Spoilers TNG: The Light Fantastic by Jeffrey Lang Review Thread
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I can take or leave Albert or Moriarty. Not certain about Data 2.0; what now drives him now that Lal is resurrected and fully functional?
I really enjoyed this book, it was like seeing so many old friends again. This felt joyous, in spite of the subject at hand. Sure and you can’t go home again; but with friends like these, home is wherever you are together.
I also enjoyed meeting a couple new ones; I hope to read more of Shakti in the future. Her flirtation with Albert Lee was funny and endearing, and her programming ensures she is up to any challenge.
I found Data’s admission he might be working for her funny, too.
I started with Immortal Coil (new to me!) and then read the Cold Equations trilogy and then rounded it out with this.
The compression was satisfying, like experiencing the events in real time.
Geordi’s discomfort at his role as moral compass was believable and relatable. Are you really “helping” your best friend if you’re helping them do something you think is wrong?
The Countess is an interesting foil to that situation, as she is the one who lets Moriarity know she will not let him harm Lal. I enjoyed seeing her fleshed out and not just a damsel in distress. M’s actions don’t even seem the work of a criminal mastermind so much as a terrified, bereaved father.
I can even forgive Data his actions considering his fears for Lal’s safety and how new he is to his emotions. His journey into grey areas will be interesting food for thought, I hope to see that in book form too!
I agree that his personal development at this time is best explored outside of Starfleet. He will have greater freedom to work with his friends in the event of ever-looming catastrophes from the outside.
I’ve read plenty of Trek-lit where the galaxy was at stake, or even our corner of it. I am looking for The Fall series to sober me up about What It’s All About.
These relationship/development pieces though, are for me WHY it even matters.
I also enjoyed meeting a couple new ones; I hope to read more of Shakti in the future. Her flirtation with Albert Lee was funny and endearing, and her programming ensures she is up to any challenge.
I found Data’s admission he might be working for her funny, too.
I started with Immortal Coil (new to me!) and then read the Cold Equations trilogy and then rounded it out with this.
The compression was satisfying, like experiencing the events in real time.
Geordi’s discomfort at his role as moral compass was believable and relatable. Are you really “helping” your best friend if you’re helping them do something you think is wrong?
The Countess is an interesting foil to that situation, as she is the one who lets Moriarity know she will not let him harm Lal. I enjoyed seeing her fleshed out and not just a damsel in distress. M’s actions don’t even seem the work of a criminal mastermind so much as a terrified, bereaved father.
I can even forgive Data his actions considering his fears for Lal’s safety and how new he is to his emotions. His journey into grey areas will be interesting food for thought, I hope to see that in book form too!
I agree that his personal development at this time is best explored outside of Starfleet. He will have greater freedom to work with his friends in the event of ever-looming catastrophes from the outside.
I’ve read plenty of Trek-lit where the galaxy was at stake, or even our corner of it. I am looking for The Fall series to sober me up about What It’s All About.
These relationship/development pieces though, are for me WHY it even matters.
Well, by way of an 1890s song called "Sidewalks of New York."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trip_the_light_fantastic_(phrase)
On the subject of titles, am I correct in thinking that "the light fantastic" is comprised of article adjective, noun, and adjective? Is it even technically proper grammar in English to put an adjective after the noun it modifies?
Its truncated. The original is "light fantastic toe" in the context of dancing, as in nimble, fanciful movement.
Normally, no, but there's a literary device called anastrophe in which word order is inverted for aesthetic or rhetorical effect -- "the forest primeval," "quote the fights historical," "Stone walls do not a prison make," "Begun the Clone Wars have," etc. Although, as Nasat explained, that's not the case with this phrase.
Some people are too attached to grammatical rules, and seem to believe that anything ungrammatical is automatically invalid. But the rules are simply a framework to ensure comprehension, and can be discarded when it's useful or effective to do so. Periodic violation of the rules of grammar for rhetorical impact is an important part of the effective use of language. Order is created from chaos so that disorder may manifest.
What about "the body electric"? (not to say I'm against the wording; I like it in this case)
That's Walt Whitman, from a poem in Leaves of Grass, "I Sing the Body Electric." Which has been referenced as a title by numerous other things, notably a Ray Bradbury Twilight Zone episode and the story he based on it.
I really enjoyed this book Mr. Lang.
Would love to have you publish another in the same vein.
I only had one problemo, and this user echoed my sentiments:
JoeZhang said: ↑
I really enjoyed this except for one element - part of the story arc of Alice is that she has escaped her servitude to Harry and let at the end when she is forced back into it and her agency is removed, nobody (within the story) comments upon it at all - a stance that seems at odds with some of the other themes presented in the book.
No one sticks up for Alice....come on! It did get to me. I've read your previous postings and maybe, just maybe we'll get a resolution in your next (fingers crossed) book.
Best.
Would love to have you publish another in the same vein.
I only had one problemo, and this user echoed my sentiments:
JoeZhang said: ↑
I really enjoyed this except for one element - part of the story arc of Alice is that she has escaped her servitude to Harry and let at the end when she is forced back into it and her agency is removed, nobody (within the story) comments upon it at all - a stance that seems at odds with some of the other themes presented in the book.
No one sticks up for Alice....come on! It did get to me. I've read your previous postings and maybe, just maybe we'll get a resolution in your next (fingers crossed) book.
Best.
A bit of a bump on this thread but hopefully that's ok.
I just finished this book 2 weeks ago and it put me on a bit of a journey. I had read that next year a sequel to this book is perhaps coming out so I figured I should read it but then digging around I realized this was a sequel to Cold Equations, which by chance I hadn't read, and those 3 books were a sequel to Immortal Coil which came out before I was even reading Trek Books soooooo I basically read those 4 books over a month or so and then read this one.
I thoroughly enjoyed these 5 books, it was such a fun intimate look at Data and the various other Androids in the Trek Universe. I think my only complaint really is that I was sort of expecting a bit more TNG in this novel than just Geordi, but alas. I'm really hoping Jeffrey Lang gets to write the rumours sequel next year now as I'm all caught up!
I just finished this book 2 weeks ago and it put me on a bit of a journey. I had read that next year a sequel to this book is perhaps coming out so I figured I should read it but then digging around I realized this was a sequel to Cold Equations, which by chance I hadn't read, and those 3 books were a sequel to Immortal Coil which came out before I was even reading Trek Books soooooo I basically read those 4 books over a month or so and then read this one.
I thoroughly enjoyed these 5 books, it was such a fun intimate look at Data and the various other Androids in the Trek Universe. I think my only complaint really is that I was sort of expecting a bit more TNG in this novel than just Geordi, but alas. I'm really hoping Jeffrey Lang gets to write the rumours sequel next year now as I'm all caught up!
Nice to see this thread pop up as I only read this book for the first time a few months ago. I loved it, but I was also mortified when no one came to Alice's rescue. It just felt so unfair and wrong.
Read this right after Cold Equations, having never read Immortal Coil. Ended up reading it a few weeks after Light Fantastic, and I was sure glad I did!
Read this right after Cold Equations, having never read Immortal Coil. Ended up reading it a few weeks after Light Fantastic, and I was sure glad I did!
I think the issue with Alice is that by the end of the book she's shown that she actually only cares about herself and doesn't really care about what happens to Lal if it's not in her own best interest. At that point Data is no longer interested in helping her and getting rid of her helps his interests instead. She reaped what she sowed basically.
I can understand that. It just didn't feel very 'Star Trek' that the result of their interactions came down to 'an eye for an eye.' It was the pragmatic thing to do, but it didn't necessarily feel like the right thing to do.
I started reading this a couple weeks ago, and I just got the part where Data and Geordi go to see Albert Lee, and I was wondering, are we supposed to know who he is? The way he's brought into the story it feels like we're already supposed to be familiar with him, but I have no memory of ever seeing him in any other books or episodes.
