Spoilers TNG: The Light Fantastic by Jeffrey Lang Review Thread

[Gul Re'jal]

I swallowed the book within 3 days, and enjoyed it a lot A nice reading, with revisiting some familiar, partly "forgotten" faces.

At some point I thought Lal was just a little too much an ordinary, human-style typical rebelled teenager, instead of being an "androidish"... teenager?... something. But it quickly disappeared in the story, so it didn't bother me that much.

It was an interesting take on how Alice - well, one of them - developed to become such an independent, and quite emotional on the outside person, and then... BOOM... all gone as soon as Mudd appeared. The programming takes over.


I know I'm reading it all in the wrong order, but now I'm impatiently waiting for my copy of "Immortal Coil" to arrive (ordered already, not here yet).

 

[Therin of Andor]

I might have just forgotten this, but were we ever shown the outcome of the Uhura-Mudd discussion? It seemed from the set-up that Mudd was going to try to run a con on her by offering her an android body...

"The Business, as Usual, During Altercations" by JA Lawrence (in Bantam's "Mudd's Angels", aka "Mudd's Enterprise").

I know I'm reading it all in the wrong order, but now I'm impatiently waiting for my copy of "Immortal Coil" to arrive (ordered already, not here yet).

Jeff Lang told me at Shore Leave that "Immortal Coil" is... in high demand, after the references in David Mack's trilogy spin-off.

 

[Gul Re'jal]

Jeff Lang told me at Shore Leave that "Immortal Coil" is back in print, and in high demand, after the references in David Mack's trilogy spin-off.

A bit late for me, as my used copy arrived today (in a great shape, though ), but it's great to know some books go back to print, since some titles are difficult to hunt down, sometimes even as e-books.

It makes sense. After all, now the "Data series" could continue, so having all books available should boost sales.

 

[Jeffrey_Lang]

Actually, Therin, what I meant to say is that "Immortal Coil" is out of print and unlikely to come back into print DESPITE the (relatively speaking for a 10 year-old book, thank you David Mack) high demand. Sorry if I wasn't clear. It was a loud room.

 

[Gul Re'jal]

Oh. So it's good I grabbed that last copy the shop had.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I might have just forgotten this, but were we ever shown the outcome of the Uhura-Mudd discussion? It seemed from the set-up that Mudd was going to try to run a con on her by offering her an android body...

"The Business, as Usual, During Altercations" by JA Lawrence (in Bantam's "Mudd's Angels", aka "Mudd's Enterprise").

Ah, OK, thanks for the info! I don't think I've ever read that, but now I'm curious...

 

[Therin of Andor]

Actually, Therin, what I meant to say is that "Immortal Coil" is out of print and unlikely to come back into print DESPITE the (relatively speaking for a 10 year-old book, thank you David Mack) high demand. Sorry if I wasn't clear. It was a loud room.

Ah, I did misunderstand. Ooopsie.

 

[Defcon]

Finally wrote my review for this.

I have to say I'm not quite as enthusiastic about it as most others here. A few things I didn't like where how Geordi was handled and some continuity porn I think was unnecessary.

Overall I voted average on the poll, perfectly readable but definitely not among the strongest novels.

 

[Cap'n Crunch]

^ I'm also not as enthusiastic about the novel as others. It was sufficiently entertaining, but I felt it wasn't at quite the same level as Cold Equations or Immortal Coil. I didn't mind the continuity porn, but I did feel the plot was a bit thin, and the ending was wrapped up a little too easily, which I think a few other people already mentioned. I'll also echo what some others said about not liking what happened to Alice in the end. Something else I had problem with was Geordi's attitude towards Albert Lee, I just didn't see why Geordi would have a problem with him, he seemed pretty friendly to me. Also, I would have liked to see a little more done with the idea of Data running a casino. I did like most of the characterizations, especially Moriarty. Even though I had a number of problems with the story I think it was pretty good, so I voted average.

One thing I wasn't quite clear on is what caused Moriarty's daughters to disappear. At one point it seemed the crash of the Enterprise D damaged the "holo-box" they were in, but later it was mentioned that it was Akharin's actions in Immortal Coil that caused it. Could someone clarify which event erased the girls? Thanks.

 

[Enterpriserules]

^ Jeff told us on Literary Treks that he could have written a whole book about Data in the casino, but that was not the driving force of this story.

 

[Christopher]

One thing I wasn't quite clear on is what caused Moriarty's daughters to disappear. At one point it seemed the crash of the Enterprise D damaged the "holo-box" they were in, but later it was mentioned that it was Akharin's actions in Immortal Coil that caused it. Could someone clarify which event erased the girls? Thanks.

Those were two separate incidents. The crash of the E-D caused them to lose their daughters and other subsidiary characters and aspects of the simulation, but the simulation remained basically intact otherwise. The later incident in Immortal Coil caused a more fundamental collapse of their universe but also gave them the opening that allowed them to escape into the Daystrom Institute mainframe (at least, I think that's where they were afterward -- although I was very unclear on whether they were holding Lal and Alice in a holodeck or in some kind of virtual cyberspace environment within the DI mainframe).

 

[Kertrats47]

Just posted my review.

I really enjoyed this one! The interplay between Data and Geordi was great, and I loved the secondary characters. I would love to see the storyline at the end picked up again someday.

 

[tomswift2002]

I'm currently up to Chapter 19 in this book, and really, I'm finding it's a below average book. I had to cringe at the scene where Barclay talks about there being too many resurrections of late in the Trek universe, and then only 5 or 6 pages later Harcourt Fenton Mudd shows up! Mudd??? Really??? Couldn't you have just left him in the 23rd century? It seems like Treklit is starting to feel like the 1960's Spider-Man cartoon where one bad guy gets arrested one week, only to reappear two weeks later, without, apparently, having spent much time in jail! But in this case it is characters being brought back to life. Next there'll be a story of Tasha Yar returning from the dead!

The Light Fantastic had an interesting premise, but it really seemed to get sidetracked rather quickly.

 

[Jedi Ben]

Finally got around to this today.

I liked that the way the book was set up that it was a question of when Data finds Moriarty, not if. Not least, as Moriarty's own self-interest is in escaping the holodeck prison he's in, he can't do that if he hides too well. Yet, while Moriarty was rendered in a fairly sympathetic light, he still opted to play the villain until it was all undone by Data out-thinking him. I would like to see the character again, especially given what the final pages set up, a more noble Moriarty would be an intriguing fellow.

I can't say I found the Data-Lal relationship all that great, as it seemed to be parent-teenager stuff and that's something few writers have ever made work for me.

I did find it quite clever that, despite it being a father seeking his daughter, Data doesn't opt for his best impression of Liam Neeson and goes on a kill spree. No, this is quite an intellectual pursuit, with Data reasoning his way around obstacles and employing stealth and finesse. It's not something I've seen all that often, not least as it's quite difficult to pull off.

Oh and I could have done without Harry Mudd.

I don't think it can match Immortal Coil, but it was still an entertaining read and I'd hope this plot thread is continued - either by Mack or Lang.

 

[tomswift2002]

I think the Harry Mudd portions set in the 23rd century were alright as backstory for Alice, but 24th century Mudd was pointless.

 

[ronny]

Great stuff. I think it's my favorite of the year so far. It's been awhile since I enjoyed scenes of people talking so much. I also liked meeting the various characters from the past during the scavenger hunt. The end hints at another story and I'm really looking forward to that.

 

[trash80]

Just finished, a great book though the Star Trek lit verse does seem a bit small sometimes, maybe one or two cameos too many?

 

[JD]

Do the events of The Fall play any kind of a role in The Light Fantastic?

 

[Jeffrey_Lang]

Only very tangentially. There's a scene that takes place on DS9 that ties in briefly with some of the ongoing plot threads there, but the story doesn't involve any of the political machinations that are at the core of "The Fall." Indeed, part of the point of the book is to be a bit of a "palette cleanser" from the heavier drama in some of the recent plot lines.

 

[Paul Weaver]

Terran Yuan?

Did I spot references to Indistinguable from Magic? The whitewashed book of the 24th century?

I have to say I don't like Data v2. I do like Moriarty though. And Albert