Struggling to read "The Romulan War"

[Jedi_Master]

The book "Romulan War: Beneath the Raptor's Wing" was recently loaned to me by a friend. I have struggled to read it.
I love the Enterprise era books by Micheal Martin and Andy Mangels, but this one just seems lifeless and dreary.

Did anyone else struggle to finish this book - and does it get better as it goes along?

 

[TenLubak]

I am currently reading this one as well. I got it 2 weeks ago and im 3/4 of the way thru. So far Romulans attacks some worlds. Travis left, Tpol went to vulcan, and Vulcans dont want to fight in the war. not alot going on really, its very slow paced. I'd have been pissed if id got the big paperback, but at least i got the 8 dollar one.
Its ok. Im just like hmmm 1/4 of the book left. I thought the R W would be bigger, scarier, reonate more of an impact.

I didnt get the whole reporter on mars thing....I duno I gotta finish it b4 i say anything else. Its ok. Not bad, but its like one of the things ive heard about this since i was a kid. Like in wrestling when WCW finally invaded WWF. Nothing could live up to the hype.

 

[Art Vandelay]

I was really looking forward to the Romulan War novel - I even prepared for it be reading The Good That Men Do and Kobayashi Maru.

Well... not quite. I had to stop reading Kobayashi Maru after the first two thirds, because it's unbelievably boring, as is its predecessor. I don't see myself finishing it and reading Beneath the Raptor's Wing anytime soon.

A bloody shame, this story could have been so epic...

 

[F. King Daniel]

It's the only Trek novel I've given up on. I didn't enjoy any of the prior post-ENT novels, either. I found the direction uninteresting and I hated the apologetic retconning aimed at the most anal of TOS (not Enterprise!) continuity freaks.

 

[DarKush]

I put it down as well. Not saying I will never pick it back up (it took me 15 years to finish God Emperor of Dune for example), but I won't be reading it anytime soon. As for Good that Men Do, I liked that one, but felt that Kobayashi Maru was disappointing, and Raptor's Wing is continuing in that vein. No disrespect to MM, but the Romulan War should've been a four or five book series farmed out to various Trek writers, like they Typhon Pact (though hopefully better).

 

[JWD75]

I had a hard time getting through the mind numbingly boring Kobayashi Maru so I never bothered with The Romulan War.

 

[Therin of Andor]

The best thing about the book is the cover. 'Cos I own the Tellarite's outfit:


Andorian plus Tellarite robes by Therin of Andor, on Flickr


ENT The Romulan War by Therin of Andor, on Flickr

 

[MatthiasRussell]

I think all the ENT novels have had good plots and stories but the writing is very dry, is over detailed, and has too many side stories that mean nothing to the plot I'm interested in. In Romulan War, I just started skipping sections about the reporter or the Admiral and General talking. Trim some of the fat and the books would be much better. I'm planning on reading the next one cause I want to know what happens but I'm not enthusiastic about it.

I haven't enjoyed reading any of Martin's books to be honest. But he has a great technical mind and is a true fan. Though I don't enjoy his novels, I wish he would write tech manuals and other references. He would be my first choice to spearhead an Enterprise Tech Manual or Chronology.

 

[Christopher]

I actually liked Beneath the Raptor's Wing's focus on the side stories, on the way the war affected various people and groups. It was refreshing to read a war story that wasn't focused on the combat, which is boring to me, but on the stuff that actually matters about a war, the impact it has on people and society.

 

[Idran]

I actually liked Beneath the Raptor's Wing's focus on the side stories, on the way the war affected various people and groups. It was refreshing to read a war story that wasn't focused on the combat, which is boring to me, but on the stuff that actually matters about a war, the impact it has on people and society.

Yeah, I felt exactly the same way. The side stuff that was included was one of my favorite parts of that series. Plus it really helped flesh out the non-Starfleet sides of the 22nd century, I thought. Made the setting feel more full.

(I might be biased, though, since it's the first Star Trek book ever to feature Eastern Oregon, my home area. I grew up just 40 miles from Enterprise, the actual town. )

 

[MatthiasRussell]

We all like different things, that is the beauty of the variety of fans, authors, and incarnations of trek. Though I stand by my earlier position, I will admit to possibly being a little biased against this book as a former space shuttle employee who was disheartened to see the namesakes I love be destroyed so easily.

 

[Freman]

I'm loving this book so far! Great job, Mr. Martin!

 

[DarKush]

I don't mind the side stories per se, I'm way more of a soft sci-fi fan than into hard, military fiction. However, from what I've read thus far of the Romulan War, the side stories/characters just aren't that interesting. And even Trip is starting to wear out his resurrection. As much as I liked the decision to bring him back in TGTMD, it's now like they have to find a way to keep him in the thick of things, where it might be better to put that focus elsewhere.

 

[MatthiasRussell]

Am I the only one who felt Travis was a bit out of character? I understand the destruction of the Maru and disappearance of his family's ship hit him hard but completely losing respect for Archer and transferring seemed a little out of character to me.

I have found the concept of human technology being so different that it is less susceptible to the Romulan weapon a great concept and helps cement how humans caught up and the UFP established their fleet around Starfleet designs.

I also hope Ent continues into the formation of the UFP, like the series needed to and that we get to see the Drexler's refit come about. And while NX class ships are being named for space shuttles, could an author PLEASE fit a Buran in there?

 

[Christopher]

Am I the only one who felt Travis was a bit out of character? I understand the destruction of the Maru and disappearance of his family's ship hit him hard but completely losing respect for Archer and transferring seemed a little out of character to me.

Given that he didn't really have much of a character on the show, it's hard to say what would be out of character for him. If you mean it was a change from the way he was portrayed onscreen, that would be true, but that was the whole point, to give him more of a personality than he had before.

 

[MatthiasRussell]

I agree he needed more personality, but not if that personality contrasts the foundation that was laid for him.

 

[Zane Gray]

I liked The Romulan War: Raptor's Wing. I can't say I loved it, but I agree that the side stories were, for me, the real draw. Martin's style tends toward the political and grand-scale plotting it seems to me, and I think he misses Andy Mangels' touch on some of the smaller, personal character moments.

But that aside, it's not realistic to expect that the NX-01 crew is going to be at the nexus of every incident in what must have been a vast and wide-ranging conflict in Trek history. The Romulan War is also a much bigger story that the typical Star Trek novel - spanning many governments and cultures. I just hope that once this particular storyline is told, we'll get more post-Rom War Enterprise novels that settle back into telling more individual, personal tales.

While we're talking about the Rom War books, is anyone else surprised, given that the next novel comes out in just two months, that there's been nothing officially revealed to promote the release? No teaser interviews, no final cover art, no text excerpts - nothing? By the way, when I asked the Pocket reps at Comic-Con about To Brave the Storm, they told me that it apparently completes the main Romulan War story. So the Romulan War is TWO big books total - Raptor's Wing and To Brave the Storm - and that's it. I was kind of hoping for more. At least a book per year to cover the complete conflict. Thoughts?

 

[BillJ]

I haven't been able to finish anything that Michael Martin has written solo. It's an absolute chore to read any Trek he's written solo. If there were ever two people who needed each other it's him and Mangels.

 

[Christopher]

I agree he needed more personality, but not if that personality contrasts the foundation that was laid for him.

How do you think it does so? I think it fits in pretty well with that foundation. Travis is a Space Boomer by birth and upbringing, and in the couple of focus episodes he got, we saw that he still had a lot of loyalty to that community. So his reaction to Archer's choice in Kobayashi Maru arises out of that loyalty, and his subsequent actions follow from that.

By the way, when I asked the Pocket reps at Comic-Con about To Brave the Storm, they told me that it apparently completes the main Romulan War story.

Mike Martin announced the same on Facebook last week.

So the Romulan War is TWO big books total - Raptor's Wing and To Brave the Storm - and that's it. I was kind of hoping for more. At least a book per year to cover the complete conflict. Thoughts?

I think that could get a little repetitive. I don't see any reason to cover anything more than the high points of the war, and it stands to reason that the most decisive events in a war would happen toward its beginning and end.

 

[MatthiasRussell]

1) Though Travis had strong Space Boomer roots, he was also not afraid to stand against them in favor of starfleet and to tell the old-schoolers that times were changing and they should embrace it. In both the episodes where Travis faced an old warp 3 (I think) freighter, he tended to stand against them rather than for them. Archer made a tough call in the Maru affair and Travis saw the entire event unfold; I just can't see him completely turning his back on his CO after all they had been through together and Travis KNOWING it was a no win schenario. Travis was well aware that he owed Archer HIS life on many occasions.

2) Just because the Romulan War is over, that doesn't mean the Ent stories are over, right? There is still a lot of foundation laying for that series to do.