Spoilers DSC: Wonderlands by Una McCormack Review Thread

Could he be referring to Roddenberry's son who's an executive producer. Was the Burn his idea maybe?

 

Unlikely. "Rod" Roddenberry is a money man, not a writer. He and Trevor Roth run the kind of production company that's strictly an investor and financial partner in other people's productions rather than a creative contributor. I gather he's entitled to consult and give notes, like any executive producer, but he's not a member of the writing staff.

 

Ok. Thought it was probably a stretch, but it was all I could think of, unless Gene Roddenberry had some secret stash of Star Trek notes we never heard of.

 

Maybe its similarity to the premise of “Andromeda”?

 

I am referring to the essential premise that got sold as Andromeda. The Federation has fallen, people from the past who remember its glory days must rebuild it.

 

It's not quite the same, though. The Federation didn't fall, it was just fragmented and weakened. Also, in Andromeda -- and in the original Genesis II/Planet Earth concept it was reworked from -- there was no mystery about the reason for the disaster.

 

True, though depending on how long DISCO runs, the Burn was only a mystery for one season.

 

Beside the point, since the issue is whether the initial concept was the same as Andromeda's. It's broadly similar, but distinct enough that it's facile and reductive to claim that the premise of the Burn was "Roddenberry's idea." Especially since Roddenberry's idea was set on Earth in 2133 in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust, and was massively retooled by Robert Hewitt Wolfe to make it a space show. And Roddenberry was arguably just doing a variation on Buck Rogers.

 

You are correct and I withdraw my claim.

 

I just got my copy of season 3 of Discovery on Blu-Ray and watched the first episode of the 3rd season and I wanted to throw another plug Wonderlands' way. I'm finding having read that book before starting season 3 has actually been a big help. Much like reading The Enterprise War before season 2 helped, reading Wonderlands has given me a lot of background that helped me get up to speed with where we are at to start season 3. I'm not having to try to figure all the foundational stuff, like what the Burn refers to, where the Federation and Starfleet are at, why the Discovery hasn't appeared yet.

Yet at the same time the novel didn't really spoil anything. It just laid the groundwork so I could immediately get on board with the season itself.

So if someone hasn't seen season 3 yet, I'd recommend reading the novel before starting. It's largely spoiler free, yet informative at the same time.

Also, it's nice to see some of the characters in action. In particular Book. He was well developed in the novel (one of McCormack's strengths as a writer I thought has been character development so no surprise there). And I already like his character in the show. I'm actually glad Discover went far into the future. There's probably a lot more room for story development being that far distant from the 23rd and 24th centuries. I'm hoping Season 3 pans out as well as it's started.

 

Who controlled Starbase 906 after rhe fall of the white palm?

 

And did any of the original 906 Starfleet crew survive?

 

while Sahil managed to have a reliable core of Courier mercs, Pennington successfully purchased SB 906 allies leaving it isolated

 

I loved this book and wrote a loving review: https://warpfactortrek.com/reflections-on-wonderlands/

 

My library finally accepted my recommendation to purchase Wonderlands, so I finally read it. I found it quite satisfying. It does a good job filling in Burnham's first year in the 32nd century, fleshing out the backstory that the show rushed through and effectively showing Burnham's evolution from where she was at the end of episode 3x1 to where she was at the start of 3x3. The continuity fits well, as far as I could recall. And it does a good job showing what the galaxy is like post-Burn, why it's in need of what the Federation offered -- while also justifying more clearly why the Federation (mostly) fell after the Burn, because it was already weakened by events beforehand.

The identity of the White Palm raiders was way too easy to guess, by virtue of there only being one plausible suspect introduced in the book. Also, it seemed inevitable that Starbase Vanguard would be too good to be true, since Burnham wasn't working with them afterward in the show. But that's all metatextual logic. In-story, the characters had no reason to suspect a connection, and for the majority of the book, most of the characters who were aware of one of the two were unaware of the other, or didn't have enough information to see the similarities (like both groups being described as using black ships). So it's a case of the reader being ahead of the characters, but not a case where you're frustrated that the characters aren't seeing the clues, because there's good reason for them not to.

It's also an interesting commentary on how thin the line can be between order and authoritarianism. And on how often authoritarianism is welcomed by a population as an alternative to fear and chaos, which is why aspiring authoritarians deliberately stir up chaos and instability so that the people will be more inclined to accept their rule. Though that wasn't necessary here, since the instability already existed.

The one issue I have is using the Donatu system. I got the impression from the show that Sahil's base was very, very remote from the core of the Federation, much further than the UFP had reached by the 23rd or 24th century, which was why it was completely out of touch with Earth and the other worlds. Donatu is near the UFP/Klingon border, so it's way too close to be consistent. But there's no reason there couldn't be more than one system named Donatu. Maybe some distant colony system was named in honor of the original, like how so many American cities are named after cities in England or France or Spain. (Or maybe the one in "The Trouble with Tribbles" is "DON-uh-too" and this one is "Doh-NAH-too." Though the audiobook probably disproves that.)

Actually, Burnham doesn't get the Yelchin black box from Book. In Chapter 3, Book lets her know that the black box is being offered for sale, showing her the hologram advertising it, and she decides to buy it. The scene then skips over the part where she collects it from the seller, which is the bit we saw in the episode, then says "Later, when she'd collected the merchandise, she brought it back to show Book." So it does fit, although it does recontextualize the scene a bit.

 

I shouldn't have wanted to buy this. I bailed on Discovery S3 after the Georgiou two-parter hit all the wrong notes. Here's a S3 tie-in. The book should be a disaster. With all that in play how in earth does this book manage to not only work but succeed?

Two words: Una McCormack. Much as she did for the Picard series by expanding its backstory, so too here. We get a look at how the Federation unravelled, of the impact of the Temporal Wars, of the Burn being a catalyst and final breaking point but far from the first.

McCormack walks a careful line between showing the flaws of the Federation as it became and the value of its ideals. The one does not render the other worthless.

It is the characters that make this all work - Burnham and Book, with Grudge, is the main relationship axis but other characters also get added in or expanded on. It becomes a very effective and focused ensemble piece.

A good, fun read.

 

I thought this book was great — perhaps a shade less impressive than her stellar PIC novel The Last Best Hope.

Michael, Book and Sahil made a great trio.

I posted my full review here: https://scifibooks.club/reviews/star-trek-discovery-wonderlands-by-una-mccormack-book-review/