I am now two books into the A Time To series. Still have faith in the really positive comments about it, but I found A Time To Die less interesting than A Time To Be Born. I didn't dislike the first one, just had some problems with it. A Time To Die made little effort to embrace the story lines it had created in the first novel. Riker gets command of the Enterprise, but I found it annoying that after taking his command away Picard would be allowed (even unofficially) to go back on the Enterprise, even if he were in the care of Cabot. I know this is all explained by saying that Wes was able to show Cabot and Commodore Korgan enough about the Rashanar battle area to get them to rethink there point of views. Putting Picard back on the Enterprise so easily just reminded me of my distaste for the way it was done in the first place. I also though John Vornholt really lost his way around Chapter nine of the book. At that point the Enterprise crew has reached Rashanar and is trying to find ways to expose the mimic ship that was responsible for all of the problems since the Dominion War battle. I liked seeing the random scavengers again. The Orions, the Pakleds, and the Androssi all trying to take advantage of the hulks and relics, but Vornholt's writing in Chapters Nine and Ten seemed really shallow. There was a seen were some of the scavengers just give a cloaking device to Picard's group and their mission at that point was really distracting. I found the character of Fristan, the Androssi with some knowledge of the mimic ship, to be interesting. That is, until the Enterprise crew (yes I know they did not have the full crew compliment) pretty much allowed him free run of the ship...and he releases the captured Ontailians. It just seemed weak. I did enjoy the return of Wesley and was glad to see what the character had been up to. I found the last 50 pages of the book much better than the start, partly because of the way Wes's vision was explained. I also enjoy the fact that he is still a traveler. The romance he had with Cabot was okay, and I love the implication that Wes has identified Commodore Korgan as a "prospect". Peace
If it's any comfort, I thought Die was the worst of the lot. This, despite having liked Be Born, and for many of the reasons you listed, like the wild plotting (I, however, thought Cabot/Crusher terribly trite and characterizations off). For my money, this series survives on the strength of the final three books; the next four--which shouldn't have been four, because they suffer from split book syndrome--are rather pedestrian. Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
Average....I can take that. A Time To Die.....there were a couple of pages in chapters 9 and 10 where I literally wanted to stop reading. That rarely happens with trek books.
I felt the exact same way about the first two books (also the second pair, but I liked Greenberger's books). I gave the first book 4 stars and really liked it, but the second really blew.
I thought it was alright. I found the love story rather rushed. I thought there was going to be more to it. Cabot using him and his abilities for some purpose for instance. Really not a fan of this Traveler nonsense. Rather he just became human again. Travelers really tick me off. We need a villain that hunts them. Also, "cola based beverage"? Just say Coca-cola.
Yeah, I hate to say it, but I really felt that A Time to Die dropped the ball on the conclusion to that duology as well. Lots of promise in the setup, and just kind of... wasted in the second book. I wasn't a fan of this one.
I have read that the first couple of novels are not so good. Can I start with "A time to kill"? Or am i going to miss to much of the series? Mostly because Mack and KRAD don't write bad novels, so I am planning to reading only those novels
I know at least a few people have started there with no problem. The books are pretty good at recapping, and if you need more details some of the TNG related entries on Memory Beta cover the ATT books in a fair amount of detail.
I remember the last time I reread a Time to die it took me forever to finish reading it, I rate it as average The books in this miniseries with Wesley Crusher in them were my least favorite books of this series.
It’s been over 10 years since I read them, but I recall that in one of the later “A Time To” books it is reveled that all Starfleet ships having cloaks, but they can only be activated by codes from Command, like Admiral Janeway or Akaar.
You’re thinking of Resistance. All ships have the ability and parts can be replicated but it needs approval from just the Captain I think.
That was "Resistance," one of the first post-Nemesis novels, and I think it was just the blueprints to build one. Of course, given that they seem to be pretty plug-and-play in "The Enterprise Incident" and "The Pegasus," Federation cloaking devices probably just hack the shield system or something.
No I think it was actually built in but it was so heavily classified that no one on the ship knew about.
The precise phrasing is a little ambiguous, but it sounds to me like they had to build/replicate the actual device from plans (presumably, just the glowing ball and Nomad-head portion) and didn't have it locked up in a secret cargo bay somewhere.
I think it's clear enough -- it says the technology is encrypted in the ships' databases, which means it exists in the form of data, not actual physical components. After all, a ship's engineers would go over every physical component in the ship many times, so you couldn't hide something like that from them. But a starship's database contains more data than a thousand people could read through in ten lifetimes, so it'd be a lot easier to hide information.