Greater Than the Sum

[Starbreaker]

GTTS is the best of the five TNG novels before Destiny, by leaps and bounds. T'Ryssa Chen is the best character to be introduced in Star Trek literature in years. The themes of family and procreation work really well within this novel. The appearance of Hugh came as a total shock and was very effective.

The dialogue between Picard and Guinan is one of my favorite scenes in all of TrekLit. This definitely wasn't a cookie cutter Borg invasion story. This is actually the only one of the five novels that doesn't end abruptly as well. There's a cliffhanger, but there's actually a scene that wraps up the novel unlike the others.

So, Christopher, major kudos for this novel. The only minor nitpick I had, is just when the Borg start to beam over to the Enterprise, there is a lot of internal dialogue with Rennan Koya that I thought really killed the momentum of the story.

Also, is the character of Sekmal a little nod to Selmak from SG1, or am I reading too much into things?

And... after that cliffhanger I've decided that I'm going to start right into Destiny (already read 50 pages).

 

[Thrawn]

I didn't like GTTS as much, but I'm glad you did. I've enjoyed reading your reviews of these books, and I hope you love Destiny...it's a hell of a ride.

Out of curiosity, have you read any of the DS9 or Titan books that take place before Destiny?

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

GttS was indeed a good novel and Chen was without a doubt my favorite new Trek character. I have to say that I didn't like the cliffhanger as much. It seemed to be a bit of a hamfisted miscalculation. They spend the whole damned book saying how important it was to destroy the Frankenstein before it returns to the collective. Then they do defeat it and the epilogue shows it didn't make the least bit of difference. Maybe it was supposed to be ironic but I felt all it did was invalidate everything that preceded it. Don't get me wrong I liked the book (though BD was my favorite of the Borg Trilogy) and I'm looking forward to reading Destiny but that turd of an epilogue really hurt the read for me.

 

[Christopher]

So, Christopher, major kudos for this novel.

Thanks!

The only minor nitpick I had, is just when the Borg start to beam over to the Enterprise, there is a lot of internal dialogue with Rennan Koya that I thought really killed the momentum of the story.

Sorry it didn't work for you. I needed a scene with Konya involved in combat with the Borg because Dave included a line to that effect in Destiny, and having the Borg actually board the ship in the climax helped pump up the action, at least in theory. But since it was my only scene from Konya's POV, I ended up putting his backstory there, and I guess I can see how that could be a distraction.

Also, is the character of Sekmal a little nod to Selmak from SG1, or am I reading too much into things?

Nothing to do with Selmak. As I've mentioned before, T'Ryssa Chen was based on a character I created for a Trek-meets-D&D role-playing game I once played with a friend of mine, and the character names in the Rhea crew are in-joke references to my friend and her various D&D characters. For instance, her mage character had a pseudodragon familiar named Bazzle, hence the Saurian Captain Bazel. I actually don't remember what character name I played around with to produce "Sekmal," but I assume it came from the same source as the others.

 

[Starbreaker]

I didn't like GTTS as much, but I'm glad you did. I've enjoyed reading your reviews of these books, and I hope you love Destiny...it's a hell of a ride.

Out of curiosity, have you read any of the DS9 or Titan books that take place before Destiny?

I read Avatar - Twilight back when they first came out and Taking Wing way back when. It's already done a good job of filling in the gaps so far. I'll definitely go back and read everything post-Nemesis at some point. I just want to keep this Borg narrative rolling.

 

[Thrawn]

Cool, I was just curious. I've wondered how well Destiny would play to someone that didn't know the Titan crew at all.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

Other than Riker, Troi and Tuvuk I don't know the Titan crew at all. I'll let you know.

 

[Starbreaker]

Cool, I was just curious. I've wondered how well Destiny would play to someone that didn't know the Titan crew at all.

I don't really remember anyone other than Vale and Melora... so we'll see.

 

[Garm Bel Iblis]

I hate Chen. She's so.... I dunno...she's like a damned hippee or something. "Look at me! I'm a free spirit and so ironic!" She's much more clever in her own mind than she really is. No one interrupts Jean-Luc Picard and endears themselves to him.

 

[JoeP]

I hate Chen. She's so.... I dunno...she's like a damned hippee or something. "Look at me! I'm a free spirit and so ironic!" She's much more clever in her own mind than she really is. No one interrupts Jean-Luc Picard and endears themselves to him.

This. 100%. Though, I didn't really find her all that annoying in Losing the Peace.

 

[Garm Bel Iblis]

I hate Chen. She's so.... I dunno...she's like a damned hippee or something. "Look at me! I'm a free spirit and so ironic!" She's much more clever in her own mind than she really is. No one interrupts Jean-Luc Picard and endears themselves to him.

This. 100%. Though, I didn't really find her all that annoying in Losing the Peace.

I really hated the way she treated Taurik. She knows damned well that vulcans supress such violent emotions yet she acts surprised when Taurik supresses his grief for the loss of his family. That and she flips him off

 

[JoeP]

I hate Chen. She's so.... I dunno...she's like a damned hippee or something. "Look at me! I'm a free spirit and so ironic!" She's much more clever in her own mind than she really is. No one interrupts Jean-Luc Picard and endears themselves to him.

This. 100%. Though, I didn't really find her all that annoying in Losing the Peace.

I really hated the way she treated Taurik. She knows damned well that vulcans supress such violent emotions yet she acts surprised when Taurik supresses his grief for the loss of his family. That and she flips him off

Haha...yeah, I guess you do have a point there.

 

[chelly]

Wasn't that after her father after 20 plus years calls her out of the blue to ask about her mother.

OR was it after she found out that her mother was on another ship and that she died. Her mother didn't even have her listed as a next of kin. (though she may not have changed it after her daughter was born)

I could be remembering the scenes wrong its been a while since I read Losing the Peace. Also don't forget I think at this point she knows that the one person is leaving the ship.

I didn't like her too much in that book, but I think the situation sort of brought out her vulcan side.

 

[Christopher]

I really hated the way she treated Taurik. She knows damned well that vulcans supress such violent emotions yet she acts surprised when Taurik supresses his grief for the loss of his family.

Trys has spent her life resisting other people's reflex to stereotype her as Vulcan, particularly because of her abandonment issues pertaining to her Vulcan father. Not to mention that the Vulcans she's dealt with have tended to look on her with scorn and disapproval for her failure to live up to their expectations of someone who looks Vulcan. So her image of Vulcans is not objective or particularly well-developed, and her attitude toward Vulcan emotional restraint has always been more one of dismissal rather than understanding. As a lifelong victim of other people's stereotypes and prejudices (and let's face it, racial stereotyping is rampant in Trek), she's not unsurprisingly reacted by developing certain counter-stereotypes of her own. So it's, well, illogical to expect her to have an instant, enlightened understanding of the Vulcan approach to grief.

 

[TerraUnam]

I think the character of Chen is one of the better ones to come along in a while. She eats tropes for breakfast, and this is what makes her compelling. Every good cast needs an imp to drive the action, and Chen does this wonderfully. The fact that she's so fallible is what makes her much better than Wesley ever was in this role.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

^ Yeah and she's a hottie too.

 

[TerraUnam]

There's always that. Rennan Konya was such a lucky dog.

I look forward to Paths of Disharmony. The synopsis indicates that diplomacy is front-and-centre, so that should provide a starring role for Chen. Furthermore the whole Andorian population/Federation conflict is custom-made for an incarnate Federation kid like Chen.

 

[MNM]

There were aspects of Greater Than The Sum I didnt like. I felt near the beginning, for what was supposed to be an important and urgent mission, they didnt seem to be moving very fast, faffing around on Earth, messing with the flower people. But that aside it was enjoyable, and I liked Chen a lot.

 

[Starbreaker]

I don't remember any time on Earth, or any flower people, and I literally read the book two days ago.

 

[MNM]

I don't remember any time on Earth, or any flower people, and I literally read the book two days ago.

The Enterprise gets recalled to Earth to discuss the Einstein situation, that seems to take a while, and then it remains in oribit for a day or so as Picard is interviewing people for the position Chen eventually takes. It may not have taken that long in actuality I suppose, it's just that the mission is clearly urgent and is portrayed that way, and yet it still seems that they take forever to get going and get there.

On the way they encounter some aliens, I forget how their race is spelled, but they are kind of plant people (they were in the Buried Age too), and time is taken up negotiating passage through their space. and again, while it might not take that long in reality, it just seems to drag on for me.