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

[Sci]

No room in the temple for a couple of refugees then?
Could have even pulled an SF staple and stuck them on prehistoric earth, making them the Preservers.

I mean, Kira was literally inside the Wormhole, but that didn't protect her from being nullified from history once the First Splinter Timeline branching event was retroactively prevented. The Prophets had no capacity to save them -- but they DID promise to do the very thing people in the last few posts were complaining no one did: remember and honor the First Splinter's heroes.

And once again, Coda is about how we respond to the inescapable fact that we are going to die and cannot escape this fact. Do we respond by embracing nihilism or existentialism? Coda is clearly on the side of existentialism and depicts the embodiment of nihilism (the Devidians) as evil and a threat to all life. Giving the characters a way to escape death would have undermined the thematic integrity of the story.

The reality is that Coda is in someways a fitting end for the litverse, as it fits well with some of its more less than hopeful bits.

I think Coda is very hopeful. It insists that death cannot prevent us from imbuing our lives with meaning.

 

[David Mack]

I took that to be a reference to Abyss, when he stopped Ethan Locken from launching a plague torpedo at a Romulan colony. But if so then that's another continuity error, since the planet is question was Orias, not Alhaya. So maybe it was referencing something else.

It was neither a continuity error nor a reference to Abyss. It was a reference to Chapter 4 of Section 31: Control.

 

[DS9forever]

It was neither a continuity error nor a reference to Abyss. It was a reference to Chapter 4 of Section 31: Control.

Ah yes, the virus that Bashir stopped. Who was behind that?

 

[David Mack]

Ah yes, the virus that Bashir stopped. Who was behind that?

We never found out.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Coda is clearly on the side of existentialism and depicts the embodiment of nihilism (the Devidians) as evil and a threat to all life. Giving the characters a way to escape death would have undermined the thematic integrity of the story.

I remember one of David Gerrold's old columns in Starlog, decades ago, pointing out that bringing characters back from the dead, unless done very carefully, with very good reason, and with a very high price to be paid, tends to ruin credibility. Hence (in B5) Lorien giving Sheridan a finite number of additional years to live.

 

[ThetaSigma]

I remember one of David Gerrold's old columns in Starlog, decades ago, pointing out that bringing characters back from the dead, unless done very carefully, with very good reason, and with a very high price to be paid, tends to ruin credibility. Hence (in B5) Lorien giving Sheridan a finite number of additional years to live.

Like how bring Spock back in Star Trek III requires the Enterprise's destruction and David's death oh and the complete destruction of any character Saavik had reducing her to a cardboard cutout to give exposition.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Not so sure I agree with that last part.

 

[ThetaSigma]

Not so sure I agree with that last part.

I’m half joking, seriously though in Star Trek II Saavik is a fully realised character who has ambitions, drives and failings. By Star Trek III all she does is deliver exposition, her emotional outbursts are gone as if they were never there, even without the recast you could just call her a different name and it would make more sense.

 

[Enterprise1701]

The 13-strong jaunt-ship fleet in this novel:

Captain Luc Picard - C.S.S. Enterprise - TNG 1.01 et al. - mirrored in MU The Worst of Both Worlds et al.
Captain Martin Madden - C.S.S. Intrepid - Star Trek Nemesis deleted scene
Captain Benjamin Maxwell - C.S.S. Phoenix - TNG 4.12 et al.
Captain Hans Balfe - C.S.S. Independence
Captain Thadiun Okona - C.S.S. Endurance - TNG 2.04 et al.
Captain K. D. Hageman - C.S.S. Terra Nova
Captain Kelly Swails - C.S.S. Vostok
Captain Kirsten Perez - C.S.S. Vasquez - MU Rise Like Lions
Captain Prynn Tenmei - C.S.S. Hope - DS9 Avatar et al. - mirrored in DS9 The Soul Key et al.
Captain Thirishar ch'Thane - C.S.S. Progress - DS9 Avatar et al. - mirrored in MU "A Terrible Beauty" et al.
Captain Lisa Neeley - C.S.S. Victory - DS9 6.02 et al. - mirrored in MU Saturn's Children
Captain Patrick Tomlinson - C.S.S. Kearsage
Captain Mackenzie Calhoun - C.S.S. Excalibur - NF House of Cards et al. - mirrored in MU Cutting Ties et al.

I recognise the names Picard, Madden, Maxwell, Okona, Perez, Tenmei, ch'Thane, Neeley, and Calhoun. I cannot identify the origins of Balfe, Hageman, Swails, and Tomlinson.

 

[ATimson]

I cannot identify the origins of Balfe, Hageman, Swails, and Tomlinson.

Balfe looks to me like a Tuckerization of frequently-collaborating composers Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe, but that may just be a coincidence.

 

[thribs]

I’m still disappointed Mirror Picard wasn’t in charge of the CSS Andromeda.

 

[Christopher]

Patrick Tomlinson is probably a Tuckerization of the science fiction novelist of that name.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I would assume K. D. Hageman is named for Kevin & Dan Hageman, the showrunners of Star Trek: Prodigy, which I believe Mr. Mack is a consultant for.

 

[David Mack]

Balfe looks to me like a Tuckerization of frequently-collaborating composers Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe, but that may just be a coincidence.

Correct. If one reads the novel’s acknowledgments, one will see Lorne Balfe is thanked specifically for the inspiration his music provided.

Patrick Tomlinson is probably a Tuckerization of the science fiction novelist of that name.

Correct. Patrick and I have been friends for a few years.

I would assume K. D. Hageman is named for Kevin & Dan Hageman, the showrunners of Star Trek: Prodigy, which I believe Mr. Mack is a consultant for.

Correct.

Last but certainly not least, Kelly Swails is a friend of mine who works as a writer, editor, and game designer. She also used to co-chair the annual Gen Con Writers’ Symposium.