Spoilers Coda: Book 3: Oblivion's Gate by David Mack Review Thread

[Armhiit]

Timing is a funny thing, I'm brand new to the novel verse, have only read a small handful and now working my way through the flow chart, have loved every one I've read so far, and I'm arriving to the party, just as it comes to an end!

Well, I've got a few thousand hours of reading until I get to this one, but I'll be sad when I do

 

[frkcd]

Very small spoiler alert - David Mack has taught me a new word: abattoir

It means....slaughterhouse. And it only took him 2 paragraphs into the book to do it. Lots of positive vibes to start.

Thanks for the answer to my question. And love the comment about what to expect on page 1 of the new book!

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Very small spoiler alert - David Mack has taught me a new word: abattoir

It means....slaughterhouse. And it only took him 2 paragraphs into the book to do it. Lots of positive vibes to start.

I take it you haven't seen Monty Python's 'The Architects' sketch then?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I'm calling it now: There will be a New Frontier cameo or mention. David always namedrops the NF gang, and there's no way the universe comes to an end without a little hint as to them fighting it every step of the way.

I wonder, if Peter David were to write another New Frontier novel, if he'd consider Coda binding? I harbor doubts.

 

[Enterpriserules]

Timing is a funny thing, I'm brand new to the novel verse, have only read a small handful and now working my way through the flow chart, have loved every one I've read so far, and I'm arriving to the party, just as it comes to an end!

Well, I've got a few thousand hours of reading until I get to this one, but I'll be sad when I do

Since you are new, you might like Literary Treks, a podcast about the books and the comics of Star Trek!

 

[Relayer1]

Perhaps after Tuesday that authors might let us know if their will be individual or joint annotations.

Or a sequel...

 

[Corran Horn]

I wonder, if Peter David were to write another New Frontier novel, if he'd consider Coda binding? I harbor doubts.

I fear we have seen the last of the non-TV sub-series. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I wonder, if Peter David were to write another New Frontier novel, if he'd consider Coda binding? I harbor doubts.

I think NF is the kind of series that could carry on, ignore the few Destiny references and novelverse crossovers that have happened and carry on their plotlines in the Picard universe as if nothing happened. Maybe handwave some temporal thing having shaken up the galaxy a few years ago.

I mean, I doubt it would happen. But it'd be cool.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I fear we have seen the last of the non-TV sub-series. Hope I'm wrong.

If Pocket were still publishing 24 mass markets a year... But Gallery is publishing 9 or 10 trades a year, and there are more canon television series, active and defunct than that. I'll never say never, but it seems wildly unlikely to me right now.

I think NF is the kind of series that could carry on, ignore the few Destiny references and novelverse crossovers that have happened and carry on their plotlines in the Picard universe as if nothing happned. Maybe handwave some temporal thing having shaken up the galaxy a few years ago.

I mean, I doubt it would happen. But it'd be cool.

I think you know PAD and his style pretty well, actually.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Picked up my copy at Barnes and Noble after work. Unfortunately I have guests this week, so my reading time is going to be limited, I might not actually get around to reading it until this weekend.

 

[T'Ressa Dax]

I take it you haven't seen Monty Python's 'The Architects' sketch then?

I haven't, but I've known the word abattoir for years, thanks to Anne McCaffrey's Freedom's Landing series.

 

[GaryH]

I think PAD would more than likely be doing a standalone marketable TNG novel if he were to come back, but I am sure he could throw in a New Frontier reference somewhere.

 

[Leto_II]

I think PAD would more than likely be doing a standalone marketable TNG novel if he were to come back, but I am sure he could throw in a New Frontier reference somewhere.

It wouldn't be unlike James Swallow including a couple of Litverse Titan-characters in his Picard-verse novel The Dark Veil -- not necessarily directly connected to the old continuity, but adapted for the new one (similar to how Grand Admiral Thrawn was reintroduced in the Disney SW-continuity).

 

[rfmcdpei]

It wouldn't be unlike James Swallow including a couple of Litverse Titan-characters in his Picard-verse novel The Dark Veil -- not necessarily directly connected to the old continuity, but adapted for the new one (similar to how Grand Admiral Thrawn was reintroduced in the Disney SW-continuity).

That is what, I fear, is the only thing we can reasonably hope for after this ending.

I read the book today; I placed an advance order, I was told yesterday it was ready to be picked up, and I did the pickup today.

Still digesting. My vote was the first "Above Average" one cast. Mack did an excellent job bringing the many threads of the multiverse together in one jaw-dropping conclusion. Well done indeed. They pulled it off.

My issue with the book, the one that kept from voting "Outstanding", is more a metafictional one. This book and this trilogy did indeed build up to a remarkable controlled implosion, one that—we are told in-novel, multiple times—does matter in the end. The slate has been cleared for the canonical timeline.

My issue is more a question of whether or not we readers actually needed this most definitive ending to the novelverse. Did it really need to be ended so totally? Could we have just assumed that it continued on, elsewhere? This was a good ending to the novelverse, but it was still an ending.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Picked up my copy this afternoon, at a local B&N.

 

[rfmcdpei]

If Pocket were still publishing 24 mass markets a year... But Gallery is publishing 9 or 10 trades a year, and there are more canon television series, active and defunct than that. I'll never say never, but it seems wildly unlikely to me right now.

E-books, maybe? But then I am given to understand that the costs of publishing e-books is almost as high as the costs of traditional print.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Hmm. Almost to the 25% point, and on page 91, I run into a trilogy title-drop backronym: "COrrective Disruptive Action."

Clever.

 

[DS9forever]

E-books, maybe? But then I am given to understand that the costs of publishing e-books is almost as high as the costs of traditional print.

I would like DS9 eBooks similar to the Ferengi trilogy by Terry Erdmann and Paula Block.

 

[The Wormhole]

E-books, maybe? But then I am given to understand that the costs of publishing e-books is almost as high as the costs of traditional print.

I don't even think there's been any Trek e-books since before the 2018 hiatus.

 

[Cloud]

145 pages in. Very little fluff in this one. Every event/section has a purpose. I predict people will generally be happy with the direction things are going at this point. Answers aplenty in the first third of the book as well.

Knowing that this is the last litverse book, I'm struggling with the "do I read 100 pages at a time or digest it slowly to enjoy the last time in this universe" answer. I desperately want to see the ending but a part of me just can't do it.