• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Summon the Thunder (Spoilers)

I just finished StT and I must say it was an amazing book. I thought everything about it, the writing, plot, characters, and dialouge were all absolutely outstanding. I also have a question and a coment:
My question is
Was it the Wanderer or one of the Sentinels that they captured at the end?
and I
cannot begin to describe how shocked I was when Anna started to report to T'Prynn.
It was one of the biggest shockers for me since they revealed the main villian in the last season of 24.
I'm deffinietly very, very, very anxious for book 3 now. I would deffinitely give the book a 10/10. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
 
To answer Ens. Brodsky:

They recovered one of the Sentinels.

Thanks for the comments. Glad you liked the book!
 
Well, it sounds like the thread is back to the original subjects (lol) so here's my two cents...

It's a safe bet to say I enjoyed Summon the Thunder a lot more than Harbinger. The problem with that assessment is that I'm not completely sure why, as I found the latter a solid story as well. :D The one thing I can point to is the slightly more positive tone of this story, whereas in Harbinger we had a somewhat fractured main cast suffering assorted personal crises. Pennington's women, Quinn's issues with Ganz, T'Prynn's struggle with Sten, the distance between Reyes on one hand and Desai and Fisher on the other all helped establish the foundation of this series, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for so many characters at once. And while I wouldn't dream of comparing Vanguard to the "other station series", DS9, the two series at least have in common that they feature crews on the frontier facing a difficult and long assignment. For that alone, I so hoped for the characters to find the unity they'd need to succeed.

Now, with the excellent and gripping plot of Thunder we again have a boatload of crises but some good is happening as well. Perhaps the best scenes in the book for me were with Reyes bringing first his best friend, Fisher, and then the woman he loves, Desai, into the loop about Starfleet's secret mission. No need to make it more lonely at the top than it already is, and as I'm sure things will explode eventually, he'll need all the help he can get. Even if I can see Desai's position as local JAG head causing problems at the same time.

Then, some random comments (I always tend to make these musings longer than I intended). T'Prynn. I'm really having trouble appreciating her. On one hand, you feel sorry for her with the Sten issue and all, and then on the other she makes questionable decisions and takes too many liberties (IMHO) in performing her duties, especially with regards to Pennington and Quinn. She doesn't seem like a person (yet) that Elias Vaughn would befriend. A much more likable character I found Commander (now Captain) Khatami, who I really felt for. I hope we'll see her again, and see how she's fitting into her new role. And finally the Shedai. They're quite an interesting mystery, though I'm still not sure how to picture them. The closest analogy to the Sentinel's attacks I could think of was the creature Picard and Dathon faced in "Darmok", though I'm probably way off with that.

I think Summon the Thunder ensured that I'll buy the next Vanguard book when it comes along, which probably means it reached its goal. :D Thanx to Messrs. Ward and Dilmore for a very enjoyable read!
 
Summon The Thunder also had alot more humor in it which is, IMO a good thing. I don't mind a serious book, but personally I enjoy books that have at least a few funny parts in them alot more than books that are 100% serious.Most of the stuff with Pennington and Quinn dealing - or at least trying to deal- with Armnoj was hilarious IMO. :guffaw:
 
^^^
That's certainly true. That icky pet he had, the slijm (which coincidentally is the Dutch translation of "slime" and thus made me laugh) was a definate hit as well.
 
It could also be a subtle nod to one of the staples of American snack foods, the Slim Jim.
 
^^^
Well, it's up to the authors to clarify that. All I know is that to English-speaking folks it might not register that fast as "ij" is like the English "y" in our language (and the German "ei", which we also use). It's thus different from "ij" like in the name of Anij from Insurrection.

On a side note, I like how some alien languages translate to written material in the books. If you take into account how spoken and written languages differ on our one planet, the differences between worlds must be staggering - an aspect which I think has been captured quite well by the SCE series with Bart Faulwell´s work and with Corsi and Blue in "Honor".
 
Just finished StT over a long lunch (don't tell my boss)--kick ass, guys. :thumbsup:

One question--when the sentinals are busting through the forcefields, do I detect a tip of the hat to the Id monster in Forbidden Planet, or am I digging too deeply into the bin of geeky homages?

Scott
 
Tirius said: That icky pet he had, the slijm (which coincidentally is the Dutch translation of "slime" and thus made me laugh) was a definate hit as well.

:thumbsup: I was curious whether anyone would spot that one. I tossed it in -- but my belief was that the English translation was closer to "mucus" than "slime."

Nice catch, my friend!

Kevin
 
Thanks for the comments, Tirius and Scott. Glad you're liking the series. :)

As for what happens next? Well, if this helps, my initial response upon reading Dave's outline for V3 was "Holy $##@@#!" followed as quickly by prayers of support (and coupons for whiskey) for whoever gets tasked with picking up where he leaves off. It's going to rock.

And that's all I'm sayin'. :devil:
 
Tirius said: On a side note, I like how some alien languages translate to written material in the books.

I do, too. I guess that harkens back to something I remember reading probably 20 years ago about Return of the Jedi. And hey! I just did a Google search on this and was directed to a cool entry in Wikipedia that references this. So I quoth the Wiki:

In Return of the Jedi, Lando Calrissian's copilot, Nien Nunb, speaks the real human language Haya, spoken in Tanzania (Star Wars Insider #67, 31). Nunb's voice was performed by a Tanzanian exchange student. A popular theory amongst fans of the series is that his lines translate roughly as "a thousand elephants are stomping on my foot".

And as I recall, Tanzanian audiences went nuts when the scene was played.

Kevin
 
Forgot to address this earlier:

Scott_Pearson said:
One question--when the sentinals are busting through the forcefields, do I detect a tip of the hat to the Id monster in Forbidden Planet, or am I digging too deeply into the bin of geeky homages?

What? Us, make a covert (or maybe even overt) reference of some sort? Surely you jest.

:devil:
 
Dayton Ward said:
Forgot to address this earlier:

Scott_Pearson said:
One question--when the sentinals are busting through the forcefields, do I detect a tip of the hat to the Id monster in Forbidden Planet, or am I digging too deeply into the bin of geeky homages?

What? Us, make a covert (or maybe even overt) reference of some sort? Surely you jest.

:devil:
Now that I think about it, is it even possible to dig too deeply into the bin of geeky homages? And don't call me Shirley.
 
I have not read through the thread yet, but just finished the book.

HOLY @(#&$)@&!()#@_)! You two rock. This book had so many twists and turns, I did not know where it was going to go next. Can't wait for Reap the Whirlwind!
 
Dayton, Kevin, nice work guys :thumbsup:

Just finished reading it earlier this afternoon, and i noticed the Forbidden Planet reference too, was laughing and got strange looks from the people on the bus.

Loved the Rocinante/Broon scenes, fantastic.

Loved the book and can't wait for Reap the Whirlwind. David, keep up the good work.

Hey, on a side note, we should make awards for the best ST writing - heaven knows the writing is top notch already, but can ANYONE beat the current crop?
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top