Best of Una McCormack
- Thread starter Arpy
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The Crimson Shadow is very good, a genuinely moving Brexit/Trump novel that somehow managed to come out pre-Brexit/Trump! Bits of it made me wonder if I could be a better person. You can almost certainly read it independently from the rest of The Fall, and it's the best installment by a country mile anyway.
Una's books are all great! They start out just enjoying the world that they exist in and suddenly, without you realizing it, you're at the halfway point and in the midst of a complex plot that doesn't stop until the end, where the characters needs and wants drive the force of the story.
I wasn't expecting to like the DSC books much, given that their connections to the litverse were thin to non-existent, and now completely non-existent, but Way to the Stars changed my mind. Any Tilly fan could lose themselves in this extremely pleasant and personal story.
Wonderlands is great if you spent the first half of season 3 yelling at the tv, "omg kiss already!!!' between Book and Michael. It also illustrates so well Michael's obsession and ups and downs with her place in the future, something that can't get a lot of screen time on the show. Excellent connective tissue for what the show lacks.
Brinkmanship doesn't get mentioned a lot I think, but I enjoyed that too. Check that out if you're an Ezri fan!
I wasn't expecting to like the DSC books much, given that their connections to the litverse were thin to non-existent, and now completely non-existent, but Way to the Stars changed my mind. Any Tilly fan could lose themselves in this extremely pleasant and personal story.
Wonderlands is great if you spent the first half of season 3 yelling at the tv, "omg kiss already!!!' between Book and Michael. It also illustrates so well Michael's obsession and ups and downs with her place in the future, something that can't get a lot of screen time on the show. Excellent connective tissue for what the show lacks.
Brinkmanship doesn't get mentioned a lot I think, but I enjoyed that too. Check that out if you're an Ezri fan!
Brinkmanship is the only time I have believed Sam Bowers was a real human being. The Tzenkethi stuff was great. Lots to chew on in it, lots of great little touches.
See, to me, now that is high praise. One little touch that might also help me is what does he look like. Either from the book or one of those things where we imagine an actor who could play him.
I also love what you said about the Tzenkethi. Some of my favorite books are the ones that do deep dives, or at least heavy focuses, on alien cultures, to really give us a sense beyond “scary baddie.” And what I remember of the Tzenkethi from the books I read way back when, I thought them already pretty scary — genetically modified pretty beings with notions of superiority.
As I recall, the leading proposals for Sam Bowers in the "Cast the Characters" thread were Michael Boatman and Ving Rhames.
Welp, I’ve subsequently read Never-Ending Sacrifice, Second Self, and recently finished The Missing. Each a pleasure, and I’ve long-since joined the chorus of those unable to say enough good things about Never-Ending Sacrifice. Top shelf right there. Exquisite.
I’m thinking of reading Crimson Shadow next, but I almost want to give Picard a breather after the series. Not sure. Any thoughts on the Autobiographies of Janeway or Spock?
I’m thinking of reading Crimson Shadow next, but I almost want to give Picard a breather after the series. Not sure. Any thoughts on the Autobiographies of Janeway or Spock?
Picard is a supporting character in The Crimson Shadow, but it's really not his story. I think you can probably read it without feeling overloaded on JLP.
The Crimson Shadow has very little of Picard in it that I can recall. You get some others of his crew plus a lot more Garak.
I liked the Spock autobiography. It got a lot more complicated than if it would have been released before Discovery came out. I'm looking forward to reading the Janeway book someday.
I liked the Spock autobiography. It got a lot more complicated than if it would have been released before Discovery came out. I'm looking forward to reading the Janeway book someday.
Still loving The Last Best Hope the most for all the fascinating details about romulan culture and seeing Jean Luc during his tenure as Admiral.
Think that’ll be my next McCormack then after I finish what I’m currently reading, thanks.
Just revisited this old(ish) thread. It looks like we succeeded in giving Una a warm glow folks.
Well deserved too !
I keep sticking Neverending Sacrifice in my cart on ebay and then forgetting to buy it.
If you’re a DS9 fan and love world-building, it doesn’t get any better. It gives you all of the DS9 years from the perspective of a Cardassian on the ground on the other side — specifically, Rugal, the kid from the episode “Cardassians” Sisko sent back with his biological father.
And it does it with so much poignancy and heart…it’s magnificent. A Stitch in Time has a special place in my heart and I hold it above the rest of Trek lit as my favorite, but The Never-Ending Sacrifice might (all in all) top it. I’d have to revisit the former to know for sure and currently think of them like a binary planetary system dancing around each other in the top spot.
Cardassians…who would have thunk it.
Almost like your own neverending sacrifice...
Yeah I've heard nothing but good things about it and I would love to read it. I think my attention span is just shot to shit and often times when I read a book I find myself just reading old stuff that I'll know I like. I think I need to make a list of all the stuff I've bought and not read, and just have a crack at it. I found that worked really well for TV/films and albums.
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