What a wonderful review! I have already said how excited and impatient I am for this book, and this makes me even more so. Una McCormack is a wonderful writer, and this sounds like her best yet.
Spoilers The Never Ending Sacrifice - Review Thread
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What a wonderful review! I have already said how excited and impatient I am for this book, and this makes me even more so. Una McCormack is a wonderful writer, and this sounds like her best yet.
OK...got my eyes covered to avoid spoilers...but just letting you guys know that since I'm in the middle of a move, I won't be able to pick this book up and do it justice until Sunday at the earliest.
Hopefully by then I'll be situated, and ready to give this a good read-and-review!
All I can say is, I saw the cover blurb and I sure hope Rugal will learn to see that there are good and bad Cardassians, just like there are good and bad Bajorans. (And I admit...I also want to see if my rather unflattering theories about Proka as a verbal abuser are correct.)
Hopefully by then I'll be situated, and ready to give this a good read-and-review!
All I can say is, I saw the cover blurb and I sure hope Rugal will learn to see that there are good and bad Cardassians, just like there are good and bad Bajorans. (And I admit...I also want to see if my rather unflattering theories about Proka as a verbal abuser are correct.)
Where has Rugal been mentioned before?
He was the Cardassian orphan in the episode "Cardassians".
I was disappointed when I skipped through the pages of this book on saturday. I thought it would be tied to DS9 in some way and right after The Soul Key too. I might wait to pick it up but don't know yet.
Fantastic book, adding it to my new "cardassian" collection. A great sequel to Terok Nor and nice prelude for A Stitch In Time.
Excellent stuff Una! Now going to consider picking up Hollow Men.
Went a bit slow when Rugan joined the military but picked up soon after when he was looking after Penn's farm. The interaction with him and Garak at the end was fantastic and would be good to see him in a future DS9 book.
Excellent stuff Una! Now going to consider picking up Hollow Men.
You should, it's pretty good. At the time I didn't appreciate it as much as I do now in hindsight.
Finished the book a few minutes ago and I have to say that while it was immensely enjoyable to see an outsider's view of Cardassian politics and intrigue, I was disappointed in the fact that there wasn't more of a plot to the book, other than Rugal's search for himself. To me TNES felt more like a series of vignettes than a novel per se, but I loved it nonetheless.
I also wasn't too keen on the soldier-boy storyline, but it was necessary to bridge the gap between Prime and Ithic. The ending was bittersweet and I'm glad he found her in the end. Overall, a solid 7/10.
I also wasn't too keen on the soldier-boy storyline, but it was necessary to bridge the gap between Prime and Ithic. The ending was bittersweet and I'm glad he found her in the end. Overall, a solid 7/10.
I disliked the character of Rugal quite a bit. I have just finished my first read of this book and can find no qualities about this spoon head that I like. He never does anything to help his own situation, cant see past yesterday, and strives to make those around him as uncomfortable as he feels he is.
That said he is a young man throughout the story and how many young men really know how to go about changing not only themselves but their situations.
I really felt sorry for both his families as they were the real losers here.
As much as I disliked the main character I really enjoyed the book itself. Most of the secondary characters were fleshed out quite well and the story surrounding Rugal was interesting. Of course whenever a story mentions the Cardassian Hero Damar I am always happy.
That said he is a young man throughout the story and how many young men really know how to go about changing not only themselves but their situations.
I really felt sorry for both his families as they were the real losers here.
As much as I disliked the main character I really enjoyed the book itself. Most of the secondary characters were fleshed out quite well and the story surrounding Rugal was interesting. Of course whenever a story mentions the Cardassian Hero Damar I am always happy.
I went to Barnes & Noble and picked up The never ending sacrifice today. I'm trying to hurry and finish reading another book so i can finally to start read this book after finally being waiting for it at long last. I'm really looking forward to reading this one after all the positive reviews about this book.
So the FAQ's "The Never-Ending Sacrifice (from season 2 to a few months beyond Soul Key (2009))" is about right? The sleeve part about unity scared me, but the latest DS9 PF books didn't span a huge amount of time... I keep forgetting.
Well, the 'present' scenes of TSK are very early 2377 - no later than February, if I figure correctly. So, depending on how much later the Epilogue occurs (which could conceivably be quite some time after), it's around a year after the end of TSK. The statement of "just after" Unity in the Historian's Note is a bit misleading, IMO.
So the FAQ's "The Never-Ending Sacrifice (from season 2 to a few months beyond Soul Key (2009))" is about right? The sleeve part about unity scared me, but the latest DS9 PF books didn't span a huge amount of time... I keep forgetting.
Mine should come by the weekend, and might be finished before it is over.
I started reading this book this afternoon and I can't put this book down. I like Rugal and it's interesting to see an outsiders view of the events happening on Cardassia. I like Rugal's father Kotan padar.It's a well written story.Una McCormack did an excellent job writing this novel.
Ever since I saw the DS9 episode (Cardassians) and Kotan Pa'Dar showed up, I thought of something like this:
(voiceover) These are the Pa'Dars...
(photo of a Cardassian family)
(voiceover) and these are the Prokas...
(Bajoran family)
And this is...
(both families together)
CARDASSIAN SOAP!
Hi Icemizer! I quite agree with your assessment of Rugal. He is bad-tempered, judgmental, and can have a cruel tongue. On the plus side, I think he is courageous and loyal, and that he softens as he grows up. He's modelled in part on the hero of one of my favourite books, Aquila in The Lantern-Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff. (He also has a rotten time.) Thank you for your comments and I'm glad you enjoyed the book, even if you didn't like the lead much!
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I haven't come to this site in nearly a year and I haven't talked about anything Trek related on here for several more but I absolutely had to log back in to say what an absolutely terrific novel this is.
I started reading it late last night right before bed, planning to stop once I got sleepy. I stopped at four in the morning because that was when I had finished the book.
I have probably read close to a hundred Trek novels and every time I pick one up, my expectations are that it will be an enjoyable and entertaining diversion for the duration of the time that I read it; I do not expect an engrossing novel which makes me emotionally invested in their lives of complex and flawed characters, which makes me think of the contradictory and reciprocal qualities and frailties found within an individual and within society, which makes me view such timeworn topoi such as love and duty in a different light. And yet this is such a book.
If you're looking for a novel that simply advanced the main DS9 story arc or is about managing to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow within the flux capacitor to close the subspace anomaly, you will be disappointed. But if you're looking for a profound and well-written bildungsroman that shows the zeniths and nadirs of human (or Cardassian or Bajoran) nature, Trek related or not, science-fiction or not, I heartily recommend this one and send my thanks to the author for having written it.
I started reading it late last night right before bed, planning to stop once I got sleepy. I stopped at four in the morning because that was when I had finished the book.
I have probably read close to a hundred Trek novels and every time I pick one up, my expectations are that it will be an enjoyable and entertaining diversion for the duration of the time that I read it; I do not expect an engrossing novel which makes me emotionally invested in their lives of complex and flawed characters, which makes me think of the contradictory and reciprocal qualities and frailties found within an individual and within society, which makes me view such timeworn topoi such as love and duty in a different light. And yet this is such a book.
If you're looking for a novel that simply advanced the main DS9 story arc or is about managing to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow within the flux capacitor to close the subspace anomaly, you will be disappointed. But if you're looking for a profound and well-written bildungsroman that shows the zeniths and nadirs of human (or Cardassian or Bajoran) nature, Trek related or not, science-fiction or not, I heartily recommend this one and send my thanks to the author for having written it.
Quick question:
When will DS9 catch up to every one else in terms of post Destiny?
When will DS9 catch up to every one else in terms of post Destiny?
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