Spoilers TF: The Poisoned Chalice by James Swallow Review Thread

[Skywalker]

Re: TF: The Poisoned Chalice by James Swallow Review Thread (Spoilers!

It was out on the shelves in my local B&N a couple of days before the official release date.

I would recommend calling the store itself and speaking to the booksellers there. If they have any copies in the store they can put one on hold for you so you can come in and pick it up.

 

[DEWLine]

Re: TF: The Poisoned Chalice by James Swallow Review Thread (Spoilers!

That wasn't moustache-twirling on Ishan's part. That was him proving how much he believes himself the hero of his own story: as much as Riker and Akaar and Picard and Bashir all do.

 

[JeBuS]

Re: TF: The Poisoned Chalice by James Swallow Review Thread (Spoilers!

Was there a point to Riker's little face to face with the Pres-pro towards the end?

I had the same thought. I re-read the scene, thinking I'd skipped a paragraph or something. Riker said he was going there with something specific... then it was like he forgot, and just got into chest thumping instead.

 

[James Swallow]

Re: TF: The Poisoned Chalice by James Swallow Review Thread (Spoilers!

...Atia's dialogue reminded me very much of Spartacus: Blood and Guts - is the author a fan, by any chance?

Atia was the name of an amazing character in the HBO series Rome, which is where I thought the homage was coming from (as Atia in TPC is from Magna Roma). Of course, her manner of speaking in Rome is not really like the way Atia from TPC speaks...

You're both right. Atia's name is from the character in Rome and I modeled her speech pattern on those from Spartacus.

 

[Ronald Held]

Re: TF: The Poisoned Chalice by James Swallow Review Thread (Spoilers!

It also appears that Riker will remain an Admiral.

Is that really a bad thing?

It'd be nice to see Star Trek move beyond that tired old "You can only make a difference if you're a captain on a starship!" trope.

The novels have up-ended the TV 'you can disobey orders whenever and still come out fine' with Reyes. I was amazed when he stayed gone. I do wonder if Dax will get back her command, though.

I have nothing against Riker but I do not think he deserved a two grade promotion after such a short time at the rank of Captain and all the years he spent as XO.

 

[Sci]

Re: TF: The Poisoned Chalice by James Swallow Review Thread (Spoilers!

Is that really a bad thing?

It'd be nice to see Star Trek move beyond that tired old "You can only make a difference if you're a captain on a starship!" trope.

The novels have up-ended the TV 'you can disobey orders whenever and still come out fine' with Reyes. I was amazed when he stayed gone. I do wonder if Dax will get back her command, though.

I have nothing against Riker but I do not think he deserved a two grade promotion after such a short time at the rank of Captain and all the years he spent as XO.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but in his six years as captain of the Titan, Riker did manage to provide the key to saving the Federation from the Borg Invasion, saved the Reman people from Romulan oppression, successfully mediate a stabile Romulan power-sharing agreement, save the Neyel from extinction, mediate an agreement over the use of cosmozoan resources in the Gum Nebula, and generally made huge, amazing discoveries in the Beta Quadrant. And that's not counting the time he almost single-handedly saved the Federation from the Borg in "The Best of Both Worlds."

Riker is at least as qualified to become admiral in 2385 as Kirk was in 2270.

 

[Paris]

Re: TF: The Poisoned Chalice by James Swallow Review Thread (Spoilers!

Janeway got the promotion to Vice-Admiral after her return from the Delta Quadrant. I know she was a captain before she took over Voyager, but only for a few years. Captain to Vice Admiral is a "three-rank" jump...

 

[DEWLine]

Re: TF: The Poisoned Chalice by James Swallow Review Thread (Spoilers!

Some might argue that comparatively, Riker is moreso. Hopefully, he'll be able to settle the question via productive fleet-scaled exploration initiatives rather than another war.

 

[Elias Vaughn]

Re: TF: The Poisoned Chalice by James Swallow Review Thread (Spoilers!

Does he even have authority over exploration issues? As far as I could tell, he was promoted to help Akaar figure out how to deal with Ishan and to help investigate Bacco's assassination. That says to me that Riker's more of an Internal Affairs type admiral.

 

[DEWLine]

Re: TF: The Poisoned Chalice by James Swallow Review Thread (Spoilers!

People do transfer between departments.

Officially, Riker's flag pips with "without portfolio" when he got them.

 

[Sci]

Re: TF: The Poisoned Chalice by James Swallow Review Thread (Spoilers!

Still gathering my thoughts on The Poisoned Chalice.

Structurally, it felt a bit anti-climatic to me in some ways, but I suspect it will all pay off in Peaceable Kingdoms.

Couldn't help but notice more parallels to real-world politics -- Active Four vs. SEAL Team Six; the Federation using the Klingons to torture and execute prisoners reminded me a lot of the U.S. policy of extraordinary rendition after 9/11....

ETA:

Between these, the Chelsea Manning/Edward Snowden/Wikileaks parallels in A Ceremony of Losses, the America First/Tea Party parallels in both Ceremony and The Crimson Shadow, the clear Bacco assassination/September 11 parallels in Revelation and Dust, the general indictment of nationalism and belligerence in Ishan Anjar -- I suspect that while The Fall may have started out as an attempt to do a dramatic, Star Trek-meets-JFK-assassination story, it has in some ways evolved into a commentary on the broader trends of the post-9/11 American political culture.

 

[Paper Moon]

Re: TF: The Poisoned Chalice by James Swallow Review Thread (Spoilers!

Brief note about the availability of the book in stores: I went to my (semi-)local Barnes and Noble and was very disappointed to not see any copies of The Poisoned Chalice in the sci-fi section (though I was happy to see something like three copies of Revelation and Dust– we never have that many of a single Trek book at this place).

Then, I went over to the "New Science Fiction" section (where they never seem to have Trek books) and, lo and behold, multiple copies of The Poisoned Chalice, and all the other The Fall books! Was very pleased, obviously.

 

[TheUsualSuspect]

Re: TF: The Poisoned Chalice by James Swallow Review Thread (Spoilers!

This is another excellent installment in The Fall series. Overall, I thought it was a fast-paced story which advanced the larger story while working well as a single volume. It did seem to be definitely setting things up for a big finale in Peaceable Kingdoms.

A few specific things:
I thought the Titan was a good distance away from Earth at this point, as others have noted. I had expected to see a Vesta-class ship sent to escort it back to Earth via slipstream.

I really liked the tie-ins to other bits of Treklore like the Magna Roma officer on Lionheart. I liked the Lahit doctor, although I didn't realize until I read this thread that it came from Diane Duane's book.

Looking forward to Peaceable Kingdoms next month!

 

[James Swallow]

Re: TF: The Poisoned Chalice by James Swallow Review Thread (Spoilers!

I've just been informed that The Poisoned Chalice has made it on to the New York Times bestseller list; my heartfelt thanks to everyone who bought a copy!

 

[DEWLine]

Re: TF: The Poisoned Chalice by James Swallow Review Thread (Spoilers!

You're welcome!

 

[Romulan_spy]

Re: TF: The Poisoned Chalice by James Swallow Review Thread (Spoilers!

I've just been informed that The Poisoned Chalice has made it on to the New York Times bestseller list; my heartfelt thanks to everyone who bought a copy!

Congrats on being on the NYT bestseller list. I really enjoyed the book a lot!!

 

[Reanok]

Re: TF: The Poisoned Chalice by James Swallow Review Thread (Spoilers!

Congraulations Mr. Swallow for your novel The Poisoned chalice on being added to the New York times best seller list.I really liked this novel a lot.

 

[JD]

Re: TF: The Poisoned Chalice by James Swallow Review Thread (Spoilers!

I've just been informed that The Poisoned Chalice has made it on to the New York Times bestseller list; my heartfelt thanks to everyone who bought a copy!

Congratulations, it's so cool to see Trek books on the NYT list again. I haven't read this one yet, but if it's anything like you're other stuff I've read and judging by the reactions in this thread, it definitely deserves to be there.

 

[Ronald Held]

Re: TF: The Poisoned Chalice by James Swallow Review Thread (Spoilers!

Congratulations Mr. Swallow.

 

[fleetcaptain]

Re: TF: The Poisoned Chalice by James Swallow Review Thread (Spoilers!

Brief note about the availability of the book in stores: I went to my (semi-)local Barnes and Noble and was very disappointed to not see any copies of The Poisoned Chalice in the sci-fi section (though I was happy to see something like three copies of Revelation and Dust– we never have that many of a single Trek book at this place).

Then, I went over to the "New Science Fiction" section (where they never seem to have Trek books) and, lo and behold, multiple copies of The Poisoned Chalice, and all the other The Fall books! Was very pleased, obviously.

Did you have trouble trying to find it on the website too? That's why I don't understand why the pick me up feature is not on there at all. I will probably go by there again if not I have Books a Million to check out as well.