Spoilers TP: The Struggle Within (ebook) review thread

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Thrawn, Oct 4, 2011.

  1. Defcon

    Defcon Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    FWIW They established her that way on the Losing the Peace translation, but hey, they could at least had used another facial expression. :lol:
     
  2. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Err, Indians are Asian. They also constitute something like 1/6 of the human race, so I'm sure there's a fair amount of diversity in their facial features.


    Actually they replaced that with a different face on the final cover art:

    http://images.wikia.com/startrek/images/a/a5/Losing_the_Peace_German_cover_art.jpg
     
  3. Defcon

    Defcon Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    That one was an earlier version, the one I linked is the final one. http://www.startrekromane.de/romane/star_trek_-_the_next_generation/den_frieden_verlieren.html
     
  4. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    ^Okay, then Memory Beta is using the wrong image on their Choudhury page.
     
  5. F. King Daniel

    F. King Daniel Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    they've gotten so much milage out of that photo of Picard it's unreal.
     
  6. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Patrick Stewart is reportedly very exacting about likeness approval, so there probably aren't a lot of photos he's okay with them using.
     
  7. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I always forget that India is part of Asia.:scream: I guess I should has specified East Asian.
     
  8. Brefugee

    Brefugee No longer living the Irish dream. Premium Member

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    And where please tell do you think it was?

    I assume you were taught basic geography when at school.
     
  9. Paper Moon

    Paper Moon Commander Red Shirt

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    From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian:

    It's a simple mistake, one that many, many Americans make all the time, one that reflects the current way that the term "Asian" is understood in the states. When people talk about "Asian" stereotypes, as racist as they are, they are much more likely to refer to people from China, Japan, Korea and perhaps Thailand, Vietnam and other parts of Southeast Asia.

    They're usually not referring to people from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey (east of Istanbul), Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the U.A.E. or Uzbekistan, Tajikstan, Turkmenistan or Kazakhstan, all of which are considered to be part of the Asian continent.
     
  10. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    ^Not to mention Russia east of the Ural Mountains.
     
  11. Paper Moon

    Paper Moon Commander Red Shirt

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    ^Exactly. The tl;dr here is that we're all muddling along with extraordinarily imprecise terms and we've just got to make do with what we've got, and try to be respectful, sensitive and sensible along the way.
     
  12. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I honestly always kind of thought of India as it's own entity. And it's probably been over a decade since I learned all of that stuff in school. I've learned more geography since I started following international sports 5 or 6 years ago than I did in school.
     
  13. BrentMc

    BrentMc Commander Red Shirt

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    I never got this one because so many people said it was too expensive for a short novella. I emailed amazon to tell them I thought it was overpriced. They just emailed me a $6 promotional credit. I just checked and it shows up as a music promo code. Maybe they don't have them for eBooks. I guess the squeaky wheel gets the grease. No disrespect to CLB intended.
     
  14. Enterpriserules

    Enterpriserules Commodore Commodore

    I think it was worth it. I really enjoyed the story
     
  15. BritishSeaPower

    BritishSeaPower Captain Captain

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    You know... for whatever reason, I think when I saw the final version of that cover making the rounds I assumed it was supposed to Miranda Kadohata.
     
  16. Enterprise1701

    Enterprise1701 Commodore Commodore

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    Me too. Or T'Ryssa Chen. The earlier version of Choudhury looks more East Asian than South Asian. But then again, the cover is in artistic false coloring for gloom.

    The Memory Beta pages for Losing the Peace and Jasminder Choudhury need to be changed.
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2015
  17. Sto-Vo-Kory

    Sto-Vo-Kory Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I greatly enjoyed this story.

    My favorite books in the DS9 relaunch have been the Worlds of Deep Space Nine series and the Struggle Within was like a companion Worlds of TNG volume. Like the WoDS9 entries, the Struggle Within tells a short concise story, with strong world-building and rich character development.

    'Aya, wonderful fleshing out of the Talarians and Kinshaya. (Though I will admit that your detailed descriptions of the Kinshaya and their agitation at the rally, Christopher, gave me nightmares after reading that chapter:alienblush:)

    Choudhury and Chen were both remarkably well serviced in this story. Jasminder's quest was very satisfying (and bittersweet, knowing Cold Equations is looming on her horizon) and Chen was at her most charming in this tale. [Side note: T'Ryssa totally should have gone further with Romulan Puppy-Dog-Eyes and not let boring ol' Taurik hold her back. Chen is much more fun and interesting as promiscuous than monogamous. End side note.]

    Crusher was well handled, as well. Gratifying to see her use the transporters' bio-filters in a clever way during the poisoning scene. I also enjoyed her scenes with Jono.

    Christopher, you have a real knack for novella-length stories. You get in, tell the story, and get out...often leaving us wanting more.*

    Definitely one of the best Typhon Pact stories, the Struggle Within also demonstrates how impressive a Worlds of TNG series might've been.


    *I can't wait to read Time Lock, by the way.
     
  18. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Well, the Typhon Pact was pretty much conceived by Marco Palmieri and Keith R.A. DeCandido as a chance to do the same thing that Worlds of DS9 did, but on a larger scale: to provide a vehicle for doing focus stories on different alien cultures and worlds. The initial tetralogy had one book focusing on the Breen, one on the Gorn, one on the Tholians (and Andorians), and one on the Romulans and Tzenkethi, so that left the Kinshaya for me. I also chose to focus on the Talarians because they were the one remaining candidate for the expanded Khitomer Accords that hadn't had a focus story of their own.


    I'm glad you think so. I appreciated having the chance to explore those two characters again. The other writers didn't seem as interested in exploring Jasminder's spiritual side as I was (with the exception of Bill Leisner, who handled it well in Losing the Peace), so I was glad for the opportunity to refocus on it.

    For myself, I pretty much agree. But I wasn't sure where the other writers planned to go with Trys and Taurik, so I probably didn't want to rock the boat too much.
     
  19. thribs

    thribs Vice Admiral Admiral

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    It was pretty good. Surprised to see them use something from the JJVerse in this with the mourning tattoos. I didn’t expect that.
     
  20. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    There were a few little things from the Kelvinverse that did make it's way into the books, but most of it was fairly subtle.