It did seem similar to a television episode. Kirk spends time with a beautiful women but the Ship wins out in the end. Scotty works several hard engineering problems out. McCoy cures a "rock"again. Maybe Spock was off due to long term melding with Horta? I tbought it was all right, after another reading I can always reassess it.
Spoilers TOS: Devil's Bargain by Tony Daniel Review Thread
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Sorry, I had to vote "below average" for this one. I didn't enjoy it as much as I was hoping to. I'm not going to write an in-depth review, but I'll mention a few points and nitpicks. (Note: it's a spoiler thread, so possible spoilers!)
- Characterization of the main regular characters seemed off to me, especially Kirk, and the McCoy/Hox standoff. (I know, bluff, but still...)
- For some reason, I didn't find the "colony in peril" storyline that engaging.
- The Kirk/Hannah romance just seemed like a cliché at this point. There were a few eyeroll moments, including Hannah's introduction... you just knew where it was going to end up. It didn't feel natural at all to me.
- I did really enjoy the look into Horta culture. (Um, you know what I mean!) This was probably my favourite part of the book. I actually wouldn't mind seeing the Star Clan again at some point. (Didn't the book say that "Slider Dan" was the name the Janus VI miners gave him, or am I misremembering that? It would be cool if he was actually Naraht... but I have no idea if Tony Daniel has even heard of Naraht.)
- "Walkers"? Really?
- IIRC, Spock mentions that destroying the asteroid is beyond the limits of their technology. Although he had aleady given an example of exactly how they could do it. That small moon you mentioned that was completely destroyed? Yeah, presumably if that much antimatter can completely obliterate a small moon, it can take out the asteroid too. If they had said something about not having enough time to get that much antimatter this far out, then OK... but it didn't even come up.
- Good thing Sulu and Chekov figured things out at the exact same time that Merling was going to carry out his nefarious plan!
- Speaking of Merling, right after they killed him, Sulu declared that the nanotech threat had been neutralized. Are you sure? That gun casing had been cracked for a few minutes at least. You can't actually see the nanobots... maybe you want to run a scan or something before declaring the "all clear"?
- We've seen other stories set after this. We pretty much knew Spock living out the rest of his days on Janus VI was not going to happen.
- Oh, did I mention the "walkers"?
OK, I'll stop griping now. I'm glad others enjoyed this, but it just wasn't my cup of tea. I seem to recall thinking the same thing about Troublesome Minds a while back, which everyone else seemed to love. Maybe the problem is me. Perhaps I've become so enamoured with the serial, interconnected style of the 24th century novels that I can't enjoy an episodic, standalone, "everything back in the box" type of novel anymore?
- Characterization of the main regular characters seemed off to me, especially Kirk, and the McCoy/Hox standoff. (I know, bluff, but still...)
- For some reason, I didn't find the "colony in peril" storyline that engaging.
- The Kirk/Hannah romance just seemed like a cliché at this point. There were a few eyeroll moments, including Hannah's introduction... you just knew where it was going to end up. It didn't feel natural at all to me.
- I did really enjoy the look into Horta culture. (Um, you know what I mean!) This was probably my favourite part of the book. I actually wouldn't mind seeing the Star Clan again at some point. (Didn't the book say that "Slider Dan" was the name the Janus VI miners gave him, or am I misremembering that? It would be cool if he was actually Naraht... but I have no idea if Tony Daniel has even heard of Naraht.)
- "Walkers"? Really?
- IIRC, Spock mentions that destroying the asteroid is beyond the limits of their technology. Although he had aleady given an example of exactly how they could do it. That small moon you mentioned that was completely destroyed? Yeah, presumably if that much antimatter can completely obliterate a small moon, it can take out the asteroid too. If they had said something about not having enough time to get that much antimatter this far out, then OK... but it didn't even come up.
- Good thing Sulu and Chekov figured things out at the exact same time that Merling was going to carry out his nefarious plan!
- Speaking of Merling, right after they killed him, Sulu declared that the nanotech threat had been neutralized. Are you sure? That gun casing had been cracked for a few minutes at least. You can't actually see the nanobots... maybe you want to run a scan or something before declaring the "all clear"?
- We've seen other stories set after this. We pretty much knew Spock living out the rest of his days on Janus VI was not going to happen.
- Oh, did I mention the "walkers"?
OK, I'll stop griping now. I'm glad others enjoyed this, but it just wasn't my cup of tea. I seem to recall thinking the same thing about Troublesome Minds a while back, which everyone else seemed to love. Maybe the problem is me. Perhaps I've become so enamoured with the serial, interconnected style of the 24th century novels that I can't enjoy an episodic, standalone, "everything back in the box" type of novel anymore?
I began reading reading this novel last night. The Visbean's bigotry against Spock and Kirk's crew is exactly like the storyline in Howard Weinstein's novel The Better man. In fact there are a lot similarities when it comes to their attitudes of acting superior and ignoring Spock's warnings about the asteroid being destructive and not wanting to leave their planet.
I liked it, my full review will be up soon, but it felt like an episode from season 4 to me. Plus talking to Tony this week on Literary Treks
I like Devil's Bargain. I'm only halfway through this book.It's nice to see a five year mission story where all the Enterprise crewmembers are involved in the story trying to solve the Vesibean crisis concerning the asteroid coming towards their planet.I like the fact the Horta are also in this novel.Nice to see continuation of stortylines mentioning Janus 6 and the humans and horta getting along & working together in the mines. Merling is really delusional like Khan and wants to be in power and get his way no matter what it costs. Just to get what he wants including sabotaging the Enterprise and trying to get rid of the Horta.Enterpriserules I look forward to listening to your pod cast with Tony Daniel discussing writing Devil's bargain.
Thank you, I was just finishing up the review and preparing for the show. I think it will be fun to talk to a new writer!
Season 4?
As far as I'm concerned, season 4 was the animated series. (And season 5, because it had two seasons.)
I do know from talking to Tony that he is going for an episode feel; as if it was just one that was lost and so never seen.
I just finished it. I really enjoyed it. It read like a lost episode of TOS. I really liked the delving into of the Horta and their culture. If Tony Daniel writes another TOS novel I'll get it.
I finished reading this book a few days ago I really liked this book
Our Literary Treks episode with Tony is out now!
James T. Vader
Lieutenant
I'm just starting it but so far it reads exactly like an ep of TOS plays. Well done.
Just started, so far so good.