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Quarantine: Double Helix 4 an awesome novel for fans of Thomas Riker

S

StefanSeitz

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Red Shirt
After reading http://www.amazon.de/Quarantine-Double-Helix-No-4-Generation/dp/0671034774/ref=cm_lmf_tit_4 I was watching Star Trek: The Next Generation [TNG] : Season 6 Episode 24 "Second chances" and DS9 Season 3 Episode 9 "Defiant" it was really amazing to see/read and understand how one person can become such different through living different experiences. It only gives more drama to the path Thomas life took and makes the tragic of the failure of federation policy in the case of the Marquis once more horrendously clear. I really recommend this novel especially to fans of Thomas Riker, Chakotay , B'Elanna Torres and the aspects of the Marquis in the fabric of the star trek universe.

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Re: Quarantine: Double Helix 4 an awesome novel for fans of Thomas Rik

Hmmm, most of the reactions I've seen to this one have been either mixed or bad.
 
Re: Quarantine: Double Helix 4 an awesome novel for fans of Thomas Rik

Actually I liked the story. Indeed much better than "Red Sector."
 
Re: Quarantine: Double Helix 4 an awesome novel for fans of Thomas Rik

StefanSeitz said:
Actually I liked the story. Indeed much better than "Red Sector."
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That's funny, I loved "Red Sector", but thought every other book in the series (with the exception of "Double or Nothing" which had a few entertaining moments) sucked to one degree or another. "Quarentine" was, IMO, the worst of the lot. The stuff at the start about Thomas trying to find his place, being constantly mistaken for his twin and being bullied by the XO of the ship he was on was interesting, but once Chak and B'Elanna showed up, it went down the drain.

Edit: "Vectors" actually wasn't too bad, either.
 
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Re: Quarantine: Double Helix 4 an awesome novel for fans of Thomas Rik

"Red sector" was really bad. I was happy when I finished reading it. The beginning was promising but then the story was lame. In my opinion Diane Carey should have written a Stiles novel, which was obviously her aim but not placed within the double helix saga, the virus was barely mentioned.
 
Re: Quarantine: Double Helix 4 an awesome novel for fans of Thomas Rik

StefanSeitz said:
"Red sector" was really bad. I was happy when I finished reading it. The beginning was promising but then the story was lame. In my opinion Diane Carey should have written a Stiles novel, which was obviously her aim but not placed within the double helix saga, the virus was barely mentioned.
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I guess we have very different tastes. I thought "Red Sector" had a poor beginning, but became awesome about the time Stiles was caught in the first Constrictor.

You're right about the virus barely getting a mention, but by that point we'd already had two novels dealing with it extensively.

My chief issue with the Double Helix novels is their near-total lack of cohesiveness. Once we actually meet the guy responsible, he's just a generic madman on a quest for power and revenge who lives in a freaking Dyson Sphere (the scale of which is clearly far beyond Peter David's ability to comprehend), and nothing at all like the mysterious and secretive mastermind hinted at in the previous novels. When we learn his backstory in the final novel, he's a petty power-lusting planetary governer with zero background in, or interest or knowledge of, the advanced engineering techniques that so impressed Beverly, Pulaski and McCoy. His MO doesn't fit.
In "Red Sector", a powerful ship is extensively described. And then never shows up again.

The reason for all this is explained in "Voyages of Imagination" - Christie Golden hadn't read any of the other books in the series when she wrote her Stargazer-era prequel. I doubt any of the other authors involved had a clue what the others were doing, either. It's a shame. "Double Helix" was nice idea, very badly executed.
 
Re: Quarantine: Double Helix 4 an awesome novel for fans of Thomas Rik

I must say that I think the majority of the big multi book crossover events like Invasion and Double Helix were all rather awful.
 
Re: Quarantine: Double Helix 4 an awesome novel for fans of Thomas Rik

I'm personally a pretty big fan of the Double Helix miniserise as a whole, although my favorite novels are actually Infection (Book 1), Vectors (Book 2), and the novel of which this thread is the focus, Quarantine (Book 4).

Regarding the cohesiveness of the miniseries' narrative, I actually find that the storyline works best if you read the books in the following order:
The First Virtue
Infection
Vectors
Red Sector
Quarantine
Double or Nothing
 
Re: Quarantine: Double Helix 4 an awesome novel for fans of Thomas Rik

I'm kinda 'meh" on the whole Double Helix mini. It was ok. Double or Nothing was great but the rest were either ok or horrible (I'm looking at you Red Sector...damn did you stink! Probably the worst Trek novel ever...well of those I've read which is 80% of them). Quarantine was one of the good ones from what I remember.
 
Re: Quarantine: Double Helix 4 an awesome novel for fans of Thomas Rik

What is supposedly so bad about "Red Sector"? Granted, Carey's idea of unseen, lesser, non-self-sufficiant starships isn't quite in sync with what we've seen in TV/film Trek over the years, but neither's anything from "The Final Reflection", and that's a classic.

I loved it, and really don't see the cause for all the hate.
 
Re: Quarantine: Double Helix 4 an awesome novel for fans of Thomas Rik

I've noticed that Red Sector seems to be one where you either fall on one extreme or the other. It seems pretty evenly split between people who absolutely love it and people who think it's one of the worst things they've ever read. I've actually owned it since it first came out, but I've never gotten around to reading it.
 
Re: Quarantine: Double Helix 4 an awesome novel for fans of Thomas Rik

KingDaniel said:
My chief issue with the Double Helix novels is their near-total lack of cohesiveness. Once we actually meet the guy responsible, he's just a generic madman on a quest for power and revenge who lives in a freaking Dyson Sphere (the scale of which is clearly far beyond Peter David's ability to comprehend), and nothing at all like the mysterious and secretive mastermind hinted at in the previous novels. When we learn his backstory in the final novel, he's a petty power-lusting planetary governer with zero background in, or interest or knowledge of, the advanced engineering techniques that so impressed Beverly, Pulaski and McCoy. His MO doesn't fit.
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It's been a few years since I read most of Double Helix, with the exception of Double or Nothing, since I just went through the NF novels in order. So, I've forgotten many of the details of what I like or didn't like. My overall impression was that it was a fun read--but like the criticism above, I was disappointed in the MO behind it all. I thought that the virus targeting mixed-race people was pointing to someone perhaps racially (not human, but folks from different planets) motivated. Something insidious. Some kind of space-Hitler perhaps? But it was just another guy with a grudge against the federation. That was just a big disappointment.
 
Re: Quarantine: Double Helix 4 an awesome novel for fans of Thomas Rik

I love Tom Riker. But I hate Will Riker, because he's identical to Tom Riker.
 
Re: Quarantine: Double Helix 4 an awesome novel for fans of Thomas Rik

Why do people always call him Thomas Riker? He went by Tom in "Defiant." The only time he was Thomas as far as I recall was at the very end of "Second Chances."
 
Re: Quarantine: Double Helix 4 an awesome novel for fans of Thomas Rik

I remember reading this book, I think it was the summer of 98 or 99. I really enjoyed it, I was reading the whole crossover at the time but this one jumped out as fun to me. It was cool to see Thomas Riker doing his Maquis thing and tying him with Chakotay's group was excellent.
I was waiting for a friend to get out of work, sat down at a McDonalds nearby and read this book cover to cover in like 3 and half hours lol.
 
Re: Quarantine: Double Helix 4 an awesome novel for fans of Thomas Rik

ToddCam said:
Why do people always call him Thomas Riker? He went by Tom in "Defiant." The only time he was Thomas as far as I recall was at the very end of "Second Chances."
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Maybe because we already have a Tom Paris?
 
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