Open Secrets

[Cicero]

My thoughts, posted previously in an earlier Open Secrets thread:

Very little happened in the novel after the quick and generally well-executed beginning. A theme through the various threads of the novel was the perfunctory transpiration of events. Aside from Admiral Nogura's brief and excellent presence, the odd disappearance of Cervantes Quinn, and the drawn-from-the-blue ending, the events of nearly every storyline in Open Secrets were required developments from Reap the Whirlwind.

There were no surprises in the novel (aside from the aforementioned, and some relatively fun, if rote, material regarding Xiong, Marcus, and the Tholians, which I did enjoy), and we learned nothing new about the characters or their motivations. We didn't even learn anything more of how they deal with new circumstances, beyond Ganz's reaction to Admiral Nogura.

I suspect that the novel contained an excellent first third of a new Vanguard novel, drawn out (not literally, but in effect) to the length of a full novel. We were treated to the cleanup of the previous novel's (surprisingly few) loose ends, but not to the new and unknown developments almost certain to follow them. Open Secrets contains an excellent, if slow, beginning, but nothing else.

I was reminded of Fearful Symmetry when I finished Open Secrets. The first five years of the Deep Space Nine relaunch saw 17 volumes published (the first four years saw 15, if you discount the pre-relaunch year which produced A Stitch In Time and The Lives of Dax), a year's worth of in-story time was covered, and a number of stories came, went, built, and fell upon each other. But in the last four years, only two books have been published, in-story time has moved forward a matter of weeks, and essentially nothing new in story terms has developed. (Many readers guessed at the eventual reveals immediately after the publication of the second Worlds of Deep Space Nine volume.)

We've been fastened to the same few weeks of Deep Space Nine time for roughly half of the almost ten years for which the relaunch has existed, and the events of those weeks, like the events of Open Secrets, were largely required by the closing volumes of Worlds of Deep Space Nine. I hope that Vanguard will progress more quickly than Deep Space Nine has for the last almost half-decade. After two years, Open Secrets proved to be little more than an epilogue to its antecedents, or an overture to its successors.

 

[LutherSloan]

My thoughts, posted previously in an earlier Open Secrets thread:

Very little happened in the novel after the quick and generally well-executed beginning. A theme through the various threads of the novel was the perfunctory transpiration of events. Aside from Admiral Nogura's brief and excellent presence, the odd disappearance of Cervantes Quinn, and the drawn-from-the-blue ending, the events of nearly every storyline in Open Secrets were required developments from Reap the Whirlwind.

There were no surprises in the novel (aside from the aforementioned, and some relatively fun, if rote, material regarding Xiong, Marcus, and the Tholians, which I did enjoy), and we learned nothing new about the characters or their motivations. We didn't even learn anything more of how they deal with new circumstances, beyond Ganz's reaction to Admiral Nogura.

I suspect that the novel contained an excellent first third of a new Vanguard novel, drawn out (not literally, but in effect) to the length of a full novel. We were treated to the cleanup of the previous novel's (surprisingly few) loose ends, but not to the new and unknown developments almost certain to follow them. Open Secrets contains an excellent, if slow, beginning, but nothing else.

I was reminded of Fearful Symmetry when I finished Open Secrets. The first five years of the Deep Space Nine relaunch saw 17 volumes published (the first four years saw 15, if you discount the pre-relaunch year which produced A Stitch In Time and The Lives of Dax), a year's worth of in-story time was covered, and a number of stories came, went, built, and fell upon each other. But in the last four years, only two books have been published, in-story time has moved forward a matter of weeks, and essentially nothing new in story terms has developed. (Many readers guessed at the eventual reveals immediately after the publication of the second Worlds of Deep Space Nine volume.)

We've been fastened to the same few weeks of Deep Space Nine time for roughly half of the almost ten years for which the relaunch has existed, and the events of those weeks, like the events of Open Secrets, were largely required by the closing volumes of Worlds of Deep Space Nine. I hope that Vanguard will progress more quickly than Deep Space Nine has for the last almost half-decade. After two years, Open Secrets proved to be little more than an epilogue to its antecedents, or an overture to its successors.

Basically this was what I thought and posted in my review. I couldn't help but compare it to Fearful Symmetry as well, although FS was WAY more disappointing because we waited FOREVER and it was a tiny bridging novel that progressed the overall story maybe half a centimeter. I'm glad that we're reaching the end of this DS9-R story arc in The Soul Key later this summer, because it has gone on far too long.

I thought Open Secrets was decent, but it was undone by several random events, such as Quinn's disappearance and the out of left field ending. Much like FS, OS progressed the Vanguard story maybe a few inches at most. I like the approach that say, the TNG-Relaunch series has taken, despite all of its faults, because there were at least individual, self-contained stories in each novel. This in addition to the overarching story arc (mostly Borg-related in this case) that existed throughout the series. I felt like the first three Vanguard books did a much better job of this.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

My thoughts, posted previously in an earlier Open Secrets thread:

Very little happened in the novel after the quick and generally well-executed beginning. A theme through the various threads of the novel was the perfunctory transpiration of events. Aside from Admiral Nogura's brief and excellent presence, the odd disappearance of Cervantes Quinn, and the drawn-from-the-blue ending, the events of nearly every storyline in Open Secrets were required developments from Reap the Whirlwind.

There were no surprises in the novel (aside from the aforementioned, and some relatively fun, if rote, material regarding Xiong, Marcus, and the Tholians, which I did enjoy), and we learned nothing new about the characters or their motivations. We didn't even learn anything more of how they deal with new circumstances, beyond Ganz's reaction to Admiral Nogura.

I suspect that the novel contained an excellent first third of a new Vanguard novel, drawn out (not literally, but in effect) to the length of a full novel. We were treated to the cleanup of the previous novel's (surprisingly few) loose ends, but not to the new and unknown developments almost certain to follow them. Open Secrets contains an excellent, if slow, beginning, but nothing else.

I was reminded of Fearful Symmetry when I finished Open Secrets. The first five years of the Deep Space Nine relaunch saw 17 volumes published (the first four years saw 15, if you discount the pre-relaunch year which produced A Stitch In Time and The Lives of Dax), a year's worth of in-story time was covered, and a number of stories came, went, built, and fell upon each other. But in the last four years, only two books have been published, in-story time has moved forward a matter of weeks, and essentially nothing new in story terms has developed. (Many readers guessed at the eventual reveals immediately after the publication of the second Worlds of Deep Space Nine volume.)

We've been fastened to the same few weeks of Deep Space Nine time for roughly half of the almost ten years for which the relaunch has existed, and the events of those weeks, like the events of Open Secrets, were largely required by the closing volumes of Worlds of Deep Space Nine. I hope that Vanguard will progress more quickly than Deep Space Nine has for the last almost half-decade. After two years, Open Secrets proved to be little more than an epilogue to its antecedents, or an overture to its successors.

Basically this was what I thought and posted in my review. I couldn't help but compare it to Fearful Symmetry as well, although FS was WAY more disappointing because we waited FOREVER and it was a tiny bridging novel that progressed the overall story maybe half a centimeter. I'm glad that we're reaching the end of this DS9-R story arc in The Soul Key later this summer, because it has gone on far too long.

I thought Open Secrets was decent, but it was undone by several random events, such as Quinn's disappearance and the out of left field ending. Much like FS, OS progressed the Vanguard story maybe a few inches at most. I like the approach that say, the TNG-Relaunch series has taken, despite all of its faults, because there were at least individual, self-contained stories in each novel. This in addition to the overarching story arc (mostly Borg-related in this case) that existed throughout the series. I felt like the first three Vanguard books did a much better job of this.

I successfully posted below, so I'm editing out my moan of frustration here. If I could direct your eyes downward, ladies and gentlemen?

 

[Deranged Nasat]

My thoughts, posted previously in an earlier Open Secrets thread:

Very little happened in the novel after the quick and generally well-executed beginning. A theme through the various threads of the novel was the perfunctory transpiration of events. Aside from Admiral Nogura's brief and excellent presence, the odd disappearance of Cervantes Quinn, and the drawn-from-the-blue ending, the events of nearly every storyline in Open Secrets were required developments from Reap the Whirlwind.

There were no surprises in the novel (aside from the aforementioned, and some relatively fun, if rote, material regarding Xiong, Marcus, and the Tholians, which I did enjoy), and we learned nothing new about the characters or their motivations. We didn't even learn anything more of how they deal with new circumstances, beyond Ganz's reaction to Admiral Nogura.

I suspect that the novel contained an excellent first third of a new Vanguard novel, drawn out (not literally, but in effect) to the length of a full novel. We were treated to the cleanup of the previous novel's (surprisingly few) loose ends, but not to the new and unknown developments almost certain to follow them. Open Secrets contains an excellent, if slow, beginning, but nothing else.

I was reminded of Fearful Symmetry when I finished Open Secrets. The first five years of the Deep Space Nine relaunch saw 17 volumes published (the first four years saw 15, if you discount the pre-relaunch year which produced A Stitch In Time and The Lives of Dax), a year's worth of in-story time was covered, and a number of stories came, went, built, and fell upon each other. But in the last four years, only two books have been published, in-story time has moved forward a matter of weeks, and essentially nothing new in story terms has developed. (Many readers guessed at the eventual reveals immediately after the publication of the second Worlds of Deep Space Nine volume.)

We've been fastened to the same few weeks of Deep Space Nine time for roughly half of the almost ten years for which the relaunch has existed, and the events of those weeks, like the events of Open Secrets, were largely required by the closing volumes of Worlds of Deep Space Nine. I hope that Vanguard will progress more quickly than Deep Space Nine has for the last almost half-decade. After two years, Open Secrets proved to be little more than an epilogue to its antecedents, or an overture to its successors.

Basically this was what I thought and posted in my review. I couldn't help but compare it to Fearful Symmetry as well, although FS was WAY more disappointing because we waited FOREVER and it was a tiny bridging novel that progressed the overall story maybe half a centimeter. I'm glad that we're reaching the end of this DS9-R story arc in The Soul Key later this summer, because it has gone on far too long.

I thought Open Secrets was decent, but it was undone by several random events, such as Quinn's disappearance and the out of left field ending. Much like FS, OS progressed the Vanguard story maybe a few inches at most. I like the approach that say, the TNG-Relaunch series has taken, despite all of its faults, because there were at least individual, self-contained stories in each novel. This in addition to the overarching story arc (mostly Borg-related in this case) that existed throughout the series. I felt like the first three Vanguard books did a much better job of this.

Third time lucky:

I don't quite understand why people are describing Quinn's "disappearance" as "random". I'm sure subsequent novels will show us exactly where he went and what he got up to during the events of "Open Secrets". A character can't feature heavily in every novel of their series. As for the ending, I'm sure much thought has gone into this twist, and I don't see how it can be dismissed as "random" either. It's caught my interest, anyway. Just because it hasn't been explained to us yet, doesn't mean the author simply threw it in.

I also don't understand what is wrong with novels featuring story lines that are "required developments" from previous novels. The overarching stories and continuity are among modern Trek lit's best qualities. Would you prefer each new Vanguard book ignored its predecessor's contributions?

Yes, many of the plot points in "Open Secrets" served as an epilogue to "Reap the Whirlwind" or to set up the plot of the next book. The same was true of "A Singular Destiny". What did you think of that one? I ask because I read several reader responses to a preview of that novel on another site. These people had read- and enjoyed- the "Destiny" trilogy but were not planning on picking up "A Singular Destiny" because, and I quote, "it looks boring". Apparently, now that the galaxy is no longer in the grips of apocalyptic war and planet-shatterring action, it no longer holds their interest. This struck me as most illogical; "Destiny" was intended as the epic finale to a long-running plot-line (Federation Vs Borg). If Trek lit were like this all the time, it would lack any impact when such explosive events do occur. From a dramatic point of view it would also make no sense; surely if you enjoy a fictional world and its characters you want to see how they are affected by the big events. Reflective, slow and evaluative stories are just as important as big epic ones. An effective series will feature changes in pace, breaks between episodes of high drama or action, quieter periods.

"Open Secrets" was not as good as the brilliant "Reap the Whirlwind", I agree. But if every Vanguard book was as epic and jam-packed as RTW, the series would be diminished. "Open Secrets" is a breather, a quieter story that shows the ongoing political situation unfolding without whole star systems exploding. It shows the characters have lives, not just reactions to epic events. Anyway, there was plenty to keep things moving forward; characters leaving the station, temporarily or otherwise, new ones arriving, Reyes' fate, Nezrene's assistance with Project Vanguard, the Wanderer assessing her situation, new experiences for Pennington, etc.

As for the DS9 relaunch, while I hope books become more frequent again, I enjoyed "Fearful Symmetry" for the very reason that it was a quiet, bridging story that served as a reflective pause between the explosive events of "Warpath" and the upcoming climatic events of "The Soul Key".

 

[Man of Steel]

I don't remember what her fate was.

I was referring to the court martials anyway. Wouldn't they both have to face the council?

Pennington isn't apart of Starfleet so he won't be apart of any sort of court martial, beyond possibly being some sort of witness.

T'Prynn however we know from the DS9 Relaunch that

Spoiler: DS9/Vanguard connection

she either isn't court martialed or if she is then is let back in later because she serves in Starfleet Intelligence with Vaughn who is (not exactly sure of the time frames) at this point either a baby or not yet born.

I was under the impression that Pennington would have to be punished for printing the story in the first place...

Also, the story was a cryptic ending with Reyes that had me going huh? What?

 

[Deranged Nasat]

I don't remember what her fate was.

I was referring to the court martials anyway. Wouldn't they both have to face the council?

Pennington isn't apart of Starfleet so he won't be apart of any sort of court martial, beyond possibly being some sort of witness.

T'Prynn however we know from the DS9 Relaunch that

Spoiler: DS9/Vanguard connection

she either isn't court martialed or if she is then is let back in later because she serves in Starfleet Intelligence with Vaughn who is (not exactly sure of the time frames) at this point either a baby or not yet born.

I was under the impression that Pennington would have to be punished for printing the story in the first place...

Also, the story was a cryptic ending with Reyes that had me going huh? What?

Remember the prologue and epilogue are set almost a full year after the main body of the story.

 

[David Mack]

^ Pennington broke no law by publishing his story. He is a civilian with the freedom to publish. The violation of Starfleet orders and regulations was committed by Reyes, who bypassed the Starfleet-mandated censor to allow Pennington's unexpurgated story to go out to the galaxy at large.

In response to previous posts that decried the absence of Quinn from Open Secrets as "random" (though I think the appropriate term is "arbitrary") or "unexplained," there was a very good reason Cervantes Quinn's role in Open Secrets was minimized: I asked Dayton and Kevin to do so, in order to leave Quinn free for the story I wanted to tell about him in the next Vanguard novel, Precipice, coming this December.

 

[Man of Steel]

^ Pennington broke no law by publishing his story. He is a civilian with the freedom to publish. The violation of Starfleet orders and regulations was committed by Reyes, who bypassed the Starfleet-mandated censor to allow Pennington's unexpurgated story to go out to the galaxy at large.

In response to previous posts that decried the absence of Quinn from Open Secrets as "random" (though I think the appropriate term is "arbitrary") or "unexplained," there was a very good reason Cervantes Quinn's role in Open Secrets was minimized: I asked Dayton and Kevin to do so, in order to leave Quinn free for the story I wanted to tell about him in the next Vanguard novel, Precipice, coming this December.

Will Reyes also feature in Precipice?

 

[David Mack]

^ You'll see.

 

[aaon80]

Perhaps this was a "bridging" novel, setting up the stories from here to come, but I don't think that is a detraction from the novel at all. Someone pointed out Singular Destiny, which serves the same function, and is one of my favorite books of the past couple years.

I don't find the ending of Open Secrets to be confusing or frustrating. It was shocking, and left me wondering what happened, and where the story is going.

Also, as a fan of the DS9-R, I'm not sure I see the problem with the story taking place in a small, few month period. I mean, why is it important that we advance through the years so quickly? As long as the characters are well-drawn, the books are well-written, and most importantly the stories are interesting, I don't care how far in time we advance the story!

 

[LutherSloan]

ASD worked a lot better for me because it had its own self-contained story, which revolved around Sonek Pran. It involved several mysteries, but at least by the end of the book they were basically explained. The reveal of the Typhon Pact was at the end, so it wants you to read the next book.

This was not the case in OS. As soon as T'Prynn came out of her coma, she disappeared to parts unknown. As soon as Reyes was court-martialed, he quickly disappeared and then reappeared for no conceivable reason at the end. Nogura arrived on the station, but he had only a few small parts in the story. The future General Chang made a brief cameo, but it was unknown why he was showing so much interest in Reyes. The Wanderer's story didn't move far either, as she was suddenly aware of some 'presence' that disturbed her, but that was about all the info we got. Ganz was kicked off the station.

Those are a lot of loose ends, and I don't think I even listed them all. I'm glad at least that we got an explanation (but not in book) for why Quinn left the station with only a 'Dear John'-esque letter to Pennington.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

ASD worked a lot better for me because it had its own self-contained story, which revolved around Sonek Pran. It involved several mysteries, but at least by the end of the book they were basically explained. The reveal of the Typhon Pact was at the end, so it wants you to read the next book.

This was not the case in OS. As soon as T'Prynn came out of her coma, she disappeared to parts unknown. As soon as Reyes was court-martialed, he quickly disappeared and then reappeared for no conceivable reason at the end. Nogura arrived on the station, but he had only a few small parts in the story. The future General Chang made a brief cameo, but it was unknown why he was showing so much interest in Reyes. The Wanderer's story didn't move far either, as she was suddenly aware of some 'presence' that disturbed her, but that was about all the info we got. Ganz was kicked off the station.

Those are a lot of loose ends, and I don't think I even listed them all. I'm glad at least that we got an explanation (but not in book) for why Quinn left the station with only a 'Dear John'-esque letter to Pennington.

Don't these loose ends and unexplained cameos simply spark your interest in the next book? They did for me. What's the difference between the reveal of the Typhon Pact and the reveals in "Open Secrets"? Much is still to be determined about the Pact, including how it will be organized, which governments proposed it and which later agreed, what their agenda is with regards to the Federation and the rebuilding efforts. I think I see what you mean in that "A Singular Destiny's" reveal was more concrete and followed a considerable buildup, where the ending of "Open Secrets" comes "out of the blue", but surely "A Singular Destiny" was a big loose end too?

 

[LutherSloan]

ASD had ONE loose end, OS had about 10.

 

[Man of Steel]

^ You'll see.

Always teasing us like that David. Not always fun...

 

[William Leisner]

^ You'll see.

Always teasing us like that David. Not always fun...

But usually profitable.

 

[Man of Steel]

^ You'll see.

Always teasing us like that David. Not always fun...

But usually profitable.

Mack knows how to market and promote that's for sure.

 

[KingstonTrekker]

I have been a fan of Vanguard. I am also a huge fan of Dayton Ward's writing. However, I found Open Secrets to be a long and somewhat tedious read. It just never engaged me.

 

[LightningStorm]

I'm kinda surprised at the various negative comments about Open Secrets. I recently finished this and absolutely loved it. After Reap the Whirlwind I think this is the next best Vanguard book (which, incidentally, places this book very near the top of my all-time favorites).

I think it was paced well, it completed the correct amount of story lines, and started/left hanging the correct amount of story lines. For me all of the setup in this book was very much a good thing as I think this struck me as more of a mystery type adventure rather than an action type adventure. I thoroughly loved the change of pace that this novel offered. Now, I do remember somewhere near the beginning of the book thinking there was one small thing I didn't like, but now after the end I don't even remember exactly what that one thing was. So it must have been overshadowed by the greatness of the rest of the book.

Thinking long-term, I was a bit concerned about Quinn going AWOL, now that David Mack has assured us he's in Precipice, I'm quite happy about this. I'm very much looking forward to T'Prynn and Reyes' stories. Also I do have one issue with Vanguard the series in general, and that's that it is so good and intriguing that it seems to need to benefit from a "what's going to happen next" type of thing, but since it is set in the "past" (as related to TNG,DS9,VOY) knowing the state of things like the relationship between the Romulans/Klingons/Federation/Tholians seems to diminish some of the intrigue here for me.

 

[Sxottlan]

Huh. I wasn't making any connection between Open Secrets and Fearful Symmetry. At least here, we're getting another Vanguard book before the end of the year.

All this time later, I really don't remember a thing about Fearful Symmetry. At least again we're getting several DS9 books this year.

 

[JD]

I just finished the book on Sunday, and I thought it was just as good as the rest of the series. I know some people have complained about how this book was pretty much just dealing and while I do agree that that seemed to be what alot of the book did, I think that with so many huge events in RTW this was neccissary. Now that's not to say that there weren't some big events in this one, there certainly were, and I am very cuirous to see what these events are leading to in the future.
One thing I'm really starting to like about Vanguard, is the way that they seem to be setting the stage for the movies. First with the Marcuses coming in, and now with Chang appearing, and Nimbus III coming into play.
This book did have alot of different storylines going, and while sometimes when this happens one will kind of end of taking over after awhile, it didn't happen this time. IMO this is a very good thing, since I really like all of the characters and their stories. Although if I had to pick favorites, I'd have to pick... damn, I actually don't think I can, they were all that good.
Final Rating: 9/10

I do have a couple quick questions, both time line based
1. Exactly how much time does the book cover? It did seem to be a few months, but I was was wondering just how many.
2. Can anyone say yet how much of the year long gap between the prolouge/epilouge and the main body of the story will be covered in Precipice?