I'm lucky that I have a couple months here where I have a lot of spare time to dedicate to this! I don't usually read this fast, but I enjoy it when I get the chance.
Spoilers Catching up on the last 4 years of TrekLit
- Thread starter Thrawn
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I'm lucky that I have a couple months here where I have a lot of spare time to dedicate to this! I don't usually read this fast, but I enjoy it when I get the chance.
Enigma Tales
Una McCormack is a treasure, and I hope she keeps writing Star Trek books forever. This is brilliant. She has a way of overlapping literal and figurative themes that is unique and turns every book into a fractal delight of complexity; here, this is a book called Enigma Tales in which Enigma Tales feature as a prominent theme, but of course the entire story is itself an Enigma Tale as she defines within the narrative as well. The book is a commentary on itself, something that feels twisted and intricate and very Cardassian. The very nature of the story characterizes Cardassia as much as the details of the story itself. It has the effect of making a small story expand to fill an entire culture; a brief moment feels definitional, grand. I don't think anything else in Star Trek is quite like it, and it floors me every time. Here, the premise that everyone is guilty of something continues to hit hard all the way until the end, when the perpetrator is revealed to be from Starfleet; even our visitors are not absolved of the guilt. Yet that sounds heavy handed, and in execution it isn't - this book is light and hopeful, aware of past tragedies but moving forwards, with plenty of humor and whimsy.
The only real problem is that she too often relies on a character’s motivations being unclear and undescribed in the story, despite having scenes from that character’s viewpoint, in an effort I suppose to keep us in the dark about (for example) whether Garak really is manipulating things behind the scenes, or whether Lang really does want the directorship. The story is good enough that she doesn’t need to play it quite so coy and it gets in the way of enjoying the unfolding escapade at times. But everyone is in character; McCormack writes the best Garak, the best Pulaski (honestly, the fact that anyone would want to return to that character at all is surprising to me, but McCormack makes her just so damn delightful – I love her as much as McCormack does by the end of the book, I think), and the best Cardassia, a character all its own. Even the interludes where Garak writes to Bashir about the city are beautiful, poetic and evocative; an entire complex piece of characterization, moralizing, and worldbuilding all their own.
I’m 100% on board the “keep letting Una McCormack write whatever the hell she wants” train. This is a gem.
Next up: since I'm not catching up on Enterprise this time, and I've already read Desperate Hours, next up is Gamma: Original Sin. I'm not incredibly fascinated by Sisko and his new command, but I'm willing to keep an open mind. I usually find DRG3's writing appealing, and Long Mirage was solid.
Una McCormack is a treasure, and I hope she keeps writing Star Trek books forever. This is brilliant. She has a way of overlapping literal and figurative themes that is unique and turns every book into a fractal delight of complexity; here, this is a book called Enigma Tales in which Enigma Tales feature as a prominent theme, but of course the entire story is itself an Enigma Tale as she defines within the narrative as well. The book is a commentary on itself, something that feels twisted and intricate and very Cardassian. The very nature of the story characterizes Cardassia as much as the details of the story itself. It has the effect of making a small story expand to fill an entire culture; a brief moment feels definitional, grand. I don't think anything else in Star Trek is quite like it, and it floors me every time. Here, the premise that everyone is guilty of something continues to hit hard all the way until the end, when the perpetrator is revealed to be from Starfleet; even our visitors are not absolved of the guilt. Yet that sounds heavy handed, and in execution it isn't - this book is light and hopeful, aware of past tragedies but moving forwards, with plenty of humor and whimsy.
The only real problem is that she too often relies on a character’s motivations being unclear and undescribed in the story, despite having scenes from that character’s viewpoint, in an effort I suppose to keep us in the dark about (for example) whether Garak really is manipulating things behind the scenes, or whether Lang really does want the directorship. The story is good enough that she doesn’t need to play it quite so coy and it gets in the way of enjoying the unfolding escapade at times. But everyone is in character; McCormack writes the best Garak, the best Pulaski (honestly, the fact that anyone would want to return to that character at all is surprising to me, but McCormack makes her just so damn delightful – I love her as much as McCormack does by the end of the book, I think), and the best Cardassia, a character all its own. Even the interludes where Garak writes to Bashir about the city are beautiful, poetic and evocative; an entire complex piece of characterization, moralizing, and worldbuilding all their own.
I’m 100% on board the “keep letting Una McCormack write whatever the hell she wants” train. This is a gem.
Next up: since I'm not catching up on Enterprise this time, and I've already read Desperate Hours, next up is Gamma: Original Sin. I'm not incredibly fascinated by Sisko and his new command, but I'm willing to keep an open mind. I usually find DRG3's writing appealing, and Long Mirage was solid.
I liked Original Sin. I guess it has its detractors but I thought it was pretty good. I thought there was potential here to lead to another series of books along the line of "Mission: Gamma" but sadly the hiatus occurred not long after this book was released and I think the boat has sailed on further Robinson books.
Agree about Enigma Tales. An excellent novel. I'd love someone to follow up on that as well, esp. with what will happen to Bashir.
It's one reason I keep hoping, however hopelessly, that there's one more DS9 novel to tie up the loose ends from Enigma Tales and The Long Mirage, even if it has to be one novel covering a finale of both plots. I'd hate to see things on DS9 end with so many unfinished plot threads. I won't say much about Original Sin except to say at least in that case it ends like an episode, in such a way that there is a conclusion to the main story. There are certainly threads that could be continued, like any relaunch novel, but the main story sees a conclusion.
Original Sin
Just finished this one over lunch today; the end builds really nicely and I had a hard time putting it down. I feel like DRG3 is all about the buildup, and sometimes it falters a bit and leaves you feeling frustrated at how long everything took to happen but sometimes the climax is awesome and it makes the whole journey worth it. This was in the latter category for me; this whole book was a joke with a single punchline, and almost everything that didn't contribute to that punchline wasn't sketched well at all (like, for instance, any sense of characterization of Sisko's crew), but the punchline was real good. Eerie and surprising and memorable. This answers a question – what’s special about Rebecca – while asking a much bigger one in its place, and I love that kind of development.
This is also a brilliant way to tie together a story from the DS9 gap years with a story in the ongoing series and goes a long way towards making both the past and the present of the DS9 tales feel more well-rounded and interesting. On top of that, the Glant are one of the more fascinating monsters of the week in recent memory; I wish that the story had spent more time with them and perhaps come to more of a resolution, but there’s even a mysterious beauty in just leaving them be, letting them be an odd offshoot of something very old that doesn’t need to be explained or fixed. I love the sense of a universe populated by all this weird shit in the corners where we don’t often go.
I will say that the science around the null space thing was abysmal (though not out of the Star Trek wheelhouse, to be fair) and the book does take a while to get moving, making the first half an occasionally frustrating experience. But unlike, oh for instance, Hearts and Minds, DRG3 brings home the connection between the two halves of the book in grand and unexpected style, completely paying off the patience necessary to get there. This isn’t an all-time classic, but as the latest in a series of very different DS9 stories in this publishing year it stands proudly.
Really, between the appearances this year of Vic Fontaine, Odo, Bajoran mysticism, Section 31, Bashir, Cardassia, Garak, and now Sisko and more prophecy, I almost feel like I’m getting a pseudo-season of DS9 again, like the early relaunch days, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Enough novels published close enough together that everything I'm looking for is in here somewhere. I feel like this hasn't been true since the Worlds of DS9 miniseries and, though I know more resolution would be great here, if this is how DS9 goes out I'm remarkably happy with it. We've gotten a whole bunch of stories with different moods and tones between all the A and B plots of all of these entries. Pretty great stuff.
Next up: the last bit of the DS9 mini-season, I, The Constable, which I actually sort of think I'm probably going to hate (wasn't impressed by either of their other two entries) but perhaps it will contribute to this greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts feeling.
Just finished this one over lunch today; the end builds really nicely and I had a hard time putting it down. I feel like DRG3 is all about the buildup, and sometimes it falters a bit and leaves you feeling frustrated at how long everything took to happen but sometimes the climax is awesome and it makes the whole journey worth it. This was in the latter category for me; this whole book was a joke with a single punchline, and almost everything that didn't contribute to that punchline wasn't sketched well at all (like, for instance, any sense of characterization of Sisko's crew), but the punchline was real good. Eerie and surprising and memorable. This answers a question – what’s special about Rebecca – while asking a much bigger one in its place, and I love that kind of development.
This is also a brilliant way to tie together a story from the DS9 gap years with a story in the ongoing series and goes a long way towards making both the past and the present of the DS9 tales feel more well-rounded and interesting. On top of that, the Glant are one of the more fascinating monsters of the week in recent memory; I wish that the story had spent more time with them and perhaps come to more of a resolution, but there’s even a mysterious beauty in just leaving them be, letting them be an odd offshoot of something very old that doesn’t need to be explained or fixed. I love the sense of a universe populated by all this weird shit in the corners where we don’t often go.
I will say that the science around the null space thing was abysmal (though not out of the Star Trek wheelhouse, to be fair) and the book does take a while to get moving, making the first half an occasionally frustrating experience. But unlike, oh for instance, Hearts and Minds, DRG3 brings home the connection between the two halves of the book in grand and unexpected style, completely paying off the patience necessary to get there. This isn’t an all-time classic, but as the latest in a series of very different DS9 stories in this publishing year it stands proudly.
Really, between the appearances this year of Vic Fontaine, Odo, Bajoran mysticism, Section 31, Bashir, Cardassia, Garak, and now Sisko and more prophecy, I almost feel like I’m getting a pseudo-season of DS9 again, like the early relaunch days, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Enough novels published close enough together that everything I'm looking for is in here somewhere. I feel like this hasn't been true since the Worlds of DS9 miniseries and, though I know more resolution would be great here, if this is how DS9 goes out I'm remarkably happy with it. We've gotten a whole bunch of stories with different moods and tones between all the A and B plots of all of these entries. Pretty great stuff.
Next up: the last bit of the DS9 mini-season, I, The Constable, which I actually sort of think I'm probably going to hate (wasn't impressed by either of their other two entries) but perhaps it will contribute to this greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts feeling.
I recall I liked this short story. I think it does bring a resolution to one story line. It's short so if you end up not liking it you won't waste a lot of time with it.
In a way you're lucky that you got to read these more in a row all together. And in retrospect I can see how it would be like another season of DS9, focusing on different parts of the show. I read them as they came out and there was a good deal of time between each novel so in my case it was a bit more fragmented.
Someday I plan on re-reading the 24th century relaunches in order by series (of course I'll have to find a way to factor in crossovers) and see how the story flows. Certainly with DS9 I'd start with Avatar and with TNG I'd probably start with The Genesis Wave since that seems to retroactively start the continuing TNG stories--and Homecoming for Voyager.
I, The Constable
I think this was the best of the Block / Erdmann novellas, but still pretty mediocre. The characterizations of Quark and Odo are more or less TV-show accurate, and certainly pretty entertaining, but despite a much stronger effort this time around to follow along with the current continuity (I especially like Odo sending notes to Nerys now that they’re back together), they don’t feel like the 10-years-later more mature characters that George et al write. This just doesn’t fit here. And even on Ferenginar, I feel like it’d be not a thing for the planetary leader to go shooting off on his own with no backup. In any case: fun enough, and if you squint it’s better fit into the continuity than their other entries. And indeed, when combined with The Long Mirage, Control, Enigma Tales, and Original Sin, this does give even more of this feeling of a season of TV and that’s pleasant indeed.
Next up: Fortune of War. After how little was done with any of the Titan characters in Prey, I'm looking forward to a real Titan story. Hoping for lots of character work.
I think this was the best of the Block / Erdmann novellas, but still pretty mediocre. The characterizations of Quark and Odo are more or less TV-show accurate, and certainly pretty entertaining, but despite a much stronger effort this time around to follow along with the current continuity (I especially like Odo sending notes to Nerys now that they’re back together), they don’t feel like the 10-years-later more mature characters that George et al write. This just doesn’t fit here. And even on Ferenginar, I feel like it’d be not a thing for the planetary leader to go shooting off on his own with no backup. In any case: fun enough, and if you squint it’s better fit into the continuity than their other entries. And indeed, when combined with The Long Mirage, Control, Enigma Tales, and Original Sin, this does give even more of this feeling of a season of TV and that’s pleasant indeed.
Next up: Fortune of War. After how little was done with any of the Titan characters in Prey, I'm looking forward to a real Titan story. Hoping for lots of character work.
In which case, I apologize in advance. I wrote Fortunes of War as a thriller, and as such I had time to focus only on a handful of the Titan regulars. However, I did my best to address some of the long-running character arcs, and to set up some payoffs that come to fruition in TNG: Collateral Damage.
As someone once put it, Thrawn, we're there to tell stories, not give status updates -- and that's a helpful thing to remember. When some characters' actions are more tangential to the thrust of the story than others, they'll see less development, just like on TV. Not every actor gets an arc, nor is it necessarily desirable. (Prey, for its part, had plenty to negotiate with more than 200 named characters, more than 150 with speaking roles. Bless Robert Petkoff for his versatile voice!)
Branding in some ways can help address those expectations. In Prey's case, the story was firstly (though by no means exculsively) about the three villains' journeys, so we deliberately did not brand it with Titan in the title, or even Next Generation. "Prey" is thus, in a sense, its own sub-brand. Had I approached the distribution of character arcs differently, it might have qualified for one of the existing sub-brands, but we all agreed it was really more its own thing.
Sub-brands, it should be also noted, are a commercial construct — how well they reflect contents and story focus tends to vary from release to release. I spoil nothing by saying that Enterprise War is a Discovery novel in which Discovery doesn't appear at all — but it would not exist without Discovery and that's the sub-brand we have going, so that's where it went. Takedown takes place mostly aboard Aventine, but there was no Aventine brand and we weren't prepared to create one for one book. It was clearly a Next Generation spin-off story, so there was little problem with using that brand.
Branding in some ways can help address those expectations. In Prey's case, the story was firstly (though by no means exculsively) about the three villains' journeys, so we deliberately did not brand it with Titan in the title, or even Next Generation. "Prey" is thus, in a sense, its own sub-brand. Had I approached the distribution of character arcs differently, it might have qualified for one of the existing sub-brands, but we all agreed it was really more its own thing.
Sub-brands, it should be also noted, are a commercial construct — how well they reflect contents and story focus tends to vary from release to release. I spoil nothing by saying that Enterprise War is a Discovery novel in which Discovery doesn't appear at all — but it would not exist without Discovery and that's the sub-brand we have going, so that's where it went. Takedown takes place mostly aboard Aventine, but there was no Aventine brand and we weren't prepared to create one for one book. It was clearly a Next Generation spin-off story, so there was little problem with using that brand.
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I mean, sure, but can I not prefer stories that develop characters I like and haven't seen much lately to stories that don't develop those characters?
It's not a judgment, just a preference.
Certainly! That's natural -- and that dynamic's out there for the TV characters as well as the literary-original ones.
One of the challenges as well is that while the authors have some broad knowledge about what's going on in the books landing immediately before theirs, a lot of what happens to the lit characters shows up at the manuscript stage. It's often safer to create someone new than to fear contradicting details from projects that are themselves still in production.
For sure, and, given this, I'm often quite in awe of how well all the novels do tie together, particularly in the multi-author arcs like Typhon Pact or The Fall. The only hiccup I noticed between Prey and Headlong Flight which, being published almost immediately afterwards, can't have been easy to coordinate with was an offhand reference to the Briar Patch in Headlong Flight that was oddly placed if the Enterprise had just been there recently.
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Fortune of War
Indeed, this wasn't quite what I was looking for, but I did enjoy it immensely. As with Control, David Mack sure can write a thriller!
It helped a lot that the biggest character arc that was here, that of Sarai attempting to navigate conflicting loyalties, was absolutely fantastic. And also that a lot of the other characters were notably themselves, even if they didn't have arcs, and not simply generic Starfleet competence machines. It was, for instance, a treat to see more of Vale as a captain. She doesn’t grow or change much, but she does have some crises of faith to navigate, and in general has a pleasantly forward-moving aggressive risky command style that feels both her own and a natural result of learning from Riker for many years.
My only complaint, character-wise, is that the Ra-Havreii story is sort of weirdly executed. He seems WAY too bitchy to be a professional Starfleet officer for the front half of the book, but then gets it together and kills it in Engineering for the second half but without any PoV scenes down there that show either him or his crew working through his “command style” of late. There’s a small bit of conclusion to the arc, as he starts off annoyed at the engineer that should be deputy chief and in the end appoints him acting chief as he leaves for therapy, but it feels like there’s about three missing scenes that could’ve easily slotted into all the chaos where we see the good sides of Ra-Havreii and develop further the engineering team's responses to his recent mood swings. The book did exactly this sort of layering of an emotional arc amidst action scenes with Sarai, and I feel like there was enough stuff happening in Engineering for a few scenes to appear there without arresting the story's momentum and pay off the other arc that was so clearly established at the beginning.
In any case, the rest of the story gets a bit subsumed by the mission, but that's not a complaint because the mission is great. This is one of the better many-different-conflicting-motivations-villains-in-a-giant-clusterfuck tales Trek has ever published, I think performing a lot of what Prey built to slowly but in a much smaller space. I love all the alien PoVs and sudden turns the story takes, and as a subtle bit of dramatic structure I like that it takes more than three tries for Titan to beat the Breen, subverting the dramatic expectations of the rule of three and making the threat seem huge without being disproportionate for a single novel.
Overall, I think this is one of the better Titan entries since Destiny. Between Control and this, I’m rather enjoying Mack’s “the world is on fire, fuck subtlety, if you spend your career chasing weapons of war YOU GON’ DIE” phase. This works, and makes for a strong example of the Starfleet officers are awesome against impossible odds genre of Trek story. The stakes are high but not disproportionately so, the prose moves swiftly, and our characters make plenty of mistakes along the way to learn from. It's true that there has been a lot of this kind of story lately, between Dayton's general preference towards stories of Starfleet officers being Starfleet awesome and the Prey trilogy too, but this is a particularly great example and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Next up: Drastic Measures. I really haven't been on Dayton's wavelength lately, in this catch up, so I'm not sure what to expect here. I know that this won a tie-in award, though, so hopefully it clicks with me more than his last few.
Indeed, this wasn't quite what I was looking for, but I did enjoy it immensely. As with Control, David Mack sure can write a thriller!
It helped a lot that the biggest character arc that was here, that of Sarai attempting to navigate conflicting loyalties, was absolutely fantastic. And also that a lot of the other characters were notably themselves, even if they didn't have arcs, and not simply generic Starfleet competence machines. It was, for instance, a treat to see more of Vale as a captain. She doesn’t grow or change much, but she does have some crises of faith to navigate, and in general has a pleasantly forward-moving aggressive risky command style that feels both her own and a natural result of learning from Riker for many years.
My only complaint, character-wise, is that the Ra-Havreii story is sort of weirdly executed. He seems WAY too bitchy to be a professional Starfleet officer for the front half of the book, but then gets it together and kills it in Engineering for the second half but without any PoV scenes down there that show either him or his crew working through his “command style” of late. There’s a small bit of conclusion to the arc, as he starts off annoyed at the engineer that should be deputy chief and in the end appoints him acting chief as he leaves for therapy, but it feels like there’s about three missing scenes that could’ve easily slotted into all the chaos where we see the good sides of Ra-Havreii and develop further the engineering team's responses to his recent mood swings. The book did exactly this sort of layering of an emotional arc amidst action scenes with Sarai, and I feel like there was enough stuff happening in Engineering for a few scenes to appear there without arresting the story's momentum and pay off the other arc that was so clearly established at the beginning.
In any case, the rest of the story gets a bit subsumed by the mission, but that's not a complaint because the mission is great. This is one of the better many-different-conflicting-motivations-villains-in-a-giant-clusterfuck tales Trek has ever published, I think performing a lot of what Prey built to slowly but in a much smaller space. I love all the alien PoVs and sudden turns the story takes, and as a subtle bit of dramatic structure I like that it takes more than three tries for Titan to beat the Breen, subverting the dramatic expectations of the rule of three and making the threat seem huge without being disproportionate for a single novel.
Overall, I think this is one of the better Titan entries since Destiny. Between Control and this, I’m rather enjoying Mack’s “the world is on fire, fuck subtlety, if you spend your career chasing weapons of war YOU GON’ DIE” phase. This works, and makes for a strong example of the Starfleet officers are awesome against impossible odds genre of Trek story. The stakes are high but not disproportionately so, the prose moves swiftly, and our characters make plenty of mistakes along the way to learn from. It's true that there has been a lot of this kind of story lately, between Dayton's general preference towards stories of Starfleet officers being Starfleet awesome and the Prey trilogy too, but this is a particularly great example and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Next up: Drastic Measures. I really haven't been on Dayton's wavelength lately, in this catch up, so I'm not sure what to expect here. I know that this won a tie-in award, though, so hopefully it clicks with me more than his last few.
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I think Ra-Havreii has been a mess from the beginning – he's an interesting character to read, but an absolute screaming asshole as a person and I have little doubt I would loathe him if I ever met him in the flesh.
The weird thing (and I think Ra-Havreii may be a victim of this) is that the Titan series has ended up with this paradox of time passed versus character development. Titan the ship has been in service for 7 years as of Fortune of War, but there is a massive gap of 3 years in the middle of that (Fallen Gods to The Poison Chalice) in which the ship was apparently out there doing its thing and yet absolutely nothing happened and nobody had any character development. It kind of explains (even though it shouldn't) why Ra-Havreii is still this much of an asshole after 7 years as a senior staff member.
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I'm guessing the production schedules didn't sync up. Due to the nature of the trilogy releasing monthly I had all three books on my desk at different proofreading stages at the same time, fairly late in the game. That was very helpful for intra-trilogy continuity, but not so much for connections to other projects.
The one major exception is Prometheus, which was Klingon-heavy: the authors gave me a character to insert into Klingon society and wrote their books to reflect Prey's events.
And quite a coincidence as well. Who would have thunk two stories would have been released so close together that would have included the Briar Patch. Probably just bad luck more than anything else.
I'm not sure how often this happens in Trek lit (esp. in the relaunches) but I guess it happens from time to time.
One good thing about the hiatus in 2018 as a reader is that I read the "Prometheus" trilogy--something I would probably not have done had their been no hiatus. I ended up enjoying the trilogy and it did line up pretty well with "Prey" I thought, at least peripherally (they were much different stories of course--but you could see some of the signs of discord in the Empire that would ultimately lead to the events of "Prey")
Just in case this wasn't clear, my point there was that it was so minor - in general, everything tracked really well! Partially, as you say, due to the fact that Prey focused on villains / original characters more, so there was less to contradict, but either way it felt pretty seamless.
Drastic Measures
Um...
I think this might've been even worse than Hearts & Minds?
I'm not trying to be mean, I'm really not! I'd love to hear what anyone thought was great about this novel (apparently lots of people did, because it won the Scribe award) but man, I do not get it.
This is the second Dayton Ward novel in a row where he conjures up a truly profound moral question, ignores it completely, and opts for a shootout in the mountains outside of town AGAIN instead of any actually thoughtful analysis. There is a *GREAT* story here, but it's not about Kodos or Starfleet, rather about his collaborators. Why would people decide to follow someone like that? What responsibility does a society have to them afterwards? What does rehabilitation look like? What does forgiveness look like? That is some Star Trek shit right there, but it's not in this book at all.
To give a genuine compliment: Dayton Ward is damn good at Starfleet officers being competent and good at their jobs, and that part worked well. The thrilling heroics in the back half were just fine. The problem is that they were also totally generic, and in a book poised to be something truly distinctive, to only be able to praise the most predictable part of them is really sad. There was so much potential here, so many promises that the book makes the reader by choosing to be set amidst such an extreme tragedy, and none of that is realized.
I mean, sure, this book has a whole bunch of Trek references in it and details an important incident referred to in TOS, but the narrative evinces no judgment whatsoever in actually forming a story around this incident that in any way responds to a sense of reality of how awful or complex it would have actually been. He doesn't seem to make any real effort to truly engage with this event – his vision of the colony in the first place makes no sense (how many 8,000 person communities have dozens of police officers, a hospital “system”, multiple news stations, and after half of them are killed enough malcontents to literally riot uncontrollably?), and then the trauma reactions don’t make any sense either. I imagine this happening where I went to university, which was about 4,000 people, and I imagine everyone sitting together on the field and holding candles, not rioting. And I doubt my university was any closer a community than a small colony would've been.
I think it's just because sick people and rioters make for easy stories to slot Star Trek characters into - they do some good fighting, they do some good doctoring - and not because it makes any actual internal sense in the narrative. How different and interesting would this have been if there was no action at all (at least, not until the very end) and instead this team of seasoned Starfleet security and medical professionals has nothing to do but to figure out how to help 4,000 grieving people make some kind - any kind - of meaning from this? That's unique, troubling, but human and profound; this goes for cheap thrills and predictable fisticuffs. It's just so disappointing.
On top of that, the story provides no particular insight into Gabriel Lorca. All of Lorca's angst is totally silly since we already know the Lorca in the show is from the Mirror Universe anyway, so his presence is merely a con, a magic trick to which we already know the punchline. The whole book reads as if it was actually written as a prologue to his character from the show (which, maybe it was; I know plans change and perhaps this was commissioned before they'd decided Lorca was Mirror Lorca, who knows). But really: if Lorca wasn't from the MU, this would've been an explanation for that Lorca turning dark that would've been pretty great, fortune cookie obsession and all. But then the epilogue shows us that Prime Lorca has turned to light, which is nice I guess but big-picture pretty generic Star Trek and as a specific Discovery prequel totally useless because this isn’t the character in the show anyway. On top of that, it also provides no particular insight into Georgiou, who just works hard and is good at things and tries to help in exactly the way that any character in Star Trek ever would. You could have find-replaced Georgiou with any other name you wanted and changed nothing.
The only cool piece of continuity is when Kirk shows up. He’s characterized brilliantly. I'll be honest: I enjoyed the hell out of that tiny bit of the book. Made me laugh. All the rest of the continuity work here is just a waste of a chance to tell a good story.
And oh god does Ward love to repeat himself. Between the excerpts from the book about the situation and the actual narrative, I swear the book describes the origins of the fungal infection, from the beginning as if I hadn't read it before, something like ten entire times. He could’ve lost 30% of the wordcount in this book and lost nothing from the story at all. It even has five entire epilogues after the action has completed!
I can’t say the book is irredeemable, because once we get to the action scenes, in isolation, they’re great – Georgiou taking over the ship is particularly thrilling and Star Trek-y. And there is Kirk’s appearance, and there is the final epilogue which if nothing else answers a question the show had lingering. It’s not true that a fan gets nothing from reading this. But it is true that a fan sure doesn’t get a sensitive, unique, human exploration of what a trauma on this scale does to a community. Not even close.
Can anyone explain to me what you liked about this?
Next up: Fear Itself - I love Saru, so I'm excited about that, and I can't imagine I'll like that book less than this one.
Um...
I think this might've been even worse than Hearts & Minds?
I'm not trying to be mean, I'm really not! I'd love to hear what anyone thought was great about this novel (apparently lots of people did, because it won the Scribe award) but man, I do not get it.
This is the second Dayton Ward novel in a row where he conjures up a truly profound moral question, ignores it completely, and opts for a shootout in the mountains outside of town AGAIN instead of any actually thoughtful analysis. There is a *GREAT* story here, but it's not about Kodos or Starfleet, rather about his collaborators. Why would people decide to follow someone like that? What responsibility does a society have to them afterwards? What does rehabilitation look like? What does forgiveness look like? That is some Star Trek shit right there, but it's not in this book at all.
To give a genuine compliment: Dayton Ward is damn good at Starfleet officers being competent and good at their jobs, and that part worked well. The thrilling heroics in the back half were just fine. The problem is that they were also totally generic, and in a book poised to be something truly distinctive, to only be able to praise the most predictable part of them is really sad. There was so much potential here, so many promises that the book makes the reader by choosing to be set amidst such an extreme tragedy, and none of that is realized.
I mean, sure, this book has a whole bunch of Trek references in it and details an important incident referred to in TOS, but the narrative evinces no judgment whatsoever in actually forming a story around this incident that in any way responds to a sense of reality of how awful or complex it would have actually been. He doesn't seem to make any real effort to truly engage with this event – his vision of the colony in the first place makes no sense (how many 8,000 person communities have dozens of police officers, a hospital “system”, multiple news stations, and after half of them are killed enough malcontents to literally riot uncontrollably?), and then the trauma reactions don’t make any sense either. I imagine this happening where I went to university, which was about 4,000 people, and I imagine everyone sitting together on the field and holding candles, not rioting. And I doubt my university was any closer a community than a small colony would've been.
I think it's just because sick people and rioters make for easy stories to slot Star Trek characters into - they do some good fighting, they do some good doctoring - and not because it makes any actual internal sense in the narrative. How different and interesting would this have been if there was no action at all (at least, not until the very end) and instead this team of seasoned Starfleet security and medical professionals has nothing to do but to figure out how to help 4,000 grieving people make some kind - any kind - of meaning from this? That's unique, troubling, but human and profound; this goes for cheap thrills and predictable fisticuffs. It's just so disappointing.
On top of that, the story provides no particular insight into Gabriel Lorca. All of Lorca's angst is totally silly since we already know the Lorca in the show is from the Mirror Universe anyway, so his presence is merely a con, a magic trick to which we already know the punchline. The whole book reads as if it was actually written as a prologue to his character from the show (which, maybe it was; I know plans change and perhaps this was commissioned before they'd decided Lorca was Mirror Lorca, who knows). But really: if Lorca wasn't from the MU, this would've been an explanation for that Lorca turning dark that would've been pretty great, fortune cookie obsession and all. But then the epilogue shows us that Prime Lorca has turned to light, which is nice I guess but big-picture pretty generic Star Trek and as a specific Discovery prequel totally useless because this isn’t the character in the show anyway. On top of that, it also provides no particular insight into Georgiou, who just works hard and is good at things and tries to help in exactly the way that any character in Star Trek ever would. You could have find-replaced Georgiou with any other name you wanted and changed nothing.
The only cool piece of continuity is when Kirk shows up. He’s characterized brilliantly. I'll be honest: I enjoyed the hell out of that tiny bit of the book. Made me laugh. All the rest of the continuity work here is just a waste of a chance to tell a good story.
And oh god does Ward love to repeat himself. Between the excerpts from the book about the situation and the actual narrative, I swear the book describes the origins of the fungal infection, from the beginning as if I hadn't read it before, something like ten entire times. He could’ve lost 30% of the wordcount in this book and lost nothing from the story at all. It even has five entire epilogues after the action has completed!
I can’t say the book is irredeemable, because once we get to the action scenes, in isolation, they’re great – Georgiou taking over the ship is particularly thrilling and Star Trek-y. And there is Kirk’s appearance, and there is the final epilogue which if nothing else answers a question the show had lingering. It’s not true that a fan gets nothing from reading this. But it is true that a fan sure doesn’t get a sensitive, unique, human exploration of what a trauma on this scale does to a community. Not even close.
Can anyone explain to me what you liked about this?
Next up: Fear Itself - I love Saru, so I'm excited about that, and I can't imagine I'll like that book less than this one.
I share many of your frustrations regarding Dayton Ward's writing, but I did like Drastic Measures more than some of his other recent works. Looking back on it, I think I may have enjoyed it more while I was reading it than I was satisfied with the story once I had finished it, if that makes sense.
One of the things I remember liking about it was the two-faceted structure that gave us both the retrospective views of survivors a decade or so later juxtaposed with the unfolding horror of the event itself, which, even though we've long known what happened, and have had glimpses of it in other stories, has never been depicted in this detail before (AFAIK). I found that aspect pretty effective.
Like you, though, I did feel some frustration with the pursuit of Kodos - after all, we know that he will get away! I think I found a little more depth than you did in the depiction of Kodos himself as a flawed leader who made what he thought was a tragic, if necessary, choice, only to find out that it was a horrific miscalculation. I don't think I had thought as much about the question of why good people might choose to follow him, but you're right, it was something of a missed opportunity to explore an important theme (one which has a great deal of relevance in today's world).
I also think I bought a little more of the chaos and confusion of the aftermath than you did. As I recall, Ward had portrayed the colony as already suffering from some stress and hardship, which may have made me more ready to accept their reaction to the massacre. I found that I agree with much of your critique of how a smaller community might react differently to the event.
All-in-all, although I enjoyed this book more than some of Ward's others, I think you're right to suggest that it had the potential to be more than it was. To some degree, I think that potential was part of my enjoyment of the book while reading it - I was anticipated a greater payoff at the end than what we actually got.
One of the things I remember liking about it was the two-faceted structure that gave us both the retrospective views of survivors a decade or so later juxtaposed with the unfolding horror of the event itself, which, even though we've long known what happened, and have had glimpses of it in other stories, has never been depicted in this detail before (AFAIK). I found that aspect pretty effective.
Like you, though, I did feel some frustration with the pursuit of Kodos - after all, we know that he will get away! I think I found a little more depth than you did in the depiction of Kodos himself as a flawed leader who made what he thought was a tragic, if necessary, choice, only to find out that it was a horrific miscalculation. I don't think I had thought as much about the question of why good people might choose to follow him, but you're right, it was something of a missed opportunity to explore an important theme (one which has a great deal of relevance in today's world).
I also think I bought a little more of the chaos and confusion of the aftermath than you did. As I recall, Ward had portrayed the colony as already suffering from some stress and hardship, which may have made me more ready to accept their reaction to the massacre. I found that I agree with much of your critique of how a smaller community might react differently to the event.
All-in-all, although I enjoyed this book more than some of Ward's others, I think you're right to suggest that it had the potential to be more than it was. To some degree, I think that potential was part of my enjoyment of the book while reading it - I was anticipated a greater payoff at the end than what we actually got.
Interesting response, thanks!
I think this might often be true of Dayton's recent works; he has such good ideas that it's fun to just imagine them and play with them in your head (ie, Ent-E encountering an alt Ent-D). I can see how that's appealing enough to add up to a good experience for a lot of people. I think for me that it might end up being more disappointing when he has such great ideas and doesn't really do anything with them, though - that might be some of why I've been so frustrated with his last few books but they're still reviewed highly by lots of other people?
And fair enough about enjoying the two-faceted structure; I found that to result in more summary too often, but I can see where you're coming from.
I think this might often be true of Dayton's recent works; he has such good ideas that it's fun to just imagine them and play with them in your head (ie, Ent-E encountering an alt Ent-D). I can see how that's appealing enough to add up to a good experience for a lot of people. I think for me that it might end up being more disappointing when he has such great ideas and doesn't really do anything with them, though - that might be some of why I've been so frustrated with his last few books but they're still reviewed highly by lots of other people?
And fair enough about enjoying the two-faceted structure; I found that to result in more summary too often, but I can see where you're coming from.
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