Picked up my copy yesterday, at Books Inc.
Spoilers SNW: Toward the Night by James Swallow Review Thread
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The scene at the bottom of Page 65 reminds me of a scene from Airplane! -- the one with Randy, Dr. Rumack, and Mrs. Hammen.
One of the fun things about writing a book set in season two while season three of SNW was in production was getting to drop in a few subtle call-forwards to events yet to happen... And this is one of those.
It is? Hmm. Still reminds me of that scene in Airplane!.
BTW, have any 3rd season episodes seen the light of day yet?
BTW, have any 3rd season episodes seen the light of day yet?
The season premieres on July 17.
S3 starts July 17.
The character work is well done throughout Toward the Night. Though I found the outcomes a bit predictable, they were the ones that would make the most sense and satisfy the most given the story setup in place. I'm not the biggest fans of blowhard Klingons and bugs as antagonists/obstacles, or else this probably would have gotten a higher rating, as the writing is solid.
So far, I'm with @Smiley on this. I just think that having a Denobulan member of Starfleet say something so close to Randy's
is funny. All it needed to have me ROFLMFAO was for another character to waltz in and deliver Mrs. Hammen's line,
(And yes, as a matter of fact, I have seen Airplane! more times than I've seen all the SW movies combined; I carry the DVD with me whenever I fly, because it's the perfect in-flight movie [and had cracked up at least one flight attendant when she noticed what I was watching].)
Loved it. It had everything. And the icing on the cake was the epilogue, with Burnham & co. being there to greet Keol & co.
And for the record, the fact that I was ROFLMFAO over Yerah almost directly quoting Randy's "and I'm not married" line (whether it was intended or not) did not lessen the story.
And for the record, the fact that I was ROFLMFAO over Yerah almost directly quoting Randy's "and I'm not married" line (whether it was intended or not) did not lessen the story.
I found the designation of the lost ship as Freedom class somewhat off-putting—I was like, "why did James pick this name, when there's already a Freedom class but it's from a much later time?" But after finishing the book I went and looked it up; I hadn't ever realized that the Franklin from Beyond was also designated Freedom class. So totally not his fault! It also seemed weird to me the lost ship had an "NX" prefix, but again not his fault if he's just following the lead of Beyond.
I thought that was odd, too, ever since the computer screens from BEY became available legibly. I can twist around how the Franklin can be the first warp-four ship without being the first ship of its class (like, it was a test-bed and those giant nacelles were added after-the-fact and the ship and its sisters were launched with skinny ENT cigarette nacelles that topped out at warp three or lower). The NX designation is just weird on both sides, but Christopher's idea about the early Federation having multiple registration number prefixes before standardizing later on mostly resolves that, along with ENT establishing that pre-Federation the prefixes meant something different (but, apparently, still not what they meant for the Franklin).
?"Don't tell them your name Pike."
Well played Mr Swallow.
A reference to an iconic moment from the sitcom "Dad's Army".
In the episode "The Deadly Attachment" a U-Boat Captain demands the name of one of the Guard. Captain Mainwaring responds "Don't tell him, Pike!"
I really enjoyed this one. I voted Above Average and would have given it an Outstanding, but the thing with the bugs just got old and I found myself waiting to get back to the Enterprise. I'm not sure why, but that's what happened.
I have a question though.
I have a question though.
My takeaway from all the descriptions was that the planet was basically a dead planet when the Enterprise crew first landed there. Did I misunderstand that?
The epilogue with the Discovery cameo was fun, but it also implies the planet is again lush with life. I Know it's 1,000-ish years later, but that seems a very short time for a planet's ecosystem to evolve new life.
I'm sure I completely missed something, but heck if I can figure out what it is I missed.
The epilogue with the Discovery cameo was fun, but it also implies the planet is again lush with life. I Know it's 1,000-ish years later, but that seems a very short time for a planet's ecosystem to evolve new life.
I'm sure I completely missed something, but heck if I can figure out what it is I missed.
I would postulate thatwith a flare star as its primary, the indigeous life would have evolved a dormant phase. Not too dissimilar in concept from ADF's Icerigger Trilogy, in which we eventually learn that all of the native life on Tran-Ky-Ky has evolved both glacial and warm-climate modes, to deal with the planet's unusual orbit.
Of course, JS may have had something entirely different in mind.
Of course, JS may have had something entirely different in mind.
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