Spoilers IKS Gorkon: Honor Bound by K.R.A. DeCandido Review Thread

[Defcon]

I.K.S. Gorkon: Honor Bound by Keith R.A. DeCandido

Blurb:

The Order of the Bat'leth: founded after Kahless's ascension to Sto-Vo-Kor, the Order was tasked with rooting out dishonorable behavior and spreading the word of Kahless to the Klingon people. In the subsequent millennium, the Order has become more ceremonial, but now Chancellor Martok has called the Order back to its original function -- to preserve the cause of honor.

Captain Klag of the I.K.S. Gorkon -- the newest inductee into the Order -- has given his word to the Children of San-Tarah that the Klingon Empire will leave them in peace. But Klag's old rival General Talak has ordered him to go back on his word and aid Talak in conquering the San-Tarah's world. Now Klag must stand against his fellow Klingons -- but will even his fellow members of the Order of the Bat'leth, not to mention his own crew, follow him into disobedience? Or will they betray him to Talak?

The crew of the Gorkon faces its greatest trial in a glorious adventure that will be remembered in song and story throughout the Empire!

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Honor Bound is the slightly better novel of the opening duology, simply because it pays off much of the set-up from the first book. I remember that back then I was thinking that the story would have been served best if the first two books would have been published as one big book. Anyway, even more than in Book One Honor Bound shows what a great grasp pf the Klingon Culture KRAD has, and even though there are fluctuations in the crew, Keith makes you care for the characters.
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[KRAD]

Re: IKS Gorkon: Honor Bound by K.R.A. DeCandido Review Thread (spoiler

I remember that back then I was thinking that the story would have been served best if the first two books would have been published as one big book.

I disagree completely. I know there are plenty of duologies that people look at and think "that should've been one book," but I deny vociferously that that was the case with the first two Gorkon books. A Good Day to Die was about the first contact with the San-Tarah; Honor Bound was about the conflict between Klag and Talak over what to do about the San-Tarah. It's a two-part adventure, but the two parts are separate stories.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Re: IKS Gorkon: Honor Bound by K.R.A. DeCandido Review Thread (spoiler

Voted outstanding. The Gorkon novels were beyond awesome.

 

[Jedi Ben]

Re: IKS Gorkon: Honor Bound by K.R.A. DeCandido Review Thread (spoiler

Yeah, too bad we can't have more - will just have to be content with the Klingon Art of War!

 

[Enterprise1701]

Re: IKS Gorkon: Honor Bound by K.R.A. DeCandido Review Thread (spoiler

Maybe for the 50th anniversary Pocket could restart the series?

 

[Charles Phipps]

STAR TREK: IKS GORKON: HONOR BOUND is a direct sequel to the events of A GOOD DAY TO DIE. Indeed, you could easily just package these two books together into a dictionary-sized book and it would work extremely well as a one-shot. I am a huge Klingon fan so the fact it's taken me a decade to read this series is enough for me to want Worf to help me commit seppuku. Basically, this is one long story and works well as a Duology but a lot of the previous book was just build up to this one.

The premise is Captain Klag has made a promise to the people of a newly discovered world that he's not going to let them be conquered by the Klingons. Which, being a Klingon officer, puts him in an odd position. However, the General above him refuses to honor the bargain which Klang considers to be an unforgivable sin. So, Klang calls his brothers and sisters in the Order of the Bat'leth to join him in a battle against what could be the entire Klingon Imperial Navy.

Honestly, I'm not actually entirely 100% on Klag's side here. I'm 90% on his side because conquering sapient species is wrong but the only reason he agreed to the contest (against protocol) is because he wanted to show up his brother. The General may be going against Klingon honor but no one consulted him about the deal either or Chancellor Martok. The Chancellor who would have just approved Klag and resolved the whole thing instantly. I'm not saying they should be reasonable about it, they're Klingons after all, but they should have settled this by duel.

The majority of the book is a bloody multi-part space and ground battle which climaxes with a swordfight in what can best be summarized as, "Star Trek meets Return of the Jedi." They even have the Klingon rebels teaming up with the local primitive life forms in order to overcome superir technology with the power of hope. I actually wish the fight between the two principles had been turned down earlier as it seems to be the natural resolution which should have occurred earlier but only appears when they need to resolve the plot.

There's some great moments in Honor Bound like a Klingon mother and son being unaware of the fact they're on opposite sides of this senseless war. I also like how the book (and later volumes) point out plenty of Klingons died on both sides who actually agreed with their enemies on this point of honor but followed their superiors anyway. It's a senseless war in a way over a sensible subject and that makes it an interesting topic to discuss. Basically, similar to Robb Stark trying to avenge his father and getting thousands of his subjects killed.

I also like the recurring discussion of the fact the primitive aliens, the Children of San-Tarah, are recognizing their isolation is doing them no favors. They could use technology and access to the rest of the galaxy which the Federation wouldn't provide for another "however it would take to develop space travel" which would be a few thousand years if not ever. Indeed, I like this book because of it's subtle dig at the Prime Directive. The Children of San-Tarah are every bit as mature a race as the Klingons (low hanging fruit as that may be) but just don't have a need for technology.

In conclusion, Honor Bound is a decent novel even if it has some flaws. I still think Kurak is the worst engineer who ever lived and deserved quite a bit more than the "do your damn job!" she gets in the book but that moment was still very satisfying. I'm also going to pick up the next installment of the book.

8/10

 

[JD]

If you want more IKS Gorkon outside of the core novels there are also short stories in Tale of the Dominion War and Tales from the Captain's Table. The Dominion War story covers the incident where Klag lost his arm, and the Captain's Table one deals with his relationship with his brother.

 

[Damian]

I just finished this book and like "A Good Day to Die" found this book outstanding as well.

I really enjoy how KRAD handles characters. There are some characters that totally fall on one side or the other (good vs. bad guys for lack of a better word) but there's also some gray.

For instance, Talak, the 'villain' in this book as he takes up arms against Klag, is a grey. Talak fully supports Martok's efforts to bring honor back to the empire and feels Martok is the perfect man for the job.

I also enjoyed the other characters as well. The book is at it's core about a Klingon's word. It's almost like the mob in a way. When a word is given it is final. Talak was forcing Klag to go back on his word and Klag refused to back down.

I also liked the resolution. Maybe a bit happy endingish but satisfying nonetheless. And I was curious how Martok would see all this. His reaction is what I would have thought. Martok, like Worf...and Klag are honor personified.

It was also nice to see follow ups of characters seen before, like Kornan, Toq, Kurak and Leskit (among others).

Overall everything was good, the characters, the story and the resolution. I look forward to reading the final two Gorgon stories along with going back to the Brave and the Bold. I do have the other two Gorkon related novels but am still waiting for 'The Brave and the Bold' books. I'm going to take a brief break to read TNG: "Collateral Damage" next, then hopefully I'll have 'The Brave and the Bold' soon after that I can read next before reading the other two Gorkon novels.

 

[JD]

If you do e-books, I believe The Brave and The Bold books are part of this month's sale.