One of Tor.com's writers did a review of Diane Carey's Final Frontier

[Drago-Kazov]

Re: One of Tor.com's writers did a review of Diane Carey's Final Front

I just the Vonda McIntyre’s Enterprise: The First Adventure review.

Does she do a lot of weird stuff in Trek too? I mean the Crystal star was one of the weirdest things by SW standards.

Crispin did a great Han Trilogy on the other hand.

E: TFA had genetically-engineered pegasus getting to fly for the first time and Spock's cousin Stephen, an emotional Vulcan juggler, as the Enterprise ferried a carnival between Starbases. Oh, and Spock mind-melds with a big bird and ends up thinking he's one too. Weird enough?

Yeah but did she write other really weird books?

 

[Drago-Kazov]

Re: One of Tor.com's writers did a review of Diane Carey's Final Front

No more reviews?

I enjoyed the ones so far.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Re: One of Tor.com's writers did a review of Diane Carey's Final Front

No more reviews?

I enjoyed the ones so far.

Look at the posting dates. She's not on a consistent schedule. I'm sure a new review will show up when it's ready, even though that could be a month or two away.

 

[Drago-Kazov]

Re: One of Tor.com's writers did a review of Diane Carey's Final Front

Bump. Just in case there will be a recent review.

 

[EmperorTiberius]

Re: One of Tor.com's writers did a review of Diane Carey's Final Front

I remember I liked Ghost Ship but have only a vague idea of what it's about. On the other hand, I still have and remember Ship of the Line very well. I liked it a lot and would put it up there with some of the best action oriented Trek novels.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Re: One of Tor.com's writers did a review of Diane Carey's Final Front

^Picard locked himself in a sensory depravation tank in order to better empathise with the "ghost ship" crew. Riker decided Data was subhuman scum.

...oh wow, that reads like a TNG season 8 synopsis on twitter!

 

[zarkon]

Re: One of Tor.com's writers did a review of Diane Carey's Final Front

Riker decided Data was subhuman scum.

pre-beard riker has no right to stand in judgement over anyone

 

[EmperorTiberius]

Re: One of Tor.com's writers did a review of Diane Carey's Final Front

^Picard locked himself in a sensory depravation tank in order to better empathise with the "ghost ship" crew. Riker decided Data was subhuman scum.

...oh wow, that reads like a TNG season 8 synopsis on twitter!

Wow I don't remember that part. I only remember the beginning where the Ghost Ship destroys the Russian ship.

 

[Amaris]

Re: One of Tor.com's writers did a review of Diane Carey's Final Front

^Picard locked himself in a sensory depravation tank in order to better empathise with the "ghost ship" crew. Riker decided Data was subhuman scum.

...oh wow, that reads like a TNG season 8 synopsis on twitter!

Wow I don't remember that part. I only remember the beginning where the Ghost Ship destroys the Russian ship.

In this case, he's talking about Ship of the Line.

 

[EmperorTiberius]

Re: One of Tor.com's writers did a review of Diane Carey's Final Front

^Picard locked himself in a sensory depravation tank in order to better empathise with the "ghost ship" crew. Riker decided Data was subhuman scum.

...oh wow, that reads like a TNG season 8 synopsis on twitter!

Wow I don't remember that part. I only remember the beginning where the Ghost Ship destroys the Russian ship.

In this case, he's talking about Ship of the Line.

I don't think so. Picard doesn't do that in Ship of the Line, I remember it quite well. He does lock himself in a holodeck for a while in order to watch episode of Balance of Terror though.

 

[Christopher]

Re: One of Tor.com's writers did a review of Diane Carey's Final Front

Riker decided Data was subhuman scum.

Remember, Carey wrote this book so early in the process that all she had to go on were the writers' bible and the "Farpoint" script. And in the original writers' bible, "Bill" Riker's prejudice toward Data was presented as a significant facet of his character, something that would be an ongoing source of conflict between the two of them. Carey couldn't know at the time that it would never be mentioned again after "Farpoint."

All of the first original novels in the post-TOS series -- Ghost Ship, The Siege, The Escape, and By the Book -- were written by authors who had only series bibles and early scripts to work from. I think the reason Ghost Ship feels the most "off" in retrospect is because TNG was the series that underwent the most evolution and transformation in its early days, that diverged the most from what was written in the bible. But that's hardly Carey's fault. She did the best she could with the resources she had.

 

[Rush Limborg]

Re: One of Tor.com's writers did a review of Diane Carey's Final Front

Absolutely. At any rate, that characteristic was reserved for Dr. Pulaski, I suppose--until she had an unexplained change of heart, mid-season.

Still--interestingly enough, Picard makes a brief reference to the envents of "Where No One Has Gone Before"--explaining why Wesley's on the bridge.

I'm guessing Diane had an early script, on that.

Still, I'll admit that Ghost Ship was my least favorite of Diane's novels--because none of the characters seemed particuarly sympathetic. They all seemed cold, and pretty flat.

 

[Corran Horn]

Re: One of Tor.com's writers did a review of Diane Carey's Final Front

I wonder how carefully the person read the book. April's condition that makes him 'slightly cold most of the time' and the saboteur having to disable locked doors are detailed in the story.

 

[Relayer1]

Re: One of Tor.com's writers did a review of Diane Carey's Final Front

I just the Vonda McIntyre’s Enterprise: The First Adventure review.

Does she do a lot of weird stuff in Trek too? I mean the Crystal star was one of the weirdest things by SW standards.

Crispin did a great Han Trilogy on the other hand.

E: TFA had genetically-engineered pegasus getting to fly for the first time and Spock's cousin Stephen, an emotional Vulcan juggler, as the Enterprise ferried a carnival between Starbases. Oh, and Spock mind-melds with a big bird and ends up thinking he's one too. Weird enough?

I remember not liking that book and some of the others around at the time which took Trek off in really fanciful directions.

I haven't read that many of Careys books outside of novelisations but did read Dreadnought and Battlestations years ago and enjoyed them. It's a pity the portrayal of Boma isn't consistent with 'That Which Divides', but there's no doubt lots of other issues as well.

 

[Greg Cox]

Re: One of Tor.com's writers did a review of Diane Carey's Final Front

Riker decided Data was subhuman scum.

Remember, Carey wrote this book so early in the process that all she had to go on were the writers' bible and the "Farpoint" script. And in the original writers' bible, "Bill" Riker's prejudice toward Data was presented as a significant facet of his character, something that would be an ongoing source of conflict between the two of them. Carey couldn't know at the time that it would never be mentioned again after "Farpoint.".

I ran into that problem with my early DS9 novel. A few readers complained that Kira was too harsh to Bashir in that book, but, again, all I had to go on was the script for the pilot episode in which Kira does give Bashir a hard time. I picked up on that business and ran with it, not knowing that Kira and Bashir would get along much better in future eps . . . .