So if the OP skips pages with the character in them, how will he know if the character has undergone growth and change?
I do like T'Ryssa and I also like Abby. The one I didn't care for was the Vulcan counselor on the E-E.
Don't bring facts into this, we are skipping pages here! First impressions are all that matter! That's why I skip every page about Picard that Gallic nativist!
I like Chen and have enjoyed watching her mature and grow over the years, a bit like what we got with some of the characters on the show. I enjoy every scene she pops up in, especially her bridge scene in Cold Equations.
I kinda liked the notion that in the enlightened, tolerant, "Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations" 24th century, more than one personality type can exist. If the Treklit writers are feeling ambitious, maybe one day they can add a third personality type. That's probably going a little too far for most Trekkies though.
This has come up before, I'm of the "and then she was shot in the face with a space-uzi and her corpse eaten by wolves" camp.
You know, I think T'Ryssa would be perversely pleased to know that some people can't stand her. A lot of her behavior, at least in her pre-Enterprise days, has been consciously calculated for shock value, particularly toward Vulcans or others who made assumptions about how she should behave based on her appearance. The way she acts is a statement about her refusal to be judged by other people's standards and expectations and likes and dislikes.
Competely agreed. I love Trys. She does get on my nerves sometimes, she can be annoying sometimes. But I love her character, and I love that she did tone down a bit, she grew. I mean, we've been on a journey with her for a few years now, and she's really developed as a person. Still that goofy young kid at times, but also an officer capable of taking charge of the E-E's bridge and defusing a tense situation. Thanks Christopher, for creating her, and thanks for all the other authors who worked with her and developed her so well.
I had never heard of the character and I generally don't read Trek literature but I will say that the original post starting this thread made me want to read about her.
T'Ryssa is just a half-Vulcan Ro Laren. She would be less obnoxious if the character concept hadn't already been done. That said, I wouldn't mind a plot line in which Laren is the only one around to help T'Ryssa out with her half Pon'far....just sayin.
In the sense that they're both Picard proteges whose attitude contrasts with the usual TNG crew, yes, it was my intent to do something similar. But Ro is ultra-serious and driven while Trys is just the opposite (at least to start with). And Ro has a tragic backstory from growing up under Cardassian oppression and in refugee camps, whereas Trys is a Starfleet brat whose attitude is mostly about coming from a broken home and rebelling against the roles and expectations people have tried to impose on her. Really she has more in common with Tom Paris than Ro, I'd say. And is maybe kind of an anti-Spock, a human-Vulcan hybrid who went in the opposite direction.
I don't think she's less like Ro than Paris, but I think that's a pretty good comparison. The way I see her as similar to Ro are what you described, plus she is a character that breaks the stereotype of her culture to the annoyance of most and amusement of some. Having faith in T'Ryssa is supposed to be rewarding as we see her develop, just as it seems the intent was with Laren. Side note - did you create T'Ryssa, Chris? Second side note - I have 2 of your books on my Kindle, and I enjoyed them both!
Yes, I did, along with fellow Enterprise-E personnel Rennan Konya (who debuted in SCE: Aftermath) and Counselor Hegol Den. She and Den debuted, and Konya joined the E-E crew, in Greater Than the Sum by yours truly. Though I actually created the Chen character years earlier, under the name T'Lyssa Chen, for a Trek/D&D crossover role-playing game that a friend and I played over e-mail for a brief while (before she had a child and her priorities shifted).
That's a really interesting back story about the origin of the T'Ryssa character. The fact that some people don't like her makes her a good character, the crappy characters are the ones that don't inspire any emotion at all!