Quite.
Let's have more "Explore strange new worlds . . . seek out new life and new civilizations . . . boldly go where none have gone before."
Spoilers Coda: Book 2: The Ashes of Tomorrow by James Swallow Review Thread
- Thread starter JoeZhang
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Let's have more "Explore strange new worlds . . . seek out new life and new civilizations . . . boldly go where none have gone before."
I just started with this book
And I finished It. This book is not easy on the DS9 crew. But I liked It more than the first book.
The final book was released 3 months ago.
Jesus Christ!
That's all I can say about Book 2. All the death and destruction. It's downright depressing. Nog, Ro, Quark, O'Brien. Gone. Deep Space 9, destroyed. The Celestial Temple, gone, with the Prophets it seems.
And how many other civilizations wiped out?
It appears that the novel-verse timeline is at risk of being obliterated. However, I continue to hope that somehow that timeline can be saved. Even if Coda is the end of the line for the novel-verse as far as future books, I still continue to hope that at the end, when all is said and done, that it will live on to explore strange new worlds, and maybe leave a thread that can be picked up on and continued at a later date, however improbable that is. Just the possibility that it could continue, even if it doesn't, would be nice.
It's interesting that they chose the Devidians as the plot point for everything going on. After reading Voyager: To Lose the Earth I had thought maybe the Krenim would be the instrument that would be used to try to reconcile the novel-verse with Picard and what we know there. But apparently they were destroyed as well.
As far as The Ashes of Tomorrow I'm honestly not sure how to rate it yet. It was well written, with a lot of action and huge implications. But it also left me feeling sad. So many characters gone. I've come to care about the lit-verse characters almost as much as the main series characters and was sad to see them lost as well. And the whole issue with Riker on a vendetta against Picard. I get the reasoning behind it but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'm having a hard time envisioning Riker trying to basically destroy Captain Picard. And the Federation response seems a bit too muted for the novel timeline. It does remind me a bit of the Picard timeline, in that the Federation, and Starfleet, have become more reactionary in the face of this crisis. Maybe it's just so big in scope they have a hard time wrapping their heads around it. But still, the one difference with the novel timeline is the Federation has taken a more positive path. And this would seem to be a step back.
I look forward to Book 3. I'm still holding out hope that this timeline will be preserved, even if no future stories are ever written about in this timeline. I don't want to see it obliterated. And it will be interesting to see how things play out. And what happens to Spock. And whether any of this plays into the Romulan Supernova. In the Picard novels, even if the show doesn't touch on it, there have been hints that the nova was artificial in origin. I wonder if that will be touched on here at all. No spoilers please
. I've been very good about avoiding spoilers about this series.
I'll wait to rank this book until I give it some thought.
That's all I can say about Book 2. All the death and destruction. It's downright depressing. Nog, Ro, Quark, O'Brien. Gone. Deep Space 9, destroyed. The Celestial Temple, gone, with the Prophets it seems.
And how many other civilizations wiped out?
It appears that the novel-verse timeline is at risk of being obliterated. However, I continue to hope that somehow that timeline can be saved. Even if Coda is the end of the line for the novel-verse as far as future books, I still continue to hope that at the end, when all is said and done, that it will live on to explore strange new worlds, and maybe leave a thread that can be picked up on and continued at a later date, however improbable that is. Just the possibility that it could continue, even if it doesn't, would be nice.
It's interesting that they chose the Devidians as the plot point for everything going on. After reading Voyager: To Lose the Earth I had thought maybe the Krenim would be the instrument that would be used to try to reconcile the novel-verse with Picard and what we know there. But apparently they were destroyed as well.
As far as The Ashes of Tomorrow I'm honestly not sure how to rate it yet. It was well written, with a lot of action and huge implications. But it also left me feeling sad. So many characters gone. I've come to care about the lit-verse characters almost as much as the main series characters and was sad to see them lost as well. And the whole issue with Riker on a vendetta against Picard. I get the reasoning behind it but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'm having a hard time envisioning Riker trying to basically destroy Captain Picard. And the Federation response seems a bit too muted for the novel timeline. It does remind me a bit of the Picard timeline, in that the Federation, and Starfleet, have become more reactionary in the face of this crisis. Maybe it's just so big in scope they have a hard time wrapping their heads around it. But still, the one difference with the novel timeline is the Federation has taken a more positive path. And this would seem to be a step back.
I look forward to Book 3. I'm still holding out hope that this timeline will be preserved, even if no future stories are ever written about in this timeline. I don't want to see it obliterated. And it will be interesting to see how things play out. And what happens to Spock. And whether any of this plays into the Romulan Supernova. In the Picard novels, even if the show doesn't touch on it, there have been hints that the nova was artificial in origin. I wonder if that will be touched on here at all. No spoilers please
. I've been very good about avoiding spoilers about this series. I'll wait to rank this book until I give it some thought.
I ended up rating the novel as average. It's not that it was poorly written. Quite the contrary. There's a lot going on and Swallow does a good job keeping everything in order.
But at the end of the day the novel left me feeling sad with little hope. I figured I should account for that in my rating. Perhaps it's unfair. But I want to be honest in my rating.
Just so much death and destruction. The deaths of so many key characters, not just lit-verse created characters but main characters from the shows as well.
Honestly part of me just wanted to take a break, maybe read the latest DS9 novel that came out after and go back. But then I decided I want to see the trilogy through to the end, and hope maybe something good will come of everything for the lit-verse timeline. While stories in that timeline are most likely at an end, it doesn't mean that timeline has to come to an end. But we'll see. I started reading the 3rd book so we'll see where David Mack takes us.
But at the end of the day the novel left me feeling sad with little hope. I figured I should account for that in my rating. Perhaps it's unfair. But I want to be honest in my rating.
Just so much death and destruction. The deaths of so many key characters, not just lit-verse created characters but main characters from the shows as well.
Honestly part of me just wanted to take a break, maybe read the latest DS9 novel that came out after and go back. But then I decided I want to see the trilogy through to the end, and hope maybe something good will come of everything for the lit-verse timeline. While stories in that timeline are most likely at an end, it doesn't mean that timeline has to come to an end. But we'll see. I started reading the 3rd book so we'll see where David Mack takes us.
Without going into too many spoilers, I'll just say the entire Coda trilogy is very damn depressing.
I think by the end of the trilogy we saw the characters' truest selves. And that's powerful.
In chapter 7, Admiral Riker identifies the docked Steamrunner-class frigate U.S.S. Enessi as assigned to go guard the Pharoid Chamber in the Takara system. I take it that references the 1977 time-traveller-themed Micronauts figure Pharoid. I have not read the Marvel Comics series, but I am somewhat familiar with the more recent interpretation by IDW Publishing.
In tandem, Riker states that the U.S.S. Zephyr will go to guard the Cassandra Array. Is that an homage to the Cassandra Palmer novels by Karen Chance?
In tandem, Riker states that the U.S.S. Zephyr will go to guard the Cassandra Array. Is that an homage to the Cassandra Palmer novels by Karen Chance?
If the Cassandra Array is a subspace telescope like the Argus Array, it seems far more likely that it's named for the mythical Trojan seeress Cassandra, much like the Argus Array is named for the all-seeing giant Argus Panoptes. Zephyrus, meanwhile, is the Greek god of the west wind.
(Although if it was named for that Cassandra, does that mean nobody would ever believe the data it gathered?)
Well spotted! You're quite correct, the Pharoid Time Chamber is a Micronauts reference, as is the Takara system (Takara is the original company that made the toys).
I don't know those books or that author. The Cassandra Array reference is from one of my favourite Last Unicorn Games Star Trek roleplaying game supplements, All Our Yesterdays: The Time Travel Sourcebook, It's a space-time anomaly detection array deployed by the Department of Temporal Investigations.
Ahh, that would explain it being named for a prophetess.
Heh, and I call myself a Transformers fan! I was wondering why the Takarans from TNG 6.22 "Suspicions" et al. were linked to time travel.
Ahaha! I was thinking way too hard about 'Cassandra' and googled 'cassandra time travel' rather than simply intuit that the reference was more simply tied to a classical Greek story vis-à-vis an RPG sourcebook.
It's been a long time I've posted but just finished this book too and have to say I am so floored after reading the prologue. Absolutely amazing story. Just regret not being able to come back to the forums as these books were unfolding in real time.....no pun intended.
So, just finished this second chapter of Coda which I've rated as Outstanding for a number of reasons as follows:
With any tie-in novel of a TV/film franchise, for me, a mark of a great writer is if I can 'hear' the actors in my head as I read their characters' dialogue on the page. If I can 'hear' the tone, the inflection, the nuance of how these actors may deliver these lines of dialogue on screen, when that happens, the novel is clicking on all cylinders for me.
This essentially being a DS9 novel, I felt that the entire time reading this. Bravo Mister Swallow, the dialogue throughout flowed and had rhythm & meaning & heart & loss and everything in between. I could 'hear' Brooks, Visitor, Shimmerman, etc as I read this wonderful brutal reunion of the DS9 crew. It added emotional depth to the actions and crisis those characters were enduring.
As for the deaths, well, a valiant day to die, a heroic sacrifice or two (or three) but the one death scene that got to me the most was:
Now I have yet to read some of the more recent DS9 novels so I was unaware of this pair as a semi-couple of sorts but their last moments here was heartfelt and tender, really moving. I had to put the book down for a few minutes after reading that.
Loved the passages of the sheer cosmic destruction wrought at the end, while there no special effects to be seen of it, the descriptions wonderfully conveyed the majesty, the horror and the loss of what happened.
That being said, while it may veer close to cliche, I did enjoy Nerys' and Picard's dual scenes of 'What have I done?' Trying to answer that question, from their distinct points of view, philosophical alongside principals, was great to read.
It was fun to read, it was brutal to read but I have to pause for the moment before diving into the last book, need to recuperate and digest this monster of a middle segment of this trilogy. Because if the hints and blurbs are right about where Picard and Co are going to lick their wounds, my, my, this is going to be a delicious twist....
With any tie-in novel of a TV/film franchise, for me, a mark of a great writer is if I can 'hear' the actors in my head as I read their characters' dialogue on the page. If I can 'hear' the tone, the inflection, the nuance of how these actors may deliver these lines of dialogue on screen, when that happens, the novel is clicking on all cylinders for me.
This essentially being a DS9 novel, I felt that the entire time reading this. Bravo Mister Swallow, the dialogue throughout flowed and had rhythm & meaning & heart & loss and everything in between. I could 'hear' Brooks, Visitor, Shimmerman, etc as I read this wonderful brutal reunion of the DS9 crew. It added emotional depth to the actions and crisis those characters were enduring.
As for the deaths, well, a valiant day to die, a heroic sacrifice or two (or three) but the one death scene that got to me the most was:
Ro Laren and Quark
Now I have yet to read some of the more recent DS9 novels so I was unaware of this pair as a semi-couple of sorts but their last moments here was heartfelt and tender, really moving. I had to put the book down for a few minutes after reading that.
Loved the passages of the sheer cosmic destruction wrought at the end, while there no special effects to be seen of it, the descriptions wonderfully conveyed the majesty, the horror and the loss of what happened.
That being said, while it may veer close to cliche, I did enjoy Nerys' and Picard's dual scenes of 'What have I done?' Trying to answer that question, from their distinct points of view, philosophical alongside principals, was great to read.
It was fun to read, it was brutal to read but I have to pause for the moment before diving into the last book, need to recuperate and digest this monster of a middle segment of this trilogy. Because if the hints and blurbs are right about where Picard and Co are going to lick their wounds, my, my, this is going to be a delicious twist....