Spoilers VAN: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread

[Sho]

​

Here we go, then! It's the usual week-and-a-day out, but this one is certainly special, seeing as how it is a type of story that only comes along very rarely in an ongoing line of novels - a well and proper series finale. What's more, David Mack actually gets to finish what he began seven years ago: We're here to review Storming Heaven, his sure-to-be-epic conclusion to Star Trek: Vanguard, co-created by him and editor Marco Palmieri in 2005. At least this one got its seven year run!

Here is the blurb from the Simon & Schuster website:

Vanguard is under siege. Surrounded by enemies, Admiral Nogura sends the scout ship Sagittarius to find an ancient weapon that might be the Federation’s only hope of stopping the alien threat known as the Shedai . . . Qo’noS is wracked by scandal. Councillor Gorkon fights to expose a Romulan plot to corrupt members of the Klingon High Council, only to learn the hard way that crusaders have few allies, and even fewer friends . . . Tholia teeters on the brink of madness. To prevent Starfleet from wielding theShedai’s power as its own, the Tholians deploy an armada with one mission: Kill the Shedai—by destroying Vanguard.

You can also read an excerpt here: http://books.simonandschuster.com/S...tar-Trek-Vanguard/9781451650709/browse_inside

And another useful link as a bonus, Mr. Mack has recently opened a thread dedicated to discussing the series as a whole once it has run its course. Plus you can find review threads of earlier Vanguard installments in my review thread listing (more coming soon as I'm currently making my way through the series from the start and posting threads as I go).

 

[timothy31]

Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

thank you

 

[JD]

Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

The browse inside thing isn't working. I tried both your link, and going through the S&S site and neither worked.

 

[Patrick O'Brien]

Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

I am very excited about this book. Looking forward to all your reviews/comments and discussing the epic finale to my favorite Trek book series.

Can I vote Outstanding without having read it?

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Seeing as David Mack is writing this I take it we can expect a rather large body count?

 

[David Mack]

Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

^

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

^

Maybe that would have gone better if I had remembered to use one of the smilies. Sorry.

Besides this book's cover and the last words of the previous book which are on the summary of the back of this book do kind of hint that not everyone is walking away from this. Not to mention that this sounds like one of this epic final showdown things that tend to have large amounts of character deaths.

 

[shanejayell]

Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

*just made a body-count joke in the other thread*

Whoops?

Anyway, I'm EAGERLY looking forward to this. Release date is the end of this month?

 

[Sho]

Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

March 27th, but people get the books a few days early sometimes.

 

[David Mack]

Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Next Tuesday, March 27, is the official on-sale date. It might start showing up in bookstores any day now, but online retailers tend to hold off on shipping pre-ordered copies until the official date.

ETA: D'oh! Beat me to it!

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Next Tuesday, March 27, is the official on-sale date. It might start showing up in bookstores any day now, but online retailers tend to hold off on shipping pre-ordered copies until the official date.

I need to check to see if I preordered this or not on my nook. If not I might be tempted to get a dead tree version.

 

[Ronald Held]

Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

I will try to buy to on release day at a B&N. if they do not have it, Amazon will br next.

 

[Patrick O'Brien]

Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

I pre ordered the book to my kindle months ago

 

[Elias Vaughn]

Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Found it at my local B&N today, but they never stocked the last Vanguard book so I can't read it yet. :/

 

[Lindley]

Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

I'm behind on Vanguard I think. I most recently read the one where Reyes is held by the Klingons for a while. Which one is that and what are the books after it?

 

[Sci]

Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

I'm behind on Vanguard I think. I most recently read the one where Reyes is held by the Klingons for a while. Which one is that and what are the books after it?

Star Trek: Vanguard series:

• Harbinger by David Mack (2005)
• Summon the Thunder by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore (2006)
• Reap the Whirlwind by David Mack (2007)
• Open Secrets by Dayton Ward (2009)
• Precipice by David Mack (2009)
• Declassified (2011)
  • "Almost Tomorrow" by Dayton Ward
  • "Hard News" by Kevin Dilmore
  • "The Ruins of Noble Men" by Marco Palmieri
  • "The Stars Look Down" by David Mack
• What Judgments Come by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore (2011)
• Storming Heaven by David Mack (2012)

Related works:

• "Distant Early Warning" by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore (2006) (from S.C.E.: What's Past) - prequel story from the Starfleet Corps of Engineers series
• "The Black Flag" by James Swallow (2009) (from Mirror Universe: Shards and Shadows) - Short story of the Mirror Universe Vanguard station and crew
• Mirror Universe: The Sorrows of Empire by David Mack (2010) - Novel about the rise of Emperor Spock and the fall of the Terran Empire, featuring the Mirror Universe Vanguard crew in a supporting role
• Typhon Pact: Paths of Disharmony by Dayton Ward (2011) - TNG novel about Andor in the wake of the Borg Invasion, featuring an important plot point growing out of the events of Star Trek: Vanguard a century earlier

 

[David Mack]

Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

^ Just FYI, although it shows the Vanguard cast and setting in the Mirror Universe, "The Black Flag" is not part of the Vanguard saga, per se. Unlike the prequel "Distant Early Warning," "The Black Flag" has no direct connection to or influence upon the Vanguard series.

That's not intended as a slight against James's fine story; I just don't want readers to feel as if they've missed an integral part of the saga if they haven't read it.

 

[Sci]

Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

^ Just FYI, although it shows the Vanguard cast and setting in the Mirror Universe, "The Black Flag" is not part of the Vanguard saga, per se. Unlike the prequel "Distant Early Warning," "The Black Flag" has no direct connection to or influence upon the Vanguard series.

That's not intended as a slight against James's fine story; I just don't want readers to feel as if they've missed an integral part of the saga if they haven't read it.

Fair point. I'm going to re-edit my post.

 

[David Mack]

Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

^ Ah. Good revision. Well done.

 

[rfmcdpei]

Re: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

^ Ah. Good revision. Well done.

Oh. My. God.

Wow. What a novel, what an ending. Thank you for this latest and last entry; thank you very very much.