Withers
Captain
I bated around this forum for a while and talked to a handful of friends at BBS before finally deciding to order and read the Destiny trilogy. It met with a lot of fanfare and generally positive reviews from sources I trust so I figured it would be a good place to start my foray into the realm of Trek Literature. I've never read any science fiction literature before so my mind was open to the possibilities.
I'm midway through the second book and while the story is intriguing and intricate in certain ways, there are three issues I simply cannot parse.
The first is the descriptions entailed in the book. They're repetitive and lengthily to the point I have a hard time imagining what is being described. The city of Axion, for an example, has been described a dozen times using the same language and while I have a general idea of what it looks like, the specifics confuse and muddle the image. Then there's the "reconfiguration" scenes with the aliens who live there- that's been defined pretty clearly and I have a good mental image of what it looks like... but the author describes it in detail every time it happens. It makes me want to skip ahead frankly.
The second issue is the dialogue of known Trek characters. In certain instances it is pretty good (Elim Garak), in certain instances it is acceptable (Ezri Dax, Beverly, Erika, Geordi) but in most instances its too far off the mark for me to be able to hear the voices I associate with any given character saying the words. Picard, Riker, Worf, Seven of Nine, and Troi all have dialogue that is, for me, too far off the mark. And it isn't only what they say but how they say it in the situations that they do. (There's a scene between Admiral Jellico and Seven of Nine that was so over the top I laughed out loud at the thought of it. It boiled Seven down to 'fresh from the Collective' seven and made Jellico, by virtue of his reaction, something he was never shown to be.) I realize how difficult it must be for one writer to take on the job of doing what several writers had in the past (meaning no one person wrote for any of the aforementioned- it was always a bunch of people) but... the tone just isn't there for most of them.
Finally, there's the issue of "WTF" moments. I can't go into detail without spoiling it for anyone who hasn't read the books yet but... there have been moments of what I found to be pure implausibility played off as likely to the point of being inevitable. I haven't gotten to the end of the trilogy yet (I'm midway through it now) but there have already been a bunch that just had me leaning back in my chair to ponder the sheer inexplicable events that happened and the response they garnered from the characters.
So, yeah, so far I haven't been over the moon as it were with anything but the general plot which is pretty interesting (I guess... the villains don't do much for me but I really appreciate they've been given back their teeth.)
I'm midway through the second book and while the story is intriguing and intricate in certain ways, there are three issues I simply cannot parse.
The first is the descriptions entailed in the book. They're repetitive and lengthily to the point I have a hard time imagining what is being described. The city of Axion, for an example, has been described a dozen times using the same language and while I have a general idea of what it looks like, the specifics confuse and muddle the image. Then there's the "reconfiguration" scenes with the aliens who live there- that's been defined pretty clearly and I have a good mental image of what it looks like... but the author describes it in detail every time it happens. It makes me want to skip ahead frankly.
The second issue is the dialogue of known Trek characters. In certain instances it is pretty good (Elim Garak), in certain instances it is acceptable (Ezri Dax, Beverly, Erika, Geordi) but in most instances its too far off the mark for me to be able to hear the voices I associate with any given character saying the words. Picard, Riker, Worf, Seven of Nine, and Troi all have dialogue that is, for me, too far off the mark. And it isn't only what they say but how they say it in the situations that they do. (There's a scene between Admiral Jellico and Seven of Nine that was so over the top I laughed out loud at the thought of it. It boiled Seven down to 'fresh from the Collective' seven and made Jellico, by virtue of his reaction, something he was never shown to be.) I realize how difficult it must be for one writer to take on the job of doing what several writers had in the past (meaning no one person wrote for any of the aforementioned- it was always a bunch of people) but... the tone just isn't there for most of them.
Finally, there's the issue of "WTF" moments. I can't go into detail without spoiling it for anyone who hasn't read the books yet but... there have been moments of what I found to be pure implausibility played off as likely to the point of being inevitable. I haven't gotten to the end of the trilogy yet (I'm midway through it now) but there have already been a bunch that just had me leaning back in my chair to ponder the sheer inexplicable events that happened and the response they garnered from the characters.
So, yeah, so far I haven't been over the moon as it were with anything but the general plot which is pretty interesting (I guess... the villains don't do much for me but I really appreciate they've been given back their teeth.)
-Withers-
