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AotF - nitpick and question

C

Claudia

Fleet Captain
Fleet Captain
Right now, I'm about 2 thirds through "Articles of the Federation", and well, while it's an interesting book so far, it doesn't quite touch me on a more emotional level... but perhaps, I've just not come to the exciting parts yet. *g*

My question therefore: Is "A Singular destiny" sort of a follow-up to AotF, set after the Destiny-trilogy?

And the nitpick: Erm... In her speech at the academy, Bacco quoted "ad astra per aspera", translating it as "to the stars for hope" (p. 246)... but where does the word "hope" feature in the Latin proverb here?!? The Latin adjective asper, -a, -um rather means rough or harsh and has no relation to spes or spero (hope or to hope), the proverb therefore means "to the stars through hardship/adversity"... which does kind of put a different spin to Bacco's speech after all.

I don't know if that's come up yet here, but I'd really love to hear how this very loose translation/interpretation came about... :)
 
"A Singular Destiny" features the Bacco administration but is largely centred on an all new character called Sonak Prem (IIRC).
 
Claudia said:
Right now, I'm about 2 thirds through "Articles of the Federation", and well, while it's an interesting book so far, it doesn't quite touch me on a more emotional level... but perhaps, I've just not come to the exciting parts yet. *g*
Click to expand...

If it hasn't touched you yet, it's probably not going to. Articles is essentially about what a government can be like when you have good people in it -- which certainly I find touching, political science geek that I am, but I can certainly see where someone else might not.
 
captcalhoun said:
"A Singular Destiny" features the Bacco administration but is largely centred on an all new character called Sonak Prem (IIRC).
Click to expand...

Sonek Pran. He's the core character, but he interacts with Bacco and her administration, the Aventine crew, and other familiar characters.
 
Hm... usually, I'm very interested in politics and how political decisions come about, so that shouldn't have been the problem.

But then again... it's different when the characters are slowly introduced and explored. But the way it is, AotF just jumps right into the political arena, not really taking the time to focus on the characters as such. Well, perhaps I just missed out on the "introduction"-phase because I haven't yet read War/Peace. *g*
 
Claudia said:
Hm... usually, I'm very interested in politics and how political decisions come about, so that shouldn't have been the problem.

But then again... it's different when the characters are slowly introduced and explored. But the way it is, AotF just jumps right into the political arena, not really taking the time to focus on the characters as such. Well, perhaps I just missed out on the "introduction"-phase because I haven't yet read War/Peace. *g*
Click to expand...

A Time to Tolstoy does indeed serve as a very good introductory piece for the main characters.
 
Claudia said:
Right now, I'm about 2 thirds through "Articles of the Federation", and well, while it's an interesting book so far, it doesn't quite touch me on a more emotional level... but perhaps, I've just not come to the exciting parts yet. *g*
Click to expand...
As Sci said, if you haven't yet, it isn't likely to, although there's some intense emotional stuff in the third third, so maybe it'll happen. :)


My question therefore: Is "A Singular destiny" sort of a follow-up to AotF, set after the Destiny-trilogy?
Click to expand...
Only sort of. Many of the characters from AotF appear in ASD, but so do several other characters, some familiar, some not so much. The main character is a professor/diplomat named Sonek Pran.


And the nitpick: Erm... In her speech at the academy, Bacco quoted "ad astra per aspera", translating it as "to the stars for hope" (p. 246)... but where does the word "hope" feature in the Latin proverb here?!? The Latin adjective asper, -a, -um rather means rough or harsh and has no relation to spes or spero (hope or to hope), the proverb therefore means "to the stars through hardship/adversity"... which does kind of put a different spin to Bacco's speech after all.
Click to expand...
I can't believe I'm quoting John McCain, but to quote the senator on The Late Show with David Letterman: "I screwed up." :(
 
Interesting fact, Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken NJ (which is on the Hudson River just across from NYC's Chelsea Piers) has the same motto (with the word order changed) "Per aspera ad astra" - "Through hardship to the stars".
 
Claudia had it right: it's "to the stars through adversity."

Me am dumb writer.
 
So it seems that Starfleet Academy must have evolved from Stevens Institute and relocated to the west coast, thereby the repositioning of the words in the motto :)
 
I read it twice and I enjoyed it a lot more the 2nd time. There are a lot of new characters to take in and it seems kind of overwhelming at first. Let the characters sink in and get a feel for them..you will probably enjoy it a lot more. It is probably one of the more demanding Trek books that I've read. It also happens to be one of the best Trek books I've read.
 
I've read it 12 times so far and it gets better every time. Like watching a movie so often you can say the lines in sync.
 
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