After the incredibly pedestrian “Q&A” and the utterly abysmal “Before Dishonour”, I was all but done with the relaunch of TNG, confident that my sweeping assumptions (over-reliance on the Borg; poor selection of new characters being introduced; some pretty half-hearted plotting efforts etc) were all 100% accurate. I was in no hurry to read any more frankly.
But I was brought “Greater Than The Sum” for Christmas, and just got around to reading it.
I loved it!
Despite the use of the Borg (who I really do think were over-used in the relaunch… honestly, did the writers learn nothing from “Voyager”?), this was an excellent read; perhaps because the Borg didn’t actually figure into that much of the book. It was the characterisation and advancement of the “new family” of the Enterprise that really made this worthwhile to me.
I’d balked at the idea of Picard and Crusher starting a family when I first heard it discussed, but it was handled very well here. After a parade of silly characters in previous novels (whose sole presence seemed to be to prove that nothing will ever beat “the original TNG 7”), we finally get some fantastic new crew members. Elfiki and Choudhury deserve honourable mention; the only one I didn’t warm to was Chen. However, all made a good debut and I’m hoping they have a long career as the “new TNG gang” (please don’t tell me if they all end up dying in Destiny). I can really see this crew gelling.
Bennett’s main strength seems to be dialogue and characterisation, and that’s just fine with me. Unlike, say, “Before Dishonour”, this book was not full of unrecognisable characters just given the names of the TNG characters to fit a ridiculous plot; no, here Picard “was” Picard; Worf “was” Worf – but at the same time, their characters had advanced far beyond the TNG show and movies. But the change and growth in them was believable.
So, thank you Christopher, for restoring my faith in Trek lit. I’d kind of been put off “Destiny” because of the seeming over-hype (AND THE BORG AGAIN!!!) but I’ll give it a shot now, if only to see how these new characters fare.
But I was brought “Greater Than The Sum” for Christmas, and just got around to reading it.
I loved it!
Despite the use of the Borg (who I really do think were over-used in the relaunch… honestly, did the writers learn nothing from “Voyager”?), this was an excellent read; perhaps because the Borg didn’t actually figure into that much of the book. It was the characterisation and advancement of the “new family” of the Enterprise that really made this worthwhile to me.
I’d balked at the idea of Picard and Crusher starting a family when I first heard it discussed, but it was handled very well here. After a parade of silly characters in previous novels (whose sole presence seemed to be to prove that nothing will ever beat “the original TNG 7”), we finally get some fantastic new crew members. Elfiki and Choudhury deserve honourable mention; the only one I didn’t warm to was Chen. However, all made a good debut and I’m hoping they have a long career as the “new TNG gang” (please don’t tell me if they all end up dying in Destiny). I can really see this crew gelling.
Bennett’s main strength seems to be dialogue and characterisation, and that’s just fine with me. Unlike, say, “Before Dishonour”, this book was not full of unrecognisable characters just given the names of the TNG characters to fit a ridiculous plot; no, here Picard “was” Picard; Worf “was” Worf – but at the same time, their characters had advanced far beyond the TNG show and movies. But the change and growth in them was believable.
So, thank you Christopher, for restoring my faith in Trek lit. I’d kind of been put off “Destiny” because of the seeming over-hype (AND THE BORG AGAIN!!!) but I’ll give it a shot now, if only to see how these new characters fare.
