of the transporters noted in the Rise of the Federation Novels (though that wasn't really pertinent to the story).
The Boundless and the Rengru, the factions fighting an ancient war, were well developed I thought. The Boundless in particular have a complicated history--and in some ways remind me of the various Xindi factions. And the other Enterprise characters important to the story are pretty well developed as well.
I look forward to seeing season 2 and seeing where the crew ends up next.
I noted before I won't see season 2 of Discovery until it comes out on Blu-Ray. But in no way did I feel it an impediment, and the way the novel ended, with indications that it leads into season 2, it may ironically help to see season 2 AFTER reading the novel.
However, since I haven't seen season 2, other than the Discovery characters mentioned and the Klingon War going on, I largely viewed the characters and ship as it appeared in "The Cage". JJ Miller even makes mention a number of times of the events on Talos IV, which are about 2 years in the past. One positive about that is this book would be easily accessible even if you were someone that hated Discovery. This book could just have easily been an original series Pike era novel. Miller even throws in a few nods to characters and events mentioned in other Pike era novels, tying it at least loosely to those other novels.
The ending was a bit unexpected from the way it started. I started getting a feeling things weren't as they seemed about 3/4 of the way through and I started to suspect things wouldn't be as I expected.
Miller continues to work that some of the prior novels started in trying to offer up some in story explanations for some of the production and technological differences we've seen from Discovery. And I assume there are some hints about what will happen on season 2 of Discovery with the way the novel ended. I didn't totally understand what was going on with Spock but I have a feeling those questions will be answered once I see season 2.
And he features the previously mentioned ability of the saucer separation. I was waiting to see if Miller would stick with it being a rarely used maneuver, partly because they would need a starbase to put the ship back together--and I was glad to see that's still the case here. In fact he noted a number of difficulties resulting from the separation (giving more reasons why during the original series era it just wasn't done except in the most dire of situations). He also included a number of scientific references, for instance the saucer section being less dense then methane, hence it is able to float (just one of a number of examples). And there were a few nods to Enterprise as well (for instance transporters only being available on their most advanced ships when it was invented). He didn't really get into the difficulties of the transporters noted in the Rise of the Federation Novels (though that wasn't really pertinent to the story).
The Boundless and the Rengru, the factions fighting an ancient war, were well developed I thought. The Boundless in particular have a complicated history--and in some ways remind me of the various Xindi factions. And the other Enterprise characters important to the story are pretty well developed as well.
I look forward to seeing season 2 and seeing where the crew ends up next.
Well, that was its brief -- to explain what the Enterprise was doing during the entire first season. And it's nice to get the occasional story spanning a considerable length of time. When you're not obligated to fit stories between episodes, you have room for that sort of thing. Typhon Pact: Rough Beasts of Empire spanned about a year. Voyager: Full Circle covered a couple of years or more. And a number of the Lost Era books span quite a lot of time. My own TNG: The Buried Age covered close to 9 years. Each volume of the Terok Nor trilogy spans from 8 to 10 years, and The Art of the Impossible spans 18 years.
I guess you're right. I guess I wasn't expecting the book to take place over the entire course of the first season. It just seemed a bit long for a single mission event. A lot of the books you cited covered either an era or just a number of htings going on over the course of that time period, but didn't always encompass a single event.
But as I said, it was very minor. Nitpick might not even be the right word because it wasn't so much a negative, as just a bit of a surprise. It did in some ways add a bit of realism to the story because I'd imagine in real life there could be missions like that over an extended period of time. One of the things I liked about "The Paradise Syndrome" is that it took place over an extended period, 3 months (though being an hour episode they had to skip ahead to fit it all in). It was one of the few episodes that gave an idea of the scope of space travel from the original series.
The main danger I see is the longer the period of time of a single story, the more chance that something in canon (or even some future book) could negate the story, or large parts of the story. Though that can happen anyway I suppose and I guess you guys can't worry about future works.
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