DS9: The Soul Key by Olivia Woods Review Thread (Spoilers!)

[Marie1]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

I haven't read it yet, but from what I've heard, I'm thinking that instead ending, the Illiana arc is just joining with the Ascendants arc.

I guess they're just trying to link the story lines...
But it seems a bit peculiar...

Maybe things'll come together after TN-ES.

The thing that gets me is that at the end, it talks about the Ascendant's conflict with the Dominion, which obviously is what I was most curious about... I'm hoping that they won't just leave it at that forever...
I'm hoping that'll go somewhere given the Dominion Worlds story...

EDIT- this popped into my head last night...

It came up a bit in Warpath, I'm guessing now it was intentional...
Does everyone remember the Jem'Hadar Locken made on Sindoran? Remember how the First there said that his master made him so that he knew he was a slave, that he didn't think his "chain" was a benediction? Did anyone start to get that feeling from Taran'atar at the end of TSK? There was just something about the end of TSK that made me think Taran'atar was now in that First's shoes...

I'll post more of what I mean when it comes back to me- it occurred to me very late at night...

 

[Sisko Lives!]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

^ No, I agree. I think Sisko decided Elias should be Emissary, and sent him over for that purpose, and Elias figured it out and said the hell with it.

MirrorIliana showed up, the Prophets said - pretty explicitly - "huh, that's odd, but you'll do", and then Elias went back to Sisko and punched him because Sisko was trying to manipulate him into something that, in hindsight, wasn't even necessary in the first place.

I'm not sure I agree this Vaughn's trip wasn't necessary - Sisko never says that Elias is the piece that has to be in place - he just indicates that the right people have to be in the right place for the coming conflict. That could very well refer to Sulan being left alive in the MU (she escapes with Elias' help), to Kira surviving the trip to make sure she gets officially made the Hand, To Illiana surviving to become the VOICE (would she have been killed if she had been in the battle at Bajor? Taran'atar wouldn't have saved her ...); or even a key role that Prynne MU may have to play in all this.

I love the continued evoluation of Sisko as Emissary and less as regular starfleet hewmon - can't wait to see this pick up in 2011 (and it had better pick up whether its in 2377 or 2382 ...)

 

[DS9Continuing]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

I just re-read a portion of TSK that clarifies things a bit more. In the scene where MU-Ghemor tracks down Sisko to ask him why he sent Vaughn to the MU, Sisko says, "We both know you could have done something to stop her before you left your universe, but you didn't."

So that means that Sisko knew that MU-Iliana was supposed to be the MU Emissary. But as he emphasises, everyone has a choice, so I guess he accepted that MU-Iliana had turned down the opportunity to replace MU-Sisko as Emissary, and suggested Vaughn as a replacement-replacement. I guess he just didn't expect that MU-Iliana would change her mind and go for it after all.

 

[Sisko Lives!]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

I just re-read a portion of TSK that clarifies things a bit more. In the scene where MU-Ghemor tracks down Sisko to ask him why he sent Vaughn to the MU, Sisko says, "We both know you could have done something to stop her before you left your universe, but you didn't."

So that means that Sisko knew that MU-Iliana was supposed to be the MU Emissary. But as he emphasises, everyone has a choice, so I guess he accepted that MU-Iliana had turned down the opportunity to replace MU-Sisko as Emissary, and suggested Vaughn as a replacement-replacement. I guess he just didn't expect that MU-Iliana would change her mind and go for it after all.

I had forgotten that scene ... as an alternative read ... perhaps Sisko's sending "a replacement" acts as a prompt to help iliana realize what she is giving up and forcing her to rethink her decision, thereby putting her in a position to accept being The Voice? - plans within plans within plans ...

 

[Jono]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

I just re-read a portion of TSK that clarifies things a bit more. In the scene where MU-Ghemor tracks down Sisko to ask him why he sent Vaughn to the MU, Sisko says, "We both know you could have done something to stop her before you left your universe, but you didn't."

So that means that Sisko knew that MU-Iliana was supposed to be the MU Emissary. But as he emphasises, everyone has a choice, so I guess he accepted that MU-Iliana had turned down the opportunity to replace MU-Sisko as Emissary, and suggested Vaughn as a replacement-replacement. I guess he just didn't expect that MU-Iliana would change her mind and go for it after all.

I had forgotten that scene ... as an alternative read ... perhaps Sisko's sending "a replacement" acts as a prompt to help iliana realize what she is giving up and forcing her to rethink her decision, thereby putting her in a position to accept being The Voice? - plans within plans within plans ...

A lesson out of the Prophet's book when they sent Akorem Laan to teach Sisko a lesson about being the Emissary.

 

[Marie1]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

^Ah! I'd forgotten about that! Great catch...

 

[DS9Continuing]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

Interesting... interesting... good sleuthing, people.

 

[Capt_Piett]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

Just finished Soul Key yesterday, and I have to say I rather enjoyed it. I do wonder though...now that she's been restored to her former appearance...Is the Ghemor of the prime universe still as messed up as she was? I really wonder what her role as "The Fire" will be.

 

[DS9Continuing]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

I think she is still as messed up as she was - sort of. The last moment in the wormhole, it was said that she came to understand what her purpose truly was supposed to be - not to be Emissary to MU-Bajor, but to be Emissary to the RU-Ascendants. She got the job right, just the wrong company. But there was no mention of the Prophets fixing her doubled memories - they commented on their existence, but didn't do anything about it, I think.

So I think she's going to embrace her new role thoroughly and eagerly. Her Bajoran mind will give her an appreciation for what belief in the power of the Prophets can do. Her Cardassian mind will give her an appreciation for warfare and considering yourself better than everyone else. She already had an inflated sense of her own importance and uniqueness. And I think she'll just love the Ascendants' violent, vengeful interpretation of the Prophets.

She is their connection to their gods - they'll do whatever she says, although she may have to persuade them in terms they'll understand. For example, "let's go kill these false worshippers" instead of "I'm really after that bitch Kira."

 

[Elias Vaughn]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

I bet Iliana's role as the Antiemissary is only because Dukat's too dead to have the role, the same way MU Iliana is only Emissary over there because Sisko's dead.

Poor Iliana Ghemor. Only a cheap replacement in every universe. :/

 

[JD]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

Where does Dukat come into this? I just read the Celestial Temple scene and there was no mention of Dukat whatsoever.

 

[Elias Vaughn]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

It's only a guess.

 

[DS9Continuing]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

Dukat was the Emissary to the Pagh-Wraiths, and there's some minor speculation that the Ascendants worship the Pagh-Wraiths rather than the regular Prophets. Not entirely convinced on that myself, but it's out there.

 

[Aubergine]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

Great insights, everyone, about the intricacies of the Prophets/Sisko/Vaughn relationship. I don't know what's going on with Sisko these days, but it's weird and I'm OK with that. I really like the interpretation of events that Sisko sent Vaughn to the MU in order that he would be Emissary there, but Vaughn figured it out and said, "Screw this!" I also like the idea that Sisko used Vaughn as a lever to get Ghemor in place -- though to what end I don't know, because Ghemor as Emissary doesn't seem to have a lot of symmetry, at least not outside of the three Kiras business.

Speaking of the three Kiras -- I was thrilled to see the return of the Ascendants (finally!). Far upthread, someone mentioned that they always thought the Ascendants were worshipping the Pah Wraiths, and while that's possible, I don't think it's the case and in fact I hope it's not. I think it's far more interesting to have the Ascendants be worshipping the "true" Prophets as we know them -- in parallel to the Bajorans, the Eav'oq (and possibly the Hebitians?).

I really, really want to see more of Opaka and the Eav'oq after all this time, that's for sure. I think a new holy war story line could be really cool, so I'm not one of the ones calling for a complete skip of the 5 years between current DS9-R time and post-Destiny time. (Though I look forward to the post-Destiny DS9 stuff as well -- I liked Ezri & co. in the Destiny trilogy a lot.)

I'm also pumped about the Taranatar/Even Odds combination.

This does lead me to a gripe I have about the mirror universe as a whole though. How, despite completely different events have shaped the universe over time, to be something entirely different from the normal one, people who exist in the normal one, also exist in the mirror one, near enough exactly the same just slightly tweaked from their circumstances, so their parents and grandparents and great grandparents etc... still managed to find each other and have kids and raised them to be roughly the same people at their core etc etc..

I confess this too has rubbed me the wrong way over the years; yes, it's improbable, but being the good fan that I am, I find ways to explain it. For instance, since in the multiverse theory every possible outcome happens, that means that every possible permutation happens. Which is mind-boggling. But if you go with it, you can also say that some universes are closer to one another -- they have some sort of affinity that makes them similar and the boundaries between them more permeable, as has been the case between the Star Trek prime universe and the MU in question. So maybe the Prophets don't have their fingers in all the universes, but just some of them. The universes in question, with the Siskos our Sisko saw in his vision. That's the way I look at it, anyway.

I can say, though, that it sucks that we get a MU Prynn but not a MU Jake! (Not a diss to Prynn, I like her! I'm just saying, no MU Jake.)

As for a review of the quality of the book -- did I enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed other DS9-R books? No. But did I enjoy it? Yes. Will I continue reading any and all DS9 books put out? Yes. Knowing that FS and TSK were supposed to be one book explains a lot and allows me to forgive a lot, I think.

All in all, I was pretty disappointed at the end of Warpath when the story started taking us back to the MU. DS9 as a TV series went to that well one too many times and I didn't particularly want to revisit it. But while this arc hasn't been my favourite, it has been good, and a lot of the concepts of inter-universe symmetry and balance between them and the Prophets' involvement in them have been very intriguing.

 

[DS9Continuing]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

I can say, though, that it sucks that we get a MU Prynn but not a MU Jake! (Not a diss to Prynn, I like her! I'm just saying, no MU Jake.)

I think it's been fairly firmly established that Jake does not exist in the MU - though MU-Sisko and MU-Jennifer were married, they never had a child. Of course, that could have been a lie, and Jennifer could have had a secret child that she never told Sisko about. But we've certainly been led to believe that there is no MU-Jake.

Although it does bring up the wish I had that we'd see an MU-Rena. I wondered at one point if Dakhana Vaas could have been Rena's mother - she did say her parents were killed in the Occupation. Of course, the surnames don't match, but then her parents may not have married, and Rena's name (Azeni) already doesn't match with her grandfather's (Ralanon).

 

[Aubergine]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

^ Oh, I know why we don't have a MU Jake -- I just wish it weren't the case!

 

[Marie1]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

Dukat was the Emissary to the Pagh-Wraiths, and there's some minor speculation that the Ascendants worship the Pagh-Wraiths rather than the regular Prophets. Not entirely convinced on that myself, but it's out there.

Well, they can't worship the regular Prophets can they? In TSK, didn't Raiq say she knew that Opaka was serving false gods or somesuch, but let her live because the people of that place saved her life?

 

[flemm]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

I finally had the chance to read The Soul Key. I confess to not enjoying it very much, though it improved greatly towards the end, mostly because characters like Tarant'ar, Dax and Kira started coming to the fore.

Mostly I'm just glad this arc is over with so the DS9 relaunch can move on. The Ascendant storyline certainly seems more promising than the insane Iliana Ghemor storyline has been, but overall I'm pleased the next DS9 novel will jump forward to the Typhon Pact timeframe. It's best that DS9's characters keep pace with the other relaunch books. If there's eventually room in the publishing schedule for something like the Ascendant arc, then so much the better.

As far as The Soul Key itself is concerned, it suffers from having Iliana Ghemor as its center. This character is implausible in the extreme and therefore uninteresting. Certainly we could postulate that a character has been traumatized, and is therefore insane. But that doesn't mean that anything goes from that point on, and that once a character has been declared "insane" any desire or motivation whatsoever can be ascribed to her. There still has to be a sense that this is a coherent character, not just a convenient device to move the plot. That's especially true when the character maintains a near superhuman level of cunning and efficiency. I found it impossible to care about Ghemor in the slightest, and it was equally difficult to suspend disbelief as she orchestrated her absurd scheme.

It must be said that the Mirror Universe's involvement does not help matters. The MU only works in small doses. It doesn't make any sense at all, but that is ok as an occasional glimpse, almost like a holodeck episode, a chance to see the usual characters in a new light. The more you see of the mirror universe, though, the more the novelty wears off, and the more the device registers as weak sci-fi and lazy storytelling, especially when characters are crossing back and forth.

On some level, it is interesting to see plot threads left open by the tv series resolved or expanded upon. Bringing Iliana Ghemor into the story makes sense from that point of view. That said, I tend to agree with some of what was said earlier in the thread regarding this. What occurs in The Soul Key and Fearful Symmetry is so far from the spirit of "Second Skin" and "Ties of Blood and Water" that it's hard to feel very satisified by how Iliana's story has been advanced.

Overall this has been a very long down period for the DS9 relaunch. Looking forward to the Neverending Sacrifice, however, and here's hoping next year's installment gets the main storyline back on track.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

On some level, it is interesting to see plot threads left open by the tv series resolved or expanded upon. Bringing Iliana Ghemor into the story makes sense from that point of view. That said, I tend to agree with some of what was said earlier in the thread regarding this. What occurs in The Soul Key and Fearful Symmetry is so far from the spirit of "Second Skin" and "Ties of Blood and Water" that it's hard to feel very satisified by how Iliana's story has been advanced.

THANK YOU.

As someone who counts those episodes as among her favorite, EVER...I'm so glad to see that someone else agrees with me on this. It definitely left me angry, because to me, the whole thing that was so compelling about Iliana, and the effect on Tekeny and Kira both, is that we never did find out what happened.

 

[JD]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

I just finished the book last night, and I really enjoyed it. It certainly wasn't one of the best books in the DS9R, but overall it was still good. I've actually enjoyed the Illiana arc, and I was very curious to see how it was going to end, and TSK did not dissapoint me in that respect.
Now I know alot of people didn't like Illiana, but I actually thought she was a interesting character, and a very good villain for the story. I must admit that I was expecting this storyline to end with here death, so I was very suprised when she actually became "The Fire". There was also one thing I noticed in the scene with the Prophets that I think might be worth mentioning. Alot of people have been talking about MU Illiana being The MU Emissary, but I noticed that in the scene they said that she was not the Emissary, she is The Voice. I don't know if the distinction is really important, but I thought it might be worth pointing out. I'm very curious about what exactly the relationship is between The Emissary, The Hand, The Fire and The Voice. Although I have a feeling there is pretty good chance that we won't be seeing The Voice in the DS9 story anymore.
I've been a huge fan of the MU for a long time, so I really enjoyed that aspect of the plot. I don't know about anyone else, but I really enjoyed getting to see and learn about more of MU Bajor. I'm pretty sure that in one of the MU they said that the MU Bajorans were not religous, so I was very suprised by the introduction of the religous Bajorans in the story. This was actually one of my favorite aspects of the books, and I especially enjoyed getting to see the MU version of Winn and Opaka. I honestly never really them being in the MU episodes so I was very suprised and pretty happy with what they were like in the story. Prynn and Vaughn have been two of my favorite characters in the Prime Universe so I also really enjoyed getting to see their counterparts too. I just hope we get to see more of them in the future, since they didn't get alot of "screen" time in this book. I was also really suprised by how much they changed the situation in the MU with the end of this one, and I really hope that it's story continues from this point.
While I did enjoy the story, I really do think that the stuff that was set up in the of the book, in the MU, with Taran'atar and the Even Odds, and Illiana becoming The Fire has the potential to be even better, and I cannot wait to see where things go from here. I know alot of people are afraid that Pocket is simply going to abandon the DS9R's current storylines when it does the time jump, but personally I find that hard to belive since so much was set up here.
My overall rating 8/10