Spoilers TNG: Collateral Damage by David Mack Review Thread
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Kidding pal.
Probably. Even though Sweelinck is a very likeable composer. The same way Ottorino Respighi is a very likeable composer. Not in the same rank as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky, to be sure, nor even the same rank as Telemann, Handel, Haydn, or Dvořák, but it seems to me that people who don't like Sweelinck or Respighi are people who haven't heard Sweelinck or Respighi.
And about the only current television I bother with any more is Jeopardy. Everything else on the air strikes me as a monument to Kitman's Law.
And I've moved my side discussion of the DTI series to what seems to me a more appropriate place, in order to avoid hijacking this thread any more than I already have.
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She's not there to play Patty Cake.
I ended up voting average for this. I don't know quite why but I left this book disappointed, also appreciative of many parts but it didn't feel as strong or as interesting as it could have (esp compared to Mack's stronger works).
Perhaps the problem is that this and the preceding TNG books are such islands in a very empty treklit field, with no sense of futurity - and thus this didn't meet my expectations for a propulsive, interesting book that could thematically engage with state-sanctioned and non-state sanctioned criminality, nor deal with Picard's actual wrong doing. After Control and then the wonderful thematically rich Enigma Tales, this just felt, like the other TNG and recent Sisko books, meandering and lacking teeth, failing to provide the sense of next step or even interesting characterisation for Worf, La Forge, Crusher or Picard. In comparison, Mack's Control did that not only for the whole setting but Bashir, and ET did it for Bashir and more especially Garak and Cardassia.
I'm really sorry to write this, I was very excited, and maybe as Mack writes here a courtroom drama would have been too little for the book. He has shown his ability elsewhere to write at length on more focused topics (zero sum game, for example, with its narrow focus on Salavet [sic]). But this was a weird fusion of not really matching plots, with the roles of Lavelle and Wildman especially weird (why no consequence for trying to blow up the moonbase?), and why does Okona "get the girl" in a strangely-written LaForge joke scene where Smrhova loses agency and a pov?
Still really lovely bits to it - wine felt very real, Akaar remains in many ways the MVP of recent books; the defence lawyer was nicely written; Worf's negotiation and Martok.cameo were great, but I wished there was more to it; the use of first person was good but could the whole book have been intersecting first person povs (Picard, Akaar, Louvois, Worf, Smrhova, as well as Okona and the Nausicaan, etc.) which could have really explored these characters and the book's themes further?
Nevertheless thank you for this book, Mr Mack. It was a good read, and I enjoyed very much the court and the earth scenes, as well as upsetting and disrupting presentations of nausicaans. I hope we see more and get further inspired takes on the Treklit world you and your colleagues have built over the past two decades!
Perhaps the problem is that this and the preceding TNG books are such islands in a very empty treklit field, with no sense of futurity - and thus this didn't meet my expectations for a propulsive, interesting book that could thematically engage with state-sanctioned and non-state sanctioned criminality, nor deal with Picard's actual wrong doing. After Control and then the wonderful thematically rich Enigma Tales, this just felt, like the other TNG and recent Sisko books, meandering and lacking teeth, failing to provide the sense of next step or even interesting characterisation for Worf, La Forge, Crusher or Picard. In comparison, Mack's Control did that not only for the whole setting but Bashir, and ET did it for Bashir and more especially Garak and Cardassia.
I'm really sorry to write this, I was very excited, and maybe as Mack writes here a courtroom drama would have been too little for the book. He has shown his ability elsewhere to write at length on more focused topics (zero sum game, for example, with its narrow focus on Salavet [sic]). But this was a weird fusion of not really matching plots, with the roles of Lavelle and Wildman especially weird (why no consequence for trying to blow up the moonbase?), and why does Okona "get the girl" in a strangely-written LaForge joke scene where Smrhova loses agency and a pov?
Still really lovely bits to it - wine felt very real, Akaar remains in many ways the MVP of recent books; the defence lawyer was nicely written; Worf's negotiation and Martok.cameo were great, but I wished there was more to it; the use of first person was good but could the whole book have been intersecting first person povs (Picard, Akaar, Louvois, Worf, Smrhova, as well as Okona and the Nausicaan, etc.) which could have really explored these characters and the book's themes further?
Nevertheless thank you for this book, Mr Mack. It was a good read, and I enjoyed very much the court and the earth scenes, as well as upsetting and disrupting presentations of nausicaans. I hope we see more and get further inspired takes on the Treklit world you and your colleagues have built over the past two decades!
I don't post much, but this question drew me out....
I had really hoped that one more event series could be put out to properly put the current Novelverse to pasture, it has been so good for so long that I really feel to end it like this, with so many loose threads still dangling and potential untapped is... disappointing.
While I enjoyed this book, knowing that the current Novelverse is coming to an end, I felt that the B and C plot focus was disjointed when looking at it as a finale, more These Are The Voyages instead of All Good Things so to speak....
As a dedicated reader and buyer of Trek Books for 25 years I would implore you and the other authors who post here if it's possible, to push for one more book, at least, to give the current Novelverse the send off it so richly deserves....
Also, thank you guys for what has truly been an edge of the seat adventure for the last nearly 20 years...
Now that that's out of the way, my one question that I couldn't recall... When did Martok get an eye patch? Was it Left Hand of Destiny?
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As has been stated - among other places - right here in this very thread, we're not done yet.
As has been stated - among other places - right here in this very thread, we're not done yet.
Can't you tell me more?
I promise I won't tell It to anyone else
Nah, I think his tragic end is pretty excellent. It's utterly powerful in Control and ET, let's not undo that. Or if he does recover, he joins Parmak and Garak in relationship
Admiral Betandes should be court marshalled for the bad things she's done To Riker and the Titan crew and Picard and the Enterprise crew. And giving all the section 31 classfied logs to Phillipa Lovouis to use against Picard. I think Phillipa should be disbarred as attorney general she's a corrupt as the Admiral.I'm glad Admiral Akkar told Betanedes off about giving those files to Lovouis.And to find out where former Section 31 spy L'Han is being held.
thats good to hear.As has been stated - among other places - right here in this very thread, we're not done yet.
I didnt read all 8 pages off replies here, so thats on me....
There was some serious channeling of Admiral Satie going on at times with Lovouis...
I’m in the extreme minority but I want him to hook up with Ezri. Never liked Douglas.Nah, I think his tragic end is pretty excellent. It's utterly powerful in Control and ET, let's not undo that. Or if he does recover, he joins Parmak and Garak in relationship
Just finished (having a busy,busy week).I found this book to be enormously enjoyable.
I was really on board for the Picard courtroom business and I loved how it all turned out.There was a danger that with a character as upright and philosophical as Picard that it could devolve into a dialogue-fest but not so.Great writing.
And David Mack did something I though impossible...he made me admire Worf!Yikes!
The Okana stuff was great..shades of what they call a backdoor pilot?(Backdoor pilot is not a euphemism!!
)
Finally somehow somewhere we need an Akaar/Batanides showdown.An e-book?
I was really on board for the Picard courtroom business and I loved how it all turned out.There was a danger that with a character as upright and philosophical as Picard that it could devolve into a dialogue-fest but not so.Great writing.
And David Mack did something I though impossible...he made me admire Worf!Yikes!
The Okana stuff was great..shades of what they call a backdoor pilot?(Backdoor pilot is not a euphemism!!
)Finally somehow somewhere we need an Akaar/Batanides showdown.An e-book?
What did she do to the Enterprise crew? If you're referring to the computer virus that nearly destroyed the ship, that was only supposed to erase the Husnock data with no harm to the ship itself. Just Naomi Wildman screwed the execution of the virus, resulting in it nearly destroying the Enterprise. Lavelle gets chewed out because of that at the end.
I know. Weird how Ezri wasn’t in that story.
I think Reanok might have been referring to the fact that Batanides used coercion to make Commander Dalit Sarai act as a spy against Captain Vale and Admiral Riker, in violation of Starfleet regulations.
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