Spoilers ENT: Rise of the Federation: Tower of Babel by C. L. Bennett Review Thread

Yeah. The implication seems to be that the Federation Starfleet really is a federal-level institution as early as 2161, but it is divisions consist of the old space services of the pre-Federated member states, transferred away from member authority and joined together under federal authority. Thus, the 1701, even as late as the 2260s, was part of the UESPA division of the Federation Starfleet (with UESPA answering to the Federation government through the Federation Starfleet Chiefs of Staff, not to the U.E. government), while the Constellation was part of the Andorian Guard division of the Federation Starfleet (again, answering to the Federation government rather than the Andorian government).

 

Yes. My model is the European Space Agency, which is a cooperative effort of the various member nations' space agencies, which provide resources, personnel, materials, and funding to the overall whole. Presumably over time it becomes more integrated, but some remnant of the early subdivisions remains in place as part of the organizational structure well into the 23rd century.

 

Which clears that confusion up to my satisfaction. Merci.

 

What about the diverse Starbase 47 - Vanguard?

 

My assumption is that by the 23rd century, the divisions that started out as separate planets' space agencies have become more just organizational branches of a unified, multispecies Starfleet, with the species/national divisions mostly fading -- which is why the human-crewed Constellation and Antares had insignias for what were originally Andorian and Tellarite fleets. Perhaps those branches are still administered from offices on Andor, Tellar, etc., but the crews wouldn't be formally segregated on racial lines.

But there can be other interpretations. IDW's Burden of Knowledge portrayed the Andorians and Tellarites as still having separate fleets (using ENT-era ship designs) in the TOS era.

 

Rise of the Federation has the Vulcan Space Council as the Confederacy of Vulcan's Starfleet space agency, right? What relation does the Vulcan Space Council have to the Vulcan Defense Directorate and the Vulcan Defense Force mentioned in The Romulan War novels?

 

Just need to rant a bit.....

Ordered my copy on the 23rd... Took 6 days for it to ship, so last saturday I got the mail it was shipped to my adres. Today, still nothing. Everything's sorted, I just need to re-order. But that means another 5 day wait, not including the weekend. Well f**k.....

 

TRW established that T'Pau was decommissioning Vulcan's military fleet after the war ended, so I'd assume those are defunct.

 

That explains it. Thanks.

 

I finished the book today. Best Trek book of 2014 so far Looking forward to the next installment.

 

i just finished. It seemed to be slow going in many spots, perhaps due to the shifting many POVs. After another reading I will see if my opinion is modified.

 

I need to speed this up a bit; then again, I have a lot to say. Chapter five:

"Meanwhile, on Sauria..."

Trip has a subplot in this novel, naturally, and it ties in with the established arc on Sauria, where he's now undercover as both his brother and his dead clone. I like this slow-burning Sauria arc, which presumably will come to a climax in later books. Having subplots threading slowly through the series is appropriate to what in many ways is unavoidably an historical world-building exercise - the major lure of this series is, of course, the "rise of the Federation", and that's by definition a process. RoTF is primarily focused on a particular section of the timeline rather than a part of the setting or a character, though naturally it zooms in selectively there as well. So it's good to see things unfolding in steady development across multiple books. These shouldn't be disconnected adventures, as much as telling a self-contained story is important; there has to be a backbone to it. Sauria seems a good choice, since we can see how this will blossom into a major dilemma for the UFP on multiple fronts - politically, militarily, philosophically, morally.

A Date to the Prom(ellia):

A surprising piece of world-building now when we're outlined the history and origin of Babel. Besides nods to established snippets like the Ramatis Choral Debates (mentioned in A Less Perfect Union), Menthar and Promellia are brought up as integral to the history/mythology of the place -something I really wasn't expecting. I like novels like these for fleshing out a universe I love in even greater detail (among other reasons, naturally), but sometimes my love of the continuity details can be a bit methodical, obsessing over the trivia and minutiae as I do. Compared to, say, the emotional impact or the enjoyment of the prose, that part of my response to a Trek story is a little one-note. So it's nice to have a continuity link that truly takes me by surprise.

I also note the implicit confirmation that the various reused Promellian makeups (Algolians, "Pardshay's race") are indeed Promellian descendants (I guess that explains how Algol, too, supports complex life?). I suppose Menthar and Promellia, with their epic, doomed struggle waging across the stars, are suitably mythic in concept to be the creators of Babel. And, really, for the name to really work there had to be a colossal failure tied into its creation, a massive undertaking that just didn't succeed. The Menthar and Promellians, consumed by their great holy war, presumably ran afoul of the trap Thoris was telling us about. We all know it wasn't the gods that caused them to fail. Still, they left a legacy for the rest of the galaxy, so there's that.

The scene at Babel gives us another look at the ideological divide within the young Federation; I suppose it's only realistic that they'd form unofficial camps, even if not (thank the gods) official parties. Internal Federation politics is an area that could always use more exploration, no matter which era we're in. In many ways, it's even more interesting than the international politics. If you offend the Tholians, they'll go behind their borders and sulk for a few decades, shoot you a few evils, refuse to trade with you or, if they're feeling particularly testy, blow up an outpost or two and then just ignore you when you shout at them. You haven't got it so easy when you're disagreeing with your committed friends and allies. When you're entangled with someone, when you all want to remain engaged and committed and unified, but you find one another's positions suspect, distasteful, foolish or just plain wrong, the consequences are both so much less severe and yet so much more unpalatable.

Where's my wife and family? What if I die here? Who'll be my role model, now that my role model is gone?

T'Rama makes a good impression (did she ever do much in the Romulan War books other than exist as a continuity easter egg? Not that I, of all people, am complaining about continuity easter eggs, but I think this is really the first real exploration of her character we've had. I'll count it as her introduction). Not a bodyguard any more, she's here on Babel to give us some Vulcan goodness.

Also, this is Sarek's chronologically earliest appearance. He doesn't get much to do, but then he doesn't have limbs or distinct organs yet, so there we are.

Between Ericson earlier in the book and all this (interesting) talk of balancing family with other concerns, it seems that the novel is indeed having Archer examine the missing domestic aspect to his life, a rather fresh look at the character. Well, he's not directly commanding a ship anymore, he should be widening his priorities. I also liked the implicit comparison-contrast between Vulcan and Rigelian societies (you'll recall my enthusing about Orion-Tellarite comparisons last book).

Next time: Pink smiling hypnotic lizards! Someone's been in the Saurian Brandy, I fear.

 

^Wow, you're good at spotting my obscure Easter eggs and recognizing what I was going for. Keep posting analyses like this and I won't even need to do annotations.

 

Finished it yesterday. Not bad. I do enjoy the exploration of the early history of the Federation , although the political debates and veiled references to 21st century politics gets a little tedious.
Trip's struggles within the confines of Section 31 and his relationship with T'Pol are the best parts of this book. I would love for Trip and T'Pol to have an even larger role in the next novel.
The only real issue I have with this series is that it is never able to build real dramatic tension. Even though the "bad guys" pull all kinds of stunts and tricks you know the good guys will win, and that everyone will live happily ever after. I realize that most Trek has same structure, but this series of novels just don't get my pulse racing.
Otherwise, a decent read.

 

Do we really know that, though? Yes, there are some ENT characters whose futures we know a little about, but there are others, like Reed, Mayweather, Phlox, and Soval, whose futures are blank slates. And if you think about it, there are a couple of characters in the series that we know will meet with less than happy fates within the next few years.

More generally, how do we know the good guys will always win? History is full of reversals and setbacks. It's never a perfectly smooth journey. For all that we know the Federation gains, what might it lose along the way? Same for the individuals. There's always more than one thing at stake in a person's life, so even if we know a given character will achieve one goal in the long run, we don't know what losses or failures they might sustain in other ways.

 

Is T'Rama the first major Trek character in lit continuity who actually made their debut in a Strange New Worlds story? (in her case, "A Girl For Every Star" from SNW V)

 

That's true. However, in both of the Rise of the Federation books the "bad" guys have slunk away to lick their wounds and plot another dasterdly deed ( the notable exception being the Saurian megalomaniac, whose character also needs some more "screen time) and the " good" guys have moved forward relatively unscathed. Tragic loss that precedes eventual triumph is the bread and butter of many types of fiction, my complaint is that in this novel there is never the sense that anyone will suffer irreversible loss, which hurts the feeling of dramatic tension. Without any source of tension a reader is just skimming along until he or she reaches the resolution of the plot.

 

I rated it average for pretty much that reason. I knew that nothing truly bad was going to happen. I was waiting to see whether Archer's girlfriend would die or if she was a plant. That was just about the only tension in the story. Kirk being a captive was without tension, because you knew he was safe. It was just a matter of time and circumstance of how. You knew Archer was safe. You knew... well, it doesn't matter. It's a problem with prequels and franchise characters in general.

 

I agree that the string of "curses, foiled again!" reversals from the Orions and Garos could get a little old; I suppose that's another advantage to having the Sauria arc alongside (and entwined with) it, as a long-running, slow-burning plot it helps smooth over the sense of "exit stage left, shaking fist". Much as I think the use of the Orions and their Criminal Enterprises Alliance as antagonists makes perfect sense, I agree that there's a danger in having them become too ineffectual or predictable. Of course, we're only two books in to what will be at least a four-book series, so for now I don't see it as a major problem.

 

Neither do I. I trust Christopher to have some deviousness up his sleeve for the next two. I do hope that the Saurian arc and the Trip/T'pol/Section 31 story move to the forefront in the next novel.