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

[Aubergine]

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?

They could be worshipping the Pah-Wraiths or the Prophets. Raiq doesn't call Opaka's gods false, she calls Opaka "the shaman of the false worshippers." It's always seemed to me that the Ascendants take issue with the worshippers, not the ones who are being worshipped. Take for instance Roman Catholics, Pentecostals and Mormons. Ostensibly, they're all worshipping the same Christian god, but each sect believes the others are doing it wrong. Or Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, all of which sprung out of a common root and a common deity. There have been plenty of bloody conflicts not just between the big three monotheistic religions, but between sects within them as well. So I find it more compelling that the Ascendants are worshipping the same Prophets who made Sisko their Emissary.

Now, as to what the hell they're doing sticking Iliana in there, I have no f'n clue. But clearly the Prophets are up to some weird shenanigans, so I'm not that surprised.

 

[Warp Coil]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

Finished the novel last night. It was a fun, quick read. I'm happy to see the mirror universe storyline wrapped up. While I found some of it interesting, I also felt that it was a bit of a diversion from the more interesting Ascendants arc. And considering the slow pace at which the DS9-R novels have been released over the last few years, it's annoying to see how little story momentum there's been. I will say this much - I wasn't expecting Iliana's story to dovetail into the Ascendant storyline. Since we'll obviously be seeing more of her, I guess spending the time to introduce and develop her character seems okay.

I will say this much - I am puzzled to see how Margaret Clark plans to jump the DS9-R forward in time to catch up with the rest of 24th century Treklit. The mirror universe arc is finally over and it seems like now's the time to really push the Ascendant storyline forward. I seriously doubt The Never-Ending Sacrifice will do that, since the focus seems to be on Cardassia. Theoretically, the next book should be big and eventful. But instead of an Ascendants book, we're getting pushed several years ahead and thrown into a story about the Typhon Pact. It makes no sense to me and I worry about what path the DS9-R is about to go down. I'm trying to keep an open mind here but I am skeptical.

 

[Elias Vaughn]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

There's no reason they can't do the Ascendants after the Typhon Pact story. Aren't the Ascendants scattered across the Gamma Quadrant? It would take time to reassemble for war anyway.

 

[JD]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

Yeah, but in the end of TSK it seemed like most of them were already together when Illiana revealed herself. Raiq was certainly making a big deal out of the fact that they were actually gathing for the first time in centuries or millenia.

 

[doctorfoto]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

My apologies for being a little late for the party but I just finished the book and wanted to add my 2 cents as well.

Overall I'd say it was a valiant effort, though I will echo the sentiments of some of the other posters here and say that this perhaps should have been a single, longer book combined with Fearful Symmetry. Because of the long wait between books, my reading habit tends to be that I re-read the previous release just before I pick up the new one. The book retreads on a lot of already covered territory while filling in some story elements of simultaneous events that the reader wasn't previously aware of. Much of this though doesn't really tell much that the reader hasn't already correctly figured out, as it primarily focuses on Iliana's motives in carrying out her sinister plan.

The story itself doesn't actually move forward until 12 chapters in. After reading some of the other posts and many other negative comments in the past about the Mirror Universe in general, my initial reaction is to think that fans are a little harsh about it. There are some DS9 fans that would prefer that every episode of the series had been Dominion War episodes. Battles, secret deals, hand-to-hand combat, startling revelations. And that Ferengi episodes, Vic Fontaine, Bajoran Religion and everything else, including the Mirror Universe can be just shoved out the airlock. Naturally I get a little defensive about this, but I think people have a legitimate point about the MU ... it's a disposable universe.

DS9's first foray into the MU was great. It shocked the viewer. Quark gets killed! Bashir BLOWS UP Odo! The show had teeth. But subsequent visits lead viewers to expect that mirror characters would die.

In The Soul Key the MU is still just as disposable. I don't CARE whether people die here. Ashalla could be destroyed. Terok Nor could be blown to bits. The Alliance could completely take over. It doesn't matter!

The book got interesting when it was revealed MU Sisko was actually dead and the thought came that Sisko sent Vaughn as the suitable emissary. I thought, "Ooooh that's ballsy!" And exactly the kind of thing I LIKE about the Relaunch. You can kill Our Heroes or send them to the wormhole or whatever. They ultimately didn't go through with it and like not killing Ro or Kira after their attack, I thought that was a cop out. DS9 is at it's best when it takes risks and shocks the viewers, and to have MU Illiana fill in as Emissary - my reaction was the same as the Prophets, "Meh... Not what we had in mind, but you'll do." * sigh *

But I thought that much of the plot involving the Emissary was sloppily handled. To be honest I wasn't completely sure why Vaughn was so ticked off at Sisko. I'm sure in his 80 years serving Starfleet and certainly as a member of the super-secret "Anti Section 31" faction, Vaughn has had to lie to a superior officer. And really how big was the deception to Kira? Volunteering to go on the mission?... Telling Kira "I'm going over here with Opaka."? Was that really enough for Vaughn to want to beat Sisko with a baseball bat? In all likelihood there was more to it than that, but a little more exposition was needed here.

A few mirror universe character nits: First, one of my big disappointments during the series was that, if the MU characters were primarily darker versions of their counterparts - WHY did they never show Dukat?!? Now our chance to meet him finally arrives and especially given the history between the regular Dukat and Illiana, I felt that it was an opportunity wasted. He wasn't scary at all, just another bureaucrat.

Secondly, toward the end of the book, MU Leeta wonders whether her Leeta counterpart and Ezri are also married in our universe, but previously that year one of the only other Prime Universe people she met, Rom, declares "We're married!". While repulsive to HER, I don't think she actually believed it was an impossibility for her counterpart.

Nits aside, I thought that the Taran'atar storyline was well handled. If you think about it, despite Odo's best intentions, he never was truly free. He was a slave to the Dominion, then a slave to Odo and Kira, then a slave to Illiana. Always obeying orders. Now he truly has his freedom. That said, as probably one of the few people who's LEAST favorite relaunch book is Rising Son (I have no idea what it is with Niners and Jake) the thought of revisiting that floating zoo that is the Even Odds doesn't appeal to me at all. It would have been just as interesting to see Taran'atar get back to the Founders and discover that his Gods were all gone and had literally abandoned him.

The revisit of the Ascendants storyline is a welcome one. I had to go back three or books to remember who they were - but again that's the appeal of these books and DS9 itself. I'm personally against the 5 year jump, but if it happens I'll deal with it. These are Trek books, and SOMEONE is bound to write "DS9: The Lost Years" at some point.

 

[TigerBait]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

The book got interesting when it was revealed MU Sisko was actually dead and the thought came that Sisko sent Vaughn as the suitable emissary. I thought, "Ooooh that's ballsy!" And exactly the kind of thing I LIKE about the Relaunch. You can kill Our Heroes or send them to the wormhole or whatever. They ultimately didn't go through with it and like not killing Ro or Kira after their attack, I thought that was a cop out. DS9 is at it's best when it takes risks and shocks the viewers, and to have MU Illiana fill in as Emissary - my reaction was the same as the Prophets, "Meh... Not what we had in mind, but you'll do." * sigh *

It was pretty Ballsy to attack Kira and Ro, but this got me thinking into the most ballsy thing that I've read recently in treklit, which was Selar. Selar getting taken out was one of the most shocking things that I've ever read, especially since she was established onscreen, same with Duffy. Mick Gold did get a rather nasty send off, but he wasnt a canon character.

 

[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?

They could be worshipping the Pah-Wraiths or the Prophets. Raiq doesn't call Opaka's gods false, she calls Opaka "the shaman of the false worshippers." It's always seemed to me that the Ascendants take issue with the worshippers, not the ones who are being worshipped. Take for instance Roman Catholics, Pentecostals and Mormons. Ostensibly, they're all worshipping the same Christian god, but each sect believes the others are doing it wrong. Or Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, all of which sprung out of a common root and a common deity. There have been plenty of bloody conflicts not just between the big three monotheistic religions, but between sects within them as well. So I find it more compelling that the Ascendants are worshipping the same Prophets who made Sisko their Emissary.

Now, as to what the hell they're doing sticking Iliana in there, I have no f'n clue. But clearly the Prophets are up to some weird shenanigans, so I'm not that surprised.

Well, the Prophets seem to be in a place the others want... or something. I'm thinking it might be a bit of- Satan is cast out, so he, or humans who violently don't like religious people for instance, and can't actually fight with God, turn on the people that have faith in said God type of deal? Maybe trying to rid space of all who don't worship who the Ascendants do- maybe the same attitude as Weyoun, if no one's around to worship you, you can't be a God...

Dunno- we'll find out!

 

[Sean Aaron]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

I quite enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the continuation. The Never-Ending Sacrifice looks to be a compelling "Stitch In Time-esque" novel so I'll definitely pick that up.

What's all this Typhon-pact business though? I cannot say I'm terribly keen to jump into another storyline yet and I've never bought the companion books to these crossover events; I'm just a DS9 fan when it comes to the books...

 

[nx1701g]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

What's all this Typhon-pact business though? I cannot say I'm terribly keen to jump into another storyline yet and I've never bought the companion books to these crossover events; I'm just a DS9 fan when it comes to the books...

Spoiler: Typhon Pact

In the current post Nemesis/Pre Star Trek XI continuity the Borg launched a last ditch offensive against the Alpha Quadrant with over (if I recall correctly) 7,000 ships. Nearly half of the Federation has been destroyed as have parts of the Klingon and Romulan territories. Fleets from every major power have been decimated after every major power, I think only the Tholians said no, were coordinated inside the Azure nebula and wiped out when the Borg arrived. Since the Federation President blackmailed many of them into helping the Federation, powers that weren't allied with the Federation created their own alliance in a recent book. The member races of the Typhon Pact (consisting of the Romulan Star Empire, the Holy Order of the Kinshaya, the Tzenkethi Coalition, the Breen Confederacy, the Gorn Hegemony, and the Tholian Assembly) disrupted Federation rebuilding efforts through a Ferengi named Sekki in A Singular Destiny. There will be a miniseries focusing on them in 2010 that will bring DS9 to the current timeline.

 

[DS9Continuing]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

All of these various empires and nations lead me to wonder - how tough is it for an author to come up with yet another different word for a nation whenever they invent a new race? Empire, Union, State, Hegemony, Alliance, Assembly, Order, Collective... there can't be many words left to use.

 

[nx1701g]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

I don't think that it'd be too difficult. Just using the words association, empire, group, and kingdom in Microsoft Office I got these:

Alliance
Amalgamation
Association
Coalition
Company
Confederation
Domain
Faction
Group
Kingdom
Monarchy
Partnership
Realm
Sovereignty
Territory
Troop
Unit

 

[Who_Trek]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

I just finished "Key" and really really enjoyed it. Which surprised me, because I didn't really expect to: I've found the whole mirror universe storyline a little confusing at times. But Key cleared up everything, and had a crackerjack ending to boot. I'm looking forward to the next installments.

 

[Sean Aaron]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

I don't want to derail, but Typhon Pact sounds pretty radical. I'd really prefer to just let the DS9 relaunch threads continue without jumping into that!

In fact I wouldn't mind seeing Mirror Universe novels continuing the storyline from Soul Key before this new shake-up (see, back on-topic!).

 

[nx1701g]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

I don't want to derail, but Typhon Pact sounds pretty radical. I'd really prefer to just let the DS9 relaunch threads continue without jumping into that!

It's a lot more interesting when you read the novels associated with its development.

 

[DS9forever]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

I just finished "Key" and really really enjoyed it. Which surprised me, because I didn't really expect to: I've found the whole mirror universe storyline a little confusing at times. But Key cleared up everything, and had a crackerjack ending to boot. I'm looking forward to the next installments.

That's one of the criticisms I had of "Warpath", I found it confusing at times as well.

 

[DS9Continuing]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

I don't know if I'm just fantastically more intelligent than everyone else, but I never found any of this storyline confusing. I followed what was going on perfectly well at all times, and I sometimes seem to be the only one.

 

[JD]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

It's not just you, I followed every fine.

 

[RonG]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

I just finished the novel, and I wanted to post my thoughts before moving on to Unworthy and Never-Ending Sacrifice

I thoust TSK was an okay novel. it was a fast read, and a bit light on plot developments IMO. The "twists" regarding the MU Emissary left me kinda.. meh..
I would have preferred Vaughn staying in the MU as the Emissary - it seemed fitting somehow.

Regarding the novel's basic premise, I find the last couple of years worth of fascination with the MU a bit too much. But if we can leave the MU (Mack's MU novel notwithstanding) alone for a while (or forever..). I'd be a happy camper. Maybe this was what Destiny was for the Borg - a final hurrah.

The ending was very foreboding and ominous, just the way I like it, if only I didn't know about the 5 year jump to deal with the Typhon Pact next .. I suppose it's not "fair" to judge TSK on account of editorial decisions regarding the overall arc / direction of the DS9-R, but it makes this novel, and even the whole MU arc (from WoDS9 onwards) seem like filler, and considering the wait between entries in each series, I think the readers deserve more...

 

[JD]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

I somewhat agree with you there. I think they should leave the MU alone in the DS9 books, but I wouldn't mind seeing it continue in it's series.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>

This novel is a bit slow for me; even in the previous book, I thought the Ghemor part of the novel were slower than the Nerys section...

I think am spoiled by Kevin Ryan's fast-paced/well-developed 'Errand of...' series....but since TSK is in my book pile, I may give it another go later on....