Spoilers ENT: Rise of the Federation: Tower of Babel by C. L. Bennett Review Thread

Thanks Christopher! These are always greatly appreciated

 

Looking forward to reading Christopher's annotations.

 

Although I'm certainly enjoying the novel sofar, it feels like..... a lot. Haven't finished it yet, so can't comment on everything. But, the amount of extra characters, the depth of the Rigel system and its inhabitants... it's a lot to absorb and remember while trying to keep up. I've felt myself having to go back a page every now and then, just because I lost track a bit.

Definatly one for a quick re-read after I'm done.

 

That would be cool. And I wonder if there's a way to kitbash an NX-01 model into an Intrepid-class ship...

 

Moving on...

I like Vons (er, "Vons" ), he's a strange sort of villain in this chapter. I can't quite put my finger on it (it's late here) but his brief scenes gave him a rather amusing character. "Beware, for it is... the Assistant Director!" In other words, he's pleasantly mundane, and doesn't quite have the gravitas to live up to his role as the bad guy here (this is a good thing, I want to make clear - it adds a slight edge of surreality and ho-hummity to the whole thing). He has just enough little quirks to amuse, and there's something off about him. Of course, this isn't Vons but I don't think we know this yet. So for now, we'll imagine that he is merely the Assistant Director. He certainly interested me when I read this scene, so that's good.

The directors are probably a bit less successful, in my mind (although they too all have distinct characters). They remind me of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds in Babylon Five, being needlessly argumentative and counterproductive, to the point where you wonder what exactly they're doing representing their peoples at all. Given Mayweather's reaction, I grant that this is sort of the point, but I feel it's just a little too much. The scene's suggestion of a complex history to the Rigel worlds and their inhabitants' interrelations is nice - the scope and sprawl of it distilled to four people in a room bickering - but it's not my favourite scene so far. Still, it is a crisis situation and they're on edge for obvious reasons, so I suppose they have cause to be particularly snippy with each other. They're all scared and far less secure than they were, after all. Besides, Mayweather asking "as innocently as he could" whether the Chelon director knows anyone with the right political ties was certainly amusing. Play the game, Travis. It definitely plays to the idea that Mayweather wins through by just being friendly and honest, so that no-one ever reads him as hostile (as explicitly observed by Archer in the first book).

I'd be totally torn about living in Rigel. It seems to be a place that I'd both hate and find compelling all at once. Archer's reaction to the description of the Rigelian way of doing things, of this somewhat ludicrous system they've arrived at through the long process of their various intertwining histories, pretty much sums it up, doesn't it?

Anyway, now we're well and truly immersed in this Rigelian wonderland, we're off to see if the Chelons have any room at the tea party.



"NO ROOM! NO ROOM!"

 

Annotations are quite excellent. They also reminded me of the awesome reference to Month Pythons "how not to be seen" sketch which in my mind is better than "Dead parrot"

 

I just thought of another point in the safe/unsafe character debate. Even when there is a rule in place that a certain character can't be killed off permanently, that doesn't mean they can't die in a story. They just have to be back alive by the time the story is over. That's really the only thing those kinds of rules effect, how things end. You could shake things up during the story, but by the time it is over everything must be back to the way it started.

 

But that kind of reset button approach is arguably an even worse cliche than hero invulnerability. It compounds the problem rather than solving it.

As I've been saying, there are a lot of ways to make meaningful and lasting changes in a character's life short of killing that character. I'd rather look for those than just fall back on a lazy gimmick like fakeout deaths.

 

I'm not a fan of it either, I was just pointing out that it is possible to do it.

 

Another well done book. I very much enjoyed this one. So much going on, I feel like I need an immediate reread to get it all.

 

Great book and an excellent sequel.

The two principle ships' crews are developing nicely; Pioneer, in particular, has blossomed into a fun assortment of characters. The Sam and Val storyline was handled wonderfully and I look forward to its progression in future novels.

Speaking of Val, what a great character. She's in security, so you expect her to kick ass (and she does) but she's clever as well -- outwitting an antagonist while bound to a chair. Reminded me of that scene from the Avengers movie with Black Widow. It's not hard to see why Sam Kirk fancies her. (Aside: Just ask her out already!)

I read Early Voyages #3 just before reading the Kalar portion of the book and it definitely amplified my enjoyment of that section. When "Abnett" and "Zircher" came out of the shuttlecraft, it made me smile. A nice tip of the hat to the ol' EV gang.

A lot of nice peeks into the Rigel worlds under the framework of investigating leads. The Chelon world was my favorite.

The Sauria thread continues to grow in the margins of this series and Trip keeps straddling the line between what he wants Section 31 to become and what we know it inevitably becomes. Curious to see where these lead.

And that epilogue...! Felt like a modern Doctor Who opening tease or (considering its placement in the book) an after credits scene in a Marvel movie. Either way, it whetted my appetite for the next volume -- mission accomplished.

Thanks for the fun read, Christopher, and thanks also for the speedy posting of your annotations. They are always greatly appreciated.

 

We had a lot of fun with Dan of Trek Lit Reviews talking about the book on Literary Treks

 

Thanks, I had a lot of fun, too! Great discussion about Tower of Babel!

 

Enterprise Rules that was an excellent podcast discussion of the Enterprise Tower of Babel novel. I really enjoyed listening the detailed discussion of the storyarcs with the Different different characters especially talking about Archer, Malcolm and Trip&T'Pol's relationship and section 31 one in the book. And Trip is unhappy with Section 31 actions in this book.

 

Thank you so much! Having Dan on was the real plus and I think he elevated the conversation. Chris' books are so dense so gives us a lot to talk about.

 

Listening to the episode right now...looks like I wasn't the only one who felt that the book was a bit "preachy" at times concerning modern American politics, regardless of stripe.

 

^ That has been apart of Trek since the 60's so it does not surprise me when I see it in the novels. Chris has every right to put forth his views and even if I don't always agree, keeps me honest to my own.

 

Oh, I know that. It just seemed a bit more obvious, that's all. If that makes sense.

And I don't think you sang enough in that episode.