NF: The Returned, Part II by Peter David Review Thread (Spoilers)

[Defcon]

This one doesn't seem to have its own blurb, since it has the same a book one at the various retail sites:

The second installment in a brand-new three-part digital-first Star Trek: New Frontier e-novel from New York Times bestselling author Peter David!

Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and the crew of the U.S.S. Excalibur are back, picking up three months after the stunning events depicted in New Frontier: Blind Man’s Bluff. Calhoun's search of Xenex has failed to find any survivors, and now he is bound and determined to track down the race that killed them—the D'myurj and their associates, the Brethren—and exact vengeance upon them. His search will take the Excalibur crew into a pocket universe, where he discovers not only the homeworld of the D’myurj, but another race that shares Calhoun's determination to obliterate his opponents. But is this new race truly an ally…or an even greater threat?

______________

Since it should download within the next 24 hours I figured it's time to post the review thread. I enjoyed the first installment, so looking forward to this.

 

[Dsven43]

Wow. I can't wait for book 3. Hope it's not the end for Peter.

Spoiler: Can't wait to see

A battle between Q and McHenry, Though it was obvious throughout the book who the Awesome was. I think Q might be still bitter. I hope he doesn't go through with the plan.

 

[Steve Roby]

Great cover art. Wasn't so crazy about the contents. Once again it's all buttkicking and emoting all the time by a group of characters who have barely a functioning brain cell between them.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Today was a holiday, so I got to read this one this afternoon. Overall, I found it enjoyable, although maybe not so much as Part I. It certainly seemed a lot more violent than Part I.

But someone please tell me... how is hiding in a weapons locker supposed to defeat life form sensors? I mean, OK, it appears the Dayan don't actually use them, but still. There's no way the Excalibur crew could have known that.

It'll be interesting to see if any of those other kidnapped Starfleet officers are people we know...

And I must say... I found Burgoyne's rant against the Hermats somewhat disconcerting. OK, maybe s/he was just being glib because of the situation, but if taken at face value, well... maybe Starfleet should insist on some counseling. (But on the other hand, at least s/he was the only one to offer any opposition to Calhoun regarding wiping out the D'myurj.)

Looking forward to part three to see how this all concludes! (Assuming it does conclude... )

One other thing: the Kobo website consistently refers to these stories as "digital-first". Has there already been an announcement or anything about a hardcopy version?

 

[Dsven43]

Today was a holiday, so I got to read this one this afternoon. Overall, I found it enjoyable, although maybe not so much as Part I. It certainly seemed a lot more violent than Part I.

But someone please tell me... how is hiding in a weapons locker supposed to defeat life form sensors? I mean, OK, it appears the Dayan don't actually use them, but still. There's no way the Excalibur crew could have known that.

It'll be interesting to see if any of those other kidnapped Starfleet officers are people we know...

And I must say... I found Burgoyne's rant against the Hermats somewhat disconcerting. OK, maybe s/he was just being glib because of the situation, but if taken at face value, well... maybe Starfleet should insist on some counseling. (But on the other hand, at least s/he was the only one to offer any opposition to Calhoun regarding wiping out the D'myurj.)

Looking forward to part three to see how this all concludes! (Assuming it does conclude... )

One other thing: the Kobo website consistently refers to these stories as "digital-first". Has there already been an announcement or anything about a hardcopy version?

I haven't seen a mention about a paper version. I think Peter mentioned it was only an Ebook. And the New Frontier series depended on how well these 3 ebooks did. If they sold well,series continues. If not,this was the last book in the series.

 

[JD]

I think a lot of times they refer to e-book exclusive stories as digital first even if there aren't specific plans to release a paper version.

 

[Thrawn]

So, NF fans: were the New Frontier characters always this stupid?

I mean, I've read the whole series twice, but it's been a while. NF was my favorite in high school, and I remember kind of childish jokes sometimes, but I got the impression that the crew was basically amazing at their jobs. I can recall lots of moments of badass from earlier novels off the top of my head, and though admittedly at least half of them are Kebron, I feel like most of them have had chances to shine.

This book, it felt like everyone was just being obviously, blatantly dumb. The doctor, having been warned not to communicate about the D'myurj to the Dayan, called Calhoun while he was meeting the Dayan. No one seems worried about Calhoun being unstable. Crew members consistently defy each other's orders and then joke about that. Burgoyne won't come to Calhoun with legitimate concerns. Tobias agrees to help Kallinda shield her ex-boyfriend at the cost of not revealing important information to her superiors. Calhoun seems to think hiding in a closet will shield him from creatures with advanced enough technology to have invented the tricorder. McHenry thinks he can work miracles and word won't get around. And the nonsense last time about Jellico and Shelby manipulating Calhoun, too. Just one head slapper after another.

There are some compelling plot elements here, but honestly. Steve Roby is spot on - barely a functioning brain cell between them. I don't think this series has always been quite this inane, has it?

 

[Deranged Nasat]

^ It was always a balancing act, and this sounds to me like further confirmation that the series has lost that balance. There was always the need to suspend disbelief a little in terms of the characters' behaviour; there were always interpersonal dramas that pushed into the implausible, jokes that were there for the sake of having jokes even if they were potentially jarring, a slight tendency to caricature. But these things were integrated features of stories that also had impressive and distinctive characterization and a strange form of subtlety, and the whole thing was spun together so well that it simply worked. If anything, the exaggerated and not-altogether-sensible quirks of the characters aided in having the more conventional drama be so effective. I don't know if this makes sense at all, but I feel as though New Frontier was always at least 50% a parody of itself, yet somehow Peter David worked it in such a way that the parodic elements actually lent weight to the parts we were supposed to take seriously. It was an unusually multi-tiered entertainment experience. Perhaps that's just my penchant for whimsy. But it held together tightly in spite of its semi-frequent ludicrousness, and so always managed to stay on that line. Or perhaps a better image would be that of a spinning plate. It spins and it stays upright, and is mesmerizing; it slows and it falls off. Around the time of Treason is where I think the series went off the rails, where it stopped spinning/balancing and became just a wobbly plate that was about to fall, a few desperate twists of the stick notwithstanding. I think the subtlety that undelay the silliness has gone, and so instead of having the vibrant excesses of the characters strengthen the series, they now take away from it by simply being impossible to take seriously - be they too jocular, too petty, too "awesome", etc.

 

[Thrawn]

^ That's incredibly spot on, matching my feelings exactly but in better phrasing than I had been able to come up with. I agree that Treason is the point when it started to drift, too.

A shame.

 

[Stoek]

Personally I'm finding that I'm rather enjoying NF's return. The last couple of books were hard slogs for me and I honestly could not even finish the last one. But this wee e-book series so far has been much more like the stories I remember loving back when the series was in its heyday.

I especially appreciate a little bit of a more rounded portrayal of Calhoun who went from being larger than life to just plain fucking ridiculous.

*overly dramatic voice over* Meet Captain Awesome McAwesomesauce of the USS Awesome. Only he can awesome in the awesome and then awesome the awesome awesomeness. This is the man that women want and men want to be like. Hell who are we kidding men want him too.

The over the topness soapish element was always part of the series charm but it really had gotten out of control. I'm glad to see that a sense of restraint has returned.

 

[Klaus]

...I liked it, I'd say the main issue is just "middle-part-of-three syndrome", so it lacks a bit.

 

[Enterpriserules]

I found this one fun and it was nice to see some relevant themes begin to unfold. Looking forward to seeing it wrap up.

 

[Ben]

So, NF fans: were the New Frontier characters always this stupid?

I mean, I've read the whole series twice, but it's been a while. NF was my favorite in high school, and I remember kind of childish jokes sometimes, but I got the impression that the crew was basically amazing at their jobs. I can recall lots of moments of badass from earlier novels off the top of my head, and though admittedly at least half of them are Kebron, I feel like most of them have had chances to shine.

This book, it felt like everyone was just being obviously, blatantly dumb. The doctor, having been warned not to communicate about the D'myurj to the Dayan, called Calhoun while he was meeting the Dayan. No one seems worried about Calhoun being unstable. Crew members consistently defy each other's orders and then joke about that. Burgoyne won't come to Calhoun with legitimate concerns. Tobias agrees to help Kallinda shield her ex-boyfriend at the cost of not revealing important information to her superiors. Calhoun seems to think hiding in a closet will shield him from creatures with advanced enough technology to have invented the tricorder. McHenry thinks he can work miracles and word won't get around. And the nonsense last time about Jellico and Shelby manipulating Calhoun, too. Just one head slapper after another.

There are some compelling plot elements here, but honestly. Steve Roby is spot on - barely a functioning brain cell between them. I don't think this series has always been quite this inane, has it?

Except for the doctor's poorly timed patient update, none of those things seems to be caused by stupidity. They're all explained or consistent with characters as they've been established.

 

[Steve Roby]

Have you read The Returned yet? Stupid is the most charitable explanation for a lot of their actions. Calhoun, on the other hand, should be institutionalized after the events of this trilogy.

 

[Anika Hanson]

...I liked it, I'd say the main issue is just "middle-part-of-three syndrome", so it lacks a bit.

I agree. I enjoyed it too. The first was better but I think it's because this is just the middle book as you say. The only thing I'm not happy about is Having to wait until September for the final part!

 

[tenmei]

This book, it felt like everyone was just being obviously, blatantly dumb. The doctor, having been warned not to communicate about the D'myurj to the Dayan, called Calhoun while he was meeting the Dayan.

Except for the doctor's poorly timed patient update, none of those things seems to be caused by stupidity. They're all explained or consistent with characters as they've been established.

In fairness to PAD - the Dayan had just beamed onboard and gone straight into the Ready Room, after having not been onboard the ship for a period. We have absolutely zero reason to expect that Doctor Lochley was informed of this unplanned arrival.

So hardly character stupidity.

 

[Ben]

Strangely, it never occurred to me that commbadge communications were broadcast out loud. I guess I always assumed they heard them in their heads for some reason, despite coming from teh commbadge itself.

 

[Enterpriserules]

Dan and I really enjoyed talking about this one on Literary Treks, found some nice themes to discuss in this one.

 

[Kertrats47]

Just posted my review. As Matthew said, some interesting themes in this one. Looking forward to the finale next month!

 

[Steve Roby]

I'd like to think that there's a PTSD theme in The Returned. Calhoun goes through a lot, but he never learns anything. Instead he does stupid things, aids in a genocide, helps invaders who want to wipe out life in our galaxy, repeatedly beats people nearly to death with his bare hands, and doesn't really pay a price for any of it. He's a horribly damaged person who doesn't really deal with his actions, and everyone else is generally okay with them too.

I can't find a useful theme in the Lefler and son story, other than biology is destiny. Lefler is the product of a democratic society who married a dictator. She never thinks once, let alone twice, about whether her son should be anything other than his civilization's next hereditary dictator.

People in this trilogy repeatedly lie to people they love and respect. Sometimes it blows up in their faces, sometimes not, but ultimately it's presented as all good.

The main themes I can pull from The Returned, as supported by the events of the story, are: Violence is good. Lying is good. Stupidity is good.

Well, that last bit is overstated for effect. I'm just frustrated by this story. Others will differ.