I thoroughly enjoyed Well of Souls from the Lost Era series.
Good, good.
Always glad to see other fans who like it. It's one of my favourites, and probably the most controversial on my favourites list (that is, most of the other entries are held in high esteem by a majority, whereas
Well of Souls has precarious status among readers in general).
I am still very disappointed that the Enterprise-C has not been giving more page space. Am I the only one that would like to see a follow up/prequel novel? I would love Ilsa J. Bick be the author that follows it up.
I'd love a follow-up, yes, though much as I loved Bick's approach I think I'd prefer someone else handle the characters from here on. After all, they're all (the crew, I mean) in a better place by the end of the novel, and it should stay that way; as great as Bick's emotionally draining and highly provocative approach to character is, I think it would be too much to have another book of psychological turbulence. I suspect, based on her other Trek work, that she'd write it as "heavy" as the first, and I might not enjoy it so much the second time. But having her characters picked up by someone else; that I'd love to see.
However, I could barely even FINISH Well of Souls, I found it so impenetrable and confusing.
Let's put it this way: If I didn't know any better I would have suspected that Well of Souls had been written by Myrshak and Culbreath, I hate it that much.
You make baby Bokai cry,
Mr Laser Beam.
I'm lazy and tired tonight, so I'll mostly repurpose my words from the last time it came up, even though I'm without tequila this time:
"It's certainly not everyone's cup of tea. I can understand why many might find it a slog to get through. But I enjoyed the characters and the stark humanity of it. It's a bit over the top in its tone, perhaps, but there's a point to it, a genuine catharsis of sorts that I appreciate. There's an emotional intensity and a raw familiarity to the writing and the characters that would become draining if it was standard for
Trek novels, but made - and still makes, in my experience - for a very engrossing read. It made me care for Garrett and her crew, and I know there are readers who had an opposite response, but it worked for me".
I also like to add that since
A Stitch in Time is an absolute favourite of mine, the connections made to it in
Well of Souls delight me; there's a pivotal scene with Tain that takes on so much greater meaning when you read
Well of Souls. This book manages to add brilliance to
A Stitch in Time, and besides thereby bettering further one of my favourite pieces of fiction, it's also a perfect example of why having interconnected stories in continuity with one another is such a draw.
