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TNG: Dominion War: Behind Enemy Lines by John Vornholt Review Thread

Rate Behind Enemy Lines.

  • Outstanding

    Votes: 1 6.7%

  • Above Average

    Votes: 7 46.7%

  • Average

    Votes: 6 40.0%

  • Below Average

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Poor

    Votes: 1 6.7%
  • Total voters
    15
bok2384

bok2384

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Behind Enemy Lines by John Vornholt is the first book in The Dominion War series and forms a duology with the third entry, Tunnel Through the Stars. This novel is notable for the first reappearance of Ro Laren and the return of Sam Lavelle and Taurik from The Next Generation episode, "Lower Decks".

Blurb on forward sensors:

From the Gamma Quadrant they came – hordes of fierce Jem'Hadar warriors commanded by the mysterious Changelings, who will stop at nothing to achieve victory over both the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire. Now that the Dominion has entered into an unholy alliance with the Cardassian military regime and seized control of Deep Space Nine, Starfleet finds itself fighting a losing war against unbeatable odds. As mighty fleets clash in the deadly battleground of space, the fate of the entire Alpha Quadrant hangs in the balance.

The USS Enterprise-E is patrolling the Cardassian border, bracing for the joint Dominion-Cardassian offensive that Starfleet knows will come soon, when Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew are reunited with a former crewmate, friend, and enemy: Ro Laren. The onetime officer, who defected from Starfleet to join the rebel Maquis, brings disturbing news. Deep behind enemy lines, the Dominion is attempting to build an artificial wormhole that will allow them to bypass the mined Bajoran wormhole and bring fresh reinforcements into the Alpha Quadrant, altering the balance of power irrevocably. If Captain Picard cannot stop the project, the new wormhole will guarantee the ultimate victory of the Dominion!
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Re: TNG: The Dominion War: Behind Enemy Lines by John Vornholt

Hmm, I´ve voted outstanding, although it´s been long since I have read it. It was a good addition to the show DS9, especially when one wonders, what Picard and Co. did during the war. Though I don´t recall any details. The German version was quickly out of stock and highly in demand.
 
Re: TNG: The Dominion War: Behind Enemy Lines by John Vornholt

This isn't Ro's first reappearance. She'd also been featured in Vornholt's earlier TNG novel Rogue Saucer, which I think is referenced in the duology -- although I don't think she interacted with any of the Enterprise crew in that novel, so this would be her first reunion with them in that sense, at least where the novels are concerned. She also appeared in issue 28 of Malibu's DS9 comic from 1995 and Marvel's TNG Special from earlier in 1998, though of course those weren't in continuity with the novels.
 
Re: TNG: The Dominion War: Behind Enemy Lines by John Vornholt

I gave up halfway.
 
Re: TNG: The Dominion War: Behind Enemy Lines by John Vornholt

I gave it Above Average. It was one of the first Trek novels I read and actually the first one I read that was not a novelisation of an episode/film. So for me it has a special place because I have now read over 200 Trek novels.
I enjoyed the story and thought it and part two were good adventures, though the E-E did very little in both books. But the Picard and Data elements were very enjoyable. It is just a pity it does not fit into current novel continuity.
 
Re: TNG: The Dominion War: Behind Enemy Lines by John Vornholt

I voted average. For me it was nothing special. It's just a decent TNG story set during the Dominion War. I will admit it was interesting to see what the Enterprise crew was up to during the war.
 
Re: TNG: The Dominion War: Behind Enemy Lines by John Vornholt

Christopher said:
This isn't Ro's first reappearance. She'd also been featured in Vornholt's earlier TNG novel Rogue Saucer, which I think is referenced in the duology -- although I don't think she interacted with any of the Enterprise crew in that novel, so this would be her first reunion with them in that sense, at least where the novels are concerned. She also appeared in issue 28 of Malibu's DS9 comic from 1995 and Marvel's TNG Special from earlier in 1998, though of course those weren't in continuity with the novels.
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Ah, of course. Thank you, Christopher, I had forgotten about Ro's appearance in Rogue Saucer. It's been many years since I read that one.

While we're on the subject of Ro, which I was going to save for my review, but it's a shame that her appearance in this novel and her reunion with Picard wasn't used as background for Ro in Avatar and the subsequent DS9 novels. In this novel, we learn a little bit about what she's been doing since first joining the Maquis and I was heartened to see that she'd found a place to settle and found some form of romantic relationship. She'd even found time to grow some tomatoes. :lol:

I know that there is some possible continuity reasons involving another character featured in this novel which will be revealed in Tunnel Through the Stars, but I wish Ro's background had been used.
 
Re: TNG: The Dominion War: Behind Enemy Lines by John Vornholt

I voted above average as I don't remember all the details this many years later but I remember enjoying it and I was a big fan of the episode Lower Decks
 
Re: TNG: The Dominion War: Behind Enemy Lines by John Vornholt

Christopher said:
This isn't Ro's first reappearance. She'd also been featured in Vornholt's earlier TNG novel Rogue Saucer, which I think is referenced in the duology -- although I don't think she interacted with any of the Enterprise crew in that novel, so this would be her first reunion with them in that sense, at least where the novels are concerned. She also appeared in issue 28 of Malibu's DS9 comic from 1995 and Marvel's TNG Special from earlier in 1998, though of course those weren't in continuity with the novels.
Click to expand...

I remember Ro wasn't explicitly named in Rogue Saucer, if I recall she was simply called "The Architect" and heavily implied that it was her. I haven't read the book in over a decade, I may have to dig it out.
 
Re: TNG: The Dominion War: Behind Enemy Lines by John Vornholt

^I think you're right, but it's pretty clear that it was meant to be Ro.
 
Re: TNG: The Dominion War: Behind Enemy Lines by John Vornholt

Csalem said:
I gave it Above Average. It was one of the first Trek novels I read and actually the first one I read that was not a novelisation of an episode/film. So for me it has a special place because I have now read over 200 Trek novels.
I enjoyed the story and thought it and part two were good adventures, though the E-E did very little in both books. But the Picard and Data elements were very enjoyable.
Click to expand...
This applies to me as well. Vornholt does the "lost in a hazardous area" theme pretty well (it appears again in his A Time To duology), and I liked the setting on the Orb of Peace and its mismatched crew. The only thread I disliked was the Ro/Lavelle romance.

Having said that, I much prefer Ro's development in the early DS9 Relaunch and have no problems with the Powers That Be ignoring this duology to tell a new story about her.
 
Re: TNG: The Dominion War: Behind Enemy Lines by John Vornholt

aj1981 said:
Christopher said:
This isn't Ro's first reappearance. She'd also been featured in Vornholt's earlier TNG novel Rogue Saucer, which I think is referenced in the duology -- although I don't think she interacted with any of the Enterprise crew in that novel, so this would be her first reunion with them in that sense, at least where the novels are concerned. She also appeared in issue 28 of Malibu's DS9 comic from 1995 and Marvel's TNG Special from earlier in 1998, though of course those weren't in continuity with the novels.
Click to expand...

I remember Ro wasn't explicitly named in Rogue Saucer, if I recall she was simply called "The Architect" and heavily implied that it was her. I haven't read the book in over a decade, I may have to dig it out.
Click to expand...

That's one of the things I remember about "Rogue Saucer" was that it was implied that it was Ro, but the character was never named by the author as Ro. Also Ro reappeared in DS9 #20 Wrath Of The Prophets.

But I remember reading all four Dominion War books and enjoying how Carey was expanding on the six episodes that she covered in books 1&3, and Vornholt gave us a glimpse into what Picard and company were doing.
 
Re: TNG: The Dominion War: Behind Enemy Lines by John Vornholt

Christopher said:
This isn't Ro's first reappearance. She'd also been featured in Vornholt's earlier TNG novel Rogue Saucer, which I think is referenced in the duology -- although I don't think she interacted with any of the Enterprise crew in that novel, so this would be her first reunion with them in that sense, at least where the novels are concerned. She also appeared in issue 28 of Malibu's DS9 comic from 1995 and Marvel's TNG Special from earlier in 1998, though of course those weren't in continuity with the novels.
Click to expand...
And the novel Deep Space Nine - #20 Wrath of the Prophets.
 
Re: TNG: The Dominion War: Behind Enemy Lines by John Vornholt

A rare glimpse of the Enterprise-E involved in the Dominion War. A pretty good story.
 
Re: TNG: The Dominion War: Behind Enemy Lines by John Vornholt

I recall not liking this one at the time I read it which would have been... about 3-4 years ago. Never really grooved to Vornholt as a writer, though. I think this ended up feeling like a young adult novel, which I probably would have enjoyed more. Ro and Lavelle take on the dominion?
 
Re: TNG: Dominion War: Behind Enemy Lines by John Vornholt Review Thre

You might want to change the title so this will show up on the review thread site.
 
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Re: TNG: Dominion War: Behind Enemy Lines by John Vornholt Review Thre

Have changed the title, but I think Sho was working on changing things to run off the reviewpoll_v1 tag. Not sure if this is complete or not though.
 
Re: TNG: Dominion War: Behind Enemy Lines by John Vornholt Review Thre

There's a review thread site? Where's that?
 
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