Spoilers TNG: Shadows Have Offended, by Cassandra Rose Clarke - Review Thread

[Cyfa]

Blurb:
The USS Enterprise has been granted the simple but unavoidable honor of ferrying key guests to Betazed for a cultural ceremony. En route, sudden tragedy strikes a Federation science station on the isolated planet Kota, and Captain Jean-Luc Picard has no qualms sending William Riker, Data, and Chief Medical Officer Beverly Crusher to investigate. But what begins as routine assignments for the two parties soon descends into chaos: Picard, Worf, and Deanna Troi must grapple with a dangerous diplomatic crisis as historic artifacts are stolen in the middle of a high-profile ceremony…while nothing is as it seems on Kota. A mounting medical emergency coupled with the science station’s failing technology - and no hope of rescue - has Doctor Crusher racing against time to solve a disturbing mystery threatening the lives of all her colleagues….

https://www.simonandschuster.com/bo...e/Star-Trek-The-Next-Generation/9781982154042

Shadows Have Offended downloaded onto my Kindle yesterday and I've read the first four (short) chapters - "delightful" and "charming" are the first descriptors that popped into my head. I bought this book mainly for the look at Betazoid culture (which, I think, has been given short shrift both on screen and in print), and I'm looking forward to reading more and seeing what else it delivers.

 

[Cyfa]

Oh, drat! I didn't finish the thread title! @trampledamage, would you be so kind as to add "Cassandra Rose Clark - Review Thread" - thank you, and apologies

 

[David Weller]

Finished it last night. Marked it as average. A good enough read but very much like an extended series episode.

 

[Markonian]

Just started reading.
Have there been any books set in 2371, after AGT but before GEN? This one is set just before AGT.

First nitpick: an asteroid threatens the Astaril world. Dozens of ships help with the well-planned evacuation effort. That must be some special asteroid if no ships can alter its course?

 

[Christopher]

Have there been any books set in 2371, after AGT but before GEN?

Yes, a fair number. Going by the Pocket Timeline, they include Intellivore, Day of Honor: Ancient Blood, Double Helix: Quarantine, Crossover, Kahless, The Captain's Table: Dujonian's Hoard, Do Comets Dream?, Tooth and Claw, and Invasion: The Soldiers of Fear. The last 10 issues of DC's TNG comic and the Wildstorm miniseries Perchance to Dream are post-AGT too.

First nitpick: an asteroid threatens the Astaril world. Dozens of ships help with the well-planned evacuation effort. That must be some special asteroid if no ships can alter its course?

See TOS: "The Paradise Syndrome." They had two months to deflect that asteroid and couldn't pull it off. Realistically, if you start early enough, the steady application of even low thrust should be enough to change an asteroid's course, but fiction often fudges physics for the sake of plot. Maybe it's just a very massive asteroid.

 

[mastadge]

Finished it last night. Marked it as average. A good enough read but very much like an extended series episode.

I suspect for some people that's a feature, not a bug.

 

[David Weller]

I suspect for some people that's a feature, not a bug.

Guess I’ve got too used to the Litverse.

 

[Reanok]

I pre ordered this book. I look forward to getting this book and reading it soon.

 

[Ronald Held]

I started to read it. All right, so far.

 

[USS Firefly]

Guess I’ve got too used to the Litverse.

Reason for me to skip this book

 

[F. King Daniel]

Shadows need to apologise.

(Sorry, sorry)

 

[Cyfa]

I'm just over halfway through and, as @David Weller said, it does feel like an extended TV episode so far. However, that's of no detriment in my eyes as I expected as much seeing as this story is set within the series timeline (just about).
I'm finding the characterisation to be top notch - Worf, Troi and Lwaxana in particular "sound" just like their TV selves, with Crusher and Riker (what little he's featured so far) ringing true, too. Picard seems a little off, but that could be because he really doesn't want to be in the thick of the Betazed situation? I like the new away team and science station crew characters, but the Betazoid House Leaders are one-dimensional hand-wringers with barely an ounce of sense between them - I hope this changes as I read on. Sulel, the Vulcan Federation Ambassador to Betazed, on the other hand, is a hoot!

 

[mastadge]

Picard seems a little off!

I find in many novels that Picard is a little off. I wonder if he's a more difficult voice to capture, or whether it's an uncanny valley sort of thing: he's so familiar to viewers/readers that any little deviation from our expectations is amplified.

 

[Thrawn]

I find in many novels that Picard is a little off. I wonder if he's a more difficult voice to capture, or whether it's an uncanny valley sort of thing: he's so familiar to viewers/readers that any little deviation from our expectations is amplified.

My theory is that Patrick Stewart is just a really good actor. A lot of characterization that seems "a little off", if you gave it to him, would flawlessly and miraculously work. Picard, as written, wasn't actually as consistent a character as we think; Stewart was just incredible.

 

[E-DUB]

It occurs to me that nothing in "Picard" invalidates anything from TNG or the TNG movies. So as long as they're not "Picard" inconsistent novels from that timeframe (or even later) can still be done.

 

[Ronald Held]

Seems like an extended TNG episodes with A and B plots. The B plot seems more interesting.

 

[Starbreaker]

This sounds extremely generic. I might listen to the audiobook while I'm at work if there is one. Sounds like I could turn my brain off for a day or two.

 

[Tuskin38]

Reason for me to skip this book

Why?

 

[USS Firefly]

Why?

Because mostly I am not interested in standalone stories.

 

[JD]

Well, at that rate you might not get many options for new Trek books, since there's a very good chance that's going to be what the majority of the books will be once Coda is over.