ST:TNG Resistance (SPOILERS)
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Just finished Resistance. I loved it. It's one of the best TNG novels I've read in some time.
It did feel like a sequel to BOBW/First Contact, but that was fine with me because I loved that episode and the movie.
I don't think Resistance has totally re-fanged the Borg after VOY, but I liked the portrayal of the Queen-spot on, the reasoning behind how the Queen is created, and the new more feral Borg-though I don't get why no one mentioned Lore's more aggressive/faster Borg from "Descent".
I was really gelling with the new crew and was sad to see Nave and Lio bite the bullet. I do like T'Lana. I'm glad that she isn't a carbon copy of Troi. Picard needs someone to stand up to him, or someone who doesn't 'respect' him or is in 'awe' of him like the other crew. I also like the sexual tension between her and Worf. I would like to see this develop slowly over time. Worf is still a pretty young guy, the idea that he would never get involved again or remarry doesn't make sense to me.
I also like the Crusher/Picard relationship. It's really about time they got together. It was something the TV, and esp. the movies, failed to exploit. Will Wesley be returning anytime soon?
Geordi received very little time here. Why he wasn't in charge of the auxiliary bridge instead of Lt. Nelson is a mystery to me. I hope future books focus more on his character. And give him a girlfriend too. Where's Aquiel, Ensign Tyler, Leah Brahms, when you need them? Though I think it would be neater perhaps to make a new love interest from scratch, absent previous baggage.
Adm. Janeway was used to good effect in this book as well. However, I still cringe at the idea that she's Picard's superior. I had looked forward to some Seven/Picard head butting, but I'll guess that'll be in Before Dishonor.
Overall the book was fast paced and well written. The characters of Nave and Lio were growing on me, so I hope their replacements, and the new Ops Officer will be even better.
It did feel like a sequel to BOBW/First Contact, but that was fine with me because I loved that episode and the movie.
I don't think Resistance has totally re-fanged the Borg after VOY, but I liked the portrayal of the Queen-spot on, the reasoning behind how the Queen is created, and the new more feral Borg-though I don't get why no one mentioned Lore's more aggressive/faster Borg from "Descent".
I was really gelling with the new crew and was sad to see Nave and Lio bite the bullet. I do like T'Lana. I'm glad that she isn't a carbon copy of Troi. Picard needs someone to stand up to him, or someone who doesn't 'respect' him or is in 'awe' of him like the other crew. I also like the sexual tension between her and Worf. I would like to see this develop slowly over time. Worf is still a pretty young guy, the idea that he would never get involved again or remarry doesn't make sense to me.
I also like the Crusher/Picard relationship. It's really about time they got together. It was something the TV, and esp. the movies, failed to exploit. Will Wesley be returning anytime soon?
Geordi received very little time here. Why he wasn't in charge of the auxiliary bridge instead of Lt. Nelson is a mystery to me. I hope future books focus more on his character. And give him a girlfriend too. Where's Aquiel, Ensign Tyler, Leah Brahms, when you need them? Though I think it would be neater perhaps to make a new love interest from scratch, absent previous baggage.
Adm. Janeway was used to good effect in this book as well. However, I still cringe at the idea that she's Picard's superior. I had looked forward to some Seven/Picard head butting, but I'll guess that'll be in Before Dishonor.
Overall the book was fast paced and well written. The characters of Nave and Lio were growing on me, so I hope their replacements, and the new Ops Officer will be even better.
I've read it. It wasn't that great, though it did have killer cover art.
And in that particular post, really all of the posts I was makin', was about the first mission of the Big E set after ST: Nemesis, I just forgot to include that particular time frame in that particular part of the post, though it is pretty much everywhere else.
And another thought--how could Beverly possibly have Picard's old Locutus stuff? Wouldn't Starfleet have it? And even if she did keep it herself, wouldn't it have been destroyed/lost/damaged when Enterprise-D crashed, assuming it was in the saucer section and not in the engineering section? How could she just have it on hand, no questions asked?
Maybe it is shallow--but since she seems to be a bit more realistic about emotion than most Vulcans, perhaps she is a rehash of another bridge officer who was a Vulcan with emotions? I don't know. I'm not entirely serious, but rehash or not, she does seem to be the token Vulcan, which is closer to the point I had intended to make.
And Sara reminded me of the Mary Sue characters from the early Pocket ST books if she reminded me of anybody, but your point is taken.
EDIT: After reading this thread, I got curious about the origin of the term "Mary Sue," and was surprised to learn it originated with ST fan fiction. News to me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue#Etymology
^^"Token Vulcan"??? Since when has any Trek series required a token Vulcan? TNG and DS9 didn't have one. Vulcans are one of the established species of the Federation, so it's bizarre to yell "token!" every time a Vulcan character happens to show up. Heck, T'Lana isn't even the only Vulcan in the novels' Enterprise-E crew. Taurik is the assistant chief engineer, as seen in the A Time to... books.
T'Lana is the ship's counselor. Instead of looking for a character who'd be a Deanna clone, Jeanne Dillard and Margaret Clark decided to go with a character who'd be as different from Deanna as possible. A Vulcan counselor, a character who believes in control of emotion and is coolly rational rather than warm and empathetic, was chosen as a strong contrast. It's not about "token" anything. It's about choosing the most interesting character for the role. In this case, that happened to be a Vulcan.
T'Lana is the ship's counselor. Instead of looking for a character who'd be a Deanna clone, Jeanne Dillard and Margaret Clark decided to go with a character who'd be as different from Deanna as possible. A Vulcan counselor, a character who believes in control of emotion and is coolly rational rather than warm and empathetic, was chosen as a strong contrast. It's not about "token" anything. It's about choosing the most interesting character for the role. In this case, that happened to be a Vulcan.
For some reason "token Vulcan" does not sit well with me.
What are the chances that we see Data make a comeback into the Pocket novels? After deactivating B4 isn't it possible that the geniuses at "the institute" (can't remember the name off the top of my head) put the memory engrams together and give us Data back? I miss the guy. I hate it that we always see the ship get brutally beat up and at ST movie cast changes we see someone big get killed. It seemed Resistance opened the door for a possible Data return at some point.
Data's personality didn't change when he downloaded Lal's memories into himself, suggesting that downloading memories isn't the same as downloading personality. Even if there were a way to create a viable new Soong-type android and upload Data's memories into it, it wouldn't be Data, it'd be a new android that remembered Data's life.
Personally, I really hope doesn't come back. We already got Trip's return, and I'm sorry, but one is enough. Not only that, but at least Data's death made alittle more sense, and wasn't anywhere near as f***ed up as Trip's. IMO at least. Now don't get me wrong, I thought Nemsis seriously sucked, and hated that they killed Data, but I really don't see any need to bring him back.
As far as I know JD the death of Data was actually Brent Spiner's idea as he felt he was getting to old to play the character so since he had a hand in the story, he decided to put it in... At least it was emotional and touching.
I share many of the disappointments listed in this thread: short length, lack of characters, killing off new senior officers before we got a chance to know them, etc. T'Lana is off to a bad start, and I hope she improves by the end of the year.
The beehive analogy is stretched too far for my taste. In fact, the creation of the queen is far too plodding. Why not download the queen personality into the top piece of the body and awaken it right away? The ability to move around should be secondary to the Borg's need for direction.
As a thriller, the book works well, except for the Borg ship scenes before they reach the queen's chamber. As a Trek book, and especially as part of a relaunch, it leaves much to be desired. I give it a 6 out of 10.
The beehive analogy is stretched too far for my taste. In fact, the creation of the queen is far too plodding. Why not download the queen personality into the top piece of the body and awaken it right away? The ability to move around should be secondary to the Borg's need for direction.
As a thriller, the book works well, except for the Borg ship scenes before they reach the queen's chamber. As a Trek book, and especially as part of a relaunch, it leaves much to be desired. I give it a 6 out of 10.
I meant to comment on Friday when I finished the book, but I forgot, one of the things that didn't quite sit right with me about the novel is the way they keep on describing all of the drones as androgenous and that they had to use some wack science tp modify the Queen to become feminine.
But we've seen plenty of drones that were female (in VOY at least) - Janeway/Torres when they were assimilated, Seven of Nine (blatantly female in Drone form and not a Queen), Mezoti, Marika et al
So, where did Dillard get this whole 'turning a Drone into a woman' thing from?
But we've seen plenty of drones that were female (in VOY at least) - Janeway/Torres when they were assimilated, Seven of Nine (blatantly female in Drone form and not a Queen), Mezoti, Marika et al
So, where did Dillard get this whole 'turning a Drone into a woman' thing from?
I think the book made this very clear: The longer a person is assimilated, the more he or she loses individual characteristics and that includes a male or female appearance.
Well... I am not so sure if that also applies to Seven but saying that Seven had to use this ridiculous body suit for "health reasons" doesn`t make much sense either. Maybe this can be explained that Seven is simply an exception of the rule. What that exception might be - maybe someone has an idea.
Leaving Seven out of this - I think what Dillard wrote makes a lot of sense and incorporates very well what we have seen in early TNG.
Well... I am not so sure if that also applies to Seven but saying that Seven had to use this ridiculous body suit for "health reasons" doesn`t make much sense either. Maybe this can be explained that Seven is simply an exception of the rule. What that exception might be - maybe someone has an idea.
Leaving Seven out of this - I think what Dillard wrote makes a lot of sense and incorporates very well what we have seen in early TNG.
FWIW; I was disappionted with the first half of the book. But, thought it picked up when Picard was re-assimalated. I can't say I felt any connection with Nave, I wasn't sad how she ended up. I'm not going to rush on my opinion of T'Lana/Worf, lets see how it plays over the next two books.
If this was a review I'd give it a /\ /\ /\ out /\ /\ /\ /\ /\
ncc71877
If this was a review I'd give it a /\ /\ /\ out /\ /\ /\ /\ /\
ncc71877
I was wondering if any of the authors or editors had particular actors in mind for the new characters of T'Lana, Nave, etc. I'm currently only midway through Resistance and am afraid to read through all this thread seeing if this has already been asked in fear of spoilers...
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