Well I believe the Kai asked Kira earlier in the novel if that was the case. So it was brought up, but dismissed.
Spoilers DS9: The Long Mirage by David R. George III Review Thread
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Hmm. I would have liked to have been reminded, at the outset, of how things stood at the end of Ascendance. (The "prologue" only served to puzzle me until I was 3/4 of the way through the book,
Given that "Mr. Cardigan" and his bald friend were pretty opaque, it really didn't do much for the story.)
Ok. I need to tuck a note into the book, in case there's a direct sequel in 2018.
I gave it an "above average."
it was just another ho-hum reiteration of the old "Morn is a motormouth until he's on-camera" running gag.
Ok. I need to tuck a note into the book, in case there's a direct sequel in 2018.
Altek Dans isn't from this universe's past, but from a parallel universe's present (which explains why his society's medical technology wan't all that far behind DS9's), the Falsework is NOT there to anchor the wormhole, Vic has moved to France, and there's a shipload of Dominion emigres seeking assylum. Is that it?
I gave it an "above average."
I'll hand it an "Average", but it unfortunately didn't really do much for me. The Vic plotline didn't resolve so much as come to a halt, same with the Altek Dans story, and they both kind of had the same weakness: Somebody realizes something they should've realized long, long ago, but didn't, because then there wouldn't be a story there. Vic leaves Las Vegas, so suddenly all was good? Wasn't he on the run for a year or so? And he literally never thought to just leave town? Altek's from a parallel universe? So in the 5 months he was on the station, describing a Bajor that was very similar to the one that exists, but different all the same, nobody thought to take a quantum techno-babble scan to make sure he was native to this universe?
Speaking of Altek, I can't for the life of me figure out why his story of a weird comet would suddenly silence most of the Ohalavaru. Of all the things the Prophets can do with time and space, it's somehow inconceivable that very similar events could occur over the course of a few thousand years, and that they must be from different universes? Not to mention that a planetary system with a different number of moons would probably react significantly differently to a comet entering orbit, sort of negating the "Oh, the exact same thing happened in different universes" thing. Maybe I missed something, but I found it supremely unconvincing.
I mean, I didn't hate the book, but nothing really got resolved to a real degree of satisfaction, with the exception of the Vic storyline. Just seemed like treading water, and it didn't really bring me in. All that said, it was nice to see Kira and Odo back together again at the end, though that one seemed ill-constructed as well: I find it very hard to believe that Odo hanging around the station and Bajor for the last two years wouldn't have been one of the first things Ro told Kira about. Everybody just kind of wandered around until the book ended. Fine, I guess, but not a good step in the DS9 storyline for me.
Speaking of Altek, I can't for the life of me figure out why his story of a weird comet would suddenly silence most of the Ohalavaru. Of all the things the Prophets can do with time and space, it's somehow inconceivable that very similar events could occur over the course of a few thousand years, and that they must be from different universes? Not to mention that a planetary system with a different number of moons would probably react significantly differently to a comet entering orbit, sort of negating the "Oh, the exact same thing happened in different universes" thing. Maybe I missed something, but I found it supremely unconvincing.
I mean, I didn't hate the book, but nothing really got resolved to a real degree of satisfaction, with the exception of the Vic storyline. Just seemed like treading water, and it didn't really bring me in. All that said, it was nice to see Kira and Odo back together again at the end, though that one seemed ill-constructed as well: I find it very hard to believe that Odo hanging around the station and Bajor for the last two years wouldn't have been one of the first things Ro told Kira about. Everybody just kind of wandered around until the book ended. Fine, I guess, but not a good step in the DS9 storyline for me.
I can't explain the Altek stuff, though it could have to do with how he'd described a Bajor that more resembled the past than the present, so they simply weren't looking for that as a solution, but with Vic... He was designed and programmed to be a Las Vegas lounge singer, he was operating within the confines of his program, to BE in Las Vegas.
So, actually, I can explain the Altek stuff - the reason they don't think about it until someone else suggests it is because, quite simply, both sides had a predefined idea of what was going on from the outset of their situation, and needed an outside agent to remind them 'hey, this is also an option.' It's not that uncommon in the world we live it - approaching the situation through a particular lens blinds you to other options until someone with a different lens comes along and points out 'hey, you know you can do this too, right?'
I can see the people of DS9 missing it for that reason, but the DTI should have caught it, because they've been caught by that exact scenario before. I think it was even established as some level of standard procedure at one point in Forgotten History to check any seeming temporal displacement for signs of cross-universe travel as well (for good reason, since that book involved something along those lines itself).
I mean yeah outside the DTI series they almost never get any credit as anything but "oh god I don't want to talk to those boring bureaucrats", but they legitimately know their stuff, and this isn't the first time we've seen them run into the "something seemingly related to time travel is actually cross-universe travel" situation. It would've been like number 3 or 4 on their investigatory steps at worst.
There is a sort of subversion of chekovs gun quite literally...we are shown the now-parallel Bajor using firearms. This combined with the rise of the BajorAn religion, and what we are used to with the use of a past timeframe often in Ds9 does mislead the reader into 'ah, the past' especially when it's followed with some in universe time travel. But then the never ending appearances of Ghemor also involve dimension hopping. I wouldn't be surprised if the ascendant were originally parallel, or end up being the Founders, with Taranaranatarataratar being the original Jem Hadar First.
I see why us readers won't immediately leap to it....but it would be good if someone had counted the moons when they were looking for similarities for him to peg his understanding on.
Exactly in my line of thinking. Bajor's history is not exactly unknown. Supposedly they've had space travel for almost a millennium, and their recorded history in the arts and sciences supposedly goes back to before Humanity was making tools or walking erect. The very fact that they couldn't identify any of the places or cultural movements that he talked about should've started the DTI's alarm bells ringing.
Yeah, this one again struck me as odd. If Altek had been on the station for a few days, I wouldn't think so much about it. But five months? And supposedly he's been spending a good chunk of his time reading up on Bajor and its history to try and figure out what was different between his Bajor and the one he's seeing now? He never noticed there's a different number of moons? That just seems a really obvious thing to hang a pivotal plot point on.
I see what you're saying, but I honestly don't buy it. Vic loved Vegas, but he loved singing and being alive more. He was able to go on the run within Vegas, but wasn't able to say to himself "Hey, I should get the hell out of here and sing somewhere else?" It wouldn't even be hard to justify, really. Throw a line or two in there about Nog and Candlewood using their magic Slot Machine Cheater to win a few more jackpots and set Vic up with a new life, because he couldn't afford to leave Vegas earlier. Give him some sort of reason. But instead we're left with the idea that it never even occurred to Vic, Ro had to do it for him, which doesn't read for me.
Honestly, that part I could buy, if we assume that Vic wasn't tricking the analyst. If Vic really is still pre-sentient but on the road towards possible sentience, then it's possible that he simply couldn't break out of his internal patterns enough for the idea to even occur to him, because it was outside the scope of his programming.
If so, then the move to France might even be something beneficial along that path as well.
It may also be related to his stunted development...maybe he couldn't leave vegas because the simulation tester simply didn't have the space.
Them being e-books doesn't negate the fact that they were still books that came out and were focused entirely on Quark. Just because a few tehnophobes refuse to read them, doesn't mean they don't count.
Ok, I haven't read the last two or three books, so I'll have trust you here. But there is a bit difference between being neglected in the main storyline and being neglected entirely.
The only neglected character is Sisko (Dax and Bashir aren't neglected...they have basically been shunted elsewhere and aren't being used very well...or at all in quite some time for Bashir.) but in terms of the ebooks...I think only one had focus on Quark, and that almost contradicted this one, in that Morn shows up briefly I think. The last one before that was....a year or more ago? There's basically been half a dozen books if that in what...4 years? Since the Fall basically. This is the first book since then to actually move anything forwards rather than filling in the ill advised time jump. It's also the first to start moving (sensibly for certain reasons I state elsewhere) towards the TV set up. I know what I would do next xD
No, they were both Quark-centric; the earlier one was Lust's Latinum Lost, the one about the origins of the "Vulcan Love Slave" holonovel series.
And the Morn appearance in Rules of Accusation does feel a little askew from the revelations here? But I think you can fit it together.
Yeah it sort of fits...makes Morn a very busy dude mind you. Lusts latinum lost was ages ago though wasn't it?
I think TLM mentions one of the planets Morn was on in Rules of Accusation.
Bashir not used well?!?
He's vanished because of delays to the section31 book . It's been quite a while since his big 'sacrifice' story, and for me, the s31 stuff always fits into a pattern, and gets very...repetitive. I don't think his leaving story was handled too well either, but that's a different thing. It's possible his next appearance will be amazing, but it's been a while.
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