Spoilers TP: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread

[MvComedy]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Voted "Above Average." I enjoyed the story, but there was too much recapping for me. Props to DRGIII for doing the recapping in an interesting way, letting us see the events from ZSG, RBoE, and PoD from completely different points of view than from the characters featured in those books. I'm not sure if all the recapping was an editorial decision, but I just felt the first half of the story was too bogged down by it. Of all the plotlines, I think I enjoyed the one following Trok the most. I'm glad we got to see more of the Breen after ZSG. Also enjoyed seeing the Dominion again.

One thing I couldn't help but notice was that the few details regarding the five-year period that was jumped over did little to nothing to elaborate on what we already knew from RBoE. The catastrophy on Endalla, Rebecca's kidnapping, Taran'atar, the Ascendant War, all were mentioned but no light was shed on them. It really seems like they are planning to tell those stories in the future, otherwise why be so coy. Incidentally, does anyone else think that maybe the Ohalavaru who kidnapped Rebecca may have been Yevir Linjaren?

Spoiler: Regarding the ending

I wasn't surprised by the explosion of DS9 so much, but I was surprised that the Typhon Pact ships engaged DS9 and the Defiant. An awefully big risk for them, even considering what's at stake. It may have made more sense for the warbird to beam it's cargo to one of the allied vessels when it got caught, rather than start a firefight, then come up with some kind of story for why it abandoned it's mission. Though considering that Eletrix had deceived Enterprise into thinking they'd been destroyed, I guess there was no good explanation at that point. Did it bother anyone else that DS9 seemed to have some trouble defending itself against one Breen warship and one Tzenkethi marauder, to the point that Runabouts of all things were called in, when the station was able to successfully fend off an entire fleet of Klingon ships and heavily damage a Dominion fleet in the past?

 

[MatthiasRussell]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

^ I agree, considering how well it fought against fleets of Klingon and Jem Hadar ships.

However, DS9 was having internal issues at the same time which distracted the command staff and crippled its power supply.

 

[WarsTrek1993]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Well, I've finished the novel, now I can leave my thoughts (I'm a fast reader):

Whew, that was definitely a fast ride I won't soon forget. I think it may be the best of the Typhon Pact series (based on the ones I'd read). I liked how DRGIII integrated all of the members of the pact, and also used characters from both TNG and DS9. That Romulan Betrayal was a good addition as well.

As for the ending, was I the only one who felt gut-punched reading the final line? (No, I'm not posting it here. Read it yourself!)

 

[Reanok]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

I just finished this book and I can't wait to find out what happened to Kira, Kassidy and Ro and the others on DS9.Or what the dominion might do in retaliation after what the Romulans did to them in the Gamma Quadrant. The Breen& Romulans certainly stirred up a hornets nest.I wonder what will happen to Ben Sisko and Picard being on the front lines Is there going to be a new war with the Typhon pact? and with Sela causing major chaos with her spy allies it certainly made this story a page turner I couldn't put this book down.

 

[Sci]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Random question:

Has it ever been established for whom the U.S.S. Robinson is named?

 

[Thestral]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

I've kind of assumed it was Jackie Robinson, but that might be a bit on the nose.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Perhaps A.G. Robinson from ENT's "First Flight"?

I suspect a Trek-centric name after the USS James T. Kirk in RBoE.

 

[Paris]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

My assumption was always A.G. Robinson. Jackie Robinson was mentioned in PoN, but only as a passing thought. If it had been Jackie, it probably would've been mentioned in Sisko's inner thoughts when he considered watching a Jackie Robinson game in the holosuite. A.G. was a Starfleet pioneer, so it makes more sense to name it after him before they name it after a 460 year old baseball player, even though he was a pioneer in his own right.

 

[Sci]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Thanks guys. I wasn't sure if it might have been mentioned in Rough Beasts or Plagues somewhere that I missed, or if perhaps DRGIII had said definitively whom she was named for somewhere online.

In lieu of anything being explicitly established, I would tend to presume that she's named for A.G. Robinson, too, just because presuming she's named for Jackie Robinson seems a little weird -- "We put the black captain on the ship named after a black athletics pioneer." Plus, I have a hard time picturing Starfleet naming ships of the line after professional athletes, even ones who break racial boundaries.

 

[Paris]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

...Plus, I have a hard time picturing Starfleet naming ships of the line after professional athletes, even ones who break racial boundaries.

This is exactly what i was thinking

 

[DEWLine]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Perhaps A.G. Robinson from ENT's "First Flight"?

I suspect a Trek-centric name after the USS James T. Kirk in RBoE.

I suspect you're right about point one.

As for naming a starship directly after Kirk himself when there's still an Enterprise in the spacelanes...am I the only reader who finds that slightly off somehow?

Apologies to DRG III for my discomfort - best word for the reaction I had - with the idea, but it's there and I had to confess to it. You can't manage the emotion without owning up to it, right?

 

[Christopher]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

As for naming a starship directly after Kirk himself when there's still an Enterprise in the spacelanes...am I the only reader who finds that slightly off somehow?

Enterprise captains include Archer, April (perhaps), Pike, Kirk, Decker (technically), Spock, Harriman, Sulu, Garrett, and Picard. Kirk is not uniquely identified with that ship name, so I don't see the problem.

 

[Ian Keldon]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

There was a USS Archer in Nemesis, and both Decker and Pike have had ships named after them in the non-canon but official materials.

 

[MatthiasRussell]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

There is an Archer-class ship in Vanguard.

I'm actually shocked there isn't a Kirk-class ship.

 

[Sci]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

As for naming a starship directly after Kirk himself when there's still an Enterprise in the spacelanes...am I the only reader who finds that slightly off somehow?

Enterprise captains include Archer, April (perhaps), Pike, Kirk, Decker (technically), Spock, Harriman, Sulu, Garrett, and Picard. Kirk is not uniquely identified with that ship name, so I don't see the problem.

There was a USS Archer in Nemesis, and both Decker and Pike have had ships named after them in the non-canon but official materials.

Plus, one of Kirk's most famous acts of heroism occurred without any starship Enterprise -- saving Earth from the Whale Probe while serving as captain of the hijacked H.M.S. Bounty/I.K.S. Qel'Poh.

 

[Skywalker]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

There is an Archer-class ship in Vanguard.

I'm actually shocked there isn't a Kirk-class ship.

Archer-class sounds better than Kirk-class.

Besides, as famous as Kirk was, he still was no Founding Father of the Federation. I don't think people in-universe worship Kirk or hold him up on as high a pedestal as do many people in the real world.

 

[Christopher]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Besides, as famous as Kirk was, he still was no Founding Father of the Federation. I don't think people in-universe worship Kirk or hold him up on as high a pedestal as do many people in the real world.

I like to think that as well. Though, admittedly, Kirk did play a key role in saving the Earth from destruction by an unstoppable alien probe twice in the span of a dozen years or so, which does seem to be the sort of thing that would get someone a pretty sizeable mention in the history books.

 

[Sci]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Besides, as famous as Kirk was, he still was no Founding Father of the Federation. I don't think people in-universe worship Kirk or hold him up on as high a pedestal as do many people in the real world.

I like to think that as well. Though, admittedly, Kirk did play a key role in saving the Earth from destruction by an unstoppable alien probe twice in the span of a dozen years or so, which does seem to be the sort of thing that would get someone a pretty sizeable mention in the history books.

And on top of his contributions to Federation science, diplomacy, and defense while in command of the original Enterprise's five-year mission, he also uncovered and thwarted a Klingon attempt to steal the secrets of Project Genesis, and he personally saved the Federation President from assassination and prevented the Khitomer Conspiracy from instigating a war between the UFP and the Klingon Empire.

I doubt that Kirk would be worshipped, but I imagine that he would be held in at least as high a regard as we today tend to hold leaders like Ulysses S. Grant, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Chester Nimitz, or Douglas MacArthur.

I'm sure Kirk isn't venerated, and he certainly has his detractors. But the idea that he would be remembered and respected enough for Starfleet to name a ship U.S.S. James T. Kirk is completely plausible.

ETA:

If anything, the relative dearth of starships named after people from the Federation's 200-year history is somewhat implausible. Realistically, they'd probably be naming a significant percentage of their starships after well-regarded Federates from their own history -- to say nothing of naming more ships after people and places other than Earth -- instead of naming so many ships after Humans and Earth locations from the 19th and 20th centuries.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Thanks guys. I wasn't sure if it might have been mentioned in Rough Beasts or Plagues somewhere that I missed, or if perhaps DRGIII had said definitively whom she was named for somewhere online.

In lieu of anything being explicitly established, I would tend to presume that she's named for A.G. Robinson, too, just because presuming she's named for Jackie Robinson seems a little weird -- "We put the black captain on the ship named after a black athletics pioneer." Plus, I have a hard time picturing Starfleet naming ships of the line after professional athletes, even ones who break racial boundaries.

Perhaps it's named after all of these Robinsons? Otherwise, wouldn't the full name be included (i.e. USS A.G. Robinson)?

It's like the USS Roosevelt from Wolf 359. Was it FDR or Teddy? Could be both.

 

[MatthiasRussell]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Kirk's exploits become required reading and I think every cadet knows the name of Kirk. Starfleet named a ship the USS James T Kirk, so why not a class of ship?

I mean, Janeway got a statue!