But they were written for a certain audience - maybe modern Trek books are intended to signpost what's happening to the reader to the same level and have the same level of DO YOU GET WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT but I doubt it.
Spoilers TNG: The Body Electric by David Mack Review Thread
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But they were written for a certain audience - maybe modern Trek books are intended to signpost what's happening to the reader to the same level and have the same level of DO YOU GET WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT but I doubt it.
Last night, I finished reading The Body Electric. Generally, I found it grim. The introduction and farewell to the Istarral was touching and emotional. The "special effects" (vivid imagination of star systems smashed by a black hole) was beautiful from an aesthetic POV (wallpaper-material) but gruesome in its dimenions (so many suns and planets gone, plus civilisations).
One nitpick: Why didn't the Enterprise hail the surviving alien starships from the early attack and what happened to them afterwards?
Question: And did the Enterprise return to Federation space right away or was there some time for a little scanning and mapping of the galactic centre? After all, you don't happen to come there often.
Wesley was a welcome return and the Travelers are a cool culture. I also liked the scenes between Chen and Taurik. Getting involved with a Vulcan is quite a challenge on its own and when the Vulcan response it's a fascinating read.
What surprised me was Picard sudden change of heart, now wanting to remain in the captain's chair for some time to come. I had mentally steeled myself for his resignation, especially when Worf got the news from Nechayev.
So, will the Body Electric's machine rebuild those other galaxies now, or did I get that wrong? It would be a fitting path for redemption and repair some of the damage. All those destroyed galaxies, it is very sad.
One nitpick: Why didn't the Enterprise hail the surviving alien starships from the early attack and what happened to them afterwards?
Question: And did the Enterprise return to Federation space right away or was there some time for a little scanning and mapping of the galactic centre? After all, you don't happen to come there often.
Wesley was a welcome return and the Travelers are a cool culture. I also liked the scenes between Chen and Taurik. Getting involved with a Vulcan is quite a challenge on its own and when the Vulcan response it's a fascinating read.
What surprised me was Picard sudden change of heart, now wanting to remain in the captain's chair for some time to come. I had mentally steeled myself for his resignation, especially when Worf got the news from Nechayev.
So, will the Body Electric's machine rebuild those other galaxies now, or did I get that wrong? It would be a fitting path for redemption and repair some of the damage. All those destroyed galaxies, it is very sad.
He-Man is awesome. I want to just make sure that everyone is on the same page here. Nobody better be dissing the Masters of the Universe!
Finished.
I would rate this third installment just Average.
I liked the fact that Wesley was introduced and the fact that he witnessed and brought the problem in the beginning and was a main part of the solution in the end. I did find that the solution to the main problem was a little anti-climactic in comparison to the two earlier books in the trilogy. Chen's relationship troubles didn't feel real to me and there were no hints of her real problems until she blurted it out to Taurik. The Crusher family dynamic was handled well. I would've liked to have seen Picard also be more involved in that whole dynamic. I hope The Body Electric as a civilization returns in future novels.
All-in-all a good show, but can do better.
I would rate this third installment just Average.
I liked the fact that Wesley was introduced and the fact that he witnessed and brought the problem in the beginning and was a main part of the solution in the end. I did find that the solution to the main problem was a little anti-climactic in comparison to the two earlier books in the trilogy. Chen's relationship troubles didn't feel real to me and there were no hints of her real problems until she blurted it out to Taurik. The Crusher family dynamic was handled well. I would've liked to have seen Picard also be more involved in that whole dynamic. I hope The Body Electric as a civilization returns in future novels.
All-in-all a good show, but can do better.
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I don't post often but when I do it's to gush about something. I loved all three books but was most taken with Body Electric. I just tend to love those larger than life galactic threats. The Immunity Syndrome was the first episode of Star Trek I'd ever seen and it had a huge impact. And I was the only kid I knew that actually loved Star Trek: The Motion Picture. So I read this one cover to cover. The whole trilogy was excellent but this last one, for me, was pure brain candy.
I just finished. Part of the problem may be the unfathomable amounts of sentients and systems destroyed for a work of art. The solution to the problem, at the last minute is keeping with Star Trek traditions. Only slightly surprised Flint did not die so Lal would be resurrected.
Here's a look at the three covers together.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8mgelm28G...he+Next+Generation+Cold+Equations+trilogy.jpg
He-Man is awesome. I want to just make sure that everyone is on the same page here. Nobody better be dissing the Masters of the Universe!
The original He-Man was OK. The new He-Man is garbage.
There have actually been three He-Man animated series, and the second one was the bad one.
JWolf, see my comment in my last paragraph which responds (slightly indirectly) to your post.
For those who are reading this in an e-mail digest (where spoiler tags don’t work):
MANY MANY MANY SPOILERS AHEAD. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
My first thought after finishing the book: RHEA!!!!!!
I was very sorry to see Rhea go. I really liked her in Immortal Coil, particularly in what she did for Data’s character evolution.
So I was very glad to see her here, but I also felt that her character was a bit underused here. As I said, Rhea is herself an interesting character, but I believe she is more interesting for what she did for Data (ie. their interactions), and we didn’t see too much of that. Were she a TV character, I’d say she was better suited for “character episodes” than “action/plot episodes,” and The Body Electric was definitely of the latter.
But boy, was that story a helluva thing. I sometimes had a little trouble buying that the Enterprise crew would take on a mission to save the entire galaxy against impossible odds with such aplomb: no shock or disbelief. On the other hand, they have done it before. Multiple times.
And I found the foe very elegant. The Body Electric was certainly a good ol’ fashioned sci-fi adversary. And nice to have a break from the political machinations of the Typhon Pact. And The Body Electric’s final goal of an intergalactic art piece for the ages: very very cool. As was Wesley’s proposed solution. I’m wondering what the long-term repercussions of intergalactic travel will be on the Milky Way. Wow. Very very cool.
Glad to see that Worf is getting the recognition he deserves. I hope he’ll change his mind regarding command some day, though.
Was not surprised by the epilogue. For all the trouble Data went to find Akharin, I was a little surprised that we never saw him resurrect Lal, though I realized right away that it didn’t actually matter whether or not we saw it; it just mattered that he did.
Honestly was not that excited about the T’Ryssa/Taurik storyline. It was interesting, but I found it hard to get invested in, for whatever reason.
The story on the (pseudo-)Fellowship of Artificial Intelligence ship was pretty cool. I felt I was missing out on some sci-fi in-jokes with the different AIs, but I really enjoyed the imaginative descriptions. The range of views represented was a nice world-building touch that reflects the range of possibilities regarding AI.
Going back to Rhea for a moment: while I understand that the point of this trilogy was to have the crew of the Enterprise face impossible decisions, I feel it would have been a more interesting story long-term if Rhea and Akharin had survived and Data had had to learn to be a family man. Raising a child as a single parent is not exactly an underused story in Star Trek.
If it were me designing the poll, I would rename “Above Average” to “Well-Done.” (I’d relegate “Above Average” to a score of 3.5 and call 4.5 “Very Well-Done.”) As such, I feel TBE was very well-done. Not outstanding, like Silent Weapons or RtD, but very well-done. Solid. Voted “Above Average” for the purposes of Sho’s analysis.
EDIT: Yeah, I agree with a lot of what has been said so far in the thread, good and bad. Loved "go bother Picard"; that was great. I didn't have much issue with the scale of the threat; these days, there's rarely much question that they'll survive, the interest arises from how the characters react. I too was a bit taken aback by Gatt's aboutface at the end, and I do wish we had seen more with Lal at the end. But I realize that Mack was going for something particular with that scene and I can deal with that.
For those who are reading this in an e-mail digest (where spoiler tags don’t work):
MANY MANY MANY SPOILERS AHEAD. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
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I was very sorry to see Rhea go. I really liked her in Immortal Coil, particularly in what she did for Data’s character evolution.
So I was very glad to see her here, but I also felt that her character was a bit underused here. As I said, Rhea is herself an interesting character, but I believe she is more interesting for what she did for Data (ie. their interactions), and we didn’t see too much of that. Were she a TV character, I’d say she was better suited for “character episodes” than “action/plot episodes,” and The Body Electric was definitely of the latter.
But boy, was that story a helluva thing. I sometimes had a little trouble buying that the Enterprise crew would take on a mission to save the entire galaxy against impossible odds with such aplomb: no shock or disbelief. On the other hand, they have done it before. Multiple times.
And I found the foe very elegant. The Body Electric was certainly a good ol’ fashioned sci-fi adversary. And nice to have a break from the political machinations of the Typhon Pact. And The Body Electric’s final goal of an intergalactic art piece for the ages: very very cool. As was Wesley’s proposed solution. I’m wondering what the long-term repercussions of intergalactic travel will be on the Milky Way. Wow. Very very cool.
Glad to see that Worf is getting the recognition he deserves. I hope he’ll change his mind regarding command some day, though.
Was not surprised by the epilogue. For all the trouble Data went to find Akharin, I was a little surprised that we never saw him resurrect Lal, though I realized right away that it didn’t actually matter whether or not we saw it; it just mattered that he did.
Honestly was not that excited about the T’Ryssa/Taurik storyline. It was interesting, but I found it hard to get invested in, for whatever reason.
The story on the (pseudo-)Fellowship of Artificial Intelligence ship was pretty cool. I felt I was missing out on some sci-fi in-jokes with the different AIs, but I really enjoyed the imaginative descriptions. The range of views represented was a nice world-building touch that reflects the range of possibilities regarding AI.
Going back to Rhea for a moment: while I understand that the point of this trilogy was to have the crew of the Enterprise face impossible decisions, I feel it would have been a more interesting story long-term if Rhea and Akharin had survived and Data had had to learn to be a family man. Raising a child as a single parent is not exactly an underused story in Star Trek.
If it were me designing the poll, I would rename “Above Average” to “Well-Done.” (I’d relegate “Above Average” to a score of 3.5 and call 4.5 “Very Well-Done.”) As such, I feel TBE was very well-done. Not outstanding, like Silent Weapons or RtD, but very well-done. Solid. Voted “Above Average” for the purposes of Sho’s analysis.
EDIT: Yeah, I agree with a lot of what has been said so far in the thread, good and bad. Loved "go bother Picard"; that was great. I didn't have much issue with the scale of the threat; these days, there's rarely much question that they'll survive, the interest arises from how the characters react. I too was a bit taken aback by Gatt's aboutface at the end, and I do wish we had seen more with Lal at the end. But I realize that Mack was going for something particular with that scene and I can deal with that.
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Does it really matter? They came from a now-collapsed galaxy 10^many lightyears away, millions or more years ago. They're, well, moot (short of a time travel story).
Yep - found it a struggle to get through. The ending isn't any better unfortunately.
Just finished the book today. I liked it, but I enjoyed the other two more. Appreciated the Pulp Fiction inspired quote by Wesley "Check out the big brain on Gatt!", Samuel L Jackson style