Spoilers Section 31: Control by David Mack Review Thread

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Defcon, Mar 17, 2017.

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Rate Section 31: Control

  1. Outstanding

    57 vote(s)
    58.2%
  2. Above Average

    27 vote(s)
    27.6%
  3. Average

    7 vote(s)
    7.1%
  4. Below Average

    5 vote(s)
    5.1%
  5. Poor

    2 vote(s)
    2.0%
  1. David cgc

    David cgc Admiral Premium Member

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    Well, future-Control took over Airiam, which is when she started sending data back to 31 headquarters, and apparently around the time it killed the admirals (they may have already been dead when they were holoconferencing with Leland and Georgiou last week; it's hard to tell how much time passes between episodes) and stopped taking Cornwell's calls. It looks like future-Control hijacked its past self using Airiam to bootstrap-paradox its own inception.
     
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  2. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I haven't read the book, but from what little I know of the book version there does seem to one pretty big difference. The show's version isn't just in charge of Section 31, it's a program that everyone in Starfleet uses in order to make tactical decisions.
     
  3. hbquikcomjamesl

    hbquikcomjamesl Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I still say that Section 31 is more like KAOS than like CONTROL.
     
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  4. DWMarch

    DWMarch Captain Captain

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    There were a few things in the last episode that were unusually similar to the events of the book:

    Control impersonating Starfleet figures to give false orders
    Control killing off people who had the potential to be obstacles
    Control upgrading itself
    The effort to restore normal function being a commando mission taking place on a remote, heavily guarded outpost

    These were all in the book and the episode.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 16, 2019
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  5. thribs

    thribs Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Pocket Books should re issue this book with some new material. They could make a few more bucks from it.
     
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  6. rahullak

    rahullak Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Well, the C word gets into the picture now. And I don't mean Control.
     
  7. Unimatrix Q

    Unimatrix Q Commodore Commodore

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    Yes, Airiam might have been hijacked by a future version of Control but we don't know if she upgraded the 23rd century version to become sentient for now.

    If she hadn't, Control might have already reached sentience on its own.
     
    Last edited: Mar 16, 2019
  8. trampledamage

    trampledamage Clone Admiral

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    @DWMarch I've edited your post.

    Please, everyone remember, this is the Literature forum. Outside of the specific TV Show thread, any Discovery TV show reveals should be put in spoiler code.

    Link to the TV Show Thread

    The spoiler marking for this thread is for the book, not the show.
     
  9. Hugh Cambridge

    Hugh Cambridge Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    I am rereading this book as an aftermath to the season 2 of discovery and noticed that in page 283
    control send orders to someone on the uss discovery !
    so I have a question for David Mack, did you already know at the time what season 2 would be about ?
    and besides, I voted outstanding.
     
  10. Brefugee

    Brefugee No longer living the Irish dream. Premium Member

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    I suspect the writers of the programme in question were't aware themselves where season one was going, let alone season two when Control was being written.
     
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  11. 20fridge

    20fridge Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Earlier in this thread...
     
  12. Hugh Cambridge

    Hugh Cambridge Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    sorry I asked then, I read the thread too quickly and missed some information
    And thanks for the info by the way
     
  13. 20fridge

    20fridge Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    ^No need to apologize. I don't think there's any expectation that someone has to read every post preceding their's. I just think it's funny that we had similar thoughts on the subject :)

     
  14. thribs

    thribs Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I knew the Discovery there was a NX since they are all named after NASA shuttles.
     
  15. Tuskin38

    Tuskin38 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    We're on page 31.

    Hah
     
  16. Kilana2

    Kilana2 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I just finished the German edition of it.

    Sarina's

    death was like the tragedy in Romeo and Juliet. At least Bashir's desire to join Serina in death. Unlike Juliet Sarina was forced to kill herself, which is dramatically even more shocking.

    I'd like to know about the Jack Pack's reaction to Sarina's fate.
     
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  17. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I just finished Control a little while ago, and I loved it.
    I know a lot of people had a problem with the whole Control/Uraei reveal, but I really wasn't that bothered by it. It did add an extra layer to things, but the things that we saw still happened.
    I found the whole history of Uraei pretty interesting, and it was a little scary following how it grew and developed.
    It was nice to get to see Data and Lal again. I'm a huge Data fan and I've been pretty happy with what's been done with Data 2.0.
    Bashir and Sarina's fates were pretty sad.
    Definitely looking forward to seeing how the fallout from this plays out in the next couple books.
    It gets an outstanding vote from me.
     
  18. Jinn

    Jinn Mistress of the Chaotic Energies Rear Admiral

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    What a terrific novel! There's so much good stuff in this novel, the plot was exciting, the characters and their relationships interesting, Garak was excellent, as were Data, Lal and Shakti. Bashir, a character I never really cared for in the show was used effectively here (and in previous novels). I'm also a sucker for sad or bittersweet endings, and this book certainly delivers on that.
     
  19. Damian

    Damian Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Be sure to read Una McCormack's DS9 novel, "Enigma Tales." (if you haven't already) It follows up a bit on Bashir's condition and I thought it was an excellent Garak/Cardassia centered novel.
     
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  20. Jinn

    Jinn Mistress of the Chaotic Energies Rear Admiral

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    I got it on my post-Nemesis list as final entry, but decided to make a detour, before reading Hearts and Minds and (re)-read some pre 22nd century Trek, so it'll probably take a while, again. At least I'm already in 1519 again!
     
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