TNG: Q&A by Keith R.A. DeCandido [LEFT]Blurb: Nearly two decades ago, Jean-Luc Picard took command of the U.S.S. Enterprise™ NCC-1701-D. The captain knew it was an honor without equal. His new command bore the name of Enterprise. The people who had commanded other like-named starships had gone down in Starfleet's annals. Some officers would be intimidated, but they would not have been given command of Enterprise. On her first mission, the Enterprise was sent to Farpoint Station. A simple, straightforward investigation. Perfect for a crew that had never served together. Then there was Q. An omnipotent lifeform that seemed bent on placing obstacle after obstacle in the ship's -- and in particular in Picard's -- way. And it hadn't ended with that first mission. When he was least expected, Q would appear. Pushing, prodding, testing. At times needling captain and crew with seemingly silly, pointless, and maddening trifles. Then it would turn all too serious, and the survival of Picard's crew was in Q's hands. _________________________ No old review of this, but Q&A is among the strongest of the TNG post finale novels. Q certainly isn't the most innovative antagonist for a TNG story, but Keith was able to connect the dots between the various Q appearances very skillfully and actually managed to give the Q character some new depth. German cover: [/LEFT]
One of my favorites from the pre-Destiny TNG relaunch novels -- superior to both Resistance which preceded it and Before Dishonor which followed it. I thought the idea of a Q novel that wove a narrative connecting all the Q TV stories (or at least all the TNG ones) with peeks at what was happening in the Q-continuum betweentimes was marvelous and very well-executed by KRAD. The underlying motivation of a larger threat behind the Q's interactions with humanity was very compelling. What keeps it from being outstanding for me is that the development of the plot in the end didn't quite feel like it rose to the full potential of the idea behind it. On the whole, a fine example of what a Trek novel should be, written by one of the best of the current group of writers.
Brilliant, ties up all of Q's [good] tv appearances in a neat little bow, and Q himself comes off perfectly. I liked the uber aliens too. Fairly cold on the new guys though (I actually liked Leybenzon getting beaten up in Before Dishonour).
[LEFT]I like the book a lot and bought it twice, first in the German dead-tree edition and then as civilized English ebook. [/LEFT] [LEFT] [/LEFT] [LEFT]Anyway, my favorite aspects were the glimpses of the alternate universes - the FSS Enterprise, Worf Rozhenko, XO Data. Simply cool! [/LEFT]
My favorite part of this book was probably all the glimpses of the alternate universes. Great book overall.
Wasn't there also a scene set aboard the Enterprise in a universe where Commander Maddox from the Nemesis deleted scenes was XO?
One of the strongest Trek novels ever, in my opinion. Flawless execution, in absolute perfection with regards to honoring the spirit of previous Q stories. Extraordinarily high re-read value. Feels just like an old episode of TNG. KRAD nailed it. Absolutely nailed it.
Yeah. I thought Q & A was a lot of fun. I loved the way that it tied together most of Q's appearances, and turned it into one big story. I also loved all of the scenes of the alternate universes. The new character's introductions were good too. It's a shame that Before Dishonor couldn't have been kept consistent with this one. I thought it was a nice change of pace from the darker stories before and after it. I'm voting Above Average.
I particularly liked the last 1/4 of this book. All of those early relaunch books kind of blur together though.
I just got home from a funeral (for fellow author and dear friend C.J. Henderson), so seeing this thread really brightened my day. Thank you all.
Question: How big is the Enterprise which has only Picard as crew, and hotwired directly into the ship, supposed to be? Surely not as huge as most other Enterprises are, yes? A ship with only one crewmember wouldn't need to be much bigger than a runabout, you'd think. And I love the Klingon version, the IKS Qu'. Considering what the word Qu' means...
This was my favorite of the pre-Destiny relaunch novels! I've re-read it a few times. It actually made me even more disappointed with Before Dishonor because PAD didn't stay consistent with this books characterizations. I was also a big fan of the glimpses into the alternate Enterprises
I remember being disappointed by this one. Tying all the Q adventures together as a means to impress the Super Q's (or whatever they were) seemed overly fanwanky and undermining of Q's motivations in several episodes.