Re: Before Dishonor -- comments & opinions ****SPOILERS****
In fairness, while there is much to complain about regarding this book, the depiction of Starfleet's reaction to the threat (in terms of ship deployments) was fairly reasonable. Remember that with things in space, there's always a time-distance problem, i.e. it takes X days to travel X distance. Accordingly, there's no requirement to insert gratuitous cameos of the Defiant, Voyager, Da Vinci, Titan, or any other regularly featured ship as it's quite likely they were simply too far away to get there until after the events of the novel had run their course. As for the other Alpha Quadrant powers, in addition to the time-distance problem, they would also have their own legitimate concerns, i.e. "if we send out fleet to defend the Federation, what if we're attacked by another Borg ship", etc. As for not hearing or seeing other ships, we heard of a total of four Federation ships by name ( Enterprise, Excalibur, Nautilus, Freedom) that were involved in responding to the threat, together with dozens of unnamed Starfleet ships that were also involved in the engagements described.
Maybe some of us don't think any Trek novel should read like a comic book. If I wanted a comic book plot, I'd read one of the many Trek comic books published over the years (there are many available). A novel should read like a novel.
Also, in reference to the last few posts, please put an additional spoiler warning if you're going to reference definitive events in a different book than the one mentioned in the thread heading. Not all of us have read the A Time To... series, and the Admiral Ross thing was a major giveaway.
LightningStorm said:
For the epic scale of events that occurred in this novel, I think this (along with every other insanely huge event that occurs in large fictional universes) suffered from believability because how is it that only the Enterprise and the Excalibur were the only two ships we heard of or saw. And don't give me that "it's a big galaxy" mess. This was big enough that literally every ship that is armed should have been called directly to Earth. Voyager? Defiant? Where were you? I also found myself asking where the hell were the Klingons? They're our allies and are all about a good honorable battle? Hell I'd even venture to ask where were the Romulans, Breen, and any other big power in the quadrants? With the Borg being that "big a threat" no race who knows the Borg would begin to think they'd stop at Earth and would immediately go to help save Earth if not for the purpose of saving Earth but for saving their own planet that would be next.
In fairness, while there is much to complain about regarding this book, the depiction of Starfleet's reaction to the threat (in terms of ship deployments) was fairly reasonable. Remember that with things in space, there's always a time-distance problem, i.e. it takes X days to travel X distance. Accordingly, there's no requirement to insert gratuitous cameos of the Defiant, Voyager, Da Vinci, Titan, or any other regularly featured ship as it's quite likely they were simply too far away to get there until after the events of the novel had run their course. As for the other Alpha Quadrant powers, in addition to the time-distance problem, they would also have their own legitimate concerns, i.e. "if we send out fleet to defend the Federation, what if we're attacked by another Borg ship", etc. As for not hearing or seeing other ships, we heard of a total of four Federation ships by name ( Enterprise, Excalibur, Nautilus, Freedom) that were involved in responding to the threat, together with dozens of unnamed Starfleet ships that were also involved in the engagements described.
donners22 said:
That's like complaining a Tarantino film is violent or has swearing! For better or worse, that is the style of PAD's novels. Most times it comes off fairly well, sometimes very well, sometimes poorly. I suppose in a poorer novel, the comic book aspect is an aggravating factor, but alone it is not really a reason for criticism - you should know what to expect going in.
Maybe some of us don't think any Trek novel should read like a comic book. If I wanted a comic book plot, I'd read one of the many Trek comic books published over the years (there are many available). A novel should read like a novel.
Also, in reference to the last few posts, please put an additional spoiler warning if you're going to reference definitive events in a different book than the one mentioned in the thread heading. Not all of us have read the A Time To... series, and the Admiral Ross thing was a major giveaway.
