Summon the Thunder is a fantastic read and gives honor to the Star Trek legacy. On my rating scale, it gets a 9/10.
The first two chapters knocked my socks off. I love exploring some of the famous Trek aliens, so to get a chapter for both the Tholians and the Romulans was a double delight. It turns out that Chapter 1 is the only Tholian chapter in the book, which isn't too surprising given the revelations later on. I do hope that we can see more Tholians and/or Tholian POV in V3.
I did not reread Harbinger before starting Summon the Thunder, and I had no trouble following what happened. The recaps done as character memories were quite effective, and they also gave a new angle on old events.
I don't know exactly why, but as I was reading, I began to really care about the characters. Their plights became more personal, and I could empathize with almost all of them, Sandesjo being the major exception. Ensign Klisiewicz is a lot like me, so he is one of my favorite new characters. His name is hard to spell, though, so I'll just call him Special K in the future. The odd couple of Quinn and Pennington are also some of the most interesting characters in the series, and I found myself eagerly awaiting their chapters.
The ties to 22nd and 24th century Trek were very cool and avoided being too overt. Of course, the hints about the Earth-Romulan War are exciting, but things like the allusion to voice-activated replicators are no less enjoyable.
The tension in the Erilon and Palgrenax scenes is done to wonderful effect. The particulars are very different, but I got a real Aliens vibe when the Shedai Guardian was unleashed. Speaking of the Shedai, I think the concept is wonderful, based on what little we know so far about them. They definitely contribute to the originality of the Vanguard saga.
There are no boring chapters, but around the time the Lovell showed up, the book gained such momentum that it became almost impossible to put down.
So far, Vanguard has some interesting parallels to one of my favorite SW series, The Corellian Trilogy. There's an ancient, immensely powerful alien threat, a slowly unraveling mystery, and an emphasis on many different characters (not to mention a big space station) in each.
Summon the Thunder also has made me appreciate Harbinger more than I did when it first came out. Then, I had complaints about the unlikable characters and the lack of information on why the meta-genome was important. Now, I understand more about the direction the series is taking and the journeys that the characters are on. We now know enough about the mysteries of the Taurus Reach that I can have fun speculating about the future. I've come to realize that Marco and Mack want Trek readers to use our brains and work some things out for ourselves, which is a laudable goal.
Thank you to Dayton and Kevin for another winner! I look forward to seeing where V3 goes from here and having interesting discussions about the new developments.
I apologize for the disjointed nature of the review, but that's how my thoughts are flowing this afternoon.
The first two chapters knocked my socks off. I love exploring some of the famous Trek aliens, so to get a chapter for both the Tholians and the Romulans was a double delight. It turns out that Chapter 1 is the only Tholian chapter in the book, which isn't too surprising given the revelations later on. I do hope that we can see more Tholians and/or Tholian POV in V3.
I did not reread Harbinger before starting Summon the Thunder, and I had no trouble following what happened. The recaps done as character memories were quite effective, and they also gave a new angle on old events.
I don't know exactly why, but as I was reading, I began to really care about the characters. Their plights became more personal, and I could empathize with almost all of them, Sandesjo being the major exception. Ensign Klisiewicz is a lot like me, so he is one of my favorite new characters. His name is hard to spell, though, so I'll just call him Special K in the future. The odd couple of Quinn and Pennington are also some of the most interesting characters in the series, and I found myself eagerly awaiting their chapters.
The ties to 22nd and 24th century Trek were very cool and avoided being too overt. Of course, the hints about the Earth-Romulan War are exciting, but things like the allusion to voice-activated replicators are no less enjoyable.
The tension in the Erilon and Palgrenax scenes is done to wonderful effect. The particulars are very different, but I got a real Aliens vibe when the Shedai Guardian was unleashed. Speaking of the Shedai, I think the concept is wonderful, based on what little we know so far about them. They definitely contribute to the originality of the Vanguard saga.
There are no boring chapters, but around the time the Lovell showed up, the book gained such momentum that it became almost impossible to put down.
So far, Vanguard has some interesting parallels to one of my favorite SW series, The Corellian Trilogy. There's an ancient, immensely powerful alien threat, a slowly unraveling mystery, and an emphasis on many different characters (not to mention a big space station) in each.
Summon the Thunder also has made me appreciate Harbinger more than I did when it first came out. Then, I had complaints about the unlikable characters and the lack of information on why the meta-genome was important. Now, I understand more about the direction the series is taking and the journeys that the characters are on. We now know enough about the mysteries of the Taurus Reach that I can have fun speculating about the future. I've come to realize that Marco and Mack want Trek readers to use our brains and work some things out for ourselves, which is a laudable goal.
Thank you to Dayton and Kevin for another winner! I look forward to seeing where V3 goes from here and having interesting discussions about the new developments.
I apologize for the disjointed nature of the review, but that's how my thoughts are flowing this afternoon.
