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TOS: Seasons of Light and Darkness by MAM Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Rate Seasons of Light and Darkness.

  • Outstanding

    Votes: 4 17.4%

  • Above Average

    Votes: 8 34.8%

  • Average

    Votes: 10 43.5%

  • Below Average

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Poor

    Votes: 1 4.3%
  • Total voters
    23
Sho

Sho

Fleet Captain
Fleet Captain
star-trek-the-original-series-seasons-of-light-9781476738192_lg.jpg

Seasons of Light and Darkness have forced me to get creative with thread naming to fit the title in there. This ebook-only novella release is penned by Michael A. Martin and set to hit stores on April 28th.

Unfortunately the Simon & Schuster website has neither a blurb nor an excerpt for us, but I'm willing to accept the NCC-1701 on the cover as compensation. Indeed this looks to be set during the events of Wrath of Khan and focuses on Leonard McCoy, according to an interview with Mr. Martin.
 
Re: TOS: Seasons of Light and Darkness by MAM Review Thread (Spoilers!

Like the other new TOS book this will be another wait and see book for me.
 
Re: TOS: Seasons of Light and Darkness by MAM Review Thread (Spoilers!

Did the release date on this one change? I could have sworn it was slated for April 24 when I preordered it on Amazon.
 
Re: TOS: Seasons of Light and Darkness by MAM Review Thread (Spoilers!

I thought that Amazon had the release date as the 28th.
 
Re: TOS: Seasons of Light and Darkness by MAM Review Thread (Spoilers!

I gave it average. McCoy feels in character enough, but the incident illuminated doesn't feel particularly revelatory nor compelling and the way it's structured makes it feel like a deleted scene plucked out of a novel rather than a complete story unto itself. Ultimately I returned it. While I can see myself re-reading some of the e-Treks, this is not one of them.
 
Re: TOS: Seasons of Light and Darkness by MAM Review Thread (Spoilers!

I should start it this weekend unless I read the other TOS book first.
 
Re: TOS: Seasons of Light and Darkness by MAM Review Thread (Spoilers!

Spoiler-free.

A fun story! I'm going to rewatch the referenced episode now to refresh my memory.

The only female that is actually present is a teenie chick.Two more women are referenced but off-stage. But then, that made Season of Light and Darkness a nice testosterone-driven episode ringing true to 1960s Star Trek.

Spock is of Irish descent?! Wow! Is that new, or has it been established/referenced at anytime before?
 
Re: TOS: Seasons of Light and Darkness by MAM Review Thread (Spoilers!

Markonian said:
Spock is of Irish descent?! Wow! Is that new, or has it been established/referenced at anytime before?
Click to expand...

Not that I know of. Spock's line in TUC about "an ancestor of mine" being responsible for Sherlock Holmes's famous maxim could be interpreted to mean that he's descended from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was Scottish. Jane Wyatt was of English ancestry. I don't know of any basis for an Irish ancestry, but of course a person's ancestors can come from all over.
 
Re: TOS: Seasons of Light and Darkness by MAM Review Thread (Spoilers!

I finished it in one session. It was all just right although I am uncertain about placing the main narrative as far back as "The Cage".
 
Re: TOS: Seasons of Light and Darkness by MAM Review Thread (Spoilers!

Christopher said:
Markonian said:
Spock is of Irish descent?! Wow! Is that new, or has it been established/referenced at anytime before?
Click to expand...

Not that I know of. Spock's line in TUC about "an ancestor of mine" being responsible for Sherlock Holmes's famous maxim could be interpreted to mean that he's descended from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was Scottish. Jane Wyatt was of English ancestry. I don't know of any basis for an Irish ancestry, but of course a person's ancestors can come from all over.
Click to expand...

Actually, Arthur Conan Doyle's father didn't move to Edinburgh until he was seventeen. Doyle's grandfather was from Ireland, and moved to London as an adult. See http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/doyle/bio.html for some family history.

In Julian Barnes's historical novel Arthur & George (admittedly a work of fiction, but one I read recently, and very well researched), the narrator observes, "Irish by ancestry, Scottish by birth, instructed in the faith of Rome by Dutch Jesuits, Arthur became English."
 
Re: TOS: Seasons of Light and Darkness by MAM Review Thread (Spoilers!

In Spock's World, isn't there some reference to Spock having either Irish or Scottish blood through Amanda's side of the family? Seem to remember something to this effect.
 
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Re: TOS: Seasons of Light and Darkness by MAM Review Thread (Spoilers!

Leto_II said:
In Spock's World, isn't there some reference to Spock having either Irish or Scottish blood through Amanda's side of the family? Seem to remember something this effect.
Click to expand...

I believe you are thinking of this... "You must excuse my wife Captain," said Sarek, coming into the garden and slipping out of his over-tunic: "she is obviously exercising the Scots part of her heritage, which she has described to me as 'predicting gloom an' doom.'"
 
Re: TOS: Seasons of Light and Darkness by MAM Review Thread (Spoilers!

Yup, that's it -- thanks for finding that; re-read it about a year ago, and vaguely recollected something along those lines.
 
Re: TOS: Seasons of Light and Darkness by MAM Review Thread (Spoilers!

Why is this twice as much as Absent Enemies? Is it twice as long? Weird.
 
Re: TOS: Seasons of Light and Darkness by MAM Review Thread (Spoilers!

I enjoyed this. It was much better than I was expecting, based on MAM's other recent works.

It's not a full-throttle adventure of any sort, but a good McCoy character piece. I enjoyed seeing his original time on Capella. I also enjoyed the development of the Capellans and a little more of their culture.

I also thought it was just about the right length for the story. This definitely could not have been a full novel, but also a didn't feel stretched out from a short story.

The "cover" is slightly misleading though... :p (Only one small scene actually takes place on the Enterprise.)
 
Re: TOS: Seasons of Light and Darkness by MAM Review Thread (Spoilers!

Hmm, so we get a lot of insight into the Capellans and McCoy/the Federation's original mission there? In that case, this one sounds like it belongs on my list. (TOS is the only series I don't buy automatically). Anything that fleshes out a pre-existing location, culture or timeframe is something I'm interested in.
 
Re: TOS: Seasons of Light and Darkness by MAM Review Thread (Spoilers!

Thrawn said:
Why is this twice as much as Absent Enemies? Is it twice as long? Weird.
Click to expand...

I wondered about that myself. Perhaps S&S is just trying different price points to find the "sweet spot"? Or maybe they figure they can charge more for a TOS story since TOS sells better than the other series?

I think I'm going to rate this one "average" as well. It wasn't anything exceptional, but I didn't actively dislike it as much as I have some other Martin efforts.

I agree with Ronald Held, though... I had always got the impression that McCoy's first mission with the Capellans was a lot closer to the TOS timeframe. Maybe that's just because the video shown of his time there showed him with a TOS-era uniform with lieutenant commander's stripes. I guess you could just squint a little and say that was due to costuming limitations. In the book, his mission took place around the time of The Cage, and McCoy was a lieutenant junior grade.

It was weird to see Spock's full name from Ishmael referenced in a modern book, though. (Although I have this sense I have seen this referenced somewhere else fairly recently, too, but I can't recall where. Maybe A Choice of Catastrophes? Or am I just making this up?)
 
Re: TOS: Seasons of Light and Darkness by MAM Review Thread (Spoilers!

Not A Choice of Catastrophes, but Shattered Light: The Tears of Eridanus-- the alternate Sybok gives his full name.
 
Re: TOS: Seasons of Light and Darkness by MAM Review Thread (Spoilers!

I voted "Average." It's not a bad read, but it almost feels like the 2285 portion is disconnected from the 2254 portion. Sure, I get how they thematically link, but it just seems like an odd choice of revelation from McCoy on that particular moment. I also don't buy it as the reason for a decision that was made in TWOK. However, the stuff on Capella was quite fun.
 
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