^Yeah, they called her Manjula Rahda. (Although really the surname should be Radha; the original script spelled it wrong.)
Spoilers TOS: Allegiance in Exile by DRGIII Review Thread
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Although "Naomi Rahda" has a certain cross-cultural charm to it. Rather like a news reporter I invented out of thin air (and my own initials) for my unpublished short story, "Interview with Dr. Ambrose Crater, or 'The Salt Vampire Ate my Parents'," whom I named "Javier Lindstrom."
I'm about halfway through, and its average. Kirk getting mopey about only having a year left in the journey, and thinking about his mistakes, is annoying and gets on my nerves. Besides that, most of the other stuff isn;t bad, but its not great, either. Its mostly very average.
A note about this book that maybe someone can enlighten me on:
After a couple of weeks of not seeing this title arrive at my local bookstores, I asked the clerk at Barnes and Noble tonight if they were going to be getting any in stock. She told me that it was not going to be carried in the stores, and was only available for home delivery.
Any idea as to why this is?
That clerk is wrong. I just had a look online and the book is available for pickup in 3 of 5 local stores. The other 2 show out of stock.
Allegiance in Exile was okay, but not great. This, I feel, was DRGIII's weakest Trek effort. Of course, seeing how great all his other efforts were, that isn't necessarily bad. 
At any rate, although I liked the exploration aspects of the story (as well as the first contact situation at the end), I found both Sulu's and Kirk's subplots to be greatly annoying, especially Sulu's. I know Sulu isn't just a drone and has his own opinions and feelings, but his entire situation in this book just seemed to come out of nowhere. I literally asked myself "Where did that come from?"
One of the bigger problems with Sulu's subplot is that if this woman truly meant so much to him and her situation truly affected his relationship with Kirk that much for that long, why is the first time we've heard of this? The obvious answer is because the idea never came up before this book was written (one of the problems with trying to provide character development for such previously established characters). I just couldn't get past the idea that I really don't think Sulu would have gotten that bad.
Someone else mentioned that they didn't like Kirk moping around about the end of the 5YM. I agree. To my mind, Kirk knew that the mission was coming to an end, but he fully expected to go out again. Granted, being in a "military" force, he goes where he is ordered to go, but there was really no reason to expect that he wouldn't continue commanding a starship, if not specifically the Enterprise. I don't think he'd be getting so down about the end of the mission, especially since he is the type that is always looking forward.
I will say that the reveal of the identities of the aliens at the end did bring a smile to my face. I can't help but think this is DRGIII throwing a bone to those who are truly unhappy with the way Pocket has handled certain aspects of the Novelverse since the editorial shakeup. Maybe nothing comes of it, but it's nice to think it was on purpose.
Overall, it was okay, but I was disappointed.
At any rate, although I liked the exploration aspects of the story (as well as the first contact situation at the end), I found both Sulu's and Kirk's subplots to be greatly annoying, especially Sulu's. I know Sulu isn't just a drone and has his own opinions and feelings, but his entire situation in this book just seemed to come out of nowhere. I literally asked myself "Where did that come from?"
One of the bigger problems with Sulu's subplot is that if this woman truly meant so much to him and her situation truly affected his relationship with Kirk that much for that long, why is the first time we've heard of this? The obvious answer is because the idea never came up before this book was written (one of the problems with trying to provide character development for such previously established characters). I just couldn't get past the idea that I really don't think Sulu would have gotten that bad.
Someone else mentioned that they didn't like Kirk moping around about the end of the 5YM. I agree. To my mind, Kirk knew that the mission was coming to an end, but he fully expected to go out again. Granted, being in a "military" force, he goes where he is ordered to go, but there was really no reason to expect that he wouldn't continue commanding a starship, if not specifically the Enterprise. I don't think he'd be getting so down about the end of the mission, especially since he is the type that is always looking forward.
I will say that the reveal of the identities of the aliens at the end did bring a smile to my face. I can't help but think this is DRGIII throwing a bone to those who are truly unhappy with the way Pocket has handled certain aspects of the Novelverse since the editorial shakeup. Maybe nothing comes of it, but it's nice to think it was on purpose.
Overall, it was okay, but I was disappointed.
I finished the book. It was ok, but not great. I did end up liking Sulu's story in the book, but Kirk wasn't done well, and Spock/McCoy and the other main cast members besides Kirk and Sulu were barely involved, and like I've seen mentioned the few Spock/McCoy interactions were very weak (as were most of the parts with people not named Sulu). I just realised that he was the author of Typhon Pact - Plagues of Night and Raise the dawn, which I really enjoyed. This book, however, was mostly average and I doubt I'll read it again.
I picked "Manjula" because I'd recently read the excellent Kleptomania, a collection of short stories by the Indian author Manjula Padmanabhan, when working on the outline.
It's a common surname in Space India.
We just interview DRGIII on Literary Treks and talked about AiE!
I will say that the reveal of the identities of the aliens at the end did bring a smile to my face. I can't help but think this is DRGIII throwing a bone to those who are truly unhappy with the way Pocket has handled certain aspects of the Novelverse since the editorial shakeup. Maybe nothing comes of it, but it's nice to think it was on purpose.
OK, that has me intrigued. I'm currently about a third of the way through, and I find I'm enjoying it. I see that a number of others didn't like Kirk's story arc in this, but I feel his introspection, particularly at this point in the mission, seems natural enough. Who knows, I may feel differently by the time I finish reading it.
Pretty mediocre all round - the casting of two familiar races added nothing to the story and it was mainly because the novel wasn't complete in itself, it sets up a mystery that is 'resolved' in the simplest crudest terms and leaves the reader with a feeling of "is that it?"
I will say that the reveal of the identities of the aliens at the end did bring a smile to my face. I can't help but think this is DRGIII throwing a bone to those who are truly unhappy with the way Pocket has handled certain aspects of the Novelverse since the editorial shakeup. Maybe nothing comes of it, but it's nice to think it was on purpose.
OK, that has me intrigued. I'm currently about a third of the way through, and I find I'm enjoying it. I see that a number of others didn't like Kirk's story arc in this, but I feel his introspection, particularly at this point in the mission, seems natural enough. Who knows, I may feel differently by the time I finish reading it.
I love the introspection, I think it fits perfectly with the Kirk we see later in TMP
Kind of an odd duck. The earliest description made it sound like a Kirk book. But while he certainly features in the novel, this is really a Sulu book. I wasn't sure of the pacing until they got to the second planet and found the second city. I was thinking it was weird that the first planet incident took up a third of the book and then seemingly moved on.
By the time they get to the second planet, I was getting into it. However, I was a bit confused because it seemed that the book had been shifting back to Kirk's future.
Anyway, it was a little distracting about how obvious the guest character and guest Starfleet vessel were red shirts here. I agree that the hints at Trinh's past seemed to be left dangling. If it was supposed to connect back to her first husband, I didn't really get the connection. And Sulu's issue with Kirk was a little out of left field and obviously temporary as we see the two serving together again later.
But overall I liked the mystery and the last minute revelation about the two alien species was pretty cool. That's most of what I've wanted to see from TOS books: connections with other series. It was a bit last minute however. I wish it had come up earlier.
The revelation did raise some questions though:
Also, When are we going to see Sulu's eventual family?
By the time they get to the second planet, I was getting into it. However, I was a bit confused because it seemed that the book had been shifting back to Kirk's future.
Anyway, it was a little distracting about how obvious the guest character and guest Starfleet vessel were red shirts here. I agree that the hints at Trinh's past seemed to be left dangling. If it was supposed to connect back to her first husband, I didn't really get the connection. And Sulu's issue with Kirk was a little out of left field and obviously temporary as we see the two serving together again later.
But overall I liked the mystery and the last minute revelation about the two alien species was pretty cool. That's most of what I've wanted to see from TOS books: connections with other series. It was a bit last minute however. I wish it had come up earlier.
The revelation did raise some questions though:
Did Kirk ever ask the Bajorans about the Ascendants? Or about what they worship as a planetary religion? It feels as though they would have figured out about the wormhole pretty quickly afterwards.
Was there any particular reason the Ascendants did not find and attack Bajor right after coming out of the wormhole? How exactly did they find out that the Bajorans worshiped the same aliens?
Was there any particular reason the Ascendants did not find and attack Bajor right after coming out of the wormhole? How exactly did they find out that the Bajorans worshiped the same aliens?
Also, When are we going to see Sulu's eventual family?
The Captain's Daughter.
James T. Vader
Lieutenant
Kirks introspection was a real downer in this book. The whole thing was kind of solemn and sad.
James T. Vader
Lieutenant
His Typhon Pact duology was just about the greatest DS9 movie I have ever read.
I completely agree! I loved talking to him on Literary Treks about it because he really knows and loves the DS9 relaunch!
Rahda has definitely been called "Naomi" in novels before, but I can't see that it's ever been referenced in Memory Beta - and, when I went through my own notes just now, I realised that DRG3 had actually referenced Sitara Rahda in "Crucible: McCoy"!
I finished up "Allegiance in Exile" this week, just as my plane finished landing at London Heathrow airport, on my way to Glasgow. Amazing timing! A very enjoyable read with lots of seeds sewn for possible future stories (and links to a few older ones). Many thanks to DRG3! I really enjoyed it. Some interesting Kirk/Sulu friction (perhaps vaguely influenced by real world Shatner/Takei friction?) - and how cool to add another 23rd century Andorian to my database?
I was fortunate enough to spend time with DRG3 and his wife, Karen, during my recent US adventure last January and he really made my day when he handed me an advance copy of "Allegiance in Exile".
As we explored Vasquez Rocks and fought a few Gorn together, he suddenly asked if I'd read his recent Sisko novels and I had to admit that I'd fallen way behind in my Trek reading of late, but that I'd heard they were, umm, controversial, and I couldn't wait to get to them. Then he said that he thought he'd planted a Tuckerism for me in one of his recent books, but he couldn't recall which one. "When I'm writing, I just tend to throw them in," he said.
Well, imagine my thrill this week when one minor character in "Allegiance in Exile" shared a surname of a family of Trek friends who were with me the first time we'd met David and Karen, in Sydney, in 2007. Coincidence?
Then a new Andorian character was introduced. Always likely to get my attention! At first, I was just excited there was a brand new Andorian, Veldaclien ch'Gorin, on the Enterprise during the fourth year of its 5YM, but a few pages later, the crew had contracted the Andorian's name to "Clien".
(Maybe?)Message back from DRG3 yesterday to Ian McLean: "The Andorian was indeed named in your honor."
David R George III and Ian McLean, 2007 by Therin of Andor, on Flickr
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