The Destiny Trilogy (spoliers, obviously)
- Thread starter TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME
- Start date
Let us all raise a glass now in memory of our departed colleague, Ktrek...
Interestingly, it's recently been discovered that an episode of one of the old Captain Proton serials was titled "The Stygian Darkness."
That frikkin' word is everywhere.
Please tell me you're coming to Shore Leave this summer. I want to sell tickets to your "accidental" drowning in the hotel swimming pool.I think David Mack is the Papa Smirk!
If I do will you at least sign all my copies of your books so I can will them to my wife?
Kevin
^ That seems only fair. 
The Borg are dead. Long live the Borg.
Mr. Mack, I just finished finally reading Destiny. Took me forever to actually get started, then I read each one in a single night over three consecutive nights. My boss will be billing you for the loss of productivity due to sleep deprivation.
Can I just say that, in the manliest way possible, I want to hug you? I don't think I've ever been this excited about what comes next in Trek books. You've set a hell of a high bar with this trilogy, and I can't wait to see where we go from here.
One question though -- at certain random points, characters seem to break into bouts of early 21st century slang for no discernible reason (Kedair telling Ezri that she "sucked" at counseling is the example most prominent in my brain). Was this deliberate?
Mr. Mack, I just finished finally reading Destiny. Took me forever to actually get started, then I read each one in a single night over three consecutive nights. My boss will be billing you for the loss of productivity due to sleep deprivation.
Can I just say that, in the manliest way possible, I want to hug you? I don't think I've ever been this excited about what comes next in Trek books. You've set a hell of a high bar with this trilogy, and I can't wait to see where we go from here.
One question though -- at certain random points, characters seem to break into bouts of early 21st century slang for no discernible reason (Kedair telling Ezri that she "sucked" at counseling is the example most prominent in my brain). Was this deliberate?
A simple "thank you" will suffice.
Fortunately, editor Margaret Clark has some very cool stuff planned, and Keith R.A. DeCandido's excellent A Singular Destiny sets TrekLit well on its way to an exciting new era.
Well, it might have been more prominent with the Enterprise-era characters (the Columbia crew), since they are closer to our era, and I wanted to differentiate their parts of the story from the 24th-century segments. And in some cases, I just wrote lines that amused me. ("Because you suck at it," and "You're just not that into me.") But I think there are probably examples of similar moments in the shows and movies.
Ahh, speaking of which... when Captain Bateson ordered his crew to attack the Borg with everything they had, up to and including 'Bad grammar,' I though 'Very Frasier. I could hear Kelsey Grammer say that...' and then wondered if the terrible pun could possibly be deliberate.
I'm guessing not, and that I'm just over-analyzing now.
^ No, you were right to suspect I was playing word games with that one.
Finished Destiny's third book last week, and just started on A Singular Destiny.
Overall, I was impressed with the trilogy. I think it was well written, with good to great characterization, an interesting origin for the
Borg, and some very intense combat scenes (I think Mr. Mack does a great job writing combat scenes, the best in Trek Lit.)
I'm not sure if Destiny quite lived up to the hype. Some characters did die, but they were minor characters like Admiral Paris or T'Lana. There were no major character deaths, even sh'Aqabaa's (sp) fate was left uncertain-which I'm glad though because I really liked those Marvel Starfleet Academy comics.
I thought Mr. Mack did a good job returning some menace to the Borg, building on J.M. Dillard's and Mr. Bennett's work and almost erasing their exaggerated portrayal in Before Dishonor. That being said, I wish there had been more Borg scenes in the novels. I felt they were kept too much in the background, particularly in the second book.
I also thought the trilogy should've probably been a duology. It was tough getting through the second book. I didn't get why so much time was being spent on Cpt. Hernandez and the Caeliar, even though I got it in the third book. It was still a slog to get through. I enjoyed the scenes with Graylock's crew better, though I groaned when I saw that they were included at first because I thought the past scenes were taking time away from the Borg invasion, which I wanted to read more about.
I thought Mr. Mack did a pretty good job with creating real characters. I thought the pregnancies were each done well, as was the strains in Riker and Troi's relationship. I do think that Titan got short shrift overall throughout the course of the series. The Titan crew didn't seem to do all that much in the end. Aventine and Enterprise carried the load.
Cpt. Dax wasn't as bad an idea as I thought, due to Mr. Mack's ministrations. I also liked the Aventine crew but I'm not sure yet if I'm ready to read about their solo adventures. I'm curious why Ezri was chosen to promote, among the available Trek characters out there?
Some things I didn't like....T'Lana's death. I liked T'Lana, I liked her relationship with Worf and was interested to see where that was going. I was hoping that she would return to the Enterprise one day. I thought her character added some nice internal conflict, along with being a potential love interest for Worf. Her death seems like a waste, or perhaps a sop to many fans who disliked that character.
It's ironic that out of the new TNG characters the one I've disliked the most continues to annoy me still: Kadohata. I rushed through her scenes. She's just a boring character to me. I liked Lio, Nave, Leybenzon, and T'Lana all more than her. I think Mr. Mack overdid commenting on her English accent and her Eurasian features early on, but by the third book he had reined that in.
I was surprised that Janeway didn't make her return, but I'm assuming that's going to be in the VOY:R.
Overall, I was impressed with the trilogy. I think it was well written, with good to great characterization, an interesting origin for the
Borg, and some very intense combat scenes (I think Mr. Mack does a great job writing combat scenes, the best in Trek Lit.)
I'm not sure if Destiny quite lived up to the hype. Some characters did die, but they were minor characters like Admiral Paris or T'Lana. There were no major character deaths, even sh'Aqabaa's (sp) fate was left uncertain-which I'm glad though because I really liked those Marvel Starfleet Academy comics.
I thought Mr. Mack did a good job returning some menace to the Borg, building on J.M. Dillard's and Mr. Bennett's work and almost erasing their exaggerated portrayal in Before Dishonor. That being said, I wish there had been more Borg scenes in the novels. I felt they were kept too much in the background, particularly in the second book.
I also thought the trilogy should've probably been a duology. It was tough getting through the second book. I didn't get why so much time was being spent on Cpt. Hernandez and the Caeliar, even though I got it in the third book. It was still a slog to get through. I enjoyed the scenes with Graylock's crew better, though I groaned when I saw that they were included at first because I thought the past scenes were taking time away from the Borg invasion, which I wanted to read more about.
I thought Mr. Mack did a pretty good job with creating real characters. I thought the pregnancies were each done well, as was the strains in Riker and Troi's relationship. I do think that Titan got short shrift overall throughout the course of the series. The Titan crew didn't seem to do all that much in the end. Aventine and Enterprise carried the load.
Cpt. Dax wasn't as bad an idea as I thought, due to Mr. Mack's ministrations. I also liked the Aventine crew but I'm not sure yet if I'm ready to read about their solo adventures. I'm curious why Ezri was chosen to promote, among the available Trek characters out there?
Some things I didn't like....T'Lana's death. I liked T'Lana, I liked her relationship with Worf and was interested to see where that was going. I was hoping that she would return to the Enterprise one day. I thought her character added some nice internal conflict, along with being a potential love interest for Worf. Her death seems like a waste, or perhaps a sop to many fans who disliked that character.
It's ironic that out of the new TNG characters the one I've disliked the most continues to annoy me still: Kadohata. I rushed through her scenes. She's just a boring character to me. I liked Lio, Nave, Leybenzon, and T'Lana all more than her. I think Mr. Mack overdid commenting on her English accent and her Eurasian features early on, but by the third book he had reined that in.
I was surprised that Janeway didn't make her return, but I'm assuming that's going to be in the VOY:R.
Janeway will not be returning in Full Circle; for all intents and purposes, at the present time, she is completely totally 100% dead. Future editors could maybe reverse that, but for the time being, she is gone. Kaput. Ended.
This comes straight from the author of Full Circle and the editor that made the call to kill her in the first place; it's not idle speculation. Just thought I'd clear that up.
As for your review of the books, I personally thought that the Hernandez sections of book 2 were the highlight of the trilogy. It's always interesting to me to see people that liked such different things about a series than I did. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
This comes straight from the author of Full Circle and the editor that made the call to kill her in the first place; it's not idle speculation. Just thought I'd clear that up.
As for your review of the books, I personally thought that the Hernandez sections of book 2 were the highlight of the trilogy. It's always interesting to me to see people that liked such different things about a series than I did. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
^ No, you were right to suspect I was playing word games with that one.
In which case, Satan will have to put you in the PunPit when your time comes (it's an annexe to the Writers' Block).
(If you're not already an Old Harry's Game fan - from which I've just shamelessly stolen, then the new run's online for listen again at www.bbc.co.uk/radio4, and I suspect you'd enjoy it).
Just thought I'd add that I also liked the Hernandez sections and didn't have any trouble getting through book two. Actually I was initially unsure if I'd like Graylock and MACOs, but I ended up changing my mind after the first part.
And I like both Kadohata and T'Lana for different reasons.
Oh, Choudhury's scenes with Worf, where she's grieving for her tree and family left me in a relfective mood.
And I like both Kadohata and T'Lana for different reasons.
Oh, Choudhury's scenes with Worf, where she's grieving for her tree and family left me in a relfective mood.
The people at CBS/Paramount asked for that to be included, IIRC; it wasn't in Margaret's original plan, and they've given no hints of plans to follow up on it. It's an out if any future creative teams want to revive her, not one that this creative team plans on using.
Besides, the ending of Before Dishonor doesn't have to be interpreted as an out for Janeway to be resurrected. If anything, I think that's the least imaginative possible way of looking at it. To me, it reads more like Janeway's beginning a journey to a whole new level of existence, essentially beginning her afterlife, to put it in metaphysical terms.
An "out" that CBS Licensing forced them to put in but which may or may not be used, depending on what CBS, Paramount, and Pocket decide to do in the future, but which no one has any plans to use at the moment.
In other words -- it creates the OPTION of bringing Janeway back, but not the obligation.
^ Hmm. Interesting. I had hoped that the days of such control over the writers went away with Richard Arnold. Oh well, at least it does leave open certain possibilities.
