Spoilers Catching up on the last 4 years of TrekLit

[Christopher]

Given that this started in the Kelvin Universe, you did a killer job redoing the character work so it was *very* TOS. I was impressed at how specific the arcs were about this particular point in these characters' lives.

Well, in writing the original book, I found I didn't have to change the characters much, aside from Kirk, Uhura, and to a lesser extent Spock. Well, I wrote Scotty a bit more comically, but that was about it. But for this version, yeah, I did add a lot of stuff to take advantage of TOS continuity. I was a bit hampered in the original version in having so little continuity to work with.

I love continuity building books and Christopher is known for filling in gaps in Star Trek history and lore as you noted. This, as you noted also, is sort of an exception, though it does add to "The Corbomite Maneuver" story.

It's not really an exception, since I wrote it as a transitional piece between TOS and TAS.

 

[Damian]

It's not really an exception, since I wrote it as a transitional piece between TOS and TAS.

That's right. This was the novel that showed Chekov leaving and Arex coming on board, right? So even though it was a 5 YM story it still had a bit of lost era building in it

 

[Christopher]

That's right. This was the novel that showed Chekov leaving and Arex coming on board, right? So even though it was a 5 YM story it still had a bit of lost era building in it

No, that was The Latter Fire. TFotU established why Chekov was going on leave, but didn't show him leaving. In my first draft, I had him leave at the end and be replaced by Arex from the night shift. Once The Latter Fire came out and had him leaving and Arex arriving at the start of the book, I tweaked my ending to lead directly into TLF's beginning.

And I mention the ship getting some refitting to install the features it had in TAS like the second bridge door, the bridge defense system, and the like. I also give an origin for the holographic rec room in "The Practical Joker," though Discovery has rendered it slightly obsolete.

 

[Greg Cox]

Greg Cox's recent "Antares Maelstrom" novel was another such novel. It doesn't fill in any missing gaps in Star Trek history really but it's like macaroni and cheese. ).

It's funny. I've previously seen that book compared to a full-course turkey dinner AND a chocolate cake with frosting, and now macaroni and cheese. Something about it makes people compare it to comfort food.

And, honestly. I'm fine with that. Lord knows it beats being compared to stale bread or an unappetizing plate of broccoli.

 

[Smiley]

You could paraphrase that famous Hitchcock quote: "My books are not slices of life, they are enormous, delicious meals for your reading pleasure."

 

[Thrawn]

Headlong Flight

Man, if you like Star Trek in your Star Trek and you want a Star Trek author to write Star Trek that feels exactly like Star Trek, Dayton Ward continues to be your dude. If you want, uh, any form of character arc or anything in the story to surprise or delight you in any way, though... ?

Don't get me wrong; the dramatic questions this asks are JUICY ones. The alternate Ent-D is set up to provide so many foils to so many characters on both sides. But could Dayton really not come up with a better plot to use this gimmick on than "everyone just keeps doing the same things they would've done anyway and works together with no friction"?

The closest thing to a character arc is Riker, who confronts the specter of his missing father figure, gets over it, and eventually rejoins his poker game. That's pretty solid. It's also for a character that is gone forever at the end of this story. As for our actual main characters, the ones we've been following for years and presumably read this book to see again, uh...? Konya and Chen get together offscreen and I think that's it?

Could we not use this as a chance to have current Geordi examine his feelings about past Data vs current Data? Have Picard examine how close he was to his previous senior staff, and how now the new people on the Ent-E (Elfiki, Chen, Konya, etc) hang out together and he doesn't know them as well at all and find a way (like the poker game) to connect with them better? Have Beverly consider how much she's changed from the woman who raised Wesley to how she's raising her own son now? Have Taurik encounter his past self and pass along some advice, or show character growth of some kind (any kind)? Have a character from the alternate timeline be stuck on the Ent-E and join with a different perspective than the rest of our leads? There is SO MUCH this premise could have accomplished, but instead, I guess Dayton Ward gonna Dayton Ward.

The Romulans are fine, they're good pieces to set the plot in motion, and the resolution is all whirlwind technobabble and competence porn where no one ever makes any mistakes and the situation is resolved perfectly, as per usual. Feels like Star Trek for sure. A TV show might have taken a by-the-numbers story like this and cut it together with well-paced edits, dynamic performances, a dramatic score, and beautiful effects, producing a dazzling display of Star Trek awesome. But in a novel you get none of those things and so you have to replace those strengths with other strengths like particularly interesting prose or particularly sharp characterization. Dayton doesn't fill the space with anything.

Reading this is like eating plain oatmeal. No one would question that it's food, but, like, you couldn't at least put a little brown sugar in there, or something? Anything?

At least it was a quick read.

Up next: Deep Space Nine! I tend to like DRG3 more than most people do, it seems, so I'm pretty excited about this one.

 

[Damian]

It's funny. I've previously seen that book compared to a full-course turkey dinner AND a chocolate cake with frosting, and now macaroni and cheese. Something about it makes people compare it to comfort food.

And, honestly. I'm fine with that. Lord knows it beats being compared to stale bread or an unappetizing plate of broccoli.

You can never go wrong with macaroni and cheese.

 

[Thrawn]

The Long Mirage

I enjoyed this a lot!

I'll start with my only real complaint - there's a bit of filler. Not filler plots, mind you, but filler characters. I don’t know why DRG3 seems to completely lack the ability to make new characters that are in any way interesting at all, all of a sudden, but Blackmer, Stinson, Candlewood, Boudreaux, and Lani all have effectively no defining characteristics whatsoever beyond job, gender, and sexual orientation. It’s frankly bizarre, especially considering how good he is at character-focused storytelling.

But when it comes to characters that were around before, I thought it was just lovely to spend some time with some old friends and watch them grow and change. This novel features interesting ongoing developments for the characters of Ro, Quark, Nog, and especially Kira, and I’m happy with all of them. I like that Kira is continuing to be involved in the falsework; that has real potential and intrigue and, even if nothing more is done with it (which seems likely at this point), does a nice job at returning the Prophets to a comfortably ambiguous place. Also, it's pretty rare to read a romantic relationship just slowly drift to a halt, even though that happens all the time in reality, and so though not especially dramatic or thrilling I found Ro and Quark drifting apart to be respectful of the two characters. It does seem totally weird that we have such a density of adventures in their first year together and then very few for the whole remaining nine, but George does what he can with that timeline imbalance and it basically works. The bits of the O’Brien family life we get are lovely, as well. And finally, this entire escapade about Vic is just fine. Kinda fun, worthy of the Vic stories in the show, consistent with the surrounding litverse about sentience and holography, and a satisfying payoff to the preceding appearances of that mystery. Not by any means a Major Event, but a fun little romp.

The best moment in the story is Odo coming home to Kira at the end; I’m glad for that, and if this does indeed turn out to be the approximate end of DS9 in the Litverse’s current incarnation, I’m happy for it to end here. There are more mysteries, there is the new Dominion colony, and all of that has potential, but I’m happy for Kira and Odo to be together.

Really, that’s all that can ultimately be said here – all of these characters are in character, living their lives, and I believe it. Their lives are arguably a bit less interesting than they used to be, and a bunch of boring people are filling in where other interesting people used to be, but these are the characters I know and it’s nice to catch up with them once in a while. I understand why people have problems with DRG3, but I contend that at least in this book his writing is at worst ... gentle. Sort of un-dramatic. Calm. But I don't mind it. Most of my actual friends have lives calmer now than they were a decade ago but I still enjoy catching up with them.

Next: Control. I've, uh, heard this is a big one.

 

[Kilana2]

Control is a page-turner!

 

[Thrawn]

Control

So, uh, yeah. That happened.

Reading that after The Long Mirage was a real trip. Like lying in a hammock and slowly drifting to sleep until someone comes up and unexpectedly punches you in the face. David Mack can sure goddamn write a thriller, holy cow.

In hindsight, I'm not sure I liked every choice, though. This Uraei thing is a fascinating idea. It’s plausible, creepy, and successfully brings together Bashir’s arc and Data’s arc and that all works great. But I think it might've ended up a little too responsible for too many different things... I'm not upset about the yet-another reevaluation of Federation principles; that's sort of what society right now is struggling with, so it makes sense that Star Trek would as well, and the books certainly do a good job with it. I just think it might be a little implausible. As someone that teaches programming for a living I just... have a hard time believing something this complex wouldn't be way, way buggier. (You know, like the holodecks. Amazing, but fucking up constantly?)

I also have never really bought the Julian / Sarina romance, but in fairness I don't think that's the fault of this particular story. I think too many of her earlier appearances tried to keep her ambiguous for too long (is she on Bashir's side or S31's?!?) and so I never really got the relationship. That said, from a shaky foundation, this does great things; the finale, where Bashir has won his biggest fight but lost everything, is a poetic climax for such an idealistic, brilliant character. It does make the fourth consecutive woman that David Mack has abruptly killed off just for development of other male characters, though, which is a bit of a troubling pattern at this point. Any one of them in isolation is fine but this is starting to add up.

Regardless, I'm fascinated by what the aftermath of this is going to be, and I think as a thought experiment it's fascinating, as a culmination for Bashir's arc it's close to perfect, and as (finally!) Data's next appearance it's absolutely badass. Data is becoming a steadily more ambiguous character, compelling and also a tiny little bit scary, and I love it. And, damn, this book sure did turn the pages.

Next up: Hearts & Minds. I am interested in what Dayton will do with the 20th century narrative in the near future, but after being pretty underwhelmed by his last two, I'll admit my hopes aren't super high.

 

[Christopher]

As someone that teaches programming for a living I just... have a hard time believing something this complex wouldn't be way, way buggier.

You know, I think that explains a lot about human behavior...

 

[Thrawn]

Hah! Fair point indeed!

 

[DS9Continuing]

It does make the fourth consecutive woman that David Mack has abruptly killed off just for development of other male characters, though, which is a bit of a troubling pattern at this point. Any one of them in isolation is fine but this is starting to add up.

I am also both weary / wary of this as well – it is not a good look, four books in a row. Jasminder Choudhury, Esperanza Piñiero, Rhea McAdams and now Sarina Douglas, and three out of those four are killed off to affect a male TV regular character (Worf, Data, Bashir).

But to be fair to David Mack, that's because so many of the various Treks' regular characters are male. The gender ratio has been off-kilter since the start and remains so to this day, and since gays didn't exist in screen Trek until a couple of years ago, all those male characters are going to have female love interests. So if you're going to kill off anyone's love interest, percentages say it's going to be a woman.

The hardcore definition of "fridging" requires the woman to have no other purpose in the story but to be killed off for the male's development, and that's not true of any of those four women. But then we get into all the complex arguments about, can we no longer use a certain story turn just because it's been used badly and too much in the past, even if it's the right thing for the story now.

I also remember the T'Prynn / Anna storyline from Vanguard. T'Prynn had already been fridged for Vaughn's character development before Mack, Ward and Dilmore got their hands on her (by Robert Simpson in Lesser Evil), so at least Vanguard retroactively made her a full character. But her arc ended up combining the "telepathic rape metaphor" trope with the "women can't control their emotions" trope with a double dose of "bury your lesbians" trope. But hey, at least we got a gay character with a love life, and Anna was killed off for a woman's character development rather than for a man's, and it's Vanguard anyway so everyone's life was filled with horror and misery. Why should T'Prynn be left out?

Plus, don't forget that in David Mack's very first long-form Trek fiction, Wildfire, he killed off the male character (Duffy) to service the female character (Gomez) – a reverse fridging in effect.

So there are bad parts to this whole issue, and there are mitigations of those bad parts. Not every woman's death is a fridging, but ultimately, it's still a woman's death.

.

 

[Christopher]

The hardcore definition of "fridging" requires the woman to have no other purpose in the story but to be killed off for the male's development, and that's not true of any of those four women.

I think that's defining it too narrowly; it's more that the character's death serves no other purpose than to motivate male characters, not necessarily that the character herself does. Usually that happens because the character's main role in the story is to be an extension of the male lead's story, because all her story arcs are just in service to his, but that's not the same thing as saying that her only purpose is specifically to die.

But then we get into all the complex arguments about, can we no longer use a certain story turn just because it's been used badly and too much in the past, even if it's the right thing for the story now.

No trope is completely bad. There are always going to be stories where a given trope is meaningful or worthwhile. The issue is when a single trope is overused, when it represents a larger pattern or bias. It can be valid to kill off a character to motivate a lead, but if it's almost always a female character dying to motivate a male lead and hardly ever the reverse, that's a symptom of a larger pattern of gender bias. It's the same as with the Bechdel Test -- a story without two women having a conversation isn't necessarily sexist (e.g. if it's a story with only two characters and the main one is female, like the film Gravity), but the fact that so many films lack such scenes is diagnostic of a deeper bias in the industry and culture overall.

 

[Thrawn]

Hearts and Minds

I'm not really sure how to write this one. I don't want to be a jerk, but I just totally hated this book. It might be my least favorite book in the whole modern Trek LitVerse. I was actually a bit angry?

I know I've already said some pretty harsh things about Dayton's writing in this thread, and I'm starting to feel a bit bad about it. I want to be clear that it seems obviously true that Dayton Ward is a lovely human being. He's a fellow fan, a fellow continuity nerd, and was extraordinarily gracious when we met in person at a convention. I don't mean any sort of personal attack; I'm happy for him, that he has a career he so obviously loves and gets to write about the bits of Star Trek that matter to him. And obviously this works for a lot of people, since mostly the reviews for this were positive, so this is just my opinion.

But my honest opinion of this is... ugh.

I'm genuinely confused.

Ok. When you start a story, as a writer, you make promises to your reader with the first few decisions you make. This book comes out swinging, making some pretty intriguing promises! To wit:

1) Akaar has recruited Taurik to be the repository of information too sensitive for Picard to even know. This is huge. One of Starfleet's best captains is not being trusted with something! This is a huge promise. It promises that this information is shocking and that Akaar has an outstanding reason for keeping it from Picard. It also promises that Taurik will have a crucial role to play in the story, a promise cemented further by the fact that he reveals, right off the bat, the existence of a bunch of Secret 20th/21st Century Stuff to Picard right away, and the scene literally ends with Taurik promising to go ask for more.

2) We alternate scenes of the Enterprise with scenes of 21st century Earth. The only reason to do this in a novel like this, particularly when the previous backstory comes from novels in TOS and not TNG, is if these stories will in some way inform each other. This promises the reader that what happened in the 21st century, specifically to the characters that we're following (Heffron, Mestral, Koroma), is going to matter to the story. Otherwise, why spend half a TNG novel on it?

3) A little while later, the book makes its biggest promise of all - it's revealed that humans were partially responsible for an enormous disaster on this world, a situation which asks a question that is profound and deeply relevant to modern times. What is our obligation to sins our ancestors committed? That's juicy, exactly the kind of thing TNG liked to ask, and thus the book is promising that our characters will have to grapple with it.

All three of those are great promises; by the 1/3 mark I was so into this book. But let's take how those turn out one by one, shall we?

1) Taurik stays behind on the ship and provides no further information to Picard. As such, none of that information is in any way relevant to Picard's decisions. And at the end, Akaar says "you did the best you could in a bad situation", which completely ignores and bypasses anyone's reasons for keeping anything from Picard in the first place. We don't engage with Picard not being trusted, we don't engage with any of Taurik's information, and there is nothing shocking that justifies this at all. This is the meat of the first quarter of the Enterprise's story, and it goes nowhere. No one in the 24th century ever even learns anything specific that happens in the 21st century story; it's so irrelevant it's never even mentioned.

2) Heffron, Mestral, and Koroma (etc) have no effect on the events that lead to the atrocity on Sralanya. If you didn't read a single 21st century chapter, your experience of the 24th century story would be unchanged. The only thing you need is the flashback about the astronauts after they arrive, and that's in the 24th century part of the narrative anyway. The only reason the 21st century chapters are there is because there were two other books about those characters already - TOS books, mind you - and so the author thinks the reader wants to know what happens to them. Only, if you had to predict what would happen to them, you'd have gotten it right straight down the line; there are no surprises here, just a gap filled for the sake of filling a gap. (eg, Mestral lives a long time, because he's a Vulcan, and keeps fighting the good fight. No shit?) And at the end, Gary Seven even admits he doesn't understand the Aegis's motivations! It's like the opposite of a Deus Ex Machina - an all powerful organization emerges at the end... to accomplish nothing... for no reason. The only character with any effect on the outcome aside from the astronauts themselves is Markham, and even he could have been cut without losing any understanding of how the mission to Sralanya came to pass. In short: the entire 21st century half of the novel serves no dramatic function in the TNG narrative in any way at all. (Notably, this is not true in From History's Shadow and Elusive Salvation, which intertwine with the 23rd century quite a lot.)

3) The great moral quandary is ignored completely! We break out of prison and end up in a generic shootout in the generic mountains with generic enemies, and it all turns out to be the Eizand's fault in the first place. But, like, humanity has done a lot of awful stuff in the past, and they came intending to do awful stuff here, so why are we feeling so morally superior? It's just enough to let the characters skate out from engaging with this in any way. As an author, why ask this question if you weren't in any way interested in having any character think about an answer? TNG directly engaged with much more challenging questions (it was, in fact, somewhat known for it); this just punts and escapes from having to think about any of it!

This book wasn't for anything. It wasn't about anything. It opened with a series of devastating hooks that went nowhere and were justified by nothing.

And then, at the very end, we get the tag about Section 31 that is, admittedly, dramatic and fascinating. But it's the same hook from the beginning again! Akaar suddenly doesn't trust Picard! So the book DROPS THAT BOMB, then sweeps it under the rug, then DROPS THE SAME BOMB AGAIN. It's maddening, just maddening. If you knew this was coming, make it a contrast - Picard gets all the trust, and then the rug is pulled out from under him. Or, if it was too late to change the rest of the story, make it cement Akaar's decision - "see, this is why we didn't trust you". Anything to link these two moments together aside from unremarked repetition. They don't interact at all. Akaar is just like "well, that's the end of this book. Let's take a deep breath, and now it's time for the introduction to the next one, which has nothing to do with me making a really similar decision like 29 chapters ago in this very same book." On top of which, Picard immediately promises to face the consequences with complete honesty, and is then immediately ok with Akaar's response, which is "I'm gonna try and make sure no one notices". Akaar is angry at Picard for a cover up, and then immediately promises to do his best to cover it up. Whaaaaaat the fuuuuuck?

Picard learns nothing, decides nothing, and ponders nothing. Taurik learns nothing, decides nothing, and ponders nothing. No one grows. No one thinks. One action scene and a morally superior tirade from Picard, and we are the fuck outta here. Nothing that happens in the 21st century even becomes known by any 24th century character, much less influences their decisions, and none of it was even interesting in the first place.

I don't understand why this was written, or how it made it to my hands without an editor saying "but what is any of this for?"

...but I'm glad so many other people enjoyed it, I guess. I just have no idea what you saw in this that I didn't.

Next up: Shield of the Gods.

 

[USS Firefly]

Hearts and Minds

I'm not really sure how to write this one. I don't want to be a jerk, but I just totally hated this book. It might be my least favorite book in the whole modern Trek LitVerse. I was actually a bit angry?

I know I've already said some pretty harsh things about Dayton's writing in this thread, and I'm starting to feel a bit bad about it. I want to be clear that it seems obviously true that Dayton Ward is a lovely human being. He's a fellow fan, a fellow continuity nerd, and was extraordinarily gracious when we met in person at a convention. I don't mean any sort of personal attack; I'm happy for him, that he has a career he so obviously loves and gets to write about the bits of Star Trek that matter to him. And obviously this works for a lot of people, since mostly the reviews for this were positive, so this is just my opinion.

But my honest opinion of this is... ugh.

I'm genuinely confused.

Ok. When you start a story, as a writer, you make promises to your reader with the first few decisions you make. This book comes out swinging, making some pretty intriguing promises! To wit:

1) Akaar has recruited Taurik to be the repository of information too sensitive for Picard to even know. This is huge. One of Starfleet's best captains is not being trusted with something! This is a huge promise. It promises that this information is shocking and that Akaar has an outstanding reason for keeping it from Picard. It also promises that Taurik will have a crucial role to play in the story, a promise cemented further by the fact that he reveals, right off the bat, the existence of a bunch of Secret 20th/21st Century Stuff to Picard right away, and the scene literally ends with Taurik promising to go ask for more.

2) We alternate scenes of the Enterprise with scenes of 21st century Earth. The only reason to do this in a novel like this, particularly when the previous backstory comes from novels in TOS and not TNG, is if these stories will in some way inform each other. This promises the reader that what happened in the 21st century, specifically to the characters that we're following (Heffron, Mestral, Koroma), is going to matter to the story. Otherwise, why spend half a TNG novel on it?

3) A little while later, the book makes its biggest promise of all - it's revealed that humans were partially responsible for an enormous disaster on this world, a situation which asks a question that is profound and deeply relevant to modern times. What is our obligation to sins our ancestors committed? That's juicy, exactly the kind of thing TNG liked to ask, and thus the book is promising that our characters will have to grapple with it.

All three of those are great promises; by the 1/3 mark I was so into this book. But let's take how those turn out one by one, shall we?

1) Taurik stays behind on the ship and provides no further information to Picard. As such, none of that information is in any way relevant to Picard's decisions. And at the end, Akaar says "you did the best you could in a bad situation", which completely ignores and bypasses anyone's reasons for keeping anything from Picard in the first place. We don't engage with Picard not being trusted, we don't engage with any of Taurik's information, and there is nothing shocking that justifies this at all. This is the meat of the first quarter of the Enterprise's story, and it goes nowhere. No one in the 24th century ever even learns anything specific that happens in the 21st century story; it's so irrelevant it's never even mentioned.

2) Heffron, Mestral, and Koroma (etc) have no effect on the events that lead to the atrocity on Sralanya. If you didn't read a single 21st century chapter, your experience of the 24th century story would be unchanged. The only thing you need is the flashback about the astronauts after they arrive, and that's in the 24th century part of the narrative anyway. The only reason the 21st century chapters are there is because there were two other books about those characters already - TOS books, mind you - and so the author thinks the reader wants to know what happens to them. Only, if you had to predict what would happen to them, you'd have gotten it right straight down the line; there are no surprises here, just a gap filled for the sake of filling a gap. (eg, Mestral lives a long time, because he's a Vulcan, and keeps fighting the good fight. No shit?) And at the end, Gary Seven even admits he doesn't understand the Aegis's motivations! It's like the opposite of a Deus Ex Machina - an all powerful organization emerges at the end... to accomplish nothing... for no reason. The only character with any effect on the outcome aside from the astronauts themselves is Markham, and even he could have been cut without losing any understanding of how the mission to Sralanya came to pass. In short: the entire 21st century half of the novel serves no dramatic function in the TNG narrative in any way at all. (Notably, this is not true in From History's Shadow and Elusive Salvation, which intertwine with the 23rd century quite a lot.)

3) The great moral quandary is ignored completely! We break out of prison and end up in a generic shootout in the generic mountains with generic enemies, and it all turns out to be the Eizand's fault in the first place. But, like, humanity has done a lot of awful stuff in the past, and they came intending to do awful stuff here, so why are we feeling so morally superior? It's just enough to let the characters skate out from engaging with this in any way. As an author, why ask this question if you weren't in any way interested in having any character think about an answer? TNG directly engaged with much more challenging questions (it was, in fact, somewhat known for it); this just punts and escapes from having to think about any of it!

This book wasn't for anything. It wasn't about anything. It opened with a series of devastating hooks that went nowhere and were justified by nothing.

And then, at the very end, we get the tag about Section 31 that is, admittedly, dramatic and fascinating. But it's the same hook from the beginning again! Akaar suddenly doesn't trust Picard! So the book DROPS THAT BOMB, then sweeps it under the rug, then DROPS THE SAME BOMB AGAIN. It's maddening, just maddening. If you knew this was coming, make it a contrast - Picard gets all the trust, and then the rug is pulled out from under him. Or, if it was too late to change the rest of the story, make it cement Akaar's decision - "see, this is why we didn't trust you". Anything to link these two moments together aside from unremarked repetition. They don't interact at all. Akaar is just like "well, that's the end of this book. Let's take a deep breath, and now it's time for the introduction to the next one, which has nothing to do with me making a really similar decision like 29 chapters ago in this very same book." On top of which, Picard immediately promises to face the consequences with complete honesty, and is then immediately ok with Akaar's response, which is "I'm gonna try and make sure no one notices". Akaar is angry at Picard for a cover up, and then immediately promises to do his best to cover it up. Whaaaaaat the fuuuuuck?

Picard learns nothing, decides nothing, and ponders nothing. Taurik learns nothing, decides nothing, and ponders nothing. No one grows. No one thinks. One action scene and a morally superior tirade from Picard, and we are the fuck outta here. Nothing that happens in the 21st century even becomes known by any 24th century character, much less influences their decisions, and none of it was even interesting in the first place.

I don't understand why this was written, or how it made it to my hands without an editor saying "but what is any of this for?"

...but I'm glad so many other people enjoyed it, I guess. I just have no idea what you saw in this that I didn't.

Next up: Shield of the Gods.

Good review, and I agree with you

 

[Thrawn]

Shield of the Gods

I think, of the three DTI novellas, this is probably the weakest, but I'm still basically satisfied. The climax is nicely Christopher L. Bennett – it deals with a complex moral conundrum without shying away from its complexity, finding an answer that is right for the characters if not inarguably right for everyone. I felt the loss of Ranjea and also the joy at him living a life he was happy with. I also liked the fleshing out of the Aegis, something long overdue (AHEM heartsandminds AHEM). That all said, the other half of this story – Garcia, Dulmur, and Lucsly – didn’t accomplish much, and that’s a shame. They chase Daiyar around for a while but don’t actually stop her and also don’t need to, on top of which Garcia does in fact lose Ranjea. It’s sad and it makes me wish that this part of the story accomplished more. Sure, sometimes life is like that, but as a writer one gets to choose the story one tells and I’m not entirely sure what we gained from the B plot here that wouldn’t have been just as effective in a smaller framing story instead. I suppose that storyline is what allowed us to see more about the Aegis, but it still struck me as a bit awkward. But it certainly got where it was going and I like the DTI characters a lot at this point so I felt the emotional weight of the ending. I definitely want to read more (which looks like it won’t ever happen, but still) of this quality; this was a good little tale, just not as strong as the others.

Edit: oh I forgot. Next up: Enigma Tales. Una McCormack! Garak! AAAAH!!!

 

[JJMiller]

As I recall, I was happy with how John used the Kinshaya in Prey. When they were mentioned in passing in Plagues of Night (I think it was), they were referred to as still being a theocracy, as if the events of The Struggle Within hadn't happened. I guess they were such a minor part of the novel that the inconsistency was overlooked. But John did a good job of following through on the events and worldbuilding I established in TSW and reconciling them with PoN.

Late to this comment but thanks -- I studied Struggle closely for ways to reconcile the various accounts and was glad to find it offered a lot of plausible avenues for doing so. I don't know that I got their society back to the state you'd left it in, but they're pretty close. Two steps forward, one step back.

 

[Christopher]

^I appreciate the effort!

 

[ronny]

Wow, I thought I was going to have time to read a Discovery book or two before you got to them but at the pace you're going there's no way that's going to happen.