Spoilers TOS: Allegiance in Exile by DRGIII Review Thread

[Ood Sigma]

I read through this one in a single day, it was pretty fast-moving and short. A very well-written novel, but the plot just didn't resonate for me. In particular, while the identities of the colonists and the aggressors were kind of a neat twist when they were revealed, in the end... it just didn't matter as it didn't really add anything to either race. I did enjoy the focus on Sulu - I thought the author got into his head pretty well. Overall I find it above average, even if just slightly so. I'd rate it a 6 on a 10 point scale.

 

[timothy]

Does anyone know what year this story is set in?

 

[ryan123450]

Well, canon says that the 5 year mission ended in 2270, and I think the general trend in recent Lit has been to assume towards the end of 2270. So this must be towards the end of 2269.

 

[timothy]

Thank you that helps where to place it on my shelf

 

[Ktrek]

I'm actually kind of surprised that I'm the first member to vote this book as average. It's not that it's necessarily a "bad" story but it's just not what I would call a "memorable" story. Even though it covered the span of the last year mission it read more like an episode of TOS. The voicing was off on some of the main characters (especially Kirk) and at times they also felt out of character. The book seemed more like a pulp read or a 1990s trek book and not of the quality of the last ten years or so. It especially did not feel like a DRGIII novel at all and I say that as one who loves his other books. This was too cookie cutter and lacked the originality of his other books. Several scenes in the book were like...yea, yea, yea...been there done that before (especially the battle scenes).

No offense David, but you have written far better things and this book seemed like you were just collecting a paycheck. I know you have had several works on your plate and I hope that this was just a momentary lapse and your upcoming books will renew my faith in your writing skills. Not every episode or book for that matter is a "classic"!

Kevin

 

[Ronald Held]

Just started reading it. So far nothing stands out either way.

 

[Sci]

No offense David, but you have written far better things and this book seemed like you were just collecting a paycheck.

You know, I haven't read Allegiance in Exile yet -- I may not, as the premise just doesn't intrigue me -- but I have to chime in and say that criticisms like this always bug me.

I'm not a writer, but I've worked in the arts. I've been onstage, and I've been backstage. And the fact of the matter is, any time you work to produce a piece of art (whether it's a performance, or a poem, or a musical composition, or whatever), you're going to have your hits and your misses. No one can bat a thousand; everyone strikes out sometimes.

That doesn't mean that you're "just collecting a paycheck." It's quite possible to work very hard to do the best possible job you can at creating something, only to see it just fall flat for any number of reasons. God knows I've been onstage often enough on nights where I was concentrating, trying to get in the zone, trying to make everything work, and only to see my performance brought down by random errors; I know what it's like to try and just not quite nail it.

So if you didn't enjoy Allegiance, I certainly don't begrudge that. But taking that and turning it into an implication that the author just didn't care about writing the best possible story just bothers me, because of that experience I've had.

 

[Thrawn]

^ This times a million. I've performed in bands, onstage in theatrical productions, and professionally I'm a middle school teacher, and in every one of these things no matter how well prepared you are, and how hard you're trying, some things just go wrong.

Which doesn't say anything about this book, which I haven't read yet, I'm just saying. Not to mention that the amount of monetary reward for writing Trek novels, in general, isn't nearly enough to realistically accuse authors of this kind of cynicism.

 

[BillJ]

I'm about a fourth of the way through it and it really hasn't hooked me so far. Not a "can't put it down" read so far, from my perspective.

 

[Ronald Held]

I am about half way through. For some reason this reminds me of "A choice of catastrophes"

 

[Mage]

Haven't finished it yet, but I can say it doesn't move me as other DRGIII novels. It certainly isn't bad or anything, but the story itself and the characters just don't do it for me that much.
That said (and as I stated in this topic already) the 5YM is not my favorite period, and the TOS characters don't really do it for me all that much in general. However, David's writing is solid and consistent, and on par with his other work sofar. That is what is keeping me into this novel really. I'll probably finish it tonight or tomorrow, and post my final findings then.

 

[Patrick O'Brien]

^Agreed, David's writing style is very readable.

 

[Kertrats47]

Enjoyed this one, but what did I expect with David R. George III penning it? Very readable, as Patrick and Mage have said. Here's my review. Spoilers, especially if you can easily recognize planets by their matte paintings...

 

[Jarvisimo]

Kertrats, your review has made me want to read this, far more than the certain planet spoilers:

Many people seem to fall into the trap of holding their heroes to too-high a standard, and are very critical when one of them stumbles. To me, however, these circumstances are realistic. Nobody is perfect, and even the characters we love and idolize will make mistakes. It's all a part of being human (or Vulcan, or Cardassian, or whatever).

Great!

 

[Kertrats47]

Kertrats, your review has made me want to read this, far more than the certain planet spoilers:

Many people seem to fall into the trap of holding their heroes to too-high a standard, and are very critical when one of them stumbles. To me, however, these circumstances are realistic. Nobody is perfect, and even the characters we love and idolize will make mistakes. It's all a part of being human (or Vulcan, or Cardassian, or whatever).

Great!

Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad it made you want to read it. It's definitely worth it.

 

[Mage]

Having finished it, I can say I really liked it. Still not a TOS/5YM lover after reading this though.

In any case, the biggest thing about this book is what I realized after having finished it. It's NOT a whodunnit novel, as in, someone mysterious is destroying unknown colonies, we need to find out who!! It's a novel about characters, about people. I was quite amazed at the end how much I cared about the Sulu storyline, how I was intrigued about this side of Kirk we haven't seen much off.

David's style of writing was what kept me in the novel the most though. In one chapter, there is some dialogue between Kirk and McCoy, but we follow it from Sulu's POV, which was very interesting.

All in all, I will say that this is not David's best novel, for me personally. But having said that, I would recommend this novel to anyone looking for something that's not galaxy-changing, not about the big events that change the fate of the universe. This is a novel for people who want to read how the effects of seemingly small events can change people, have a lasting effect on them, and make them look at things in a new way. I liked it. I really, really did.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Not far enough along to actually put a rating to it, but I do have a couple of observations:

First,

Spoiler: I don't get why . . .

I don't get why it was necessary for the new A&A officer to spend a dozen pages recognizing that a stone blade with no apparent handle, never found with any evidence of its being attached to a shaft, with a spiked butt, was designed to be used as a sort of caltrop. I figured it out within the first page or two. Was DRG trying to tell us that the whole A&A staff was a bunch of idiots?

Second, what's with all the info-dumps, telling us about characters that are already familiar to anybody who'd buy the book in the first place? They read like some of the passages in Mission to Horatius.

That doesn't mean I'm not going to keep reading. Even if I hadn't seen the first ("unexpected continuity") spoiler in this thread, I'd still have plenty of reason to do so. And I'm hoping I'll soon find out why the new A&A officer

Spoiler: . . .

. . . likes the idea that being transported turns one into an entirely new person.

But then again, I also managed to plow through Paul Gillebaard's Moon Hoax, hoping that the author would eventually reveal some plausible motive for why the Chinese would go to the enormous expense and risk of a covert far-side moon landing, and the installation of an automated weaponized industrial laser programmed to shoot down anything entering lunar orbit, just to discredit the United States. (He didn't. And along the way, he managed to produce an absolutely stunning example of how not to write and market a novel.)

 

[Kertrats47]

I think that David R. George's strength really lies in his deep exploration of character. I don't want to necessarily box various authors into their own "niches," but if Christopher is great with the science stuff and David Mack is great with the galaxy-changing "epic" stuff, then DRG is definitely good at taking the characters to places they wouldn't normally go, basically putting them through hell and seeing how they respond. Sisko in his Typhon Pact novels, the "big three" in the Crucible trilogy, and now Sulu (and to an extent, Kirk) in Allegiance. I love his treatment of the characters. We get some great examples of true drama! Love it.

 

[Turtletrekker]

That was fun. Of course, any Star Trek by DRG3 always is.

The inclusion of the two spoiler species gives me renewed hope of finally seeing certain story-lines in other parts of the lit-line resolved.

As far as their importance to the story goes, the species in question are minor players in the grand scheme. In the end, it really could've been any generic "Species A" chasing "Species B" and the story wouldn't have been that different (Heh. "Species A" and "Species B" actually work in this case).

 

[Patrick O'Brien]

Enjoyed the book. Another solid story by DRGIII