The Never-Ending Sacrifice &…

[Arpy]

I’m about a third of the way through Una McCormack’s The Never-Ending Sacrifice, and I’m utterly loving it.

(Has anyone read it? No spoilers!)

So far it’s basically DS9 told from the perspective of Cardassians. We’ll, sort of. Not the main Cardassians we never saw, the heads of the Central Command and whatnot, twirling their mustaches and huffing at Federation interference. But it’s all the major events from the show in the backdrop of a fantastic world-building story on Cardassia. No starship and pride of heroes doing their thing. Just a fleshing out of the universe, giving it a fuller richer life. I love it.

Does anyone have any suggestions of other titles along these lines that I might want to check out?

Next up is another Cardie book Day of the Vipers which I hope will flesh out Bajor a bit more too. What else might I want to look for?

 

[ryan123450]

If you haven’t, check out A Stitch in Time.

 

[Arpy]

If you haven’t, check out A Stitch in Time.

One of my faves, yeah.

It doesn’t have to be DS9 btw. I was thinking of taking another look at The Romulan Way maybe too as it’s been decades since I read it. Though I’m honestly not that keen on a TOS book as those characters are so iconic and archetypal. Preferably TNG & after.

 

[Avro Arrow]

No starship and pride of heroes doing their thing. Just a fleshing out of the universe, giving it a fuller richer life. I love it.

Does anyone have any suggestions of other titles along these lines that I might want to check out?

It doesn’t have to be DS9 btw.

Have you read Articles of the Federation? Star Trek told from the perspective of the office of the Federation President. It's a great book!

 

[Reanok]

Yes I've read the book if you're a fan of Una's this is an excellent story. It's one of my favorite ds9 novel's she's written. I really like Ruggals story is portrayed in this book.

 

[Arpy]

Have you read Articles of the Federation? Star Trek told from the perspective of the office of the Federation President. It's a great book!

Yes, I read Articles… It was an interesting direction they took. I loved West Wing so I enjoyed it well enough. I’d be curious to see what different authors could do with the series too. WW itself (alas) went through a huge change after Sorkin left and another in its final season. In some ways it’s like three different shows. Each enjoyable for different moods, but clearly the hopeful, song of public service, years under Sorkin were the best.

Anyway, I was a little disappointed with it though. WW is a thousand times better than what I imagine most could come up with for the Federation government. But I grew up watching TNG first run and miss the TNG of the first two seasons. They’re among my earliest memories and I think they took the utopian future more seriously, more adult. When I think about the Federation I think about whatever world might have come out of that period had we gotten to see more of it. Thinking about the early concept work for the show. and the early concept work for TMP, I see a very different Federation than where the show went later, certainly the franchise.

But I liked WW and wish we’d gotten a sequel book. Maybe even an anthology with different authors giving us different flavors of the universe. An Sorkin story, a Schlamme story, a McCormack story, a Roddenberry story, a Thomas Moore story, a Victor Hugo story…

 

[Arpy]

It took a while — life, ya know(?) — but that was very possibly the best Star Trek novel ever written. Such profound heart. Such a sweeping epic of a novel, I was reminded of Dr. Zhivago. I’ll try to write more tomorrow. How did this novel ever get published without the main cast? Holy mackerel, it was a moving experience. I’m winded.

 

[Tosk]

One of my absolute faves. I'm pretty sure I cried the first time I read it.

 

[Cyfa]

The Never Ending Sacrifice is certainly one of my favourites, too. I'm going to have to read it again very soon (which will be easier now that I've dumped Netflix).

Did you read Day of the Vipers, @Arpy? That's another fantastic story. The two follow-ups - Night of the Wolves and Dawn of the Eagles - although, not as good, are still definitely worth a go.
I can't really think of any other books similar to what you described in your original post. Maybe some of the stories in The Lives of Dax (Tobin, Audrid, and Jadzia spring to mind)? Oh, it's a TOS novel but the main characters are barely in it: Dwellers in the Crucible by Margaret Wander Bonano (I can't quite believe this is a Trek novel as it is so unlike any others I've read except for TNES, funnily enough).

 

[Sci]

Two Una McCormack novels, The Fall: The Crimson Shadow and Enigma Games, are very much spiritual successors to The Never-Ending Sacrifice. Neither one is able to employ Sacrifice's almost exclusive use on on-the-ground civilian characters to see the effects of the major astropolitical developments on the rest of society, but both use a mix of high-politics characters like Garak and street-level characters to show society at large. The Crimson Shadow in particular is very much about conflicting social movements on Cardassia.

 

[Arpy]

I ordered a new copy of Never Ending Sacrifice from a small local bookstore here. (Also a copy of The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows — wonderful book.) I’ve started making this a habit of doing so since the pandemic began. I usually get my books from my local Library; those that I have special experiences with I then order a copy in support of the writer and the mom & pop store. Feels good to support the cause in a small individual way — do recommend.

 

[JD]

TNES is an phenomenal book, it's right up there as one of the all time best Trek books for me.