Fearful Symmetry Review Thread (spoilers)
- Thread starter Brendan Moody
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I'll actually be within driving distance of Baltimore this year..
..but a week too soon.
Shoot. It would be nice to attend some year.
Funny note... when I looked up Harbringer in the 'indigo' database to see what stores had it, it recommended Kabuki to me. It's reassuring to see that bookstore databases know what they're talking about.
I'm surprised you could find it at all that way, since it's spelled Harbinger (and pronounced with a soft G, like "binge"). It's got nothing to do with the word "bring." But I guess that's a common enough misrendering of the word that search engines account for it.
(A harbinger is a forerunner, an early sign of something oncoming -- literally the guy who runs ahead of an army to let people in friendly villages know the troops will need room and board. Which, interestingly, is similar to the literal meaning of "vanguard" -- the advance guard, the units in front of the main body of an army.)
If her trainer had ended up being Garak, I was going to be very frustrated.
Well, we already knew from "Second Skin" that it was Entek, and that Garak and Entek were mortal enemies.
Okay, I'm going to hold off on a full review for the moment (since I don't have time before work) and just ask a couple of quick question-like comments about the subspace transporter business...
First, am I to assume that the subspace transporter is what was used in "The Jem'Hadar" to place Talak'talan on Ds9? If so, and even if not, I hope we get an explanation of why this wasn't used regularly by the Dominion during the war to plant troops wherever they were needed. If not, this is a problem. It's stated as being able to transport large loads huge distances. The war should've been over in about 10 minutes if this were the case.
Secondly, there is reference made to the fact that Dukat's transporter had been used to transport much larger loads and had been used regularly to transport to Harkoum. Did I miss this as reference to something, or has it yet to be properly explained? Hoping I'm not just dense, but the book seemed to make a point of saying it was used, or at least able, to transport a large number. My girlfriend and I both picked up on it, so I'm wondering if there's something to it.
First, am I to assume that the subspace transporter is what was used in "The Jem'Hadar" to place Talak'talan on Ds9? If so, and even if not, I hope we get an explanation of why this wasn't used regularly by the Dominion during the war to plant troops wherever they were needed. If not, this is a problem. It's stated as being able to transport large loads huge distances. The war should've been over in about 10 minutes if this were the case.
Secondly, there is reference made to the fact that Dukat's transporter had been used to transport much larger loads and had been used regularly to transport to Harkoum. Did I miss this as reference to something, or has it yet to be properly explained? Hoping I'm not just dense, but the book seemed to make a point of saying it was used, or at least able, to transport a large number. My girlfriend and I both picked up on it, so I'm wondering if there's something to it.
They were? Where was that established?
Am I misremembering? I thought it was pretty clear from their interaction in "Second Skin" that Entek and Garak hated each other.
Okay... I was probably thinking of the Obsidian Order agent from the Natima Lang episode.
I think Dukat's ownership of the tech was more of a reference to his use of it on Kira during "Covenant" where he took her from DS9 all the way to Empok Nor. As for the capabilities of the tech being used for Dominion attacks, that's a Very Good question, one I never did see addressed. One could imagine after Eris's vanishing act in "The Jem'Hadar" and certainly after Kira's abduction in "Covenant" that some kind of defense was found. But this is really one magic tech that was never elaborated on.
Regarding the use of the transporter moving large amounts of stuff to Harkoum, this will probably be a lead in to the notion of Dukat's Mad Scientist Laboratory presumably established at the long abandonded facility. Which I'm guessing is what Illiana appropriated to set forth her machinations.
This timeframes established in Fearful Symmetry give Illiana a much smaller window, relatively, in which to hatch her plots, in the matter of months from the the time between "What You Leave Behind" and the massacre of Siddau she gets a lot done. Presumably she inherited the infrastructure for her schemes from Dukat's works already in progress, i.e. Jem'Hadar bodies and stuff. But still, manipulating the Intendant and fomenting a conspiracy from a universe away, that's a trick I'd really like to see some elaboration on.
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I hadn't thought immediately of the Covenant connection. Good thought there. I'm sincerely hoping we get a legit reason for the device not being an all powerful Super Transporter. Between "The Jem'Hadar" and "Covenant" a relatively large amount of time has passed for the Dominion to use such a device at will. Aside from the problems of troop placement, what's stopping the Dominion from kidnapping every major military figure in the Federation, the president, etc. or planting bombs in every starbase? It's just a concept that needs some limitations and failings to be believable.
The large amounts of transported materials probably IS a setup for a shortcut to allow Iliana a plausible way to get so advanced with her plan in such a short time. However, the timing is particularly slim and I agree... it's a pretty thin margin. Hopefully we'll get a fleshed out answer to this to some degree in the subsequent books. I guess we'll see...
It may be that there's a receiving station at Harkoum that's necessary to allow it to beam so much mass so far. A single one acting alone may have a considerably shorter range and only be able to beam one person.
As for Talak'talan and Eris in "The Jem'Hadar," we know for a fact that T'T beamed in from a Jem'Hadar ship that had just come through the wormhole. At most, it was a transporter that could penetrate shields, but T'T materialized immediately after Kira had ordered shields raised, so maybe they just weren't up yet. As for Eris, she beamed out without there being any ships detectable in range, so it's possible that it was used there; but the question was, where was she beamed to? It would've had to be somewhere in the Alpha Quadrant, to a ship that had somehow snuck through the wormhole undetected.
As for Talak'talan and Eris in "The Jem'Hadar," we know for a fact that T'T beamed in from a Jem'Hadar ship that had just come through the wormhole. At most, it was a transporter that could penetrate shields, but T'T materialized immediately after Kira had ordered shields raised, so maybe they just weren't up yet. As for Eris, she beamed out without there being any ships detectable in range, so it's possible that it was used there; but the question was, where was she beamed to? It would've had to be somewhere in the Alpha Quadrant, to a ship that had somehow snuck through the wormhole undetected.
I finished this book yesterday and while I agree with many who were impressed by the writing, I found the overall story to be severely lacking. As others have stated, I simply expected more from the story as a whole. I would have preferred to have a whole book devoted to "Side One" and skipped "Side Two" entirely. As others have expressed here, I found "Side Two" to be fairly ... obvious. I was rarely surprised and kept hoping that we would get to a place where Iliana's story tied back in with the end of "Side One." I certainly do not wish to come across as callous, but I would have preferred a one chapter wrap up of Iliana's past before reintroducing the character as her life intersected with the end of "Side One." Devoting more than half of the book to her background story ... well, ultimately it was disappointing.
After so thoroughly enjoying the Terok Nor stories, I was very excited to read this book. While it was a fast read, and I was pleased with Ms. Woods' writing (I was initially wary of a new author on such a long awaited book), ultimately I wanted a different product. Judging the book by itself I enjoyed it. In the context of the series, I wanted something vastly different than what was delivered. I can only hope that the next book in the series will deliver on the promise of the previous works and be released in a more timely manner than this one.
After so thoroughly enjoying the Terok Nor stories, I was very excited to read this book. While it was a fast read, and I was pleased with Ms. Woods' writing (I was initially wary of a new author on such a long awaited book), ultimately I wanted a different product. Judging the book by itself I enjoyed it. In the context of the series, I wanted something vastly different than what was delivered. I can only hope that the next book in the series will deliver on the promise of the previous works and be released in a more timely manner than this one.
I agree completely. I was underwhelmed, to say the least. Now we have to wait another year or so (likely) before we will get a book which will hopefully really advance the DS9 Relaunch. (Mind you it sounds like Destiny might advance some elements a few years anyway...)
There's nothing wrong with this book at all. It's a strong debut from a new Trek novelist, it tells a story that ties in nicely with the Terok Nor trilogy and with the relaunch in general, it answers all of our questions about Iliana Ghemor and sets things in motion for the next book...
It's not the fault of Olivia Woods that the book was delayed as long as it was. It's not her fault that the next book doesn't seem to be scheduled yet, nor that she was given a book heavy on backstory rather than moving the story forward.
It's understandable that people are disappointed by the dramatic slowdown in publishing DS9, but as some great philosopher said, shit happens. I hope there'll be something announced that will kick the continuing story back into gear, because there are so many threads that need to be followed up on and because it's a great series. And this is another good book in that series. And it follows three good Terok Nor novels (well, one really amazingly good one and two quite good ones). Life for DS9 fans really isn't that bad.
It's not the fault of Olivia Woods that the book was delayed as long as it was. It's not her fault that the next book doesn't seem to be scheduled yet, nor that she was given a book heavy on backstory rather than moving the story forward.
It's understandable that people are disappointed by the dramatic slowdown in publishing DS9, but as some great philosopher said, shit happens. I hope there'll be something announced that will kick the continuing story back into gear, because there are so many threads that need to be followed up on and because it's a great series. And this is another good book in that series. And it follows three good Terok Nor novels (well, one really amazingly good one and two quite good ones). Life for DS9 fans really isn't that bad.
I think people are just disappointed as not only does it not move the story on much, but since we got a 3-part DS9 event (but not part of the relaunch) this year it seems hugely unlikely we'll get anything more than one book next year. Another trilogy really moving things on seems unlikely.
After reading this I cant help but think, damn, it's too bad that Dukat can only die once. True this is star trek, but what a *&^%*& he is. And, yes I now buy into why Iliana is so messed up in the head...how many times do you think he raped her anyways, i'm guessing well over a hundred times.
In the next book I'd love to see her reaction to find out that he's already been killed, and maybe that's a motivation for her, to find a way to contact the pagh wraiths, just so she can bring back Dukat, and kill him all over again.
I will say that this has whetted my appatite for the Terok Nor trilogy and will be starting on those as soon as Orions Hounds is completed. If that's what you were aiming for, mission accomplished guys and gals.
As for the Vaughn/Sisco "look" at the end, i might have missed something, but i have no idea whats next, can we invite some speculation.
Spec - Vaughn has to kill evil Ben, then contact our Ben to come over and contact the prophets. However, hasnt the runabout already entered the wormhole in the alternate universe? Shouldnt that be an error.
Or maybe the wormhole aliens are actually "bad" prophets, not quite pah wraith, but close. Then the alternate pah wraiths would actually be not that bad. As rom says, everything's alternate!
In the next book I'd love to see her reaction to find out that he's already been killed, and maybe that's a motivation for her, to find a way to contact the pagh wraiths, just so she can bring back Dukat, and kill him all over again.
I will say that this has whetted my appatite for the Terok Nor trilogy and will be starting on those as soon as Orions Hounds is completed. If that's what you were aiming for, mission accomplished guys and gals.
As for the Vaughn/Sisco "look" at the end, i might have missed something, but i have no idea whats next, can we invite some speculation.
Spec - Vaughn has to kill evil Ben, then contact our Ben to come over and contact the prophets. However, hasnt the runabout already entered the wormhole in the alternate universe? Shouldnt that be an error.
Or maybe the wormhole aliens are actually "bad" prophets, not quite pah wraith, but close. Then the alternate pah wraiths would actually be not that bad. As rom says, everything's alternate!
I actually enjoyed Illian's side more than side one. It's clichéd? Wow. I guess that I don't read enough spy stories or conspiracy stories or some genre or another because that was my first run around the track. I wasn't super happy when Illian popped up in Warpath since I had forgotten she had been on the show and I had just come out of a terrible evil-twin plot in a comic I followed. One thing I asked was, "Who is Illian Ghemor, and why do I care?" Oddly enough, I do care now. I kind of want her to get revenge in some manner but am uncomfortable at the thought of her being a psycho emissary.
That added plot line was my favorite part of the book. In a universe where first contact with Vulcans ended with the Vulcans being shot we now have a man who refuses to take the responsibility of being the Emissary. Sisko can't go and talk to himself because he wouldn't take his own advice; I find it a very enticing plot line.
Also, I liked the scenes with Quark in side one. His exchange with Nog had me laugh out loud which is something few non Peter David Star Trek books have managed to do. I also appreciated how Quark quickly realized that Sisko had rounded up 'the dead ones'. Putting it that way brought some sort of dark poetry to the moment that not saying it bluntly probably wouldn't have had.
Also, on the subject of Dukat, is his mirror universe counter-part still alive? Or is he gone too?
That added plot line was my favorite part of the book. In a universe where first contact with Vulcans ended with the Vulcans being shot we now have a man who refuses to take the responsibility of being the Emissary. Sisko can't go and talk to himself because he wouldn't take his own advice; I find it a very enticing plot line.
Also, I liked the scenes with Quark in side one. His exchange with Nog had me laugh out loud which is something few non Peter David Star Trek books have managed to do. I also appreciated how Quark quickly realized that Sisko had rounded up 'the dead ones'. Putting it that way brought some sort of dark poetry to the moment that not saying it bluntly probably wouldn't have had.
Also, on the subject of Dukat, is his mirror universe counter-part still alive? Or is he gone too?
He had her prisoner for fourteen years. That's over five thousand days. He didn't visit every day, of course, but I daresay your estimate is quite low.
Though not as low as Dukat. Egad.
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