My family spends its vacation in Spain this year, which means that I'll have a lot of time sitting in a car which means that I have a lot of time to read. According to my calculations by that time of the trip I would be in early 2266 in my own Star Trek read-through and I want to either read the Janus Gate trilogy or the Errand of Vengeance trilogy. Now, I know the basics of the Errand of Vengeance trilogy but the Janus Gate trilogy is a bit of a mystery to me. I know that it follows "lower deck" crewmembers and is set in shortly after TOS: "The Naked Time" and, confusingly to me, in an alternate timeline. Is that a plot point in the books or was that later retconned in? And does it make any difference to the "average reader"? And which of the two trilogies is considered better?
The Janus Gate and Errand of Vengeance
- Thread starter Jinn
- Start date
The Janus Gate doesn't really have that much of a "lower decks" focus; it was intended to, but it ended up going in a different direction, and the cover blurbs don't match the actual story we ended up with. From what I recall, it's pretty Kirk-centric. Also, the alternate timeline is the result of time travel within the story.
Of the two trilogies, I preferred The Janus Gate myself, but it's kind of slow getting started; the whole first book is pretty much just setup. Errand definitely has its fans, though. I don't think there's a universal consensus on which is better.
Of the two trilogies, I preferred The Janus Gate myself, but it's kind of slow getting started; the whole first book is pretty much just setup. Errand definitely has its fans, though. I don't think there's a universal consensus on which is better.
I'm not sure if I would have preffered an actual lower deck story but I definitely like time travel so I think that's a plus for The Janus Gate.
I've got enough time for a slow setup
And thanks for the information on the blurb incorrectiveness
I think the minor characters in The Janus Gate get above average focus, but they're definitely not the books the marketing promised us. (Which would have been better; I really liked John Ordover's idea of a lower-decks focused saga that sort of weaves in and out of the episodes.)
Okay, that sounds cool.
Was not a fan of Janus Gate (and I usually love AU stories), haven't read Errand of Vengeance
It has been a long time since I have read either trilogy, but I remember that I liked the Errand trilogy, and Janus Gate as well, although both weren't fulfilling their full potentials IIRC.
I never wrote reviews for the Errand trilogy I think, but after digging a bit I actually found my reviews for the Janus Gate trilogy from 12 years ago, which are mildly spoilerish with one or two things I think (It's so long that I can't really tell, so to be on the safe side I'll spoiler code them):
I never wrote reviews for the Errand trilogy I think, but after digging a bit I actually found my reviews for the Janus Gate trilogy from 12 years ago, which are mildly spoilerish with one or two things I think (It's so long that I can't really tell, so to be on the safe side I'll spoiler code them):
Book One:
An O.K. setup book for the Janus Gate – Trilogy.
And being a setup novel is one problem of Present Tense. Like it is, it’s a bit to long because a real B-Plot is missing and the only thing happening is the build up for the timeshift /alternate universe plot. Maybe some parts playing in Captain Sulu’s time/universe which explain what happened there, instead of the in my feeling sometimes too long cave scenes, or a real B – Plot on board of the Enterprise would have done the trick and elevated the story in to a higher sphere. But other than that there’s little to criticize, the book is well written and shows definitely some potential for the trilogy. What I liked about it is that the “Big Three” play only minor roles, especially in the second half of the book, but I guess that’s the very premise of the Reboot - series.
The characterizations are good and there are some good scenes, especially for Chekov and Uhura. Something I don’t really criticize but what I found odd is this : I thought the TOS – Reboot was supposed to be about the people who aren’t part of the main cast, but this book is more about the “second row” of the known bridge crew (Uhura, Sulu, Chekov ;although Chekov isn’t on bridge duty yet), although there are some (good) scenes with other crew members, too.
Overall Present Tense on it’s own may not be the most interesting novel of all times, but if the following parts of the Janus Gate series pick up the potential which was build up here, it could be the decent start of a rather good trilogy.
Book Two:
A decent continuation of the trilogy.
Book Two is the best of the trilogy, but it doesn’t use all of it’s potential. For example I would have liked to see more of the Gorn in the future timeline, they remain somewhat in the background throughout the whole book although they are the “big” enemies, even the romulans have a bigger direct involvement in the story. The solution of the Gorn transporter plot, that the transporter was “powered” by a Metron was surprising, but plausible, and is therefore a positive point for the book. The team up of “our” Sulu with the future Chekov had it’s moment, but remains somewhat superficial, their was place for some deeper character driven scenes between the two in my opinion.
Speaking of the characters, the characterizations are good, there are no major flaws with them. Even the future versions of Sulu and Chekov are recognizable as people the two could become.
Overall a agreeable novel in a decent trilogy, and worth a look.
Book Three:
The last of the three Janus Gate Books holds the quality level of the previous two installations.
But like with the others, here too the authors weren’t able to fully use all possible potential in my opinion. Here I think they could have done more with the team up of Kirk with his father, which fell a bit to short for my taste. One of the best scenes of the novel was, when Future - Chekov killed Future - Sulu in order to give the Enterprise crew the chance to retrieve their Captain from the past. The aliens who wanted to prevent further usage of the Janus Gate device were somewhat easy opponents, in the end they more or less weren’t much more than a nuisance. So they appeared as some kind of filler for pages to me, which could have been spent better, for example like I mentioned above for some additional George Kirk – adult Jim Kirk stuff.
But the characterizations and character driven scenes that are there are good and interesting. The major “problem” with the characterization throughout the whole trilogy is that the authors doesn’t fully use the chemistry which they create between different pairings, it’s if they don’t trust their own skills in constructing character driven scenes.
Overall an adequate conclusion for an O.K. trilogy, which had potential for more, but nonetheless offers some hours of entertainment.
An O.K. setup book for the Janus Gate – Trilogy.
And being a setup novel is one problem of Present Tense. Like it is, it’s a bit to long because a real B-Plot is missing and the only thing happening is the build up for the timeshift /alternate universe plot. Maybe some parts playing in Captain Sulu’s time/universe which explain what happened there, instead of the in my feeling sometimes too long cave scenes, or a real B – Plot on board of the Enterprise would have done the trick and elevated the story in to a higher sphere. But other than that there’s little to criticize, the book is well written and shows definitely some potential for the trilogy. What I liked about it is that the “Big Three” play only minor roles, especially in the second half of the book, but I guess that’s the very premise of the Reboot - series.
The characterizations are good and there are some good scenes, especially for Chekov and Uhura. Something I don’t really criticize but what I found odd is this : I thought the TOS – Reboot was supposed to be about the people who aren’t part of the main cast, but this book is more about the “second row” of the known bridge crew (Uhura, Sulu, Chekov ;although Chekov isn’t on bridge duty yet), although there are some (good) scenes with other crew members, too.
Overall Present Tense on it’s own may not be the most interesting novel of all times, but if the following parts of the Janus Gate series pick up the potential which was build up here, it could be the decent start of a rather good trilogy.
Book Two:
A decent continuation of the trilogy.
Book Two is the best of the trilogy, but it doesn’t use all of it’s potential. For example I would have liked to see more of the Gorn in the future timeline, they remain somewhat in the background throughout the whole book although they are the “big” enemies, even the romulans have a bigger direct involvement in the story. The solution of the Gorn transporter plot, that the transporter was “powered” by a Metron was surprising, but plausible, and is therefore a positive point for the book. The team up of “our” Sulu with the future Chekov had it’s moment, but remains somewhat superficial, their was place for some deeper character driven scenes between the two in my opinion.
Speaking of the characters, the characterizations are good, there are no major flaws with them. Even the future versions of Sulu and Chekov are recognizable as people the two could become.
Overall a agreeable novel in a decent trilogy, and worth a look.
Book Three:
The last of the three Janus Gate Books holds the quality level of the previous two installations.
But like with the others, here too the authors weren’t able to fully use all possible potential in my opinion. Here I think they could have done more with the team up of Kirk with his father, which fell a bit to short for my taste. One of the best scenes of the novel was, when Future - Chekov killed Future - Sulu in order to give the Enterprise crew the chance to retrieve their Captain from the past. The aliens who wanted to prevent further usage of the Janus Gate device were somewhat easy opponents, in the end they more or less weren’t much more than a nuisance. So they appeared as some kind of filler for pages to me, which could have been spent better, for example like I mentioned above for some additional George Kirk – adult Jim Kirk stuff.
But the characterizations and character driven scenes that are there are good and interesting. The major “problem” with the characterization throughout the whole trilogy is that the authors doesn’t fully use the chemistry which they create between different pairings, it’s if they don’t trust their own skills in constructing character driven scenes.
Overall an adequate conclusion for an O.K. trilogy, which had potential for more, but nonetheless offers some hours of entertainment.
@Jinn, just in case you were't aware, Errand of Vengeance is actually a six book series, sort of. There was a second trilogy which continues the story, Errand of Fury.
I skimmed over it (pretty fast to avoid knwoing to much) and from the bits and pieces that I got it seemed interesting.
Thanks, I kind of forgot that... I think I'll try to read The Janus Gate before the Spain trip and then the first trilogy on our way to Spain and the second on the way home.
Thanks for the imput, everybody!
I really loved "The Janus Gate" books, but the three back cover blurbs were hugely incorrect. The six "Errand" books have many scenes that follow blow-by-blow fisticuffs, which didn't thrill me, but there are some fun ideas that run through those books.
I really hoped the "lower decks" concept would have worked. TOS had lots or minor characters who deserved to have more to do.
My old "Lower Decks" tracking charts are here at an old Geocities Archive, one has spoilers, the other does not.
http://www.geocities.ws/therinofandor/TOScrew.html
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