Spoilers Coda: Book 1: Moments Asunder by Dayton Ward Review Thread

[Charles Phipps]

Yeah she did.
As a harsher version of herself, seemingly bought in to the hardline anti-Romulan stance of the fuck-up-Federation post Utopia Planitia.
(yeah yeah, I know you can take it as her playing devils advocate XO)

Its funny, prior to Coda being announced, I was really looking forward to them popping up in the Picard books. Now its like... Ouch, my heart

I fully expect the novels to cover the aftermath of a lot of Picard's season one plot. It'll be interesting to see how the Romulans react to the fact that the worst disaster in the history of their species was triggered by a bunch of crazy conspiracy nuts fearing Skynet. Or, at least, the worst disaster's treatment was sabotaged by said nuts. The similarity to RL writes itself.

 

[Charles Phipps]

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/StarTrekCoda

I started the TV tropes page for the trilogy.

 

[Ronald Held]

I just read of the death of Wesley. I suppose his last words will make no difference?

 

[thribs]

I just read of the death of Wesley. I suppose his last words will make no difference?

Just keep reading

 

[Charles Phipps]

I decided to repost this because this is my epitaph for the TrekLitverse. Sort of my euology for something 20 years in the making:

I think Alan Moore said it best in “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow”, “This is an imaginary story but aren’t they all?”

I’ve enjoyed lots and lots of Star Trek media over the years and think that what isn’t and is canon is a trap like Christopher L. Bennett said. There’s some truly fantastic spin offs of Star Trek that are irreconcilable with modern Trek canon (Post-Picard or not). Certainly, I recommend John Ford’s The Final Reflection and Diane Duane’s Rihannsu novels. Peter David’s NEW FRONTIER novels, I klingon you not, were one of the major inspirations for my writing. Vanguard and the Rise of the Federation, no end of amazing books. I consider the novelverse, the video games (Bridge Commander, Elite Force, 25th Anniversary), and other works to basically be like the Justice League/Batman/Superman animated verse or the MCU.

Just because they’re alternate continuities doesn’t mean they’re invalid.

So even if this ends, the stories told in this book universe will always live on with me.

 

[rfmcdpei]

Yeah she did.
As a harsher version of herself, seemingly bought in to the hardline anti-Romulan stance of the fuck-up-Federation post Utopia Planitia.
(yeah yeah, I know you can take it as her playing devils advocate XO)

I did not get that, myself. In that particular passage, IIRC she was responding to the news that a Federation ally had just stripmined their homeworld so they could flee to another point in the galaxy.

Ranul Keru is another welcome incorporation from the old novelverse.

 

[rfmcdpei]

This is the second novelverse that has ended, superseded by the production of new Trek.

All I can say is that I am thankful we have a proper ending to this one.

And yes, the stories are eternal. Perhaps each generation should have its own Treklit?

 

[rfmcdpei]

Thinking about the losses on the Enterprise crew, T'Ryssa Chen strikes me as the most emotionally compelling. This is part a matter of her having gotten more sustained development throughout the novelverse than Dina Elfiki or Rennan Konya, even Taurik; she has been well fleshed out. This is, here, also substantially because of the way that Ward gave her an arc, rising to meet terrible challenges and eventually saving the day if at great cost. She even got to say a goodbye to Picard, no small mercy there.

 

[Charles Phipps]

I'm betting on Ezri pulling a Wesley next book.

But I sadly think T'Ryssa will stay dead, which is terrible. One of my favorite OCs in Star Trek's Litverse.

 

[rfmcdpei]

I'm betting on Ezri pulling a Wesley next book.

But I sadly think T'Ryssa will stay dead, which is terrible. One of my favorite OCs in Star Trek's Litverse.

Both Ezri Dax and Taurik are described as experiencing their apparent deaths in the same way, as not a single fatal shock but as a sort of separation. (I think.) Does that mean something happened to them apart from instant aging? I cannot say.

With regards to the fates of characters, I think that it may yet be too early to say. There might well be a timeline reset in the near future, for instance.

 

[thribs]

I'm betting on Ezri pulling a Wesley next book.

But I sadly think T'Ryssa will stay dead, which is terrible. One of my favorite OCs in Star Trek's Litverse.

I like the theory someone said that the prophets saved Ezri. Maybe the Sisko made some sort of deal with them. They’re outside time so her being 4000 years into the future would be irrelevant

 

[Newspaper Taxi]

I'm quite partial to the majority of the Litverse characters, so all the little deaths weighed on me. Diana Elfiki was one I'd always wanted to see more of. In an alternate universe where I had persued writing and got in with Trek stuff, I would've requested to have her in a staring role. (Or at least the B plot, if a canon character had to star in A.) But Chen was really a shining star of the TNG Relaunch novels. There's always the possibility of a reset, of course, for now I'm going to assume that they're just going with the burning down the house approach.

Dax's death was a little surprising. I was assuming all of the characters that originated onscreen and had their names in the credits would make it out alive.

I was a little bit unsure of the villians at the start of the book, they grew on me as it went on. Having the wraith bodies be just avatars for the Devidens to time travel around in was a pretty cool touch. And their evil plan is something suitable for the heroes to avert in a Grand Finale.

 

[Campe]

Dax's death was a little surprising. I was assuming all of the characters that originated onscreen and had their names in the credits would make it out alive.

I’m not sure anyone is ultimately going to make it out alive. At least, that’s the impression I get after this book.

 

[DimesDan]

I'm certainly surprised the Enterprise-E didn't get destroyed in book one.

 

[David Mack]

I’m not sure anyone is ultimately going to make it out alive. At least, that’s the impression I get after this book.

Remember the moment in ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY, when the loyal droid K2SO gets shot to pieces to buy the heroes a little more time? That sinking feeling of dread as one realizes, Shooting the droid in a Star Wars movie is like killing the loyal dog in a Western. Oh, @#$%. This is that kind of movie. … They're all gonna die, aren't they?

I'm just saying, get used to that feeling.

 

[ryan123450]

Finished this way faster than I’d normally read a book. I thought it was a really fun read. I look forward to the next one.

I’m sure I’ll have some more comments or questions after I read through this thread first, but my main thoughts…

Not very excited that the final Treklit villians are the Devidians, as I never was very interested in them, but I do appreciate that a new spin has been put on them, so it’s no big deal. But after reading To Lose the Earth, it seemed quite obvious things were being set up that a confrontation with the Krenim was in store. That was quickly hand waved away in this book. I wonder if there’s a behind the scenes story there?

It seemed a bit odd that alot more was made of T’Ryssa’s death than Ezri’s. I was more touched by T’Ryssa’s death, and it made sense that this being a Picard centric novel, that of the two, her’s would be the most impactful demise. But I was a bit put off by how little Ezri’s death was focused on. If tons more characters are going to be killed though, maybe each person can’t really get too much of a spotlight put on them.

It was sad to see all the “lower decks” crew go out in the line of duty in one book.

But I was glad to see such a focus on Beverly and Rene, and it seems that will continue until the final book. I have to admit I’m baffled by Worf and Riker’s dreams, and exactly how this is all going to wrap up. It sure has been a fun ride so far though.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Remember the moment in ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY, when the loyal droid K2SO gets shot to pieces to buy the heroes a little more time? That sinking feeling of dread as one realizes, Shooting the droid in a Star Wars movie is like killing the loyal dog in a Western. Oh, @#$%. This is that kind of movie. … They're all gonna die, aren't they?

I'm just saying, get used to that feeling.

The 'Kill them all' TV Trope.

 

[thribs]

This story better not turn in Marvel’s Ultimatum. That was bad in all levels with its deaths

 

[Scionz]

This story better not turn in Marvel’s Ultimatum. That was bad in all levels with its deaths

As long as Tomalak doesn't randomly show up and bite Doctor Crusher's head off, I think we'll be good.
(That's an Ultimatum reference for anyone who hasn't read it).

 

[ryan123450]

After reading this thread, I’m loving the theory that Ezri isn’t dead. Fingers crossed, as though surely everyone will meat their end by the final book, she deserves a better blazing glory moment.

Another thought I had was that it seemed like the temporal mechanics of all this didn’t seem to line up too well with the DTI books. It was all so vague (no specific scientific descriptions) though that I couldn’t put my finger on anything actually contradictory. But after the tremendous job of explaining Star Trek temporal mechanics that CLB did in Watching the Clock, it was noteworthy to be left wondering if this really fit within that paradigm.

One thing I’d love to thank Dayton Ward for was just a fun adventure that I could use as a distraction from the craziness of the real world for a few days. No allusions to modern politics, culture wars, or controversial topics. Just scifi action that brought me back, for what will soon be the last time, to the world I sank so deeply into as a kid. A huge reason why the new shows aren’t appealing to me is that I can’t say these same things about them. I hope the next two books follow suit.