Spoilers TNG: Collateral Damage by David Mack Review Thread

How could anyone forget Okuna?

 

It's not like Han Solo invented the "roguish space captain" archetype, not by a long, long shot. Modern viewers keep forgetting that Star Wars was completely, 100% an homage to older things that George Lucas grew up enjoying.

 

So there’s a Han Solo and a Starkiller weapon?

 

Over half way through. Trials sections are tedious. Too many shifts of venue,perhaps to tie up all loose ends?

 

Ensign Scagliotti, indeed! Does one have to get permission to do that or is it considered tribute or what?

 

She's actually Lieutenant (junior grade?) Scagliotti in this book!

 

Whoops, but my central question remains.

 

Prior permission is not normally required for a Tuckerization, so long as the characterization is minor and not defamatory. For more prominent uses, such as Stonekettle Station (which was named in honor of the blog written by Jim Wright), I wrote to Jim and secured his permission before including that in the book.

 

Halfway through this (I know I shouldn’t be reading this thread) but I really hope that whatever way it goes,Picard will finally tell Louvois to eat it.
Yeah yeah she respects the hell out of him and duty sucks and all that but she never loses an opportunity to stick it to him.

 

I was hoping that the picture on Amazon might not be so, thus it has proven:

Hardback changes the picture significantly for me, as a hardback it becomes a far more competitive and appealing price - my objection was based on it being a paperback, which I'm loathe to pay a tenner for, but hardback? Yeah.

Which goes down to about £12-14 if you use BD or Wordery 10% offers at the right time.

 

The new Picard novel is going to be a pain to place on the bookcase since it doesn’t relate to anything else. I’ll just put it at the end.
Never occurred to me that the strike force was made out of names from Brooklyn 99. That is quite funny. We also get to learn more about the new tactical officer which is nice. She’s just been in background since her introduction back in Cold Equations.

 

Gotta be honest, I was pretty shocked it didn't end up being an easter-egg death cameo.

 

Before I say anything, I'm just reminding anyone who is ready this post that you are in a SPOILER thread. That being said, this is a really good book, but I have to admit, I was hoping that there would have been a more negative outcome for Picard. I love the character and don't want anything bad to happen to him, but at the same time, I wanted to be shocked at a guilty verdict and see what he would do to get out of it.

 

More negative outcome? Poor guy can never become an admiral. He’ll have no chance to be an asshole to other captains now.
Just finished the book and I really enjoyed it. The ending is very Star Trek 6 which is pretty neat if this does indeed become the end of the novel verse.
The question I have is, near the end where Geordi is having that discussion with Leah. Was that leading to what I think it was leading to? I suppose it is the 24th century but damn! Good for him if so.

there is one thing I think the author missed out on which I think would have been good. He should have had a subtle hint that Q was in the audience during the trial. In my head I kept imagining he was there, smiling and waving at Picard but doing nothing else.

 

I don't think I'd call Okona an obscure character, he was the title character and one of the main focuses of an episode. I think this is actually the second or third time he's shown up in the books and comics.

 

I would also read Titan: Fortune of War as well, as it gives some more detail into one of the plot points here.

 

Picard never wanted to be an Admiral, at least after meeting Kirk.

 

Huh?

At any rate, given that I'd plowed through my entire vacation supply of both magazines and "disposable reading material" within the first 10 days of my vacation, and was plowing through Miasma and the DTI e-book trilogy rather quickly (and had just been emailed a Barnes and Noble coupon good only at brick-and-mortar locations), I spent an evening riding a bus out to the closest B&N, and picked up the present opus.

I finished Shield of the Gods yesterday, within the first hour or so of the train trip home, and then managed to plow through Collateral Damage during the remaining 12 or so hours.

I rather enjoyed it. I found the whole Okona thread rather enjoyable, and I found it rather interesting that while Nausicaans continued to speak in monosyllabic grunts in the third person, they become very eloquent in first person.

Which is to say, I didn't find the first person sections to be any problem whatsoever.

 

The novel character Lt. Allison Scagliotti is named after an actress of the same name.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1270095/

 

Hmm. Never heard of her. It does, however, beg the question of "Why?"