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Spoilers TOS: Lost to Eternity by Greg Cox Review Thread

Rate Lost To Eternity

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As I said elsewhere, I felt this to be one of Cox's best efforts. The deft juggling of three timeframes, the handling of familiar characters, the strong characterization of the new characters all blended together to create a truly great story. The ending of the 2292 timeline was what I was expecting, the ending of the story as a whole was exactly what I was hoping for.

But (and you knew there was a but coming), I do have a few questions. The planet named "Atraz", the Klingon named "Yorba", immediately brought to mind Alcatraz and Yorba Linda made me wonder if Greg was picking names by throwing darts at a map of California. I found thematic similarities between this novel and a Larry Niven short called "Cautionary Tale" which also featured a character seeking immortality who was already, by normal human standards, rather long-lived.

BTW, there was a Trek story in one of the SNW collections, I believe, that trod some of the same ground as the 2024 timeframe, but I'm too lazy to dig for it right now. Anybody else notice this?
 
E-DUB said:
BTW, there was a Trek story in one of the SNW collections, I believe, that trod some of the same ground as the 2024 timeframe, but I'm too lazy to dig for it right now. Anybody else notice this?
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Oh yeah, the one about the reporter interviewing people about Gillian's disappearance. That one always bugged me, because all of the eyewitnesses' accounts were 100%, word-for-word accurate to what actually happened in the film, which was totally unrealistic. I would've found it a much more interesting story if it had accurately shown how everyone remembers an event differently, Rashomon-style.
 
E-DUB said:
BTW, there was a Trek story in one of the SNW collections, I believe, that trod some of the same ground as the 2024 timeframe, but I'm too lazy to dig for it right now. Anybody else notice this?
Click to expand...


I confess I am unaware of that SNW story, but I'm not surprised that others have ventured there in the many decades since the whale movie.

I think I do remember the Larry Niven story you mentioned, if it's the one I'm thinking of. I remember liking that story -- and its punchline. And, yeah, I definitely see the thematic connections there.
 
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Through the first three chapters.

I will say that launching straight into a declaration that the 21st century protagonist is a true-crime podcaster wasn't exactly a good way to build sympathy for the character, at least with those who despise sensationalism.

But it gets better. By the end of the first chapter, I've gotten to like the 21st century protagonist. Unlike The Novel That Will Not Be Named, where the protagonist just gets less and less sympathetic for at least the first 100 or so pages, before showing any redeeming virtues, and the author just keeps writing contract after contract with the reader, and breaking every single one of them (which doesn't stop after the first 100 or so pages).

And I've never known GC to break a contract with his readers.
 
I've only just gotten into the 23rd century section. Quite intrigued by the 'space-jacking' and the reference to the Venusian numismatist. I'm assuming that this means that people from Earth have colonized Venus by this point, not that there are native Venusians.
 
Procutus said:
I've only just gotten into the 23rd century section. Quite intrigued by the 'space-jacking' and the reference to the Venusian numismatist. I'm assuming that this means that people from Earth have colonized Venus by this point, not that there are native Venusians.
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In SCE, Venus was being terraformed in the 24th century, so any "inhabitants" in the 23rd (assuming a similar rate of progress to the Novelverse timeline) would probably live in an orbital station, or perhaps floating cities in the upper atmosphere like the ones I depicted in The Captain's Oath (though that was a Venus-like extrasolar planet).
 
It's fun to see this exploring events we're familiar with, from an outsider's perspective. And I think I caught a Doctor Who joke, related to a common trait shared by several of the characters. As I said elsewhere, the cover is beautiful, especially for TOS movie era fans...it kind of looks like a movie poster. And I was surprised to discover that even though it is softcover, it's a matte soft cover (I personally like the texture) with raised lettering. If it couldn't be harcover, at least the paperback cover has that nice touch of extra care in presentation.
 
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E-DUB said:
Please, name it. (Or at least give a few hints so that those not in on the joke will know what you're talking about.)
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No joke. And I refuse to name it publicly because it is far more likely that my doing so would increase sales (if only by morbid curiosity) than reduce sales.
 
I started reading it last night the Podcaster Melinda Silver is investigating Gillian Taylor's disapearence for her podcast .And Interviews Gillian's ex boss it'd intriguing the books starts in 20204.
 
Just finished the book. Much like The Captain's Oath I didn't think I would like the storytelling spread across three different points of time, and just like The Captain's Oath I was completely sucked into this book and really enjoyed it.

In particular, I really enjoyed the podcaster story line as they tried to figure out what happened to Dr. Gillian Taylor, though the revelation that film was nearly 40 years ago... I remember seeing it in theaters... suddenly the villains goals sound very enticing. I found this angle to touching on a classic story was unique, and gave an interesting perspective on the film while also telling it's own story.

Like all of the Star Trek novels I've read from the last few years, this is another fantastic entry. In particular, I still prefer these TOS entries, and I think the authors have been doing a fantastic job making them feel as authentic as the tv shows and films. Greg Cox has been consistent and I've enjoyed all of his novels that I've read (including other properties), I hope he has more TOS novels in the works.
 
Christopher, thanks for the info on Venus and the SCE's role in it. And I realized after you had mentioned it that I had somehow missed reading The Captain's Oath, so I've added that to my growing list of titles.
 
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