Simply a beautiful book. I've always loved Bashir's unwavering dedication to the hippocratic oath and how he has no boundaries when it comes to helping others. Say what you want about Bashir's other personality traits but i have always felt he has exemplified all the great things about Star Trek. This book was amazing my only criticism would be that Dax didn't unleash some smack on Captain Unverzagt. Also, how cool was the Captain of Tuonetar. The final confrontation on and in orbit of andor had me on the edge of my seat. I really hope Ishan Anjar gets a good comeuppance.
I also would be a bit sad to see the political intrigue totally go. Have quite enjoyed parts of it. Articles of the Federation I greatly enjoyed because of that reason.
It wasn't just Fox news, I was reading in the whole Republican issue of fanning the flames of the tea baggers then realizing, hey these guys don't really want to govern, just destroy. Well, maybe it wasn't there, I'm just saying that's what I read into it. Really good book. As someone else read, man can David Mack pace a book. I didn't stop reading this until I was done, very late at night. I'm very happy that it's the 2nd book in a row that one could say ended up in the plus column for the Federation over the Typhon Pact.
Alright, finally got this and ran through it at top speed. Posting my thoughts before going back to read the thread. Initial thoughts: OOOHHHH SHHHIIIIITTTTTTT ***runs round in circles, hands flapping in the air, shrieking myself hoarse*** I don't think there was a single point in this book where I wasn't pumping with adrenaline. How an entire book managed to keep me at a level of "shit just got REAL" for so long I have no idea. It was so exciting that I was sat in the office in full view of my manager just reading this book at my desk. I would run around to other people yelling things like "Oh my god Pulaski!" and "Oh my god Prynn was in on it aaaaah!" into their faces. This was a massively continuity-heavy book. I was trying to explain to a guy in the office why I was so excited. And this is a definite nerd, he knows his Star Trek, but he hasn't really been keeping up with the books. So I told him... "Right, so the Andorians are dying out, yeah? Fertility problems. And they seceded from the Federation because they were pissed off that the Federation wasn't doing enough to help them. So now they're being courted by the Typhon Pact, which is like the anti-Federation where the Tholians and the Romulans and the Breen and a few others got together, so if they can get the Andorians that would be like a massive political coup to get one of the founding members. But the Andorians are right on crisis point so Shar asks Bashir for help. So Bashir uses his Section 31 contacts to get hold of this classified data called the Shedai Meta-Genome which is the basis of a whole other book series. Oh and Dax has got her own ship now..." ...and went on for about 10 minutes. And he kind of looked at me blankly and said, "So, a beginner's work then." But that's why it was so exciting - because it was bringing in so many different points from across the continuity and rolling them all together and being awesome. We were on DS9. Then we were on Bajor. Then we were on Andor. Then we were with the president. Then we were on the Aventine. Then we were with the Breen. I was like, holy crap what else? I love that Shar is back in focus and being agreeably badass. I love that Prynn is second officer of the Defiant - I totally think she could be first officer before much longer cuz that Stinson guy is a asshole. I love that you didn't forget the Prynn/Shar thing. I love that Pulaski and Lense appeared. I love that Quark played an important role in saving a planet. I love the idea of a Klingon/Ferengi fusion restaurant. I love that you called a Klingon ship the "gung-ho." I love that an Andorian is running for president - I said out loud "haha fuck you!" to Ishan. Jackass. And I love that Akaar is not going to take this shit any longer. A couple of tiny, almost negligible nitpicks. That advisor to the president guy had the most obvious anagram-of-real-person name ever. Bashir was a prisoner of the Breen during the war? Uh, no. Dax and Worf were prisoners of the Breen during the war, Bashir was a prisoner with a Breen before the war, and a prisoner of the Breen after the war. But during, no. I'm willing to be proven wrong, however. I would have liked to go back to DS9 itself for a scene or two in the second half of the book. Obviously you were following the Bashir storyline and where it went, but I would have just liked a moment with Ro, Prynn and especially Sarina reacting and coping after Bashir had gone. And where did Shar go at the end? One other curious thing that I hesitate to mention in front of professional authors so I'm spoiler-coding it. Spoiler: My DS9 S10 stories Yeah yeah, I'm talking about my fucking fan-fic again, blah blah whatever. The point is, one plot development is this book was very much like one from my DS9 Season 10 stories - specifically the one about Bashir trying to get something he needs out of Section 31 by pretending he's going to join up with them. And I did it first. Now, I'm not accusing anybody of anything. The fan-fic and pro-lit forums are kept very separate for a good reason, and I believe that all the authors happily adhere to that rule. So it's a coincidence. If anything I'm kind of excited, even flattered that I came up with the same idea as one of the professional authors. So no accusations or complaints. I just had to think about how L'Haan would square Bashir trying to play the same trick on her twice, that's all. So, upshot is, oh hell yes. Book 1 was a gentle stroll in the park. Book 2 was a worrying rumble and low-level tension. And book 3 was ohhh ffuuuuuu..... .
Haven't read the thread, but just wanted to say this was a beautiful novel. I was really wary of going back to the Andorian crisis story, but this resolved it amazingly. It was an awesome political thriller. Great all around.
Funny, I thought the Andorian news service was more similar to MSNBC. They are essentially just cheerleaders for the current administration. By the way, "tea baggers" is a really offensive term.
The thing is, nobody actually watches MSNBC. So the fact that they're a horrible news service isn't of much import. As opposed to Fox.
Explain Rachel Maddow, then. (Wondering who her equivalent in the UFP poli-sci-news landscape might be...)
Given Mack's political views, I would be surprised if that was what he was going for. Also, tea baggers called themselves that first. It's not anybody else's fault that they didn't do the research.
In case anyone's still interested, I recently took part in a lengthy podcast with the folks at Trekmate.org.uk about A Ceremony of Losses, its connections to both Zero Sum Game and the upcoming Section 31: Disavowed, and more — including my participation in the Kickstarter for a cool new anthology called Athena's Daughters. Check out the podcast here.
Great podcast interview and I really liked the discusion how your books Zero Sum game and ceremony of losses stories will tie into your next novel Disavowed. Sounds like it will be a terrific story about Julian Bashir dealing with Section 31.
I'm reading this book right now and I noticed two interesting lines. "So, what are we going to do today, Professor?" "The same thing we do everyday, Shar. Trying to save the world". So Mr. Mack is this a Pinky and the Brain reference?
Looking forward to Disavowed. And yeah..."Bluey and the Brain", that was, there...or so my uninformed suspicion runs. :-)