Spoilers TP: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread

[Sci]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Finished Plagues of Night on the Metro ride home tonight. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Loved how much more it fleshed out the various Typhon Pact factions. Loved how the disaster at the end was the result of people who honestly want to protect themselves from perceived aggression getting caught in each other's crosshairs. Loved the developments of the Sisko arc. Loved the way it advanced, directly or subtly, so many different TrekLit arcs. Loved the language of it, DRGIII's elegant prose. Loved the glimpses of the larger Federation. Loved it.

Only two things stuck out to me as errors, and they're incredibly minor:

1. The I.R.W. Electrix is referred to by the Enterprise crew as a Valdore-class warbird -- yet previous novels, including Titan: Taking Wing and Typhon Pact: Zero Sum Game, had already established the Valdore's ship class to be Mogai.

2. "IRW" was not given periods between each initial, yet "U.S.S." was. Minor, minor thing, but I noticed it.

 

[rfmcdpei]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Spoiler: Who's the bomber?

Reading PoN again, it seemed to me the Slaine, the Cardassian exchange officer, is a likely candidate. There was a brief scene in Ops where she made excuses to Ro for not joining her at the new Argelian restaurant, saying that she had somewhere else to go, and there was a scene featuring a Cardassian terrorist movement with links to the Tal Shiar. My guess is that the Andorians were a ruse, at best Cardassian allies.

Spoiler: The Bomber

Too obvious. I'm betting she's with Cardassian intelligence and working to stop the bomber. Given the parallels with TUC, I expect some Federation involvement -- and there is a rather shady human on the station who was featured prominently early in the book only to fade into the background during the second half -- except for a notable bit when she tried to raise suspicions about a couple Andorians.

Spoiler: That suspicious character.

Blackmer definitely has a secret agenda: Ro's analysis of his record supports it, as does his own thoughts as reported in the novel. Those thoughts seemed to suggest that he wanted to prevent something from happening.

Hmm. I can't wait another month!

 

[Thestral]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

^

Spoiler: Spoilers

I think Shon was referring to Serena, actually. I'm pretty positive Blackmer's on the side of the angels. I still don't entirely trust Serena.

Loved how the disaster at the end was the result of people who honestly want to protect themselves from perceived aggression getting caught in each other's crosshairs.

See, I'm not sure I entirely agree with this.

Spoiler: Spoilers

The Breen and Tzenkethi ships' part especially, almost certainly part of Sela's plot and most likely given their new cloaks by the Tal Shiar working against Kamemor's government.

 

[Sci]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Loved how the disaster at the end was the result of people who honestly want to protect themselves from perceived aggression getting caught in each other's crosshairs.

See, I'm not sure I entirely agree with this.

Spoiler: Spoilers

The Breen and Tzenkethi ships' part especially, almost certainly part of Sela's plot and most likely given their new cloaks by the Tal Shiar working against Kamemor's government.

Spoiler: Spoilers

Mind, I don't mean to say that some of these people aren't paranoid belligerents. I'd say that the "Sela faction" of Romulans and the Breen Domo and Tzenkethi Autarch, seem to be comprised of paranoid nationalists whose unwillingness to trust that others might not have hostile intentions leads them to aggression.

But they don't actually WANT a war. They honestly do believe that other cultures and factions are just as hostile as theirs, and they see their actions as self-defense. They're clearly so blinded by their own nationalism that they can't see how aggressive they are actually being, but they aren't mustache-twirling villains, either. They're honestly frightened of a Federation first strike, and that ain't nothing.

 

[JWolf]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

The involvement of the Enterprise and her crew was a welcome addition, but I don't really see why it had to be the Enterprise, it feels like it could have been any random crew.

I liked the idea of the Enterprise going on a Gamma Quadrant exploration mission. When DS9 first premiered, I sometimes thought it would be cool if TNG had the Enterprise assigned to a long-term GQ survey, so that they could do some serious, heavy-duty exploring and have periodic crossovers with DS9. So this is kinda like a longtime wish come true for me.

Plus it's gotta be a relief for Picard (not to mention Trys!) to be doing some actual exploration for the first time since the Borg Invasion. I'm glad that finally happened. I wish we could've seen more of it.

Oh trust me, I love reading about the Enterprise and her crew. I just wish there was a reason why the Enterprise was needed for this mission. Though I suppose being a top of the line explorer is enough.

I would think the Enterprise was needed because of Picard's knowledge of the Romulans through first hand experience.

 

[rfmcdpei]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Loved how the disaster at the end was the result of people who honestly want to protect themselves from perceived aggression getting caught in each other's crosshairs.

See, I'm not sure I entirely agree with this.

Spoiler: Spoilers

The Breen and Tzenkethi ships' part especially, almost certainly part of Sela's plot and most likely given their new cloaks by the Tal Shiar working against Kamemor's government.

Spoiler: Spoilers

Mind, I don't mean to say that some of these people aren't paranoid belligerents. I'd say that the "Sela faction" of Romulans and the Breen Domo and Tzenkethi Autarch, seem to be comprised of paranoid nationalists whose unwillingness to trust that others might not have hostile intentions leads them to aggression.

But they don't actually WANT a war. They honestly do believe that other cultures and factions are just as hostile as theirs, and they see their actions as self-defense. They're clearly so blinded by their own nationalism that they can't see how aggressive they are actually being, but they aren't mustache-twirling villains, either. They're honestly frightened of a Federation first strike, and that ain't nothing.

Spoiler: On fear.

This actually reminds me of the Soviet reaction to the Able Archer 83 NATO exercise back in 1983. Coming at the end of escalating fears by paranoid Soviet gerontocrats that the West was about to launch a first strike, this exercise led to a partial Soviet mobilization and near-war. Reagan, informed of this by spies, at first didn't believe that the Soviet leadership was actually this afraid of the West. When it did sink in, and when he did realize what nearly happened, major policy change.

 

[JWolf]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

I finished this earlier today. Loved it. The recaps were quite good. I like the way they were told from different points of view as we got in previous Typhon Pact novels. Also, David did a great job with DS9 and it's characters helping to fill in some of the missing storyline.

The ending...wow! Too bad I have to wait until June 26 to find out what's next. The eBooks don't come out early.

 

[Toefur]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Just finished this book this morning.

It's obviously a huge improvement over the painful Rough Beasts of Empire; but I found the quality of writing in this to be... not great. I've sung many praises for DRG in the past, but sometimes reading this I felt like I was reading a young adult fiction novel. This was mostly during the many many re-cap scenes, I guess, where things to do with the overall Typhon Pact story were being explained. Pages and pages of poorly written exposition.

I found the end result of the novel to be very lacking in the impact that many here seem to have felt. It seems to be a place that Trek often goes for dramatic effect when they can't think of anything better.

 

[JWolf]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Just finished this book this morning.

It's obviously a huge improvement over the painful Rough Beasts of Empire; but I found the quality of writing in this to be... not great. I've sung many praises for DRG in the past, but sometimes reading this I felt like I was reading a young adult fiction novel. This was mostly during the many many re-cap scenes, I guess, where things to do with the overall Typhon Pact story were being explained. Pages and pages of poorly written exposition.

I found the end result of the novel to be very lacking in the impact that many here seem to have felt. It seems to be a place that Trek often goes for dramatic effect when they can't think of anything better.

What is it about the ending that you do not find dramatic?

 

[Toefur]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

It's not that I didn't find the whole scene completely undramatic, I was sitting up in bed completely glued to the book, but that it didn't really have much of an overall impact on me because it's kind of a cheap stunt to pull, that I think Star Trek uses far too often to really have much meaning. Give it another book or two, and we'll be back to the status quo. These events essentially mean nothing.

 

[Travis Chesser]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Just finished this book this morning.

It's obviously a huge improvement over the painful Rough Beasts of Empire; but I found the quality of writing in this to be... not great. I've sung many praises for DRG in the past, but sometimes reading this I felt like I was reading a young adult fiction novel. This was mostly during the many many re-cap scenes, I guess, where things to do with the overall Typhon Pact story were being explained. Pages and pages of poorly written exposition.

I found the end result of the novel to be very lacking in the impact that many here seem to have felt. It seems to be a place that Trek often goes for dramatic effect when they can't think of anything better.

It seems that some did not like the first half of exposition, and some did. I loved the first half, and didn't find it poorly written at all. I thnk what DRG was trying to do was take the various different threads of previous Typhon Pact books and make the whole thing more cohesive. Especially regarding Kamemor. I loved knowing about her view and opinion of the slipstream theft, Andor, etc. I didn't take it as a "long recap" at all, but really fleshing things out.

 

[Shon T'Hara]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

^

Spoiler: Spoilers

I think Shon was referring to Serena, actually. I'm pretty positive Blackmer's on the side of the angels. I still don't entirely trust Serena.

Spoiler: Serena

Exactly. Her last scene seems like a deliberate red herring -- it makes her look innocent without providing any evidence that she actually is. All it actually establishes is that she doesn't want any casualties, which is perfectly in keeping with Blackmer's analysis of the bombs.

I think Section 31 has some reason for wanting the station abandoned but not destroyed, and/or for framing the Treishya for a terrorist attack, and Serena planted suspicions about the Andorians planting bombs so Blackmer would be on alert.

See, I'm not sure I entirely agree with this.

Spoiler: Spoilers

The Breen and Tzenkethi ships' part especially, almost certainly part of Sela's plot and most likely given their new cloaks by the Tal Shiar working against Kamemor's government.

Spoiler: The Breen and Tzenkethi ships

I'm pretty sure the Breen and Tzenkethi ships are part of the "tertiary plan" and came through the wormhole with the Electrix without T'jul's knowledge. After the Electrix decloaked and fired on the Defiant, the others followed suit. Their presence there at the same time as the bomb scare is a terrible coincidence.

 

[Mage]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

I liked the idea of the Enterprise going on a Gamma Quadrant exploration mission. When DS9 first premiered, I sometimes thought it would be cool if TNG had the Enterprise assigned to a long-term GQ survey, so that they could do some serious, heavy-duty exploring and have periodic crossovers with DS9. So this is kinda like a longtime wish come true for me.

Plus it's gotta be a relief for Picard (not to mention Trys!) to be doing some actual exploration for the first time since the Borg Invasion. I'm glad that finally happened. I wish we could've seen more of it.

Oh trust me, I love reading about the Enterprise and her crew. I just wish there was a reason why the Enterprise was needed for this mission. Though I suppose being a top of the line explorer is enough.

I would think the Enterprise was needed because of Picard's knowledge of the Romulans through first hand experience.

Also a very good point, hadn't thought of that.

Something else I've been wondering today....

Spoiler: spoiler...

What about Odo? We see Laas, who is appereantly still in charge of the Dominion, but Odo's not mentioned.... Could Odo be making an appereance in Raise The Dawn? There's nothing indicating that he will, but with almost all the former DS9 cast being in this one in one way or another (by apperenace or a mentioning) I can't help but wonder if Odo will be left out.

 

[Travis Chesser]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Oh trust me, I love reading about the Enterprise and her crew. I just wish there was a reason why the Enterprise was needed for this mission. Though I suppose being a top of the line explorer is enough.

I would think the Enterprise was needed because of Picard's knowledge of the Romulans through first hand experience.

Also a very good point, hadn't thought of that.

Something else I've been wondering today....

Spoiler: spoiler...

What about Odo? We see Laas, who is appereantly still in charge of the Dominion, but Odo's not mentioned.... Could Odo be making an appereance in Raise The Dawn? There's nothing indicating that he will, but with almost all the former DS9 cast being in this one in one way or another (by apperenace or a mentioning) I can't help but wonder if Odo will be left out.

I thought the same thing, that he might appear in RtD. Here's to hoping!

 

[Truth]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

anybody else thinks it time to bring back some of the others who have gone off, O,brain we have not heard anything about a chief engineer aboard the robertson after all, it would give basir back his buddy since the Robertson seems to be home ported at DS9 or at least sends alot of time there.

Nog when last we heard he was between commands, I keep excpeting him to popp up on one of the other chips Titan, aventine, etc but it has not happened

It seems easy enough to write Odo back into the story , he could be the dominion ambassador to DS9 , that is one of the reason he went back after all to cure his people and to teach them to stop mis trusting solids

 

[DigificWriter]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

I just finished the book and have to say that it's one of the best Trek Lit books I've read since Destiny. And is up there in quality with the best of the DS-R books that I've read. DRGIII did a superb job of not only following up on and connecting the four previously published 'core' Typhon Pact books, but finally giving us what Destiny and two of those books - Rough Beasts of Empire and Zero Sum Game - didn't: a full-blown DS9-centric story set in the Trek Lit 'present'.

I touched on this a bit in my earlier comments, but I really liked getting to see a glimpse into Ro's psyche, and really liked her interactions with Quark and DS9's new security chief, Jefferson Blackmer, who just may be the best new Trek character to be introduced since Jasminder Choudhury.

I also really enjoyed the way DRGIII fleshed out and dealt with the rest of the station's new senior staff by using characters who were introduced in previous DS9-R novels but gave them new roles.

He also did a great job of intertwining the Typhon Pact's 'cold war' with the DS9 elements of the story and in utilizing both the crews of the Enterprise and Robinson and characters such as Delay, Tomalok, President Bacco, Kasidy, Kira, and Rebecca Sisko.

The book's ending was also phenomenal and offers the perfect setup for Raise the Dawn, which I can't wait to read when it comes out at the end of the month.

 

[DS9forever]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Relkdahz is the chief engineer of the Robinson.

http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Relkdahz

 

[Christopher]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

...President Vaccine...

Uh-oh. Looks like we have a runaway spell-checker!

 

[zarkon]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

I would have preferred President Tobacco
Loved by lobbyists
Feared by lungs

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Re: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night by DRGIII Review Thread (Spoilers!)

The inaugeration of President Nanietta Vaccine as supreme leader of the Federation sparked protest today from political spokesmen in the Breen Confederacy, who called it a move motivated by fear and anti-Breen sentiment.

"President Vaccine's appointment to the highest office in the Federation is an obvious and hostile response to the overtures made of late by Domo Virus" claimed Thot Snot, military liaison to the Confederate Congress. "The paranoia inherent in such an act gives the lie to Federation claims of open acceptance and benevolent foreign policy".

The Federation Council denies that President Vaccine's administration is preparing to preemptively block Breen efforts to connect with the Federation, but critics maintain that Vaccine's popularity with the voting public clearly rests on her commitment to Federation security, not on her diplomatic program.

"Some of those alien powers are lethal" notes media analyst Supremehypo th'Chondriac. "President Vaccine knows that a prosperous Federation retains its strength only by preparing for the worse, fortifying our sense of national identity prior to these aliens getting a foot in the door".

Asked whether planned Starfleet war games in the Im'oon System were to use simulated Breen units as opponents, newly appointed spokesman for the President Horace Scrub commented: "The President will announce her plans to the press in due time. For now, it suffices that the people's mandate passes to Vaccine, and her policy is not one of aggression. Preparation is as far as she'll take it".