So what are you reading, now? Part V

Typhon Pact: Rough Beasts of Empire and Mirror Universe: Glass Empires

 

Very cool. I'm looking forward to finally reading his book as Garak is one of my favorite characters from all Trek series.

 

Trust me, it really is as good as everyone says.

 

Awesome! Can't wait. (But must, for a while.....I'm still getting caught up on some other stuff).

 

I must second this. It's been at least nine years since I read it, and my cerebral palsy gives me memory troubles from time to time, but this book must have made an impression because to this day, I still love it.

As to my reading, I'm still on James Hogan's The Proteus Operation. I expect to finish it tommorrow night.

 

I just finished reading Rough Beasts of Empire (amazing!) and have now moved back over to Shattered Light. Enjoying it emmensly

 

^ I'm delighted to see that you enjoyed Rough Beasts so much.

 

I'm still reading Cussler's Iceberg, but I'm almost done. Then I'm moving on to The Golden Buddha (Oregon Files).

 

I'm working on Rough Beasts right now myself, and so far it's fantastic. I've never read anything of yours before, Mr. George, but I'll be hunting down your other titles after this read. What a breath of fresh air after Seize the Fire.

 

^ Thanks for the kind words, but please, call me Ishmael...I mean, David.

 

After reading two review books, I'm relaxing with the first of Michael Connelly's detective stories, The Black Echo.

 

just finished Synthesis, the first Trek book I've read in a very long time that I absolutely enjoyed and was not even a little annoyed by.
Faith momentarily restored, I'm now eying the Typhon Pact books with extreme caution and guarded optimism.
I'll start the Titan one as soon as I lay hands on it.

 

I finished Rosetta, and loved it. More Hoshi books required! I was slightly annoyed that the Ferengi were called "Verengi" throughout the book (it's clearly them). Considering it's Sen who talks about the "Verengi", and never to our heroes (Archer overhears the name once, but never gets any context for it), I can't see why "Ferengi" wasn't used.
The aliens and characters were fleshed out really well. I loved the backstory of ancient alien races and alliances, and that the Neutral Zone perhaps started life as a buffer between the Klingons and other aliens long before the Federation came along. I also loved that the Confederacy...

Spoiler: space politics

...joined the Klingon Empire instead of the Coalition of Planets at the end. I'd love a 24th century update on how that worked out!

Still reading and enjoying Imzadi, but I think the review in Trek: The Printed Adventures, calling it "One of the finest novels in any genre", may have been gushing a little.

 

Why not use something different? Languages change over time, and realistically, a species would have many different languages and different names for itself at any given time. Are we human (English) or humain (French) or umano (Italian)? And that's not even getting into other language families.

Personally I get sick of every alien species portrayed as having only one language and culture planetwide. I think more species should be shown to have alternate names for themselves.

(And now I understand why, in The Buried Age, I threw in a reference to a new, mysterious species called "Ferengi or Varangi." I couldn't remember what gave me the idea for that variant form. I guess it was Rosetta.)

 

I finished Star Trek: Vanguard: Reap the Whirlwind earlier today. I was able to snag a copy for $10.72 from Amazon a few months ago (now I see copies even cheaper and you can apparently buy a new paperback edition for $18.41). I am going to go back and finish Star Trek 365 and then move on to something else, perhaps another Star Trek novel or maybe the second Space: Above and Beyond novel.

 

I found Iceberg to be my least-favorite Dirk Pitt novel. Surreal ending, and Dirk's behavior was very offensive. I'm glad I saved it for last, as I'm not sure I would have finished the otherwise fantastic series if I hadn't.

 

I did enjoy it quite a bit, but I found the featured romance (if you've read it, you know the one I mean) just a bit clumsy. Of course, that's not unusual in Trek books, at least in my experience. But if you're interested in Garak and in Cardassia after the Dominion War, it's required reading, I'd say. And it's really well written, too.

 

Very, very early Dirk.

 

I always find Pitt to be an offensive human being with a very McGuyver knack for getting out of bizarre situations. I read a few several years ago but never continued on with the series, now I will.

 

^ My two favorites are Raise the Titanic! and Night Probe!