So I just finished A Time to be Born

[label]

overall, i enjoyed the Born/Die duology. I found the plot quite engaging. The only thing that really brings it down was the wesley subplot. And how it featured another one of those cases where two characters fall in love in 5 minutes.
I liked the ontailians, the stuff at the graveyard, and the whole dilemma the crew goes through. it's just, as i said, the wesley stuff dragged it down in book two.

Agreed. I've enjoyed the ontillians, the graveyard, the mysteries and everything else. I didn't even mind the little bit of Wesley we got in "To Be Born". Just the "love/sex at first sight" stuff with Wesley was just plain stupid and the whole turning everyone over to Picard's side with a simple 2 minute visit to the site just defied logic.

I'm very glad to hear the rest of the story not involving Wesley gets back to being good.

 

[Therin of Andor]

The only thing that really brings it down was the wesley subplot. And how it featured another one of those cases where two characters fall in love in 5 minutes.

You don't get around much. Such a phenomenon occurs IRL quite often.

I was about a book behind everyone else when "A Time..." was coming out, and it was tricky to avoid spoilers, but I loved what the author did with Cabot. And Wesley. A Wesley storyline was long overdue.

 

[label]

The only thing that really brings it down was the wesley subplot. And how it featured another one of those cases where two characters fall in love in 5 minutes.

You don't get around much. Such a phenomenon occurs IRL quite often.

Your definition of "Love" and mine must differ because I don't believe it's possible to fall in "Love" in 5 minutes. Fall in "lust"....yeah....be very attracted to, sure.....but in "Love"? Nah.

A Wesley storyline was long overdue.

Hey, I"m one of the 13 people on the planet that actually liked Wesley on the series so I'm great with Wesley being in the storyline. I just think to this point in the book, it's been a very sloppy, unbelievable storyline, especially where Cabot is concerned.

 

[Christopher]

Your definition of "Love" and mine must differ because I don't believe it's possible to fall in "Love" in 5 minutes. Fall in "lust"....yeah....be very attracted to, sure.....but in "Love"? Nah.

Don't you consider it possible that someone in the first flush of a sudden infatuation could mistake it for love? Where else do you think the expression "love at first sight" came from?

 

[label]

Your definition of "Love" and mine must differ because I don't believe it's possible to fall in "Love" in 5 minutes. Fall in "lust"....yeah....be very attracted to, sure.....but in "Love"? Nah.

Don't you consider it possible that someone in the first flush of a sudden infatuation could mistake it for love? Where else do you think the expression "love at first sight" came from?

Sure, I'd buy that people can feel a definite spark of attraction when two people meet and certainly Wesley whisking her off to float in space light years away without a ship can do a lot to win over a person.....she says as much in the book.

What got me was that in the narrative, we went from Wesley dropping her off in her office having just kidnapped her to the very next time they see each other, Wesley knocks on her door, she gives him a brief greeting and he decides based on that...."hey, she said 'Hi', that's an invitation into her pants if I've ever heard one" and that's it. No dinner, conversation, they have no idea who each other is and she doesn't even know if that's what he even looks like. It just seemed so implausible and clumsy as to be distracting and off-putting.

As for "Love at first sight'........true story. The band I was in at the time (17 years ago now) was practicing, my lead singer brought his girlfriend with him and she had brought a friend, my future wife. I saw her, talked with her for a while and after she left, I told everyone in the room that I was going to marry that girl and of course, I did.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I saw her, talked with her for a while and after she left, I told everyone in the room that I was going to marry that girl and of course, I did.

Well, there you are. So why can't a lust that ultimately proves to be true love apply to Wes and Colleen?

 

[label]

I saw her, talked with her for a while and after she left, I told everyone in the room that I was going to marry that girl and of course, I did.

Well, there you are. So why can't a lust that ultimately proves to be true love apply to Wes and Colleen?

It's not so much that it can't happen in real life, it's how clumsily it was handled in the book that I took issue with. I've finished "Time to Die" and by the end I felt like that Colleen was two completely different characters from "Born" to "Die'. I liked both, but they were different enough that it detracted from my enjoyment of the story. Eventually throughout the book she talked about 'vacation' love and not real love so I appreciated that they seemed to back-pedal a bit, but it was still awkward.


Anyway, the book was kind of "meh" after Time to be Born. It wasn't awful, but parts of it just didn't feel "TNG"'ish if that makes sense. The encounters with the Androssi, the Orions, the Ontillians....were half baked and seemed more like a TOS type of story.

Hopefully the next few books will be better because I'd give this set of books (Born/Die) about a 7.2/10.....enjoyable in places, strong first half but very problematic second half.

How is "Sow/Harvest"?

 

[JD]

I thought it was ok. I think when I read then I gave them about a 7/10 each.

 

[label]

I thought it was ok. I think when I read then I gave them about a 7/10 each.

Honestly, if the second book in the duology would have been stronger, I would have rated the them in the high 8's. I just felt all the intrigue, mystery and suspense that was built up over the first book just got wasted by Wesley's storyline primarily. I really did like the concept of the "haunted" space ship graveyard....to my limited knowledge that hasn't been the centerpiece to any Star Trek episode/book I've ever encountered so points for originality there.

Also points for the way they had to defeat the shape shifting ship as well......just too much Dues Ex Wesley going on coupled with clumsy writing in the second book, at least IMO.

Edit: Wait.....are you referring to Sow/Harvest or Born/Die? If Sow/Harvest.....then what did you rate Born/Die?

 

[JD]

Sow/Harvest. I couldn't make it past the second chapter of Born.

 

[label]

Sow/Harvest. I couldn't make it past the second chapter of Born.

Well, hopefully Sow picks up the pace soon. I'm over halfway through the book now and very, very little has happened. Enterprise is sent on an exploratory mission to see if the planet they think blew up actually blew up. They arrived, saved some miners on one of the remaining colonies and that's basically it. That's the entire story up to the halfway mark in the book.

While I thought Time to Die was a bit over the top with the non-stop action once they're in the graveyard, this one spends entire chapters with one character, just reflecting on what had happened and what will happen with very little dialog.....just a lot of description of people and events. Really sort of odd so far........

 

[Dancing Doctor]

The only thing I didn't really like about Sow/Harvest is the flashbacks to Hjatyn.

 

[seigezunt]

I was on a real roll a year ago reading Treklit, and it was reading this book that it kind of sputtered out for me. I'm back, but I've been giving this a wide berth.

 

[Thrawn]

Sow/Harvest. I couldn't make it past the second chapter of Born.

Well, hopefully Sow picks up the pace soon. I'm over halfway through the book now and very, very little has happened. Enterprise is sent on an exploratory mission to see if the planet they think blew up actually blew up. They arrived, saved some miners on one of the remaining colonies and that's basically it. That's the entire story up to the halfway mark in the book.

While I thought Time to Die was a bit over the top with the non-stop action once they're in the graveyard, this one spends entire chapters with one character, just reflecting on what had happened and what will happen with very little dialog.....just a lot of description of people and events. Really sort of odd so far........

Wardilmore usually spend a lot of the first third of a book (and you can consider Sow/Harvest one big book, I think) with recap and background and characterization. I find it a little dull too, but I can see how it'd be helpful if you weren't as intimately familiar with every moment of each of these characters' lives in the way I am

Those books weren't my favorite parts of the A Time To... series, but the pace does pick up a lot in book 2.

 

[Dancing Doctor]

I had actually read Harvest before I got to Sow. Strangely, that helped me have a higher opinion of the two.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Stands out for me as the most meh Trek book ever written. Not bad, just incredibly meh. I put Treklit down for a long time after that.

 

[label]

Those books weren't my favorite parts of the A Time To... series, but the pace does pick up a lot in book 2.

Good. I read through another 50 pages or so after I posted last night and it did get more interesting, though much of that was because their was actual dialog occurring and you could start to see where the story might be headed. It's too bad it took till the ~65% through the book mark to get there.

 

[label]

Alright. The last 1/3 of the book definitely picks up the pace quite a bit and turns into a relatively good story. I'm sort of undecided on how often the authors reference previous stories/adventures.....sometimes it's a good fit and solidifies the story as part of Trek cannon for me and other times it seems like it's a obvious attempt to connect and feels artificial in places.

Looking forward to Time to Harvest!

 

[Dancing Doctor]

Harvest was one that I really enjoyed. It seemed to go at a faster pace than Sow, particularly when you skip all the "From the Journal of Hjatyn" stuff.

 

[indianatrekker26]

yeah, the sow/harvest books killed my mood to read the rest of the "A Time to,,," series. Sow starts off at a crawl. Harvest is much better but still overall the duology is just not very interesting.