I think the issue is that if Robin Lefler wasn't genetically human, she would've known by now.
Spoilers TOS: Child of Two Worlds by Greg Cox Review Thread
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I think the issue is that if Robin Lefler wasn't genetically human, she would've known by now.
That is true...
Agreed. Maybe the Illyrians were transplanted or a lost colony.
I don't know if you'd count it as confirmation, but Morgan Primus does look like Majel Barrett Rodenberry in one of the NF comics. I took that as kind of an unofficial confirmation, but it could just be looked at as Mrs. Rodenberry "playing" a new character.
And he's one of the few who can do that without knocking readers out of the story.
Barbara Hambly managed to do a pretty good job of that with the Here Come the Brides crossover references in Ishmael. And John Ford managed it with How Much for Just the Planet?, although that was enough of a musical comedy romp that you didn't really care whether you were being knocked out of the story.
I've read 5 chapters and I'm really like Christopher Pike and his crew are having to deal with the situation with the Klingons wanting Merata back. And the crisis with the crew being ill with Rigellian flu. Spock's story is well written and all the way he's dealing with Merata is really interesting to see people from different cultures are trying to deal with the situation.
I generally like Greg Cox's work. While I enjoyed this book I felt that the plot was a bit "paint by numbers" and the characters' use of colloquial flippant language often took me out of the story. This story could have just as easily occurred during Kirk's tenure...aside from the interesting focus on Number One there was little to firmly anchor it in Pike's era.
That surprises me. First of all, wouldn't the characters be flippant in any era?
Also, Imho, it was definitely grounded in the Pike era due to lack of references to Romulans, frequent references of the old uniforms and technology (e.g. the bridge consoles and corridor grey), the use of the Pike-era crew(s), and the definitely Cold War-feeling with the Klingons (vs. the "War is coming any minute" during the VGD/TOS era).
I meant the plot itself could have taken place in another era because aside from Number One and Spock the Pike-era characters received little development. Cold War with Klingons continued through TOS era. As for flippant language I was referring to the use of 21st C flippant language.
Not especially? I mean, technically yeah, but it's certainly a different kind of Cold War. In the Pike era, there was a simmering possibility of war but it wasn't something that anyone expected to be happening any time soon, it was off on the distant horizon. The Federation was in a fairly peaceful footing in the 2250s after the brief skirmish at Axanar. More immediately near to Errand of Mercy, though, the simmering was reaching a boil, and most of the Federation assumed that war was mere months away, like what we saw in Vanguard or in Kevin Ryan's Errand trilogies. And then what we saw in TOS following Errand of Mercy was a completely different cold war situation than the Federation had in the 2250s, where there was no chance of direct war whatsoever and all conflict had to be through espionage or proxy wars.
I agree about the flippant language. It's like Greg Cox wrote the novel, then went back and tossed in some witty comebacks on a whim. I thought it was distracting, especially with the rooftop scene. It became less of a desperate and deadly situation and more of a lighthearted sitcom. Plus, the planetary obsession with Elzy was really a stretch. I doubt a whole race would be willing to let people die if things didn't go their way regarding one lost child. It's like they all developed borderline personality disorder based entirely on a little girl. Other than that, I really liked the book. More Pike novels!
But the whole thing was being stirred up by politicians to score points in an election. A lot of politics is basically about inducing mass personality disorders, or convincing people to go along with whatever delusion or irrational fixation will get you their votes.
I didn't think it was really Elzy they cared about at all. After all, not one of them stopped to suggest asking her what she wanted. She was just a pawn to them, a symbol of their hatred of the Klingons and their bitterness about the massacre. And as an independent world on the Klingon border, they had a lot of concerns about being conquered, plus they were an offshoot of another race, so their identity as an independent society was probably of great importance to them. So there'd be a deeper cultural imperative to resist domination intensifying their feelings and their political rhetoric against the Klingons. Elzy/Merata merely became a focus for all that nationalist passion, one that the politicians on both sides of the race were happy to exploit and amplify even further.
I finished this book last night. I really liked this story alot. The politicians were using Elizura/Meratta as a pawn because of their hatred of the Klingons. The press were also stirring up trouble too encouraging the protestors who wanted to harm Number One and the other Enterprise crewmembers on Cypria. It was a close call with their rescue.I also found the degree and quick rise of the mass anger on the planet to be unbelievable. Would the whole planet rally so strongly to one perspective? The story references at least one other political rival to the planet's leader...would that individual/group not present an opposing/alternative perspective which would rally followers? As I said I like Greg Cox's work but this came across to me as sloppy & expedient plotting.
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Your interpretation. To me it was one extended Cold War which peaked with a truly Hot war (a little joke due to the Organians' method of descalating the conflict) in Errand of Mercy and then continued until the Khitomer Accords. In later TOS (Elaan of Troyious) we even see the Enterprise almost destroyed by a Klingon ship despite the supposed parameters put in place by the Organians (who are never heard of again after Errand of Mercy in official cannon). As a result, the threat of real war is still evident hence the continuing Cold War.
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