Spoilers ENT: Rise of the Federation: Live by the Code by Christopher L. Bennett Review Thread
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Putting this in a spoiler box for people who haven't finished the book yet, just in case...
Honestly, my goal was to explain why all these species -- not to mention the Ware -- were never seen again in the 23rd or 24th century. They've basically ceased to exist as starfaring entities. Mostly, they've either reverted to a basically animal existence in the wilds of their home/colony worlds or become subsumed into the Klingon Empire, or both (although I implied that the Klingons wouldn't find them useful enough to enslave). The lucky ones are under the protection of the Balduk, but they aren't likely to have much of an interstellar presence ever again. The "conglomeration of races" is gone, period. It has no future. The individual species will endure, but their Ware-enabled collective civilization is destroyed forever. That sucks, but it's essential to the story. And even though it was the Klingons who did the deed, the outcome is the consequence of Section 31's actions, and arguably of Starfleet's intervention in general. And it's a terrible loss -- not as bad as the total extinction of the species involved, because I'm not David Mack, but still drastic and irreversible. And that's what motivates Archer's decision to push for a non-interference policy and Trip's decision to turn on Section 31. So I can't let the Federation off the hook by reversing this loss, by going "Oh, it's okay, the Partnership got all better again."
Essentially, most of Ware space is Klingon space from now on. It's that "peninsula" of Klingon territory adjacent to the Romulan Neutral Zone on the Star Charts maps. Though some portion of it may eventually be Federation territory.
Interesting. It's fascinating to think about an entire spacefaring society going feral. It'd be great to hear some FDC official remind Kirk of the "Crimes of the Vol'Rala" or the "Trial at Cotesc" in a future novel. But I digress...
I also am a huge fan of how even "background" aliens like the Balduk or the Saurians are given a coat of verisimilitude. That was always a strength of the Enterprise show that went unnoticed. We weren't watching bumpy headed aliens go up against primary colored future people; to me at least, Enterprise represented a future that could easily lead to the future depicted in TOS, but also seemed like a logical middle step between now and then. No alien race is "background"; everything "alien" is new and interesting and worth learning more about. That's the primary reason I'm loving the RotF continuation/relaunch novels.
Just a small question here, and I'm sure the annotations will provide some answers, but did you have an actor in mind for Hari from the Vol'Rala? It almost felt like there was a likeness you were describe that matched up to somebody, but I wound up seeing him as a seasoned Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Basically, Hari Banerji is a cross between Dr. Goodfellow from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Dr. Bergman from Space: 1999... as played by Sir Ben Kingsley.
@Christopher: About the partnership...if they all decided to take up fishing instead, you would have had to name the novel Live by the Cod. So your way probably works better...
Lol!
Actually when the title first come out , I thought it would refer to a "code of honor". And the way my brain works, I thought back to the book What Price Honor,, and thought maybe it was referencing a moral crisis of some sort in which Malcolm (or perhaps Travis, since he was on the "away team" ) would have to address some moral grey area and act on their own code of honor.
Though my best guess was Trip coming to the realization that his moral "code" didn't mesh with Section31 and he'd come "out from the cold". Though it looks like I'm wrong on the meaning of the code (and I liked where that went) it appears I may be getting what I want in regards to Trip. Yippee !
I intended the title to have a multiple meaning. It's largely a play on computer code, but it also alludes to the codes of behavior and morality that the other characters of the novel (Klingon, Starfleet, Partnership, etc.) strive -- or fail -- to live up to.
Nice! The old English Major in me appreciates the multiple meanings,
Oh, and Christopher..shouldn't you change your avatar to reflect the most current book cover? Which is awesome BTW.
You're probably right, but I just like the Uncertain Logic cover so much. Plus, I'm lazy.
I really like it also. Didn't you say you designed that cover? Did you design the most recent cover?
I didn't design either cover. I suggested the idea for the Uncertain Logic cover, and Doug Drexler picked my brain for possibilities for the Live by the Code cover.
I've been following the Rise of the Federation series since it came out, and I'm really enjoying it so far, which is kind of funny, since I didn't like the original ENT relaunch series very much (Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangles's work, although Last Full Measure was pretty good). Even more ironically, one thing I really didn't like about the relaunch is the way it overwrote the ENT finale; unless it's made to be a "what-if" story or an older book overwritten by later material, I tend to prefer by Trek books to adhere to the TV shows and movies.
But, in the Rise series, I think the "Trip survives" plot works for me (probably because Mr. Bennett focuses not on the "super spy" aspect, but on the effects that living that life would have on a person). On a similar note for this story, I think I prefer the Ware's origins being mysterious in canon (it makes it more creepy), but I love the way they were handled here. The Ware's origins were in simple greed and oversight, not evil; the Partnership was in a catch-22, since the Ware couldn't be allowed to stay because of the threat it posed for other civilizations, but couldn't be destroyed without taking the Partnership with it. I also respect Mr. Bennett for being willing to not cop out with a happy ending.
I'm also enjoying the story about Capt. Kirk's great-grandparents. Hope there's some interesting stuff in the future for them. Also nice to see little-used ENT characters get more to do. I'm especially glad Elizabeth Cutler is getting more to do; my first encounter with the character was in the early ENT novel By the Book, which made her a favorite of mine due to the fact that the authors gave her an unusually distinct personality and voice considering she was only a supporting character. It'd be kind of fun to see her RPG hobby come up again somewhere.
Looking forward to the next Rise of the Federation book (and the online annotations). Out of curiosity, is there a set point for the series to end (like X number of books or when the story reaches a specific year/event?), or is it slated to continue as long as there's demand for it?
But, in the Rise series, I think the "Trip survives" plot works for me (probably because Mr. Bennett focuses not on the "super spy" aspect, but on the effects that living that life would have on a person). On a similar note for this story, I think I prefer the Ware's origins being mysterious in canon (it makes it more creepy), but I love the way they were handled here. The Ware's origins were in simple greed and oversight, not evil; the Partnership was in a catch-22, since the Ware couldn't be allowed to stay because of the threat it posed for other civilizations, but couldn't be destroyed without taking the Partnership with it. I also respect Mr. Bennett for being willing to not cop out with a happy ending.
I'm also enjoying the story about Capt. Kirk's great-grandparents. Hope there's some interesting stuff in the future for them. Also nice to see little-used ENT characters get more to do. I'm especially glad Elizabeth Cutler is getting more to do; my first encounter with the character was in the early ENT novel By the Book, which made her a favorite of mine due to the fact that the authors gave her an unusually distinct personality and voice considering she was only a supporting character. It'd be kind of fun to see her RPG hobby come up again somewhere.
Looking forward to the next Rise of the Federation book (and the online annotations). Out of curiosity, is there a set point for the series to end (like X number of books or when the story reaches a specific year/event?), or is it slated to continue as long as there's demand for it?
Thanks, but I can't take the credit for that; the outcome was pretty much forced by the circumstances. We know that the 23rd-century Federation doesn't have access to the kind of replication and cybernetics technology that the automated repair station in "Dead Stop" used, and neither did the Klingons or other regional powers in the era. So if I was going to have Starfleet encounter the technology again, I had to resolve the story in a way that led to the total destruction of the technology. The rest was just about finding a way to make that meaningful rather than just a plot convenience. (I also used the situation as a way to account for the lack of advanced robotics and automation in the Federation. Like genetic engineering, it's something they turned away from after seeing the cost of its abuse.)
That isn't decided yet.
You kidding? TATV, quite literally, deserves to be overwritten.
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I finished the book last night and I really liked Phlox's storyline on Denboula with his daughter getting married and the complications of family relationships. I'm really liked the fact Live by the code had so many different maeanings in this book. I liked the Klingon and Andorian story line and that certain decsions and actions of certain people can long lasting consequnces. . I'm glad the Orion storyline is on hiatus. I was tired of the venus drug storyline in the last couple books.I liked there were Klingons and Andorians who had honor and wanted to the right thing. I'm so glad Trip got a good storyline and Hoshi figured out Trip was a spy and wasn't as upset as Travis was. I was also glad Samuel Kirk and Valerie finally got together and Hoshi told Sam to tell how he about Valerie and what happened to her fiancé Kwan was well wriiten.
I was surprised by Phlox's son Metus appearing in the book and the shocking conclusion of him killing his sister's Antean father in law And the Antean's hate group kidnapping Metus was totally unexpected I did like the conclusion of this storyline.
I was surprised about Trip and T'Pol's bond being block and the mystery if they ever be able to talk telepathically again will be explored in future books
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Honestly, I doubt they will. That was a rather anomalous ability they were given in season 4, something we haven't seen in any Vulcan bond before. To be honest, the only reason the bond went away in the first place is because I had to avoid having their bond kick in while T'Pol was in trouble in Uncertain Logic (because I was telling the two parallel plots out of chronological sequence at that point and it would've confused matters), but then I realized I could use that lack of connection as a story device, and then I realized that, since it's so unusual an ability, maybe it was a freak occurrence to begin with and shouldn't be permanent. More importantly, I felt it was too much of a magic convenience for them. It made it a bit too easy for them to be content with their current status quo, and I wanted to shake them -- especially Trip -- out of that, to motivate events going forward.
The stuff with the drug was only in Tower of Babel.
Christopher thank you for answering my question about Trip and T'Pol your answer does make sense for moving their story forward in the next book. I really hope Phlox will be in the next book too.It would be interesting to see Jeremy Lucas being the doctor aboard Endeavour and seeing how he interacts with the crew.
I don't know, there are worse episodes and movies in the franchise. The main reason I wish that the ENT relaunch had not decided to conflict with canon is that I prefer the novels that read like they could fit into the TV shwos. The fact that the relaunch's version of the finale was worse and even more improbable than the canonical version (in my opinion) hasn't helped; The bookends for The Good That Men Do seemed to be dedicated saying: "Look how awful 'These Are the Voyages...' was and how much better out take is," while I was thinking: "I think this explanation is even worse, and your commentary seems really mean spirited."
On the other hand, since the novels aren't canonical in the first place, it's a great place to bends the rules a bit, explore other possibilities, and take these risks. I'm loving the Rise of the Federation series, am actually enjoying reading about a Trip Tucker that lived, and am overall happy. I guess, because of my lack of dislike for "These Are the Voyages..." and storytelling preferences, I'm liking the series in spite of it's inconsistencies with the TV show, and not because of them.
TATV is a good episode, with one or two issues, that have been fixed in the novels. As an episode, it's fine. As a finale for Enterprise though, it sucked the biggest balls ever, because it was a episode of TNG, not Enterprise. A lot of ENT fans consider Demons/Terra Prime to be the actual series finale. So do I.
But technically, the novels don't conflict with the canon. Canonically, all that "These Are the Voyages..." established is that Will Riker watched a holosimulation that purported to show NX-01's final voyage and Trip Tucker's death. It didn't show those events themselves, just a dramatization of them. And even the simulation doesn't explicitly show Trip dead -- it shows him being slid into the sickbay scanner and then it shows T'Pol and Archer speaking of his death afterward. There's wiggle room even within the context of the events as shown. That's the whole reason the books were allowed to contradict the simulation in the first place -- because the canon only says that the simulation exists, not that it's accurate. As long as the books acknowledged that the simulation existed and was believed to be correct, they weren't conflicting with the letter of the canon.
It's basically Reichenbach Falls. When Arthur Conan Doyle wrote Sherlock Holmes's death in "The Final Problem," he intended it to be permanent (or at least he claimed he did). But he didn't actually show Holmes going over the Falls; he just showed Watson getting a farewell letter from Holmes and concluding that he and Moriarty must have gone over the Falls. So that made it dead simple (no pun intended) to establish the retcon that Holmes had faked his death. As long as it's not firsthand, it doesn't have to stick. (With the exception of Uncle Ben's offscreen murder in Spider-Man's origin story.)
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