Spoilers PIC: Rogue Elements by John Jackson Miller Review Thread

The SCE series had an Iotian member of Starfleet, but I don't know if Iotia was referred to there as a member world (not a requirement for Starfleet membership, cf. Worf, Ro, etc.).

 

Nope, having a Federation member or colony as a homeworld isn't a requirement for entrance into Starfleet. Ro, Nog, Worf, and more besides as precedents for that.

 

Having just watched the season premier of season 2 shortly after reading this book I think it really helped me believe where Rios is in season 2.
With what we saw of him in Season 1 and having only watched it once I think I’d have struggled. Having spent more time with him here helped.

 

I voted Outstanding. Really captured Rios's voice, I thought. And it was legitimately funny.

 

I think part of what I liked about this is that Rios had no intention of becoming Han Solo but Raffi kind of pushed him into it, which fits Raffi's well-intentioned but awful results.

One question I do have, though, is, "WAS Rios trying to steal the ship in the beginning?"

Amusingly, George R.R. Martin once drew a comparison between feudal society and gangsters. I had the interesting idea the Iotians were actually Medieval in nature by the time the Horizon arrived and they saw things like "Bosses", gangsters, and so on through the lens of a society that was already based on organized violence, protection money, and so on but combined with 1920s technology as well as services. Which, to me, makes a lot more sense than if they'd been completely different.

I admit I had to wonder how the Federation is going to react to being told they were going to receive tribute from a Pre-Warp society.

I admit I was surprised to have seen that as an element in the book and so strong in the book. After all, I would have thought that it seemed sanitizing the actual culture. However, I think it was an interesting twist by the end as we see how cultures interpret things for their own way versus being blindly immitative.

 

Voted above average. Liked the story a lot. We didn't learn much personal background of Rios, though. Considering what happened to the character I'm afraid some aspects of his life will remain undiscovered....

 

I just finished the audiobook last night. And, yeah, it felt like there were more endings than in Peter Jackson's "Return of the King".

It felt like an entire 10-episode streaming series novelized into a single book. Episodic and, kinda, endless. This confirms my decision to step away from Treklit. It's simply not being written with me in mind any more. I don't begrudge people who enjoy it their pleasure, but I'm not having fun with 140,000-word Star Trek novels any longer.

 

I generally enjoyed this book, but I missed Rios´fondness for soccer.....