Spoilers TOS: Devil's Bargain by Tony Daniel Review Thread

[Sho]

​

On to the second of the five consecutive 5YM TOS novels (it's some kind of Five Novel Mission, maybe?) that rule the first half of 2013, Devil's Bargain by Tony Daniel. This one's going to be very interesting I think - always exciting, it's Mr. Daniel's debut work for our favorite franchise (he comes highly recommended by forum regular and of course highly established TOS/Trek scribe Greg Cox, who edited two of his non-Trek novels for Tor), and while the blurb is hesitant to spoil it, we've previously been able to dig up (tee-hee) that it features the return of the fan-favorite Horta.

It's out on February 26th, which makes this review thread uncomfortably late. Very sorry about that, life has been a tad busy of late.

Here's the official blurb by way of a peace offering:

Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise are sent to evacuate the Omega sector frontier colony Vesbius—a pioneer settlement that is on the brink of an extinction-level event threatening not only all of the colonists, but biological products that are vital to Starfleet. However, rescue efforts are being thwarted by the colonists themselves, who refuse to abandon Vesbius, claiming that their lives depend upon staying, while giving no reason why. It is after these irrational decisions that First Officer Spock makes a radical suggestion: Perhaps an unexpected ally could aid the colony and help complete the mission. . . .

Sadly no excerpt on the Simon & Schuster page for the book.

 

[Ronald Held]

Does anyone have their copy?

 

[Sho]

I think Therin posted the other day that his local store had gotten their delivery.

 

[ronny]

I got mine earlier this week. Was surprised, I ordered it and Allegiance in Exile at the same time and they told me the 26th was the release date, don't expect it earlier than that so that was wrong. Almost a third of the way through. I'll reserve comment until I'm done. And I still like the cover a lot.

 

[Ronald Held]

I should have posted earlier that I was waiting for mine to be mailed out.

 

[The Wormhole]

I got mine earlier this week. Was surprised, I ordered it and Allegiance in Exile at the same time and they told me the 26th was the release date, don't expect it earlier than that so that was wrong. Almost a third of the way through. I'll reserve comment until I'm done. And I still like the cover a lot.

My understanding is that book release dates don't really have to be adhered to, unless it's a big release like Harry Potter or something. While you shouldn't really expect a book before its release date, it's not uncommon for it to hit shelves within a week prior to release. Although I still haven't seen Devil's Bargain in my area yet.

 

[Patrick O'Brien]

Waiting on my kindle edition. Looking forward to a new Trek author to add to the mix.

 

[Reanok]

Waiting for my book to arrive in the mail.I'm really looking forward to reading this one.I really like the coverart for this book.

 

[indianatrekker26]

i'm looking forward to this one too. I'm a fan of Daniel's work on Batman.

 

[Greg Cox]

i'm looking forward to this one too. I'm a fan of Daniel's work on Batman.

Wrong Tony Daniel. The comic book writer is a different guy.

Trust me, you're not the first person to get them mixed up!

 

[The Wormhole]

I was about to suggest maybe he should go by Anthony Daniel, but I suppose that would cause people to confuse him with someone else.

 

[indianatrekker26]

i'm looking forward to this one too. I'm a fan of Daniel's work on Batman.

Wrong Tony Daniel. The comic book writer is a different guy.

Trust me, you're not the first person to get them mixed up!

oh wow really? lol I assume this is this Tony Daniel's first star trek work? I always look forward to a new writer coming into trek.

 

[Defcon]

i'm looking forward to this one too. I'm a fan of Daniel's work on Batman.

Wrong Tony Daniel. The comic book writer is a different guy.

Trust me, you're not the first person to get them mixed up!

oh wow really? lol I assume this is this Tony Daniel's first star trek work? I always look forward to a new writer coming into trek.

Yes it is his first Star Trek work.

We had a similar mix-up in a previous thread. You can find links to the two Tony Daniel's wikipedia pages in this quote:

Hopefully Tony Daniel's Trek offering will be better than his Batman work at DC. I'm not a fan of his, but I'll check out the book out of curiosity. Looking forward to Greg's new book though!

Different "Tony Daniel." This isn't the comic book writer who wrote for BATMAN. This is a completely different science fiction writer who just happens to have the same name!

(Sorry for the double post, but I wanted to clear this up right away!)

Tony Daniel, Comic book writer

Tony Daniel, Sci-Fi writer

 

[Greg Cox]

Oddly, this is not even the first such case of easily mistaken identity. The Dave Mack who writes Trek novels is a different guy from the Dave Mack who does the KABUKI comic books.

 

[Defcon]

^IIRC That's why "our" David Mack is credited as David Alan Mack on anything comic related, like his Wolverine: Road of Bones, for which the other David Mack provided cover artwork.

 

[Greg Cox]

For the record, I am neither the politician or the restaurant reviewer.

 

[Christopher]

Part of the reason I decided to include my middle initial in my professional byline was just in case I got mistaken for the son of Trek movie producer Harve Bennett, who's named Christopher Emil Bennett and is the same age I am. No such confusion has ever occurred as far as I know, so either my cunning plan worked or, more likely, nobody noticed the similarity.

There's also a noted paleontologist named S. Christopher Bennett, but he's my cousin.

 

[Greg Cox]

There's also a noted paleontologist named S. Christopher Bennett, but he's my cousin.

Wait. You're not the paleontologist?

 

[The Wormhole]

I typed my real name into YouTube once and found an interview with a big corporate hotshot in England.

 

[Greg Cox]

I like to think that it drives the politician in San Diego nuts that the first thing that comes up under his name on Google is a bunch of Star Trek and vampire novels! (I'm evil that way.)