Roman Reviews "Q&A"
I finished Q&A the other week, but hadn’t been able to sit down and write a review until now for various, term-paperish reasons. I’ll preface everything by saying that I thought it was very fun and enjoyable, overall, and by far and away the best of the post-NEM TNG novels to have come out. It astonishes that despite how wild and large-scale this story was, the story was so much tighter. Maybe it’s because KRAD is both writer and editor, but Q&A was a welcome read after the insipidness of Death in Winter and the bumpy plot of Resistance.
I have to say that the beginning of the book rubbed me a bit the wrong way. The powerful callous super-entities shtick has been done before (the Q themselves, for instance), particular in Peter David’s books (there’s a notable resemblance to I, Q, particularly the boredom bit), and these are about as all-powerful and supremely callous as one gets. I couldn’t help but feel that universal genocide was being treated in too flippant and off-handed a manner; not just by ‘Them’ themselves (or…whatever), but by the fact that the book itself is rather light-hearted despite the stakes. Then there was the notion that all of Q’s appearances were linked, as part of a grand plan to prepare humanity to meet Them, which also made me squeaky because Q has always been presented as a chaotic (if instructive) force, and I worried that lacing the madness with method might distract from that endearingly capricious Q-ness we saw on the show.
Having finished the book, I must say… well, that I still find all of the above a tad off-putting. ‘They’ remain irredeemably, mind-bogglingly monstrous. Q comes off better, since his grand plan is allowed to seem roguish and manipulative before authorities like the Continuum and Them, preserving his trickster figure and even a certain aura of randomness about him, although I don’t much care for the impact in has on Q’s canonical appearances in retrospect, robbing them of some of their apparent spontaneity and unpredictability. But, unlike some books were an iffy premise just brings everything down with it (c.f. “Legacy of the Force”), the execution in Q&A is just so well done that it essentially overwhelms any larger-pictures issues when reading it; the book itself just such a thrill to read, engaging and entertaining, that my problem with the premise(s) would only, were I the type to rate books on a scale, knock it down to four stars out of five instead of the full score.
As is often the case with your books, Keith, I find it hard to identify specifically what I find so amenable about your style; it’s just a generalized good vibes arising from the synergy of the whole. But some points worth nothing: characterization is excellent, always on the ball—so much so that even in the interludes where characters identified only as Q are chatting to each other, I pretty much always knew which canonical Q was being referred to. Inside the ship, same thing: good to see Worf confident and in-charge, an exercising his own particular command style. Another Picard and Crusher breakfast scene illustrating their genteel kind of love and just generally making you (the reader) happy that they’re happy. I liked that Q kept referring to past events happening ‘moments’ ago. Skipping around the galaxy to show how widespread the phenomenon was is a good touch, and stylistically I think the shifts help prepare the reader for the quick-changing realities later on (although I thought the final chapter, going over all the realities as readjusted, was needlessly long: once the principle of had been established with the Titan, the other scenes could have been briefer; as it was, I glossed over a lot of what was repeated from earlier chapters). The multiplicity of Enterprises was totally epic, combining two favourite episodes of mine, far and away amongst the best sequences I’ve read in any Trek book. That was the real climax for me. Particularly cool is how that sequence managed to be fast-paced while still giving us a depth of insight into these various realities in so little space (here, again, the sharp characterization shines through). And, hey, who wouldn’t want to see a grown up Kirsten Durst in a Starfleet uniform, yeah?
One thing I didn’t get, however, and perhaps this was explained in the book but I simply overlooked it: if the Q knew about Them, about the Final World and what it would take to save the universe (by the way—wouldn’t entropy take millions of years to destroy a universe? The description made it seem like it was over in an instant)… then why did the Q have to groom lower life-forms like humans to present to Them, instead of just going before Them themselves (that is to say, have the universe judged on the merit of Q himself rather than Picard… dang these pronouns be confusing). It seems like Q was acting as a kind of advocate for life in this universe, but since (the book says) the Q would have been destroyed along with the universe, why was Q reduced to the status of friendly party rather than a candidate for consideration?
I should probably write a quick note on the new characters: they’re basically alright. Sorry about the lack of enthusiasm, but we’ve had two ‘introductory’ books into the TNG Relaunch so far, and it seems like the replacement cast just isn’t making anywhere the impact characters in the Deep Space Nine Relaunch or Titan are. Granted, they’re not Astall, for which I’m immensely grateful, but they’re not really exciting, either. Perhaps that’s editorial intent, to keep the focus on ‘our’ characters as opposed to the approaches taken in other series, and I suppose recent discussions suggests there is a certain wisdom to diversifying the line… but I really do prefer the large and vibrant casts of DS9R and Titan. The E-E, in contrast, seems cold and empty. Speaking of which, I’m having a hard time getting a read on T’Lana and I’m not sold on this semi-attraction thing she has going on with Worf (opposites might attract—see Ro and Quark—but tension doesn’t equal chemistry). Kadohata is basically nothing special, though perhaps that was the point—an average person who gets by on competency and hard work. Leybenzon, I don’t like, but there was pretty much no way I ever would: I’ve always loathed the ‘drill instructor’ personality type. People who can’t distinguish insult and humiliation from encouragement always make me feel more like going Red Hot Chili Peppers on their ass than listening to anything they have to say (let alone following orders), but I suppose one doesn’t actually have to like a character for them to be a good character, and his underlings seem to like him. I’ll have to see how they develop as the series progresses and maybe I’ll warm to them.
One more thing—I believe I meant to raise this in my review of Resistance and forgot among all the other things, but please, please, please, please change the idiotic name of the crew lounge. I mean, seriously: “The Happy Bottom Riding Club”? I don’t care what kind of history the name has, it’s just plain ridiculous, and it throws me out of the story every time it crops up. Let’s have it be destroyed in an upcoming novel and replaced with something that doesn’t sound like a Japanese brothel, shall we? Please?
So, [Roy Calhoun]in conclusion, and in summary[/Roy Calhoun], the TNG Relaunch finally picks up with the outstanding Q&A, and with PAD writing the next one hopefully it’ll stay up. Actually, Before Dishonour wasn’t out when I ordered my mega-package of Trek books, so that’s it for the TNG Relaunch for me for a bit… although now that the currencies have equalized, I’ll probably just pick it up in stores whenever I see it. Next in the pile: Star Trek: William Shatner.
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
