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

[Brendan Moody]

It does strike me as odd that, given the unprecedented opportunity to draw the novelverse to a close, the authors have apparently bypassed gracefully and optimistically resolving existing storylines and character arcs in favor of a “let it all burn, burn, burn” approach. But I’ll wait to see how things actually end before making any judgments.

 

[thribs]

I still haven’t got my print copy from the depository yet. It’s not like them

 

[Serin117]

This book strikes me as a straight up demolition of the entire TNG relaunch continuity.

Ya, so... I think that is more or less what we all should be expecting.
They pretty much stated that it was the end from the beginning - and that the way it would be ending would be in the sacrifice of well... everything.

Interesting choice, that. To basically be clear from the start that this'd all be ending with the sacrifice of the litverse timeline so as to preserve the prime timeline.

Either way, its brutal. And I think that's rather the point.

 

[The Cowpuncher]

We already know where this ends right? The whole timelines got to die. Wesley already suggested the possibility of destroying novelverse to keep the Devidians from 'working the way to the root timeline' or something like that. Put me in the 'no one is making it out alive' camp.

 

[Serin117]

Another thought that happened in this grey mush that supposedly inhabits my head was that...
It can be really difficult to separate what we know about the context of this trilogy, the reason it was written and the why of the litverse all going away, from the story itself.
And I rather think we'd be better off just experiencing the story without the context, and perhaps also without the sizable spoilers all over the advertising about Coda.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Ya, so... I think that is more or less what we all should be expecting.
They pretty much stated that it was the end from the beginning - and that the way it would be ending would be in sacrifice of well... everything.

Interesting choice, that. To basically be clear from the start that this'd all be ending with the sacrifice of the litverse timeline so as to preserve the prime timeline.

Either way, its brutal. And I think that's rather the point.

It's too brutal.
Honestly, I think it's needless. It would have been far kinder to close things off gracefully, with the possibility of opening things back up again in the future and perhaps even doing a screen adaptation in the future.

But alas, it is not to be.
What really annoyed me wasn't that it was happening (though that is definitely a factor), but that it's almost every other page that someone is killed off and every time it's "and they turned into a pile of dust and everyone looked on in horror", followed by "and they all shrugged and went on with their day". It's cheap. It's too easy and has no meaning at all. It's senseless.
It's no way to treat such fantastic characters. No way at all.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Pfft! T'ryssa is the only death that matters!

What about Dina?

 

[Thrawn]

Eh, I think its not death, doom, and gloom. Even less than Destiny I'd say.

Really? The only plot events of note were the complete destruction of at least three entire other timelines, Rene's transformation (which you yourself mentioned is the "most horrifying" plotline), Wesley spending at least one and maybe multiple lifetimes futilely fighting an impossible foe, several main characters dying, and then a realization at the end that this entire timeline is diseased and probably up for pruning.

Balance that against... what? Geordi might have a new job?

Remarkably little actually happened in this book anyway, but everything that was here was definitionally doom and gloom. Your own summary - "a big confrontation with the characters confronting the fact that they can't just stay in their existing spots and the inevitability of change/loss, which is a bit metaphor for the bookverse dealing with the fact it is ending." The only way that's not doom and gloom is if any of the changes are positive. ...such as?

If it didn't feel as doom and gloom as Destiny, I think that's pretty much only because Dayton did barely any character work and almost no one processed how horrifying all of this is. David Mack made you feel the threat; in this book, it's just a bunch of explosions (and bowling pins falling over).

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

I thought T’Ryssa’s death was heart-wrenching. And I haven’t even read a third of the relaunch!

Hard disagree. It wasn't heart wrenching. It was pointless. Really just "kill this character because we can".

I admit that may be why I loved Ezri on the show and LOATHED her becoming a captain. I was like, "Why would she want to be a captain instead of a counselor? Is it a counselor's ship?" And the reaction from my fellow fans was, "What are you smoking, Chuck?"



Eh, I think its not death, doom, and gloom. Even less than Destiny I'd say.

Another hard disagree. This is far more DD&G than Destiny ever was.
Worse, is that in Destiny it (mostly) made sense. It sucked, but it made sense. This? It's just "burn it all" in a senseless way.
It's not a coda, nor is it a monument or a swansong.
It's a long & drawn out execution.

 

[Thrawn]

What really annoyed me wasn't that it was happening (though that is definitely a factor), but that it's almost every other page that someone is killed off and every time it's "and they turned into a pile of dust and everyone looked on in horror", followed by "and they all shrugged and went on with their day". It's cheap. It's too easy and has no meaning at all. It's senseless.
It's no way to treat such fantastic characters. No way at all.

Yeah. I don't mind that it's dark; I don't mind that it's brutal; I don't even mind that it's random. I mind that, narratively, the book didn't show any evidence of giving a shit about any of these people who died, so why should I?

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Yeah. I don't mind that it's dark; I don't mind that it's brutal; I don't even mind that it's random. I mind that, narratively, the book didn't show any evidence of giving a shit about any of these people who died, so why should I?

I don't mind some dark, but this is just needless.
Like I said, it's a demolition & execution rather than a retirement. I really suspect this was all brought on because of the "new" stuff and the desire from the higher ups to have "brand consistency" (I.e. no more alternate universes/timelines).

I think this trilogy will be the end of my trek novel reading, tbh. The relaunchverse is what got me into it and the disco/picard stuff just doesn't interest me in the slightest.

 

[Campe]

I think I’m done discussing this trilogy until it’s over. I think there’s a lot of sweeping negativity when we’re a third of the way through the story and really have no idea of the overall intent of the authors as a whole outside of a few vague hints. Oddly it’s a similar reaction about how much Discovery and Picard are in some circles called grimdark. (They’re not.) I would just prefer not to get into the nitty gritty on how dark and depressing the story is until it’s over.

But y’all have fun!

 

[thribs]

Picard isn’t grimdark. Just dull

 

[Charles Phipps]

Picard isn’t grimdark. Just dull

Picard is awesome and not even that dark. Especially since everything is magically fixed at the end.

 

[ryan123450]

I agree with Campe above. If there are problems with this book, that’s worth discussing, but to anyone saying ‘This isn’t the ending the Litverse deserved’, or refusing to ever read the trilogy as a whole, we’ve only seen a third of it. We have no idea what is still to come. So there’s no judging the trilogy as a whole.

 

[Elias Vaughn]

I liked the character work. The pacing was okay; neither great nor bad.

Honestly I think my major problem with the book is how cartoonishly powerful the Devidians have become for no real purpose. They went from "we need to travel back in time to eat brains, but in secret so no one thinks to stop us" to "we're creating and destroying entire literal timelines to feast on the brains therein but we couldn't possibly use any of the unfathomable amounts of energy that would require to just build a big replicator or whatever". I think at one point a Devidian mouthpiece said they wanted to conquer all of reality? Why, because one time they got caught and had to stop eating people? And that's something they can just... do?

I fully admit that I may have missed something because it's my first bit of TrekLit in like six years and I read through it in about a day and a half, but... shit. It was nice to see T'Ryssa again for a minute.

I still didn't hate it though. The character pieces weren't bad.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Really, the only one we know will be "safe" is Christine Vale and that's because she shows up in DARK VEIL.

But is it really her, or was she Dark Vale?

After all, she was replaced by a Saurian in the Season 1 finale of "Lower Decks".

 

[Charles Phipps]

But is it really her, or was she Dark Vale?

After all, she was replaced by a Saurian in the Season 1 finale of "Lower Decks".

Alternatively, I maintain she's just taken up body tattooing in place of hair dye. I imagine that's a thing that's easy to put on and off in the Federation.

Riker: Christine?

Christine: I had a little too much on Risa and woke up with this tattoo.

 

[Thrawn]

I agree with Campe above. If there are problems with this book, that’s worth discussing, but to anyone saying ‘This isn’t the ending the Litverse deserved’, or refusing to ever read the trilogy as a whole, we’ve only seen a third of it. We have no idea what is still to come. So there’s no judging the trilogy as a whole.

I don't think there's anything the second book could do to make me not be annoyed at the missed opportunities in this one, but there's also no reason it couldn't be amazing on its own merits. Here's hoping!

 

[Charles Phipps]

I don't think there's anything the second book could do to make me not be annoyed at the missed opportunities in this one, but there's also no reason it couldn't be amazing on its own merits. Here's hoping!

I mean, one thing they could do and probably will is bring back most of the dead people like they did Wesley.