Destiny: Gods of Night by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by haubrija, Sep 19, 2008.

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Grade "Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night"

  1. Excellent

    69.2%
  2. Above Average

    23.1%
  3. Average

    5.1%
  4. Below Average

    1.3%
  5. Poor

    1.3%
  1. KRAD

    KRAD Keith R.A. DeCandido Admiral

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  2. William Leisner

    William Leisner Scribbler Rear Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night - SPOILER Thread

    So, you didn't even bother reading Dave's response, huh? :brickwall:
     
  3. PaulSimpson

    PaulSimpson Writer/Editor Captain

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    Re: Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night - SPOILER Thread

    It's a hell of a lot more than two pages in the final version... and as it was clearly stated, this was a Preview (emphasis on the first letter) of the first book as well as an overview of what the TRILOGY was about. At the time the issue went to press, which was months ago now, I hadn't seen or read the book... However, as Dave mentions, we have kindly been sent the page proofs for the lot, and a full review of all three books will appear in the next issue we're working on (not the next one out which is now deep in the tender care of printers), out late 08.

    P
     
  4. kc5hwb

    kc5hwb Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Re: Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night - SPOILER Thread

    This is the Destiny series that comes after the Titan series and the Before Dishonor book, right? This may be a dumb question, but I was under the impression that this series was to tie-in Ent-E and Titan and didn't realize it was going to be about DS9 characters.
     
  5. wew

    wew Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night - SPOILER Thread

    I understand their is a jump in the DS9 aspects, that some DS9 characters are included, i.e. Ezri, and that Titan and E-E tie in as well.

    In a sense, you have foreknowledge of what cannot happen to some characters, i.e. particular can't die because they are in destiny.
     
  6. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night - SPOILER Thread

    Yeah, but from what we've been told here, and read in the excerpts (I haven't been able to get my hands on the first one yet) it's only 4 characters, so there's still plenty of mystery about what's to come for everyone else.
     
  7. Marco Palmieri

    Marco Palmieri Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night - SPOILER Thread

    Destiny is about a lot of different things. And a lot of different characters.

    Fasten your seat belt. :)
     
  8. David Mack

    David Mack Writer Rear Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night - SPOILER Thread

    I've addressed these questions and matters related to them in several previous posts, in the Destiny speculations thread:

    here
    here
    and here

    I hope this answers your questions.
     
  9. startrekfiero

    startrekfiero Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Re: Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night - SPOILER Thread

    Your right and I should have remembered that, sorry. Actually I had forgotten the fact most major magazines are created and go to the printers at least a month or two ahead of when they actually come out in stores for the month(s) they represent. There is a Mustang magazine I buy once in awhile and their Sept issue was on store shelves in July.
     
  10. SciFiChick

    SciFiChick Ensign Red Shirt

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    Re: Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night - SPOILER Thread

    My review of Mere Mortals should be up by late next week.
    Or whenever Marco says I'm allowed. :bolian:
     
  11. Marco Palmieri

    Marco Palmieri Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night - SPOILER Thread

    Such cheek! ;)

    Next week sounds great. Thanks.
     
  12. bennyrex

    bennyrex Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Re: Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night - SPOILER Thread

    Spoilers ahead!

    I finished it this morning! I'm impressed with how thoroughly character focused the book is, considering the bombastic world changing hype of a story that it is... Loved the Enterprise chunks. Especially the hostage taking sequence near the end there. That was epic! I could of done with a bit more Choudhoury... but I understand that there's not room for everyone to have tons of material dedicated to their favourite character. And I really enjoyed the material that I got. As long as her threads will continue throughout the next books!

    And kudos for making me think I knew what was going to happen, then throwing a twist on it as well! I thought I had predicted what was going to happen in the Enterprise thread, and it sort of started to happen that way, but then everything went totally kablooie and razy, and I ended up sort of being right, but being totally shocked at the same time. Twas quite cool.
     
  13. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night - SPOILER Thread

    ^^When you say "the Enterprise thread," are you referring to the portions with the characters from the era of Star Trek: Enterprise, i.e. the Columbia crew? Because when you say "Enterprise," it sounds like you're referring to the scenes on Picard's ship, but I don't remember any hostage-taking there.
     
  14. bennyrex

    bennyrex Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Re: Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night - SPOILER Thread

    ^^ Whoops. Yeah, I meant the Columbia thread, or 'with characters from ST:Ent' My bad. This is what happens when I stay up most of the night reading. ;)
     
    Last edited: Sep 26, 2008
  15. David Mack

    David Mack Writer Rear Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night - SPOILER Thread

    Thanks for your comments, bennyrex. I'm glad you enjoyed it. You'll be pleased to know that Choudhury gets more "screen time" in the next two books.
     
  16. Jose Tyler

    Jose Tyler Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Re: Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night - SPOILER Thread

    David - I've been reading Trek book since faithfully since 1983, and Gods of Night is in a class unto itself. I've started my second read through. Thanks for writing such a great book.
     
  17. Gatekeeper

    Gatekeeper Commodore Commodore

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    Re: Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night - SPOILER Thread

    I picked up "Gods of Night" on Friday afternoon and finished reading it early Saturday evening.

    423 pages in roughly 24 hours. Now that's saying something very good about the novel, because I generally don't read books quite that quickly. My only real regret? Now I have to wait until sometime in October to pick up the next novel in the series, "Mere Mortals."

    Gatekeeper

    P.S. Among other things, I am intensely curious about the civilization the Caeliar contacted. I assume they will figure into the other novels?
     
  18. David Mack

    David Mack Writer Rear Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night - SPOILER Thread

    Thanks for your kind words, Jose. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

    Gracias to you, as well, Gatekeeper. To answer your question, you will find out in Mere Mortals who the Caeliar contacted (and why they sent that response in turn).
     
  19. LutherSloan

    LutherSloan Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Re: Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night - SPOILER Thread

    My review of Star Trek Destiny: Gods of Night

    I have to say off the bat that this book took everything that worked in the previous Titan, TNG, and ENT novels, and stepped it up a notch.

    As mentioned before, even though the Borg invasion of the Federation is the main threat in the story, they are not mentioned all of that much. There are a few battle scenes between the Enterprise-E and the Borg, but they do not last very long, and are confined to the beginning of the novel. So those worried that this is another Borg-centric novel can calm down. :borg:

    I would say that the majority of the novel focuses on the fate of the Columbia, with Titan taking up the second most time, the Dax/Aventine story third, and the Enterprise-E fourth. There are also brief scenes devoted to Voyager, the Klingons, and the Federation President's handling of the situation as well. I personally would have cut the Voyager scene out and just moved it into the forthcoming novel strictly about the ship, because I think it distracts from the rest of the story.

    I thought it was an interesting (and human) touch to see the conn officer of the doomed USS Ranger actually disobeying the order that was given to send the ship on a kamakaze run. Too often I have felt in the past like all of these characters fated to die had balls of steel, and had few reservations about throwing their lives away. I also liked the brief mention of the Excalibur and their victory over the Borg in (what I assume was) Thallonian space.

    I hope that by the time this series is over, there will be an explanation for why the Borg decided that the Federation needed to be exterminated, rather than assimilated like in the past. It would have made more sense had the Einstein reached Borg space, but we know that didn't happen. Picard himself in 'Gods of Night' wonders this same thing, but he does not reach any conclusions as of yet.

    I am now going to have to find things to occupy myself until the next novel is released in 4 weeks or so.

    Rating: 10/10
     
  20. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night - SPOILER Thread

    Actually this was foreshadowed/addressed in Greater Than the Sum. Admiral Nechayev said that after Voyager destroyed the Borg's transwarp hub, that elevated the Federation from a minor annoyance to a major threat in the Borg's eyes, and the loss of their transwarp access to the Alpha Quadrant was the only reason they hadn't already destroyed the UFP in retaliation. So their desire to wipe us off the map has existed for about three years at this point -- it just wasn't until now that they found a way to reach us.