Re: Star Trek: Destiny: Mere Mortals - SPOILER Thread
Another wonderful book from David Mack, who I'm beginning to think couldn't write a bad one if he tried. The second book in a trilogy seems to be one of the hardest things to master in modern literary forms, but Mack pulled it off quite well, advancing the story line, but not too much, continuing the character growth he'd already begun, and generally setting up all the pins he's got to savagely knock them down in the next book. Good, good stuff.
I did have a couple of minor quibbles with the book, nothing that hasn't been covered in the thread before though. The Hernandez portions were, at times, deathly slow and ponderous, but I'd imagine that that was completely intentional. Hernandez's slow surrender and acceptance of her captivity almost had to be a result of fear, indoctrination, and yes, boredom, to make any sense, and when she finally begged Inyx to save her from death itself, I completely bought it. To write the "Stockholming" of one of the first Starfleet captains, someone who we'd normally be accustomed to thinking of as above such things, had to be a job of work, but even though I didn't necessarily enjoy the ride, the payoff in Erika's characterization was absolutely worth it.
I have to admit that the Hirogen sequence didn't really work for me either. At the end of the book, I was waiting for the next big reveal, and instead we were back playing "Die Hard" on the Enterprise again. I get that it was necessary for dramatic structure to delay The Enterprise and Aventine somehow, but this particular conceit just didn't play the way I would've liked it to. Sorry. The one great thing to come out of the sequence though was the Rigelian Chelon crewmember who poisoned the Hirogen Alpha. I reread the first three Vanguard books recently, and was quite taken with the scene where Jetanien threatens the Tholians and Klingons with his stress hormones, but I couldn't ever decide whether he was supposed to be full of shit or not. Thanks for answering that question. The statement by the Tholian ambassador about the "sins of the Taurus Reach" was quite welcome too, and I'd love to see some 24th century fallout from Vanguard once the storyline in the 23rd has revealed enough of itself to make that feasible.
Speaking of ambassadors, seeing Garak was absolutely priceless. He's finally found his true calling, lying for a living, and making Cardassia stronger for it. Good for him. All of the stuff with Bacco and her diplomatic entreaties was absolutely brilliant. I was concerned about anyone but KRAD playing with those characters, but after seeing the way Mack wrote them, I've decided the Trek book I now most want to see is an AOTF sequel where KRAD and Mack alternate chapters, each attempting to outdo and build on what the other has done. The competition might kill both of them, but we'd get a political novel that could never be topped.
What else.....Riker's decision to abandon his wife and crew to the Caeliar, Seven's attempts to salvage humanity by whatever means necessary, Ree's attempts to save Deanna's life against her will, the destruction of the combined fleet with literal brute force.....It's all just great. I'm not speculating at all about what's going to happen, 'cause I'm just enjoying the ride waaaay too much. Count me in for Lost Souls and all that comes after it.
Thanks for the heads up! I'm lucky that I travel a lot with work so get to read a lot.
