Day of the Vipers (Please mark Spoilers!)

[Bec]

I have to take back my earlier remarks where I said I was having difficulty getting past the first chapter of Day of the Vipers and thus, did not hold much hope for being able to finish it. After taking a break to read Fearful Symmetry, I returned to this book with determination to get through it.

And thank God I did.

I think my problem, at first, was James Swallow's writing style. I think it's very different from the other Trek authors, and I don't mean that in an offensive way to either party concerned. It just takes some adjusting to, at least it did for me anyway. But by the 2nd or 3rd chapter, I was home free.

And my final reaction to this book is the polar opposite of my initial one.

I simply cannot gush about Day of the Vipers enough. This is a fantastic story with very real characters. I went through a multitude of emotions while I was reading it: hope, grief, sadness, despair.. I have to say most of them were on the negative end of the scale. When I finally closed the book, I just felt so sad. Because it's just so tragic. And yes, I know it's only fiction but the characters in this book were so well-realized that they felt alive.

James Swallow's power is to draw you into the events of the book. I felt as if I was going through the trials of the Bajorans with them. Few authors can accomplish this.

It's simply a magnificent story. Thank you Pocket Books for giving us this trilogy! It's a gift.

James Swallow is truly an awesome writer.

Now.. bring on Night Of The Wolves!!

 

[Bec]

Another thought has actually occured to me after reading Day Of The Vipers.. and that is, just how old was Dukat during DS9's run?

It states in DOTV that Dukat was a young, military officer at the start of the book. And that would have been in 2318. So let's say.. he's around 18 at that stage, at the youngest.. possibly older. Now, Dawn Of The Eagles takes us up to 2369, when Bajor is finally liberated and shortly afterwards, DS9 season 1 begins.

Going by my assumption of Dukat's age in Day Of The Vipers, that would make him nearly 70 in Emissary and therefore, around 76 by the end of the series.

I never realised he was so old. He didn't look it. Do Cardassians live longer and age better than humans then??

 

[Christopher]

Well, "Wrongs Darker than Death or Night" established canonically that Dukat was the prefect of DS9 back when Kira was still a very small child, and that he looked roughly the same age he did in the DS9 present. So that pretty much established that Dukat was older than we thought, and implicitly that Cardassians age more slowly than humans. As always, the books must follow the precedent of the shows.