ST:TNG Resistance (SPOILERS)

[Christopher]

AotF doesn't cover every month of 2380 -- just January, March, May, August, October, and December. And usually the characters are too busy dealing with whatever fires are burning at the moment to stop and reflect on what happened the month before, unless it's of immediate relevance. Just like in The West Wing, where even when there was a major international crisis or military incident, it wasn't necessarily mentioned in every single subsequent episode of the season. They dealt with it and they asked "What's next?"

 

[KRAD]

^ What he said.

 

[Warp Coil]

FleetCaptainFrost said:
Overall, I enjoyed "Resistance"; I found it a quick and entertaining read. (Here comes the inevitable 'but') But, there were a couple of things I didn't like. IMO, Picard was waaaaaaaay to quick to suggest becoming Locutus again. Surely there would be options? Also, I don't like the whole Borg equals insects comparison. While I was OK with the concept of a queen for "First Contact", it seems to me the queen thing was better as a one-off idea. And why can't the Borg be a hive mind without a queen? I hope further books can, as advertised, put the threat back into the Borg, but for me they still seem second-rate.

I just finished "Resistance." Overall, it was a great page-turner and the scenes on the Borg cube were filled with tension and anticipation. However, I have to agree with the sentiments that Picard was WAY too quick to turn back into Locutus. In fact, I still don't exactly remember the rational for this. Maybe I read through it too quickly and missed something?

When the Enterprise discovers the cube, the engines are offline, the ship isn't ready to launch, and the queen hasn't been activated. Why didn't the Enterprise destroy the cube? Why not beam quantum torpedoes into the center of the cube and watch the fireworks?

I was also a bit annoyed that the Queen was so essential to the collective functioning... I'm not sure how to work around it, but I find the Borg less menacing when they rely on the Queen herself, instead of the Collective as a whole. Perhaps "Before Dishonor" will dive more into this.

I really liked the character of Lieutenant Nave. In fact, I thought she was going to be a part of the "regular" cast of characters. Poor Lio was a goner the moment he opened his mouth, but I didn't expect both of them to die. That was an unexpected surprise.

I think I like T'Lana. There was too much time focused on her and her relationship with Picard and Worf, though. I really wanted the focus of this novel to be on the Borg. I wanted more action. More insight to the Borg's new agenda and methods. This book easily could have been longer and more detailed.

Still, it was a great read. I look forward to the next installments.

 

[ronny]

Frontier said:

What I didn't like:

[*]Name of the Crew Lounge; Lame
[/LIST]

End of the day... mixed feelings is the best way to sum up how I felt about "Resistance"

The fact that the name of the lounge stands out as such a loser to me when thinking of the book as a whole pretty much tells me what I thought of the book which is "eh". I liked the Worf stuff and liked T'Lann but not sure I'm going to get into the Worf/T'Lann stuff. Overall it just didn't strike me as new material which I kind of need for a relaunch.

 

[CaptainDonovin]

Overall I liked the book, went thru it quick, than read it again a bit slower this time to assimilate everything. Found the Worf/T'Lana scenes interesting, I'm going to like her I think. Liked the fact that Worf did not accept the job of first officer right away because of Jadzia and what happened during that mission. Nave was interesting but I had hoped she would survive but alas, to be a security officer on a ship called Enterprise!

I was a bit suspect that Picard would willingly become Locutus again but it did make for an interesting ride. The descriptions of how Picard saw the Enterprise after being turned into Locutus and the scenes at the end with Nave dying, and Worf and Crusher fighting their foes was really great, nice to see Crusher get some big scenes. I will be interested to see how Picard interacts with Seven when she comes aboard in the next book (after the coming Q book).

One thing I was surprised by (and forgot to mention) was the cloaking of the big E, well half of it anyway! That was unexpected and wonder if there would be any fall out from this despite what Worf told the crew in his briefing.

 

[Romulan_spy]

Warp Coil said:
When the Enterprise discovers the cube, the engines are offline, the ship isn't ready to launch, and the queen hasn't been activated. Why didn't the Enterprise destroy the cube? Why not beam quantum torpedoes into the center of the cube and watch the fireworks?

When the away team is killed without warning, the cube immediately starts attacking the Enterprise. So, I think it was assumed that a direct approach would not work. Presumably, the Borg would just neutralize the torpedo before it explodes.

 

[LightningStorm]

Romulan_spy said:

Warp Coil said:
When the Enterprise discovers the cube, the engines are offline, the ship isn't ready to launch, and the queen hasn't been activated. Why didn't the Enterprise destroy the cube? Why not beam quantum torpedoes into the center of the cube and watch the fireworks?

When the away team is killed without warning, the cube immediately starts attacking the Enterprise. So, I think it was assumed that a direct approach would not work. Presumably, the Borg would just neutralize the torpedo before it explodes.

Not sure, but I think Warp Coil meant why send even the first away team? Just send over the bomb blow it up and be done. A shoot first, ask questions later kind of thing.

 

[Scout101]

answer is, of course, that it wouldn't be much of a book that way. No real 'in universe' answer that's going to work, though, as they should have just smashed the unfinished ship and been done with it.

Additionally, if they've got the cloaking device drawings on file with every ship (but encrypted), kinda thinking Voyager's bat-armor and super-torpedoes have to be on file as well. But while we're on these lines, it said that the files are there in case of emergency, but you have to have an Admiral's code to use them. How's that help in an emergency, as there usually wouldn't be time, more of a life or death thing? If it WASN'T life or death, they'd either install it when being sent on the mission, or they could just have the Admiral SEND the file when the ship is asking for permission. This whole part doesn't quite make sense...

 

[o'brien's scotch]

Probably the quickest I've read a Trek book. I enjoyed the action and the character development for Worf. I'm really liking the continual interaction between cast memebers from the different television series. The Trek books are really making this seem like a cohesive universe. I'm not feeling the Worf/T'Lana vibe at all. The cloak was an interesting idea and I found the justifications for its implementation sound. I am, however, so over the Borg. Let the Federation come face to face with a brand new adversary.

 

[Warp Coil]

LightningStorm said:

Romulan_spy said:

Warp Coil said:
When the Enterprise discovers the cube, the engines are offline, the ship isn't ready to launch, and the queen hasn't been activated. Why didn't the Enterprise destroy the cube? Why not beam quantum torpedoes into the center of the cube and watch the fireworks?

When the away team is killed without warning, the cube immediately starts attacking the Enterprise. So, I think it was assumed that a direct approach would not work. Presumably, the Borg would just neutralize the torpedo before it explodes.

Not sure, but I think Warp Coil meant why send even the first away team? Just send over the bomb blow it up and be done. A shoot first, ask questions later kind of thing.

Pretty much. Picard could sense the Borg - he knew exactly what they were capable of, and more importantly, he knew that the Borg were angry. That should have made them even more of a threat. So why take any risks? Why even bother to send an away team over to die or become assimilated? If the Borg cube is still offline and not ready for launch, destroy it while it's still vulnerable. Or at least damage it enough to delay the launch, while Starfleet sends backup.

Yeah, it would have been a quick solution to the problem, and there wouldn't have been the drama that ensued... but I found the whole Locutus angle a bit contrived and forced.

Still thought it was a great read... looking forward to Peter David's Borg novel.

 

[FatherRob]

o'brien's scotch said:
Let the Federation come face to face with a brand new adversary.

How about (and I, a fan of military sci fi, never thought I'd actually say this...) we get back to new life and new civilizations, and boldly going where none have gone before?

Rob+

 

[JD]

^That's what Titan is for. Although I do agree that the Borg are getting kind of old now, personallly I'm starting to wish that they could find a way to just completely wipe them out forever. But, I'm still going to read Resistance and Before Dishorn because I am a big TNG and a Peter David fan.

 

[LightningStorm]

JD said:
^That's what Titan is for.

That's what Trek in general has always been about, not just Titan. It just happens that in some situations things go awry and you face enemies. But even DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise have been all about seeking out new life and going where no one has gone before. It's just in DS9 and Voyager's case things went terribly awry and the Dominion War and the extremely hostile forces in the DQ prohibited the ability to explore in a TOS or TNG sense.

 

[RookieBatman]

FatherRob said:

o'brien's scotch said:
Let the Federation come face to face with a brand new adversary.

How about (and I, a fan of military sci fi, never thought I'd actually say this...) we get back to new life and new civilizations, and boldly going where none have gone before?

Rob+

I concur. I don't mind popcorn-movie style action at all, but I certainly hope they don't make every TNG book like that just because every TNG movie was like that. But then, we've only seen one true TNG-R book, so that certainly doesn't indicate a trend. Before Dishonor will probably be highly action-oriented, but Q&A could very well be more along the Discovery side.

 

[Baerbel Haddrell]

FatherRob said:

o'brien's scotch said:
Let the Federation come face to face with a brand new adversary.

How about (and I, a fan of military sci fi, never thought I'd actually say this...) we get back to new life and new civilizations, and boldly going where none have gone before?

Rob+

There are certainly some "alien of the week - or book" stories I like but in general I find it more interesting and satisfying to read about aliens with a certain backstory we have met and will meet again. It is the same with characters. I tend to care more for characters I get to know better and who have an ongoing story.

Also when I read Mission Gamma: The story parts dealing with the alien of the book I never met before were much less interesting to me than the rest.

 

[o'brien's scotch]

FatherRob said:

o'brien's scotch said:
Let the Federation come face to face with a brand new adversary.

How about (and I, a fan of military sci fi, never thought I'd actually say this...) we get back to new life and new civilizations, and boldly going where none have gone before?

Rob+

My statement was not intended to suggest that I want to see more war or fighting. It was more about how I feel that the Borg and the Romulans as adversaries to the Federation have been played out and I would like to see other civilizations explored and developed.

That being said, I still enjoyed the book and plan to pick up <i>Q&A</i> and <i>Before Dishonor</i>.

 

[Trent Roman]

RookieBatman said:
Q&A could very well be more along the Discovery side.

Q is all about discovery. About pushing the little humanoids towards a deeper understanding of themselves and the universe about them, even as he satisfies his own provocateur's curiosity, his 'what would happen if...' urges.

Ficititiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[JD]

LightningStorm said:

JD said:
^That's what Titan is for.

That's what Trek in general has always been about, not just Titan. It just happens that in some situations things go awry and you face enemies. But even DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise have been all about seeking out new life and going where no one has gone before. It's just in DS9 and Voyager's case things went terribly awry and the Dominion War and the extremely hostile forces in the DQ prohibited the ability to explore in a TOS or TNG sense.

Sorry, I meant to put a smilie there because that was actually supposed to be a joke. Because in all honesty I wouldn't mind seeing some more new aliens. But at the same time I also like seeing familiar aliens, so I guess I kinda go both ways.

 

[Sisko_is_my_captain]

The "Happy Bottom Riding Club" sounds like a strip club for octogenarians to me. Whoever decided on that name ought to be soaked in gin and tonic and set ablaze.

Even Worf won't say the name. No wonder Guinan's not serving drinks there.

 

[Jon P]

I think the name is ridiculous as well, but it does relate to aviation history.