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Ok, so let's talk about the continuity (or lack thereof) of this thing. I realize this is probably missing the point, but hey, treat it as an intellectual exercise if nothing else.
A few big questions that I don't remember the answers to:
1) When, exactly, did Jellico retire from being commander in chief, and afterwards, is there anything preventing him from becoming a normal admiral again? Jellico clearly isn't CinC in this book, but also hasn't resigned.
2) Does Nechayev appear in any books post-Nemesis?
3) Correct me if I'm wrong, here, but Cwan dies in Missing In Action. Lefler discovers she's pregnant. That book is directly tied to Nemesis. Then, in Treason, Lefler gives birth, and there's the D'myurj attack. In this book, after Seven's stuff that we know is after Destiny, crewmen are still being healed from the wounds they got in that attack. Maybe - MAYBE - a couple of weeks have passed since Treason. Maybe. (Destiny seems to have taken place in the mean time.) So do Thallonian babies take 2 freaking years to gestate or something?
4) I haven't read Full Circle in a while either. Where in Seven's arc could this realistically fall? I thought she was having some major identity crisis issues, which this doesn't really seem to mention? Would this be between Destiny and her freaking out, before it really hits her?
1) He resigned a couple of weeks after Destiny, if I recall correctly (presumably after the initial "taking measure of what needs to be done" period). In "Losing the Peace", Picard asks where Jellico is at a meeting and is told the admiral handed in his resignation to Bacco not long before. However, I don't think it necessarily insists that he's left the service; if we wanted to, we could suggest he simply resigned as CinC. I don't think anything contradicts that - although Akaar's speech to Picard at the end maybe implies that's he's gone, resigned from Starfleet entirely.
2) She's in "Losing the Peace"; it's Nechayev who breaks the news of Jellico's resignation to Picard.
3) You're probably right, but I just assume it's been months since "Treason" and the injuries simply took a long time to heal. And maybe Thallonian babies do indeed take longer.
4) As I say, interestingly Seven might well fit. I read through her scenes in "Full Circle" and if we accept BMB as being set shortly after Destiny, it might work. At the very least, I found nothing directly contradictory. There were also several small moments in BMB where Seven's reactions could be read as pointers to the problem established in "Full Circle", before it becomes unbearable. Her strong reaction at hearing "Annika", etc.
So in terms of our intellectual exercise, Seven might well work if we squint, but the admirals pretty much confirm this is a "separate" continuity.
Ok, so let's talk about the continuity (or lack thereof) of this thing. I realize this is probably missing the point, but hey, treat it as an intellectual exercise if nothing else.
A few big questions that I don't remember the answers to:
1) When, exactly, did Jellico retire from being commander in chief, and afterwards, is there anything preventing him from becoming a normal admiral again? Jellico clearly isn't CinC in this book, but also hasn't resigned.
2) Does Nechayev appear in any books post-Nemesis?
3) Correct me if I'm wrong, here, but Cwan dies in Missing In Action. Lefler discovers she's pregnant. That book is directly tied to Nemesis. Then, in Treason, Lefler gives birth, and there's the D'myurj attack. In this book, after Seven's stuff that we know is after Destiny, crewmen are still being healed from the wounds they got in that attack. Maybe - MAYBE - a couple of weeks have passed since Treason. Maybe. (Destiny seems to have taken place in the mean time.) So do Thallonian babies take 2 freaking years to gestate or something?
4) I haven't read Full Circle in a while either. Where in Seven's arc could this realistically fall? I thought she was having some major identity crisis issues, which this doesn't really seem to mention? Would this be between Destiny and her freaking out, before it really hits her?
1) He resigned a couple of weeks after Destiny, if I recall correctly (presumably after the initial "taking measure of what needs to be done" period). In "Losing the Peace", Picard asks where Jellico is at a meeting and is told the admiral handed in his resignation to Bacco not long before. However, I don't think it necessarily insists that he's left the service; if we wanted to, we could suggest he simply resigned as CinC. I don't think anything contradicts that - although Akaar's speech to Picard at the end maybe implies that's he's gone, resigned from Starfleet entirely.
2) She's in "Losing the Peace"; it's Nechayev who breaks the news of Jellico's resignation to Picard.
3) You're probably right, but I just assume it's been months since "Treason" and the injuries simply took a long time to heal. And maybe Thallonian babies do indeed take longer.
4) As I say, interestingly Seven might well fit. I read through her scenes in "Full Circle" and if we accept BMB as being set shortly after Destiny, it might work. At the very least, I found nothing directly contradictory. There were also several small moments in BMB where Seven's reactions could be read as pointers to the problem established in "Full Circle", before it becomes unbearable. Her strong reaction at hearing "Annika", etc.
So in terms of our intellectual exercise, Seven might well work if we squint, but the admirals pretty much confirm this is a "separate" continuity.
Yeah, it's #2 there that really sinks it, unless we want to say that this book happens like 10 seconds after Losing The Peace ends and try to cram it in there before Seven's breakdowns in Full Circle, but after all the appearances of these characters in LtP.
Re: Star Trek: New Frontier: Blind Man's Bluff Review Thread
These reviews do not inspire me to read this one.. im afraid im with most on the last few NF books. PAD seems to just be curning them out to meet a deadline, what attracted me to the book since book one was that the NF crew were a collection of odd balls who had odd aventures, now they just absurd
Re: Star Trek: New Frontier: Blind Man's Bluff Review Thread
Halfway through the book so far.
Really feels like PAD really wanted to write some Voyager stuff but didn't get contracted for a Voyager book, and thus decided to stick a number of entirely unrelated conversations between some members of Voyager's crew in a New Frontier book.
It takes a lot to take me out of the story, but it seems like every other page I have to just look away and shake my head at something.
Without spoilering, does it get better in the second half? I'm guessing not.
Re: Star Trek: New Frontier: Blind Man's Bluff Review Thread
Hmm, I'm not reading very much ST these days, so I'm guessing that many of the complaints here about where it fits into timelines etc, will not affect my reading of the book.
Re: Star Trek: New Frontier: Blind Man's Bluff Review Thread
Continuity issues aside (and only the Borg invasion and the state of the admirals bug me any), I really enjoyed this book. Not quite as much as Treason, but still very enjoyable.
However, the one thing that really bothered me is how we didn't get any answers at all. Everything we already knew at the end of Treason is the same as the end of Blind Man's Bluff (the D'myurj being a threat, Nechayev being compromised, and Morgan going crazy). Only the situation of Morgan was resolved and Nechayev melted, whereas we got even more questions about D'myurj instead of any answers.
The irony of me complaining about this while being a huge Lost fan (and being on the exact opposite of the argument over at the Doctor Who forum in regards to series 6) has not escaped me. I think I wouldn't have a problem with this if we knew when the next book is coming out (if it's coming out at all) and that it's not in two years!
Which brings me to another point. I see After the Fall/Missing in Action and Treason/Blind Man's Bluff to be akin to The Quiet Place/Dark Allies. Each are two books closely connected to each other and work better as one, but the difference in release periods is huge. The Quiet Place and Dark Allies came out within a month of each other (oh, man, those were the days) whereas the other books were separated by a matter of years. I believe the long waits really put a strain on readers' enjoyment of the books, and that if (in a few years) they sat down and read them all at once, they enjoyment level would be higher. I've certainly noticed this in regards to other books (Harry Potter) or even split up episodes (like the minisodes of Doctor Who's Infinite Quest).
Either way, I still enjoyed this book and I look forward to the next one if and when it comes.
Re: Star Trek: New Frontier: Blind Man's Bluff Review Thread
I read all of BMB the day I received it in the mail. I wanted to wait a couple days before writing a review. I haven't looked through the book since Wednesday and this is all from memory, but here goes...
It's hard to believe that New Frontier is now 14 years old. The creation of NF was John Ordover and Peter David's response to the limitations imposed on the Star Trek book line at the time from DS9 and VGR still being on the air and TNG evolving into a biennial series of films. NF was designed to allow characters to develop, grow, and even die without the constraints from weekly canon television series, and situated in a new sector away from the core events in the Alpha Quadrant: allowing it to both develop new species and avoid weekly developments from DS9. NF was free to develop character arcs, but faced three inter-related structural limitations as the series evolved: the need to occasionally link up with Ordover's big summer crossover events, the passage of time (both story-wise and publishing-wise), and the slowing in number of NF novels produced. The books and characters progressed well enough until the publication of Double or Nothing, which reflected the current TV timeline (the end of the Dominion War), haphazardly introducing a 16 month time jump between what the characters had experienced and the wider timeline ("comic book time"), requiring a later ret-con in the form of PAD's WildStorm comic book. Now in sync with the time period from the end of DS9, NF blew up/replaced the Excalibur, promoted Shelby, and introduced several new characters.
Just as things were starting to settle down, another time jump happened, this time more organic to the plot but more jarring to the characters. NF was now synced up to Nemesis. This might well have worked, but with NF switching from a three book a year release schedule to averaging just one book every three years, not enough story space was available to develop all of the characters. Instead, characters would be killed off here and there for shock value rather than servicing a necessary plot point or character arc. NF also began to increasingly rely on one-off seemingly all powerful big bads, from the Beings to the Teuthis and now the D’myurj, which have become less and less interesting as the same type of antagonist is recycled, instead of staying true to the core premise of Thallonian space, whose sector has enough indigenous antagonists to keep the storyline growing yet remain new and different. These problems have all come to a head in Blind Man's Bluff, which muddled both the characters and the timeline of the related Star Trek books.
In the meantime, the Star Trek universe has become a far different place since 1997. Nemesis hitting a brick wall and the cancellation of ENT freed the book line from any remaining constraints beyond needing licensee approvals. But live action Star Trek faced its own far wider structural constraints, required to appeal to the broadest lowest common denominator by the entertainment industry. Episodes tended to be very episodic until the tail end of ENT (when that show had to appeal to core fans to keep going; otherwise the only other times this happened was DS9's occupied arc and final chapter arc). Movies were designed to appear to broader audiences beyond the base of Star Trek fans. The death of filmed Star Trek in the prime mainline universe freed the book series from not only the restrictions imposed to avoid stepping on the toes of weekly canon series, but on the restrictions placed on the live action series and movies by network and film executives, which inherently were also faced by the books since they had to put everything "back in the box". As long as the book line is sufficiently profitable, the books can appeal to a narrower fan base comfort zone but expand far beyond the scope of live action Star Trek. The TNG, DS9, and VGR relaunches are now free to explore the premise of their respective series from a new creative canvas freed of these restrictions. Just compare some of the best books of the last few years to Star Trek 09 as an opposing counterpoint. I am a fan of Fringe and Lost (albeit not the ending of Lost, BSG all over again!), but instead of infusing Star Trek with the modern influences of these shows, JJ Abrams and crew Michael Bay's Transformers-ized Star Trek. Very popcorn, very mindless, very "broad" as an entertainment executive would say. Good thing that's an alternative universe.
Several new book only series have sprung up reflecting these new freedoms in storytelling, and authors such as David Mack have been key players in this development. The aborted Challenger series would have been the "NF of the TOS era" (set in yet another peripheral location away from the main Alpha Quadrant action), but Vanguard is the "DS9 on HBO of the TOS era" free to focus on the heart of Alpha Quadrant geopolitics while still offering strong character development. The Mirror Universe Memory Omega storyline has freed Star Trek's first prominent parallel universe from camp villainy while remaining true to its "dark mirror" core concept with a profound new spin on Mirror Spock's legacy. While expanding the universe, most of these books have also kept the "feeling" of Star Trek (one ST author writes very well, but their books, while being good science fiction, just don't feel like Trek to me). Titan just doesn't appeal to me, but all the books are still in print so it must be doing something right and have its own sustainable fanbase (not liking everything on the menu usually means that you'll like a portion of it far more than average). Compared to these other developments, with Blind Man's Bluff NF feels increasingly dated and disconnected, with the characters in a rut and the timeline hitting a more problematic brick wall than in Double or Nothing.
Several other posters here have noted Blind Man's Bluff's problematic standing in the existing book timeline. Is this a fair criticism? In my view, yes. NF for a decade now has been tied into the various book relaunches, with the Gateways crossover impacting the DS9 relaunch, the TNG relaunch's Q&A and Before Dishonor reflecting NF elements, Destiny including a Calhoun cameo, and the Mirror Universe Memory Omega line including NF stories. I suppose if PAD wanted to tell a major story that required contradicting say the Destiny trilogy, that would be one thing. But the contradictions here are a result of sloppy editing that could have all been easily fixed had the will been there (and hopefully could be fixed in a MMPB reprint). Considering the book was delayed almost a year, you think someone would have caught that. BMB itself makes specific references to the DS9 relaunch and implies events in Destiny. If NF is going to have one foot in the sandbox from the rest of the novel projects, it should at least stay consistent with them. I'm sure PAD has tons of experience doing this in the comic book writing world too. But here it comes across much like VGR's various mishandlings of continuity, someone just not caring.
Now to specific developments in BMB itself...
We finally get a resolution to the Morgan as a supercomputer story. Morgan impersonating Calhoun goes nowhere and is quickly discovered by Burgoyne. The main surprise here is the guest appearances by The Doctor and Seven, recruited by Soleta to exorcise Morgan from the Excalibur. PAD does a much better job examining the holographic rights issue here than Christie Golden did in the VGR relaunch 1.0, but I was disappointed The Doctor goes along with the whole plan just because he has the hots for Seven. Soleta's embracing of her Romulan side and making peace with herself is also welcomed here. The "commodore" of the USS Dauntless wanting to get even against Calhoun by blowing up his ship before any last minute questions can be answered, only to be stopped by Jellico, doesn't really work. I did like Jellico invoking Section 31 of the Starfleet charter to save the Excalibur though -- PAD at his best!
The New Thallonian Protectorate suddenly becoming a Federation member comes out of nowhere. This should have been the "ending" to the NF saga as the Excalibur's mission to Sector 221-G not only helps stabilize the former Thallonian Empire but bring it into the Federation. Treason, set weeks before BMB, shows that clearly the NTP is not up to the standards of joining the Federation. The story doesn't require the NTP to be a Federation member and here it causes far more problems than it offers to the plot.
BMB establishes that both the Excalibur-A and Trident have children aboard, and Mueller offers Robin Lefler the job of running the daycare aboard the Trident. She instead resumes being Operations Officer on the Excalibur, albeit remaining a civilian and bringing here career 360 degrees.
The Calhoun on Xenex verses the D’myurj/Brethen goes fairly paint by the numbers until one of the D’myurj seeks to punish Calhoun for crossing them by committing mass genocide against the Xenexian people. Okay, who saw that one coming? Nechayev is also revelaed to be a D’myurj plant, only to be forcibly mind melded with Soleta. Soleta turns yellow and lapses into a coma, and the Nechayev replicant dissolves into goo. More details to be offered later. Again, okay?? The D’myurj obviously won't be going anywhere, despite not bringing anything new to the table as antagonists, and Calhoun is probably going to be really pissed. Que the next book. Wait, there is no next book planned yet...
BMB is not a bad book, just tired, off its game, and in need of some editing. Mediocre more than anything. The last few NF books have felt like blockbuster movies, not a continuing book storyline. There is nothing uniquely NF about the plot or antagonists, just the core characters.
At this point NF deserves a book or IDW miniseries to clean this all up and resolve the current cliffhanger (I believe the same is owed to other unresolved book series, like Challenger etc). But if NF is to continue beyond one more project, it needs to really innovate, breathe new life into itself, develop unique antagonists, and find a way to overcome some of the structural challenges holding it back. It needs to appreciate that its uniqueness is not just its zany characters, but its original setting in Thallonian space (which could also help NF appear less disjointed to the rest of the bookline). Otherwise this period of diminishing returns will continue. In the meantime, if recommending NF to anyone, I'd say stop at Stone and Anvil.
Re: Star Trek: New Frontier: Blind Man's Bluff Review Thread
Here's my review as I pubished on Amazon and startrek.com:
I thoroughly enjoyed this book as I enjoy all Peter David books, especially within the New Frontier title. It is filled with action and believable character drama throughout. It picks up right where “Treason” lets off, with a story that logically and possibly concludes the D’myuri storyline.
I enjoyed following the original characters who I’ve come to love and likewise appreciated the development of Seven and the Doctor. However, as much as I enjoyed the book, I don’t hold the story in as high esteem as others because Calhoun is separated from his crew for most of the tale so you miss the interaction and creativity that comes from the whole crew working together. Still, the Excalibur dialog is thought-provoking and comical per David’s quality story-telling style. One major point of disfavor for me was how poorly this book seemed to fit in with the rest of the 24th century Trek series, whose continuity and editorial controls I’ve come to enjoy. I don’t know exactly where this story falls into the timeline but it does come after the Destiny trilogy when Jellico should no longer be an admiral and Seven is an extremely emotionally distraught state, if not in the Delta Quadrant with the doctor. Though these three characters were well written and contributed much to the story, I kept thinking they didn’t belong there and wondered if the author was aware of the background development of Jellico, Seven, and the Doctor to this point in Trek literature.
Peter David has commented that he has no contract in hand for further installations of the New Frontier series. I hope this will change soon as this series always, ALWAYS, is of high quality. I have enjoyed every one of them, and Blind Man’s Bluff is no exception. My heart broke with this story’s ending and I was left with a lump in my throat needing to know what happens next to my hero. But in the event this turns out to be the final edition of New Frontier, the series would be well concluded with the final 4 words of this book which were a proper summary of both Blind Man’s Bluff and the entirety of New Frontier.
Re: Star Trek: New Frontier: Blind Man's Bluff Review Thread
And some extra thoughts of mine (SPOILER ALERT):
David appears to have put his daughter Caroline in the book.
I appreciate that Calhoun started working his plan for Morgan early, leaving a pen and paper note for Soleta on her ship before leaving the ice planet. I also appreciate that he trusted Soleta completely to handle the matter.
I laughed heartily when Xyon fantasized blowing Tobias' head off. Been there.
He is the only trek author to expand upon the Doctor's feelings for Seven. This attraction was made clear in the show but only PD has shown it still there (to my knowledge). His drool collecting is disturbing, though (and hilarious).
Soleta should have referred to Morgan as "it" rather than "her" when discussing the topic with the doctor to emphasize the point she wasn't real.
Loved that the book concluded with "Mackenzie Calhoun was alone."
Re: Star Trek: New Frontier: Blind Man's Bluff Review Thread
This is frustrating. Had I ordered online from Amazon instead of "doing the right thing" and ordering (online) from a local bricks & mortar specialist science fiction bookshop, I would have finished the book by now.
Re: Star Trek: New Frontier: Blind Man's Bluff Review Thread
Just received notification tha my order has been shipped. If they got it in the post beofre 6 pm local time, I should have it by tomorrow. ETA: Which will mean no sleep for me - I have 400grams merino fibre to finish spinning, cake decorations to finish and the new NF to read...
Re: Star Trek: New Frontier: Blind Man's Bluff Review Thread
PD was trek con a few months ago and read to us the chapter when Soleta meets the doctor. I didn't get the reference about the blue suit and trench coat at first. I did a moment later and laughed heartily enough that I interrupted his reading. He smiled and seemed pleased when SOMEBODY caught on.
I love those type of pop culture references that he slips into his books.
Re: Star Trek: New Frontier: Blind Man's Bluff Review Thread
Registered just to discuss this book, so you know it hit me hard
I have not finished it, I'm in the 3rd chapter. But what struck me the most so far is how... OK, no other way to put this: How fanfictiony it is (and I say this as a lover and occasional writer of fan fiction). This reads like a Mary Sue story.
The first scene is Calhoun surviving. Fortunately he's fast, strong, and cunning, with an eerie sense that detects danger which he then avoids because he is so fast, strong and cunning. And we know that he is fast, strong and cunning because David hammers it home in nearly every line, over and over. We are told by the narrator, again and again, that Calhoun is a fiercesome fighter who remains coldly dispassionate under extraordinary circumstances because he has trained himself to be yadda yadda yadda and can do things no other person could do because yadda yadda yadda keen senses yadda yadda warlord.
By the fourth paragraph I was convinced he was leading up to a clever twist to explain what the hell was going on, like someone was pretending to be Calhoun on the holodeck and was narrating his own movie in cheesy voiceover mode or something.
In the early books he quickly set up Calhoun as a badass, but he didn't have to explain it to the reader. He just had Calhoun do badass stuff and let the reader figure it out.
Please note, Peter David is one of my buy-in-hardback authors. If his name is on a book I own it, along with vast quantities of his comics. That's why I was so shocked. Suddenly he's writing like Dan Brown.
This man is tough. You know this because I'm telling you, at length. This woman is an alien spy. You know this because I'm telling you she is. This woman is a former Borg coming to grips with her newly rediscovered humanity. You know this because I'm telling you this.
I'm going to keep going, because I love the New Frontier books -- although I greatly prefer the first ones -- but so far I am hugely disappointed in the style.
ETA: Which will mean no sleep for me - I have 400grams merino fibre to finish spinning, cake decorations to finish and the new NF to read...
