Spoilers TOS: The Shocks of Adversity by W. Leisner Review Thread

[Cap'n Crunch]

Re: TOS: The Shocks of Adversity by W. Leisner Review Thread (Spoilers

^ I believe there was a reference to it being around the halfway point of the five year mission.

 

[Paris]

Re: TOS: The Shocks of Adversity by W. Leisner Review Thread (Spoilers

^Thanks

 

[2of1million]

Re: TOS: The Shocks of Adversity by W. Leisner Review Thread (Spoilers

I just finished The Shocks of Adversity today. I concur with others who have said that it felt like it could have been a TOS episode. The characterizations were spot on and it was an interesting story. Job well done, Mr. Leisner.

 

[ronny]

Re: TOS: The Shocks of Adversity by W. Leisner Review Thread (Spoilers

I think aside from From History's Shadow this is the best TOS book in the last two or three years. But that's sort of damning this book with faint praise there have been a lot of mediocre at best TOS books the couple of years.

Good story and the characters acted like the characters. I liked it. Not quite as good as Losing the Peace but that's a pretty high bar. I'm hoping Leisner gets more opportunities to write more Trek.

 

[Enterprise1701]

Re: TOS: The Shocks of Adversity by W. Leisner Review Thread (Spoilers

Does anyone know what ship model was used for the ship on the cover?

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Re: TOS: The Shocks of Adversity by W. Leisner Review Thread (Spoilers

Does anyone know what ship model was used for the ship on the cover?

I've wondered that. It looked to be a new design, which would be very unusual (but welcome).

 

[Snaploud]

Re: TOS: The Shocks of Adversity by W. Leisner Review Thread (Spoilers

I enjoyed the book. One part was a little weird, though:

Spoiler: Torpedoes

When have torpedoes been shown to wipe out all life on a planet if detonated in an atmosphere? That seems like it would re-shape most of trek history if true, and it would make the Genesis device unnecessary as a weapon.

 

[Markonian]

Re: TOS: The Shocks of Adversity by W. Leisner Review Thread (Spoilers

Tricobalt torpedoes could achieve that, presumably. But it was a standard photon torpedo that was stolen if I remember correctly.

Concerning planetary bombardment, ST has so far consistently relied on beams. I can think of half a dozen examples on a whim.

 

[Enterprise1701]

Re: TOS: The Shocks of Adversity by W. Leisner Review Thread (Spoilers

I enjoyed the book. One part was a little weird, though:

Spoiler: Torpedoes

When have torpedoes been shown to wipe out all life on a planet if detonated in an atmosphere? That seems like it would re-shape most of trek history if true, and it would make the Genesis device unnecessary as a weapon.

*shrug* Did the book say anything about the planet having an extremely high oxygen concentration or something?

 

[ATimson]

Re: TOS: The Shocks of Adversity by W. Leisner Review Thread (Spoilers

I enjoyed the book. One part was a little weird, though:

Spoiler: Torpedoes

When have torpedoes been shown to wipe out all life on a planet if detonated in an atmosphere? That seems like it would re-shape most of trek history if true, and it would make the Genesis device unnecessary as a weapon.

Spoiler: Torpedoes

"Obsession", maybe? (Or were the rather-low amounts of antimatter required for that devastation only in the Blish novelization and not in the actual episode itself?)

Genesis would still have a purpose, though. Instead of destroying the planet's ecosystem, it allows it to be (re)colonized by the user.

 

[William Leisner]

Re: TOS: The Shocks of Adversity by W. Leisner Review Thread (Spoilers

Since the book is over a year old, and the word SPOILERS in the thread topic, I'm going to throw caution to the wind here.

I don't remember if I had directly taken my cue from "Obsession," but that episode does indeed say that a tiny amount of antimatter would rip away half a planet's atmosphere. I feel comfortable saying an antimatter device specifically designed as a destructive weapon would wipe out an entire biosphere, or at the very least, leave anyone not killed instantly with a very, very short life expectancy.

But I'm glad you enjoyed the book regardless, Snaploud.

 

[Christopher]

Re: TOS: The Shocks of Adversity by W. Leisner Review Thread (Spoilers

Well, "Obsession" got it enormously wrong. The specified amount of antimatter was an ounce, which would react with matter with a maximum of 1.22 megatons of energy (according to this calculator). That's about equal to the maximum yield of the most powerful bomb currently in active service in the US arsenal. But it's an eighth the size of the Tunguska event, and a fortieth the size of the largest nuclear bomb ever detonated on Earth -- neither of which ripped away any significant amount of our planet's atmosphere.

Basically Star Trek has a very bad track record when it comes to antimatter yields. Sometimes it says a tiny amount would destroy a planet or a star system -- but then it gives us something like the climax of ST V where an antimatter-warhead photon torpedo is detonated less than 30 meters behind Kirk, Spock, and McCoy and it does nothing but knock them over.

 

[Claudia]

Re: TOS: The Shocks of Adversity by W. Leisner Review Thread (Spoilers

Just finished this book yesterday. That's what a TOS book should look like. I voted outstanding.

Really gripping tale with engaging characters, an imperialistic society and much left to think about. I'd love to see a "what happens next", a short next visit to see if the seeds of the revolution had the chance to grow. I especially appreciated the physical descriptions, the lion-like, the rabbit-like etc, which reflected nicely their position within the Goeg Domain.

 

[William Leisner]

Re: TOS: The Shocks of Adversity by W. Leisner Review Thread (Spoilers

^ Appreciate it, Claudia, as well as the full-length review at your website.

 

[Kilana2]

Re: TOS: The Shocks of Adversity by W. Leisner Review Thread (Spoilers

It started well but slowed down a bit. Not bad but also not my favorite. But I really liked Losing the Peace, one of the better TNG relaunch novels.

 

[historypeats]

I know I'm late to this particular party, as I'm getting around to reading Shocks years after it hit the shelves. Just wanted to chime in with more praise for the novel.

Leisner's characterizations felt spot-on, and the scale of the story (as others have commented) felt simultaneously episode-like and book-appropriate; more time passes in-universe than a typical hour of the show would've shown, but the stakes felt like those we would've encountered on the series. I loved the tone, the callbacks to the larger universe, the spotlighting of multiple characters...it's the kind of book I can use to introduce someone not just to Treklit, but to the larger Trekverse.

I don't know if you plan to publish Trek fiction in the future, William, but you did a superlative job here.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I don't know if you plan to publish Trek fiction in the future, William, but you did a superlative job here.

I would love to see more novels by William Leisner also. But my understanding is that it's not solely up to what the authors themselves want to do. Otherwise, we probably would have had a few more books by KRAD over the last few years, too.

 

[PhaserLightShow]

I did mot like the Exec of the 814, though (Commander Satravel).