Spoilers ENT: Rise of the Federation: A Choice of Futures by C. L. Bennett Review Thread

Re: ENT: A Choice of Futures by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!

And I find your statement naive:
Anyone who read Marx, listened to Stalin, Lenin, Hrusciov, etc public and private statements knew communism's goal of expanding - a goal supported by the soviet leadership until the '80 (revolutionaries and all), when it became clear it's unattainable (beyond a few third world countries which were converted to communism). This goal was no misunderstanding on anyone's part.
The West (itself no angel) used the more enlightened Marshall plan to contain this expansion.

There was some sabre-rattling about nuclear weapons use, the latest one in the '80. Both superpowers based their strategy on MAD: if you attack with nuclear weapons, we're both dead. No misunderstanding here (both sides knew their position, their opponent's position and the goals that motivated them).

When both power blocks wanted to put aside their differences (communism being on the losing side of the ideological struggle) we had disarmament. No misunderstanding here, either.

The misunderstandings between cultures are VERY seldom about essential aspects (on the rare occasions when they are about essentials, you can only find them in oligarchic/theocratic societies, ruled by irrational meme-sets).
Between allies such misunderstandings - if they exist - are always about trivialities.

Name one war that was caused by 'misunderstandings' and I'll name you 10 wars (off the top of my head) that contained no misunderstandings whatsoever about the enemy and his goals.

 

Re: ENT: A Choice of Futures by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!

Never mind...

 

Re: ENT: A Choice of Futures by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!

I really enjoyed this novel. After To Brave the Storm, I was afraid it would be the last Enterprise novel, so I was glad to see the series continue on. I can't wait for Tower of Babel!

 

Re: ENT: A Choice of Futures by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!

Good call

 

Re: ENT: A Choice of Futures by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!

To change the subject.... Christopher you stated above that novel#2 in this series is complete? If so are you looking to do a third one?

 

Re: ENT: A Choice of Futures by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!

I'm hopefully just a couple of hours from finishing up my revised draft on Book 2, since it's due today. I expect a Book 3, but I haven't been formally asked yet.

 

Re: ENT: A Choice of Futures by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!

Christopher, I don't normally do this but as an amateur student of history (who has often held forth on my theory that the sentiments expressed in Sting's "I hope the Russians love their children too" song was naive claptrap that wholly misunderstood the Soviet mindset to anyone who makes the mistake of sitting still too long any time the subject comes up) I would be interested in reading your reply, even if only in private. We both seem to share a belief in the fundamental complexity and irreducibility of history and even on the occasions that I haven't agreed with your interpretation of an event or period I've found it thought provoking reading.

 

Re: ENT: A Choice of Futures by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!

Congratulations on finishing up your revised draft and crossing my fingers you get book 3!

 

Re: ENT: A Choice of Futures by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!

Are you envisioning ROTF as a trilogy or an ongoing series? And if/when you move on from ENT, do you plan to leave things open-ended for future authors, or are you going to tie your storyline up in a nice, neat bow?

 

Re: ENT: A Choice of Futures by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!

I'm willing to continue with the series for a while yet, but it's best to keep one's plans for the future flexible -- or at the very least not to spill your whole game plan to the audience ahead of time.

 

Re: ENT: A Choice of Futures by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!

i like this book a lot. i also like the fact that there is a nod to Captain Kirk in the form of his great grandfather- Samuel A. Kirk.

 

Re: ENT: A Choice of Futures by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!

^Everyone focuses on Kirk's great-granddad, but they overlook that his great-grandmother and maternal great-great-grandfather are in the novel too. If anything, there's more of Jim Kirk in my portrayal of Val Williams than in my portrayal of Sam.

 

Re: ENT: A Choice of Futures by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!

There are cases of misunderstanding, and then there are cases of cold-blooded calculation. I don't know which is greater in number IRL.

 

Re: ENT: A Choice of Futures by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!

Christopher, I just finished A Choice of Futures and really enjoyed it. I love your work (especially Ex Machina, my favorite Trek novel) and look forward to your future writing projects.

 

Re: ENT: A Choice of Futures by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!

Uhh...what?

 

Re: ENT: A Choice of Futures by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!

^
I was putting in a word on the conversation between Christopher and Edit_XYZ.

 

Re: ENT: A Choice of Futures by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!

Oh, okay. I was just having a hard time trying to figure out if your post related to Kirk's grand-parents in some way or was simply a non-sequitur that had wandering in here by accident. Mystery solved, moving on...

 

Re: ENT: A Choice of Futures by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!

I wasn't quite sure about how this story would be set up going in. I guess a part of me was expecting more of it to be set in the corridors of power on Earth and the other founding planets, akin to what I've heard about Articles of the Federation. (I haven't read that volume for myself, so apologies if I've mis-categorized it.) But I suppose a book which, in this case, is more explicitly branded as tied to a given TV series would retain more of a focus on the ongoing concerns of the surviving on-screen characters, be they on a ship or at the negotiating table.

I guess the closest comparison I can make in my own mind is with Harbinger, in how this book aims to start a new line of stories with a common theme. (It's not a wholly fair comparison, since Vanguard was a new setting with a mostly-new cast of predominantly non-canon characters; but it's the closest my limited exposure to recent Franchise Trek novels will allow.)

But even with that distinction in mind, I'm not sure if A Choice of Futures works for me in quite the same way that Harbinger did, in terms of laying the groundwork for an ongoing fiction line I can invest myself in.

That's not to denigrate any of the work that went into this book. Far from it. The attention to detail put into world-building is commendable, and makes me think of how easy it was to slip into the vision of a later era's Federation in the author's The Buried Age (which is still one of my favourite Trek novels). And I'm not saying that I hate this book either, or even that I don't like it; just that it didn't quite jump off the page for me in quite the same way as Harbinger or TBA.

Perhaps in hindsight, once Tower of Babel is out (which, hopefully, will be followed by more books in this series), my impression of ACoF will change in light of the broader story arc this volume helps set the stage for.

 

Re: ENT: A Choice of Futures by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!

Finally finished today. A very enjoyable read. I gave it "above average" because, as my boss says when annual reviews come around, NOBODY gets an "outstanding".

;-)

 

Re: ENT: A Choice of Futures by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!

I'm a bit later than everyone else in getting around to reading this one, but I have to say that I thought this was the best Trek I've read in years. I also have to admit that I never liked the character of Reed in the TV series, but his speech to the crew...well, let's just say it literally made me get all teary-eyed. I'm not sure a Trek novel ever had that effect on me to this point. I understand Malcolm a lot more now.

All in all, a fantastic book and I can't wait for the next one! Thanks, Christopher!