My SCE reviews

[JD]

I just went back to reading the SCE books, and so I thought I'd go ahead and start a thread to post my thoughts on them.
First up for me this time was The Riddled Post by Aaron Rosenberg.
Overall I thought this one was pretty good, nothing spectacular, but still an enjoyable story overall. I really enjoyed the mystery of what attacked the station, I found it be unique and intersting. One of the things I rembered liking from the series before was the characters, and I thought that they were all very well written in the story, and they were also each given a chance to shine. The only real problem I had with the story was that it made references to things I couldn't remember from previous stories. Now, this was no ones fault but my own, so I do not hold it against the story.
Overall I would give it an 8/10.

 

[microtech]

That's funny since I just finished reading The Riddled Post for the first time earlier today, weird coincidence. I read books 1 and 2 a few months ago and finally got around to buying several more of the books a couple weeks ago (except for book 4 which I can only find used copies of for like $30 errrr, I may actually just have to buy the e-book and live with it). Anyway, I thought the story was good, but like you said nothing spectacular. The one thing that bugged me was the talk about the dilithium explosion as my understanding of it is that dilithium is only used to channel/focus the energy of a matter/anti-matter reaction and it does not actually contain a great deal of potential energy itself. That could just be my limited trek tech knowledge though so it wasn't that big of a deal.

 

[bennyrex]

This is great timing for a thread like this! I've got 'Have Tech, Will Travel' waiting for me to pick it up at the library. I've decided to finally read through the S.C.E books. I almost bought the more recent trades that were available at the bookstore on my recent buying binge, but after standing in front of Aftermath for about 15 minutes, putting it down, then picking it up, then putting it back down - as the store staff and other customers looked at me with puzzled expressions- I finally decided that I wanted to start at the beginning.

I've read 'Have Tech' and 'Miracle Workers' before, but it was many years ago, and I don't remember anything except that LaForge was in the first one, and there was a giant machine moon in the second one... and even that memory is sketchy, so I think it'll be good (and an enjoyable experience) to start from scratch. I'll definitely post my thoughts as well as I work my way through the series.

 

[bennyrex]

Alright! I just finished 'The Belly of the Beast'. Technically it was the second time through, but I'd forgotten everything except

Spoiler: Belly of the Beast

the death of 111

so it felt quite fresh. I really enjoyed the beginning. It felt fun, and I was really drawn into the mystery of the ship. I was quite satisfied at how the levels of mystery were slowly peeled away, and it was enjoyable getting to know the crew of the Da Vinci. It felt like a series pilot, and in a good way.

The abrupt shift in tone once the mystery was fully revealed really got me. I'd totally forgotten about it, and the reveal of

Spoiler: Belly of the Beast

all the bodies in the ship's core

hit me with force. When

Spoiler: Belly of the Beast

the parasites latched to half-eaten bodies lined up in front of the portal

, an honest-to-goodness shiver ran down my spine. I felt very uneasy until the action packed ending, which -to be honest- felt like a bit of a let-down. As I read the finale of firefights and tactical maneuvers, I found myself asking 'this is a story of engineers?'

I *did* enjoy it as a whole, and am greatly looking forward to Fatal Error, which I remember a bit more clearly than the Belly of the Beast. Already I can tell my preference will be for stories that feature more problem solving and less straight action.

Though to be honest, I'm puzzled by my reaction. I've just now looked through it again, and out of a 100 page story, the firefight at the end takes up 5 of them. So it definitely isn't an action weighted story, and I'm not sure why my initial reaction thinking back on it was that it was... interesting...

Alright! On to Fatal Error!

 

[KRAD]

Do we really need spoiler code in a review thread? (I'm not saying we do or don't, I'm asking.........)

 

[bennyrex]

To be honest, I don't know. I didn't want to step on any toes, I couldn't find any guiding info in the FAQ, and thought it was better to be safe than sorry. If I don't need 'em, I won't use 'em.

 

[DS9Continuing]

i had a rather "blah" reaction to The Riddled Post, if I recall. There just didn't seem to be any jeopardy to it. They found a mystery, they investigated it, they solved it, and that was your lot. No twist or complication, really. Very straightforward, and thus slightly disappointing.

 

[bennyrex]

I finished Fatal Error this morning, though I read most of it last night. I read it last night literally until I couldn't keep my eyes open, and I had to resign myself to finishing it when I woke up.

I love how much substance there was in one story that was only around 100 pages. Great character stuff, an intriguing new culture, some solid action, and a great tech-fueled solution that I was able to follow and didn't seem like a techno-babble macguffin. In both Belly and Fatal Error, I found myself wanting to find out more about the culture and backstory of both dilemmas. I found Fatal Error resolving this well with Gomez's comment that 'That's not our look-out. We're the fix-it squad, not the diplomats. We've done what we're supposed to do - now we go on to the next assignment.'

I was also very shocked by Undlar's betrayal. I didn't remember it from the first read-through until I passed it again. I wasn't expecting it, and I found it quite upsetting. The story did a good job of making me care for even the minor characters.

And when it comes to major characters, I like how I'm slowly getting to know the crew of the Da Vinci, and it feels like all the characters are very clearly defined characters that are slowly being revealed over the course of the stories. I'm looking forward to reading where 110's arc will take him, and hope he sticks around with the series for a long time. My favourite scene was Bart and 110's conversation in the mess hall. I found it very touching and poignant. I'm glad to see the death of 111 is having such meaningful ramifications.

On to Hard Crash!

 

[JD]

I now finished my second SCE story, Field Expediency, the short story from Tales of the Dominion War. I also really enjoyed this was, it was a great action story, with well written action, well written characters both regular (Duffy, Stevens, and Gold in this case), and interesting guest characters. I especially liked the reapearance of Rondon from TNG: Coming of Age, it was definitely a bit of a suprise to see a character who played such a minor role in one episode (the only reason I know who he was is because I looked his species up on Memory Alpha, and he popped up) make a reapearance. 9/10

 

[KRAD]

I love how much substance there was in one story that was only around 100 pages. Great character stuff, an intriguing new culture, some solid action, and a great tech-fueled solution that I was able to follow and didn't seem like a techno-babble macguffin. In both Belly and Fatal Error, I found myself wanting to find out more about the culture and backstory of both dilemmas. I found Fatal Error resolving this well with Gomez's comment that 'That's not our look-out. We're the fix-it squad, not the diplomats. We've done what we're supposed to do - now we go on to the next assignment.'

I was also very shocked by Undlar's betrayal. I didn't remember it from the first read-through until I passed it again. I wasn't expecting it, and I found it quite upsetting. The story did a good job of making me care for even the minor characters.

And when it comes to major characters, I like how I'm slowly getting to know the crew of the Da Vinci, and it feels like all the characters are very clearly defined characters that are slowly being revealed over the course of the stories. I'm looking forward to reading where 110's arc will take him, and hope he sticks around with the series for a long time. My favourite scene was Bart and 110's conversation in the mess hall. I found it very touching and poignant. I'm glad to see the death of 111 is having such meaningful ramifications.

Thanks so much for the kind words.

It's funny, Fatal Error was one of my first Trek stories. By that time, I had already written Perchance to Dream and Diplomatic Implausibility, but only the former had been published. And honestly, it's been ages since I even thought about the story. I'm glad it's still getting such a good reaction seven-and-a-half years later.

So thanks!

And worry not, 110 isn't going anywhere.....

 

[Dayton Ward]

I now finished my second SCE story, Field Expediency, the short story from Tales of the Dominion War. I also really enjoyed this was, it was a great action story, with well written action, well written characters both regular (Duffy, Stevens, and Gold in this case), and interesting guest characters. I especially liked the reapearance of Rondon from TNG: Coming of Age, it was definitely a bit of a suprise to see a character who played such a minor role in one episode (the only reason I know who he was is because I looked his species up on Memory Alpha, and he popped up) make a reapearance. 9/10

Thanks, dude! Glad you liked it!

And if you're just getting started with S.C.E., you'll eventually run into one of the "guest" characters from this story again, though I have to use the word "guest" very loosely in this instance.

 

[bennyrex]

I finished "Hard Crash" a couple hours ago. I feel a bit conflicted about this one. I liked the story. I liked some of the character stuff quite a bit, especially Bart and his letter writing. Again, like with the earlier stories, I find myself very intrigued with the culture and back story of the core mystery. But some of it felt like it fell flat. It might have to do with the story coming so early in the series, but some of the characters felt like caricatures of themselves. After 'Belly' and 'Fatal Error', I was looking forward to the continuation of Duffy and Gomez's relationship, and the early parts of the book involving them felt kind of silly. So did Corso's war-mongering early on. For me, it was a case of the story getting better as it went on. I -of course- enjoyed seeing more of 110/Soloman's journey, and like I said, the character stuff at the end rang much more true for me than the earlier scenes.

Also, the dialogue felt kind of stilted. Now, I'm no English major, and I can't give any sort of professional critique, but something didn't quite feel right. Sentences felt awkward sometimes. It made me think of recent complaints I've read of copy-editors forcing technically perfect grammar into dialogue, and I wonder if maybe the grammar was too perfect or something. But as I'm looking over it now, I'm not sure if that's it. I'm seeing improper grammar there, so that isn't necessarily where that awkward feel is coming from. I just read a couple chapters of 'Day of the Vipers', and was struck by how sharp the dialogue was, and how it just flowed in a way that felt right. I don't get that from this story, but I can't nail down what it is that makes it different. Has anyone else that's read this story noticed this too? Or am I complaining about something that isn't there except in my head?

In conclusion, I did like the story. I just found myself outside of it at times, questioning decisions that the author made, and I'd rather be inside the story, experiencing it while I read it, then trying to critique it afterwards.

On to Interphase: Part 1! After I read this one, I'll have a bit of a dilemma. Miracle Workers isn't in my library's catalogue. I'll have to see if I can read it in the library at my city's special 'speculative fiction' reference library, or, if it's not there, order it online.

 

[JD]

I now finished my second SCE story, Field Expediency, the short story from Tales of the Dominion War. I also really enjoyed this was, it was a great action story, with well written action, well written characters both regular (Duffy, Stevens, and Gold in this case), and interesting guest characters. I especially liked the reapearance of Rondon from TNG: Coming of Age, it was definitely a bit of a suprise to see a character who played such a minor role in one episode (the only reason I know who he was is because I looked his species up on Memory Alpha, and he popped up) make a reapearance. 9/10

Thanks, dude! Glad you liked it!

And if you're just getting started with S.C.E., you'll eventually run into one of the "guest" characters from this story again, though I have to use the word "guest" very loosely in this instance.

Cool! So the short stories are actually considered parts of the series then? I've actually been wondering that for a while, because I thought maybe they were just sort of side stories that never really came into the main series.

 

[KRAD]

Cool! So the short stories are actually considered parts of the series then? I've actually been wondering that for a while, because I thought maybe they were just sort of side stories that never really came into the main series.

Uhm -- huh???? I've read this three times, and I have no idea what you're asking.

 

[Defcon]

I think he is/was wondering if the S.C.E./COE short stories were part of the series' continuity or just stories that have characters from the series. At least that is how I understand it.

 

[KRAD]

Er, okay. Why wouldn't they be part of the series' continuity?

 

[Dayton Ward]

Cool! So the short stories are actually considered parts of the series then? I've actually been wondering that for a while, because I thought maybe they were just sort of side stories that never really came into the main series.

As Keith already indicated, "Field Expediency" is consistent with the rest of the CoE continuity, particularly with Keith's own War Stories installments, as well as one of our later tales.

 

[Christopher]

I think we're getting confused over the definition of "part of the series." The SCE stories in other media are indeed side stories; "Field Expediency" is something of a prequel, taking place before the beginning of the series and featuring only some of its characters, while "An Easy Fast" features only Captain Gold. But it's not as if the series has some single defining story arc; it has developing character threads, but it's basically an episodic series. I think that's what JD means by "coming into the main series" -- it's about whether the story plays a role in the overall storyline of the series. Since the series doesn't have an overarching storyline in that sense, it's not really an applicable question. After all, a number of installments of the SCE monthly series have been flashback stories, some with brief frame sequences in the series present, some without. And a number have been what might be called "side stories" focusing on only some of the characters rather than the whole cast.

 

[KRAD]

Besides, it's all a delusion in Tommy Westphall's head anyhow......................................

 

[JD]

Er, okay. Why wouldn't they be part of the series' continuity?

I don't know, I thought that maybe since they weren't released as Ebooks, that perhaps they were their own seperate entity. I see now that I was mistaken, I apologize.