Spoilers PIC: The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack Review Thread
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The character of Quest is interesting. It brings up another dynamic in the relations of the founding members of the Federation (Earth, Vulcan, Tellar and Andoria) vs. some of the outer worlds.
Quest clearly seems to be an opponent of devoting so much of the Federation resources to the Romulan project. Though I'm reluctant at this juncture in the story to say she opposed all aid. But there is some latent hostility to how the Federation allocates it's resources in general.
While she fails to understand the enormity of the coming disaster and does not see it the way Admiral Picard does, I can't help but feel some of her motivations might have a little merit. If it's true the Federation was neglecting its outer members in favor and if the core members were exercising outsized influence then I can at least understand why she might feel slighted. And the novel seems to indicate this has been a bit of a longstanding issue and not something that just came up for Quest (though the Romulan project seems to have been a catalyst for her seeking election from her world, it seems her issues with Federation policy go deeper and started before, even years before).
Quest clearly seems to be an opponent of devoting so much of the Federation resources to the Romulan project. Though I'm reluctant at this juncture in the story to say she opposed all aid. But there is some latent hostility to how the Federation allocates it's resources in general.
While she fails to understand the enormity of the coming disaster and does not see it the way Admiral Picard does, I can't help but feel some of her motivations might have a little merit. If it's true the Federation was neglecting its outer members in favor and if the core members were exercising outsized influence then I can at least understand why she might feel slighted. And the novel seems to indicate this has been a bit of a longstanding issue and not something that just came up for Quest (though the Romulan project seems to have been a catalyst for her seeking election from her world, it seems her issues with Federation policy go deeper and started before, even years before).
I honestly thought Maddox made the most sense.
His lifes work was destroyed, and any chance he ever had of continuing it destroyed, and his reputation destroyed.
I felt the same. I think a lot of of this is related to people's view of Star Trek from a modern perspective, not remembering how edgy things were for their time when it all seems so tame by 21st century standards.
There was also the Borg attack in First Contact that made it all the way to Earth, which was only 8 years before the start of the book (though I guess it's never made clear just how many ships were destroyed in that incident, perhaps it was fairly negligible). I think these kind of events, accumulating over time in what must be one of the most turbulent periods in Federation history, have just left resources drained. This could also explain a lot of the apprehension from the smaller member worlds regarding how much is being put into the rescue effort when they already helped with the Cardassian relief effort (which was mentioned a couple of times in the novel), had to replenish the defenses of the Federation, and now this.
The shows, films, and then the novels have given people a strange impression that it's normal for people to stay with the same duty assignment for decades, when we know from dialogue in all of these media (let alone the real world) that it's not normal. Picard was on Stargazer for even longer, yet he didn't bring a bunch of his crew with him to Enterprise. Kirk was forced off his ship and things had to be especially contrived to get the crew back together in the films. It makes perfect sense when you have an emergency of this type to drop everything and move to the new task. I remember when the Iraq invasion started it's not like they gave us a ton of time to hang out and say good bye, we had to grab our stuff and go.
And this seems to be an important fact people forget about tie-in fiction. It's meant to tie-in with a specific project, in this case Picard. They really need to setup the new show, and they have a limited number of pages to do it in. Considering how many times previous Star Trek stuff is being name dropped in the show, I am sure in due time we will get updates on everyone.
Now, personally, after having watched episode 5 of the show I can't wait to get a novel based on Cristóbal Rios, or the Fenris Rangers. There's a lot of great stuff on this show, and the novel just didn't have to room to get into the backstory of all the new characters let alone the classic ones.
Star Trek is like a Baby Boomer who was a rebellious free-love hippie in the '60s and grew up to be a buttoned-down, staid establishment figure in the '90s.
Yeah. A number of stories about the end of the 5-year mission tried to tackle the question, "Why did Captain Kirk accept promotion to admiral?" When it was my turn (in Ex Machina and later in more depth in Forgotten History), I realized it wasn't his choice. He was a military officer and he'd take the postings he was ordered to take.
Nice thing about digital books, they don’t sell out!
Well, to be fair, in the current litverse not much of the crew is still together. Riker and Deanna are gone as is Data. Worf was still first officer but his actions on DS9 have hampered his promotional opportunities (though that appears to be at an end and he would likely be gone soon). Geordi is still there, but he's doing what he loves so in a way that makes sense. And of course he's married to Beverly and she's doing what she loves anyway. Most of the rest of the crew are gone. Ditto for DS9.
And Starfleet isn't a military organization like we have today. It's not out of the realm of possibility some crewmembers may stay together longer than what we might consider normal.
And I'm not advocating that Picard should have lots of TNG elements. I was only thinking of maybe one other character of TNG other than Geordi being involved, at least in the early stages. Someone Picard trusts at his side until he settles into his role. I just thought of Beverly because Picard would want the Enterprise left in trusted hands (Worf) and Riker and Troi are on the Titan (though I'm kind of surprised there's no mention of the Titan's involvement--after all at the end of Nemesis it was indicated they were headed to Romulan negotiations--it would seem logical that Riker might be of some help dealing with the Romulans--so perhaps he could be the 2nd character).
And more philosophically, as I noted, I just wish it had a bit more of the spirit of TNG. That's a bit harder to explain, and in that case it's not McCormack's fault. She has to reflect the direction of the show and where it's at now. And she does do an excellent job fleshing out her characters. I mentioned earlier about Quest. It'd be easy to just write Quest as a bigot. But she adds some layer of complexity to her character that there is more than meets the eye, that there are underlying issues that go beyond the Romulan project and have to do with Federation policy in general.
In many ways Star Trek has been an escape from real life. It deals with issues we see today, and always has, but in a way that reflected a more positive future (not perfect, but just more positive). I'm having a harder time getting into Picard because it's a bit too reflective of society today and in some ways it feels no different then if I were to watch the news. And I just personally don't care for shows and movies that are too reflective of today's world.
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Based on the relations we see in the book, I have a feeling the feel good vibes and Titan mission didn’t last long.
I read the review by Zinos-Amaro and she raises some interesting points. But one that really hits home for me is:
"Optimistic, ensemble-driven problem-solving is at the heart of what I’ve most enjoyed during several decades of Trek. The Last Best Hope asks what happens when such efforts fall short of the mark; when good will withers and dies. The answer is a grim, dour one. I’m ready for the next question."
That gets to the heart of what attracts me to Star Trek. I'm not sure I can get behind a show where the Federation is reactionary and negative. She does point out something Christopher has as well, that perhaps the show will course correct down the line--that is something happens that reminds the Federation of the good it can do and puts it back on course. I hope so, I really do.
"Optimistic, ensemble-driven problem-solving is at the heart of what I’ve most enjoyed during several decades of Trek. The Last Best Hope asks what happens when such efforts fall short of the mark; when good will withers and dies. The answer is a grim, dour one. I’m ready for the next question."
That gets to the heart of what attracts me to Star Trek. I'm not sure I can get behind a show where the Federation is reactionary and negative. She does point out something Christopher has as well, that perhaps the show will course correct down the line--that is something happens that reminds the Federation of the good it can do and puts it back on course. I hope so, I really do.
So of the 7 key people on the show, 3 are gone and 4 are still on the Enterprise together.
I mean, Roddenberry hated the idea of it being military later on, but I can point to several TOS episodes that make it clear it was military despite his claims, let alone dialogue from the movies he hated like The Wrath of Khan.
That aside, I pointed out that even in the shows and movies and novels themselves, they make it clear how normal it is to be assigned to a new duty station.
It actually already has so many. The show doesn't go an episode without a name drop or cameo from TNG/DS9/VOY beyond Picard himself. I feel including another person from TNG in the novel literally puts it at just under half the main cast of the show, when they don't even have room in the novel to build out some of the important people from Picard like Rios.
Beverly is I think the last character they would have wanted to include actually. Part of the goal is to get him to the "waiting to die" Picard in 2399, so separating him from his friends and potential romantic interests seems key.
Titan... I think they are saving Riker/Troi stuff for the episode they show up in. And again, if you include Riker and Troi in the novel it goes from being a Picard novel to now having a majority of the TNG cast. What backstory for the new series do you cut to fit this in? At what point do you have to change from calling it a Picard novel to a TNG novel?
So far the show isn't really that much darker than what we saw the last few seasons of DS9, so while I understand a desire for a light hearted TNG follow up, this series isn't outside the realm of existing Star Trek really. That said, Patrick Stewart specifically made clear he wasn't interested in a TNG Retirement Home Reunion Show, he wanted it to be something new and different. He would only return to Picard if they put him in a situation like this. It's very possible in the future we will see some of the darkness swept away like we did at the end of DSC Season 1.
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Oops.
I'm not really advocating someone like Riker be a major part of the story. Just a scene or two in the book where he contacts Riker. And like I said it was noted at the end of Nemesis he would be heading out to Romulan negotiations so it might even make some sense continuity wise early in the story. I get that by 2399 he is separated from everyone. But the book starts in 2381, plenty early to give a quick Riker scene early on in the story before moving on. Having someone like Beverly on the ship early on would probably be more significant, but as the book moves at a swift pace you probably could have her moving on early in the book as well--maybe onto a mission where she is helping the relocation in some other capacity. She has to stay on at one of the new colonies to help establish medical care of something.
But even if none of them serve together on the Verity, it does seem a bit odd to me that there is hardly a mention of anyone from Picard's old crew. They have subspace communications. It doesn't seem unreasonable that Picard would talk to one of his old crewmates, even if it's just to pick their brain on some problem he needs help with. Picard is one to use all the tools at his disposal.
But that crew isn't his crew anymore. They're Worf's crew, or Riker's crew, and they have their own jobs and missions to concentrate on. If Picard needs help, support, or advice, that's his current crew's responsibility. That's how it works. He can't just drag someone else's crew away from their responsibilities out of nostalgia.
I mean, Picard was captain of the Stargazer for 22 years, longer than he commanded both Enterprises combined, yet in TNG we didn't see him constantly calling up Gilaad ben Zoma or Dr. Simenon for advice. That was what his current crew was for.
And think about what the huge rescue mission means for the rest of Starfleet. A huge proportion of the fleet's resources was reallocated to the single mission of relocating the Romulans. That means that the remaining ships not involved in that mission had to work that much harder to fulfill Starfleet's other duties and priorities. Even with exploration put on hold, there was still defense, diplomacy, peacekeeping, support for outlying worlds and colonies, and so forth. And the Enterprise and Titan were probably on the vanguard of all that, trying to keep the rest of the known galaxy in one piece while Picard spearheaded the Romulan mission. They would've been pretty bleeping busy.
Ok. But we know from Nemesis that the Titan's first mission was a diplomatic mission to Romulus. At the very least I'm kind of surprised that at the beginning of Picard's new mission he doesn't at least contact Captain Riker to get his take on Romulus--almost like an after mission report. I would think Admiral Picard would at the very least like to talk to Riker about his own mission and his impressions of the Romulans and any information he might have that might assist Picard in his own mission.
I mean, that would be at the very beginning and it would seem reasonable to me. Riker might have some very valuable information and sometimes you get things by talking to someone that you wouldn't get by reading a report. Including things you don't always include in a report, like who might be helpful to the mission and on the flip side who might be an impediment. And Riker is someone whom Picard trusts and would value any information he could provide before embarking on such a huge mission.
This might even be before Picard has started assembling most of his team.
It also might have been nice had a scene been included where Picard informs Worf of his promotion. That would be a moment of pride for Picard and it might have been nice to read about that (and it probably would have been all of a page and a half).
If anything, that's probably why they didn't do what you want. All your suggestions are for scenes at the start of the story. But we already had Picard's decision to leave the Enterprise, the discussion about promoting Worf, the farewell to Crusher, and the recruitment of Geordi. That's a lot of preliminaries already. Tossing in scenes to touch base with Worf and Riker and Troi would've just delayed getting on with the actual plot, and for no actual purpose beyond fanservice.
The show and more so the book give you an out though - the Tal Shiar suppressed everything, maybe even distorted readings visible out with the Romulan system, so no one knew. Until 2387 when Picard tries to save everyone and it goes wrong much quicker.
Or can the dates of the novel verse books be changed? Is that possible?
Well, you could probably combine a promotion of Worf with the farewell to Beverly. The Worf promotion thing though is in the 'would have been nice to see' column. It's not something that would affect my overall view of the book.
The talking to Riker thing though bothers me a bit more because he's a trusted former aide to Picard who might have direct knowledge that might help Picard start his mission. It seems odd to me he wouldn't have contacted him for his thoughts at the start of the mission for those reasons. He could 'read' reports sure. But we all know there are always things you don't put in reports, impressions Riker has in his own dealings that Picard could potentially use in his own mission.
And I get that this is a prequel to Picard. But both the book and Picard are also sequels to TNG. This book in a sense bridges the gap between Nemesis and Picard. It's supposed to show us how we got from TNG to Picard. I'm not advocating anything like a 50-50 split or anything even near that. Maybe a 10-90 split. Maybe not even that much. It would have been nice if Picard made one final appearance on the Enterprise bridge transferring command to Worf and congratulating him on his promotion, making one last speech from the bridge to his people wishing them well on their mission, saying his brief good bye to Beverly and recruiting Geordi as his final acts on the Enterprise. Then after all that a consultation with Captain Riker to get his thoughts on his own mission to Romulus and things Riker thinks might help Admiral Picard on his mission. Out of 15 chapters I'm talking about taking maybe 1, tops, as a transitory chapter closing out TNG. It might not even need that much really because you'd be combining a couple things like Worf's promotion and a good bye speech in one scene. So maybe even just 1 or 2% of the total novel. That's more or less what I envisioned.
Again: It is impossible to hide something like that. It is the very nature of stars that they are visible from a great distance. That's basically their whole deal. That's how we know so much about them without ever having gone to one.
There's no need. Fiction is just exploring possibilities. There's nothing wrong with different stories exploring different possibilities. I realized ages ago that trying to artificially force stories to fit together when they weren't intended to fit together is an injustice to those stories, because it doesn't respect the way they choose to present themselves.
The Novelverse explores a version of post-Nemesis Trek where the Borg Invasion happens and the supernova (effectively) doesn't. Picard explores a version that goes the other way. It's interesting to see how they diverge. It's not a bad thing for different versions of a story to disagree with each other. All stories are about asking "What if," exploring hypothetical possibilities. And it's good to explore more than one hypothesis.
Anyway, given that the novel hints that the supernova may have been artificial, then that provides an easy justification for why it (effectively) didn't happen in the novel timeline. I had been thinking that maybe the Borg Invasion would've prevented whatever group triggered it from carrying out their plan, but now I'm not so sure, because TLBH begins no more than half a year after Destiny (it's autumn 2381 in Ch. 3) and it's implied that the buildup to the supernova began some time earlier. Still, if it was artificially induced, that means there are many potential timelines where it wouldn't happen.
And it does, to the extent that's reasonable and doesn't get in the way of its own story. It even overtly explains why Picard does cut himself off so sharply from the Enterprise crew -- because the Romulans fear and mistrust the Enterprise and it would send the wrong message. The clean break is not an oversight, it is a relevant part of the story. Not only in plot terms, but because it sets up Picard's ultimate fall by creating a situation where he cuts himself off from his old life and commits himself utterly to a singular cause that then ends in disaster, breaking him. The story is told the way it needs to be told. And the dissatisfaction that you feel at the lack of closure with the Enterprise crew is probably a feature, not a bug. This is not a happy, feel-good story. It's a story of bad options and bad choices and disappointment and failure. It's the story of Picard's life going wrong, and if you're unhappy with the first choice he made in separating himself from his old friends, that's probably the point.
It's not about percentage, it's about placement. Slow starts are a bad thing. The beginning of a story is when you need to capture the audience's attention, when you're most in danger of losing it if you waste time on preliminaries.
Indeed, economy matters everywhere in a story. Sometimes the difference between a pacing that works and a pacing that fails is a matter of a few sentences, a few paragraphs. And a whole 1 to 2% of a novel is a huge amount to spend on something extraneous. That's 3 to 6 pages, hardly a trivial aside.
But maybe it still could happen in the novelverse. I'm getting the same impression from TLBH, that maybe the nova was artificial, an attack of some sort. That could happen in the novelverse version as well--though maybe the circumstances and weapon used are different. We already know from Generations that there are weapons that can destroy a star immediately. Now to be consistent with what we know from Star Trek (2009) and the development of red matter we know there is at least some warning. So maybe something in between. A weapon that takes a few months to work or something. Perhaps as you noted the events of Destiny caused whomever it was to alter their plans. It could conceivably be the same people that we may find out are behind the events of Picard but who changed their methods in the Destiny timeline (which would be a way to tie the novelverse to Picard indirectly).
I mean it's fun to speculate--but I guess it's not going to happen. We're not likely to see a relaunch style novel depicting the destruction of Romulus. If nothing else S&S would probably be concerned about confusing its readers with two different approaches to the same event.
Ok. Maybe. And I was wondering that maybe someday we will get an Enterprise based story in the Picard timeline in the same vein as "The Enterprise War" was an Enterprise story in the Discovery universe. And maybe that would be an appropriate place to give a bit more detail on some of that using the framework from TLBH.
But taking it down to the bare bones, I still think a conversation with Riker may have been a way to say close out the TNG era and it would be relevant to the story as well. Perhaps even more relevant than his conversation with Beverly. I'm just kind of mystified that we know Riker went to Romulus and Picard didn't speak to Riker at all. The other things I mentioned, promoting Worf, making a final speech on the Enterprise---those are minor nitpicks, despite my grumblings. At the end of the day I can deal with it. But him not speaking to Riker at all bothers me more and more the more I think about it. It's more than just congratulations and how are you doing---it's that Riker might have information that can help Picard with this mission. I can't imagine that Picard wouldn't contact him on subspace to pick his brain for a few minutes during his preparations.
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