Spoilers TNG: Before Dishonor by Peter David Review Thread

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Defcon, Aug 31, 2014.

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Rate Before Dishonor

  1. Outstanding

    7 vote(s)
    9.5%
  2. Above Average

    15 vote(s)
    20.3%
  3. Average

    13 vote(s)
    17.6%
  4. Below Average

    17 vote(s)
    23.0%
  5. Poor

    22 vote(s)
    29.7%
  1. Mage

    Mage Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    That surprises me, since so much that was done under her was amazing!
     
  2. Brefugee

    Brefugee No longer living the Irish dream. Premium Member

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    Isn't it widely accepted that what she oversaw was mediocre at best when it came to the TNG relaunch until Destiny.
     
  3. Mage

    Mage Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Am I mixing two editors up now? I'm confused.... Is there a list somewhere which shows what was done under Margaret?
     
  4. DonIago

    DonIago Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I was going to suggest Memory Beta, but unfortunately they don't appear to categorize books in such a manner.
     
  5. Defcon

    Defcon Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Up until Marco's departure in late 2008 it pretty much was as follows IIRC:

    Clark: TOS & TNG & ENT

    Palmieri: DS9, VOY, Vanguard, Titan, Most anthologies

    Destiny was a joint operation of the two.

    After Marco's departure it was Clark alone for a while, until she was let go, then there was Jaime Costas for a year or so. Then at some time Ed Schlesinger came along as the "administrative" editor (he has been involved with Star Trek editing since the late (?) nineties I think, for example he edited most of the A Time to Series and I think New Frontier after Ordover left) who outsourced the "creative" editing to Clark on a freelance basis.


    P.S.: That's just from the top of my head without looking it up, so please take it with a grain of salt.
     
    Last edited: May 23, 2017
  6. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Basically, but Marco only took over Voyager when Kirsten Beyer did. And Marco and Margaret split duties on the Mirror Universe anthologies 50/50 -- Margaret did Glass Empires, Marco did Obsidian Alliances, and they each did about half the stories in Shards and Shadows.
     
  7. Mage

    Mage Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Hm, that explains then. I thought Margaret was also behind the stuff Marco did.
     
  8. thribs

    thribs Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I’m a 100 pages in. So far so good. Nothing to complain about.
    That Grim Vargo scene was obviously a homage to Han and the Falcon. Once they escaped I expected this scene on the Thunderchild’s bridge.

    “Track them. They may come round for another pass.”
    “Captain Matsuda. The ship no longer appears on our sensors.”
    “They can’t have disappeared. No ship that small has a cloaking device.”
    “Well there’s no trace of them sir.”
    “Captain, Admiral Jellico demands an update of our pursuit.”
    ...
    “Get a shuttle ready. I shall assume full responsibility for losing them, and apologise to Admiral Jellico. Meanwhile, continue to scan the area.”
    “Yes Captain Matsuda.”

    That was the last we saw of Captain Matsuda. :)
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2018
  9. thribs

    thribs Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I got to the controversial Pluto scene. I wasn’t that bothered by it. It’s not like Pluto was important or anything. It was funny that they were still debating whether or not it was a planet though. By then, they should have the technology to push it back and make it one.
     
  10. Hey Missy

    Hey Missy Captain Captain

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    It's mostly how OTT and comic-booky it is. "THE BASTARDS ATE PLUTO!!??!!??" exclaimed Jellico with a jaggedy speech bubble!
     
  11. thribs

    thribs Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Well he is a comic book writer. :)
     
  12. DonIago

    DonIago Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I've said it before and I'll say it again...I totally get why people were cheesed off by this book, and I won't even begin to pretend that their concerns are baseless. But I'm also the type who can appreciate audacity in certain shapes, sizes, colors and flavors, and whatever else you might say about this book, it certainly has no shortage of audacity.

    That said, he pretty much character assassinated almost all of the new crew in one swift stroke.

    I was hoping that the next (several) TNG book(s) might redeem the mutineers, Leybenzon in particular, but for the most part, if anything, they seemed to go in the other direction. Not blaming the authors at all here, FWIW.
     
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  13. Jinn

    Jinn Mistress of the Chaotic Energies Rear Admiral

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    [​IMG]

    :p
     
  14. thribs

    thribs Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Just finished the book and I thought it was fine. Didn’t really have a issue with it. Sure what they did to the Borg was a bit “out there”, by turning them into essentially the Blob (which is why I’m calling these new Borg, Blorg from now on) but in a way, it make sense that would be the next step of assimilating.
    People above said they had a issue with the mutiny. I had no problem with it since they were only introduced a couple a books ago and the authors gave no indication that they were going to permanent in any way. Like it says in the book, Simmons relived him of command and these new people don’t have the same relationship than the rest of the senior crew and so it’s understandable that they might rebel against him.
    The inclusion of Spock was a nice surprise. It’s odd how he just randomly appears in some of these books. There was another one I just read recently where he pops up which was a nice surprise as well.
    Not a fan of the Doomsday Weapon being made as one to defeat the Borg. I prefer the idea that it came from a different galaxy altogether who was just slowly traveling space, with its original purpose still unknown.
    It’s sad to see Janeway go but I suppose at this point, she outlived her usefulness and was becoming redundant. I know that she comes back eventually which I don’t know if I’m a fan of since it takes away from the impact of this story.

    Does Picard ever find out who Michaels was?
     
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  15. Jinn

    Jinn Mistress of the Chaotic Energies Rear Admiral

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    I don't think so.
     
  16. thribs

    thribs Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Pity. Does Worf get treated for his foot condition? He says it can be rather painful.
     
  17. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I haven't read all of Before Dishonor, but I am aware of what happened, and the biggest problem I have it is Kadohata. In Q & A it's established that she was a crew member on E-D and had been on board both Enterprises continuously. I find it a hard to believe somebody with that kind of history with Picard and the senior staff would take part in a mutiny against them.
     
  18. Allyn Gibson

    Allyn Gibson Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Based on something PAD said on his blog, he doesn't seem to have been aware of the backstory established for the new characters in Keith's preceding book. When asked why his Kadohata wasn't consistent with Keith's Kadohata, he threw editor Margaret Clark under the bus and blamed her for not telling him who these characters were supposed to be.
     
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  19. thribs

    thribs Vice Admiral Admiral

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    But she wasn’t a senior officer so it’s possible she didn’t have the biggest connection to Picard.
    Plus she wasn’t that eager to get rid of him. She just thought she was in the right.
     
  20. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Even if she wasn't that close to him, I would still expect somebody who had served on his ships for at least a decade at that point would be more to him. There's also the fact that they were dealing with the Borg, and I would think somebody who'd been on board during the Es encounters with them and was aware of Picard's history, would have sided with him in that situation.