As somebody who's an avid fan of both TrekLit and STO, I appreciate this rare nod towards STO. It seems to me that the novels go out of their way to avoid STO, whereas STO happily included pieces like the Vesta- and Luna-classes in the game.
Spoilers TTN: Sight Unseen by James Swallow Review Thread
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As somebody who's an avid fan of both TrekLit and STO, I appreciate this rare nod towards STO. It seems to me that the novels go out of their way to avoid STO, whereas STO happily included pieces like the Vesta- and Luna-classes in the game.
We had an absolute blast with James on Literary Treks!
I listened to this on a long train journey home today. Very enjoyable interview and I really do hope we get more Titan from Mr Swallow.
^Thank you so much! I do as well, his Titan work has been phenomenal.
If I had to pick one thing that I enjoyed the most out of this book (not an easy task - if ongoing Titan novels were only penned by James Swallow, I'd be perfectly content), it would be the concept that the characters are FINALLY being allowed to progress and move on. That was the really noticeable and frustrating flaw of the solo-Martin books, that the characters were spinning their wheels, going through the same issues over and over again. Xin was always haunted by the Luna event, Melora was hiding in the holo-lab, their relationship kept breaking down and building back up, Riker and Troi were suffering strain... The same things seemed to just keep happening to these characters over and over with no progress.
With this book, though, the Riker-Troi relationship is stable throughout, the incident with the Luna isn't mentioned once that I recall, and Melora finally puts a definitive end to the relationship with Xin. It's nice to finally be able to see these characters finally capable of moving on with their lives. While I'd love to see some steps back on the Titan, back to the Captain Riker days for a story or two (particularly given that Fallen Gods had a cliffhanger that, though neutralized by the events of the Fall, I'd still like to see resolved), for the first time in a long time, it feels like the crew, not just the ship, are journeying to new places.
With this book, though, the Riker-Troi relationship is stable throughout, the incident with the Luna isn't mentioned once that I recall, and Melora finally puts a definitive end to the relationship with Xin. It's nice to finally be able to see these characters finally capable of moving on with their lives. While I'd love to see some steps back on the Titan, back to the Captain Riker days for a story or two (particularly given that Fallen Gods had a cliffhanger that, though neutralized by the events of the Fall, I'd still like to see resolved), for the first time in a long time, it feels like the crew, not just the ship, are journeying to new places.
Just finished it. It definitely makes me want to read all James Swallow's other Star Trek books. The pacing and characterization were handled very well, while the action really upped the stakes for a Star trek novel. The fight against the 'replicators' was claustrophobic and tense--the best intruder scenario I've read in the Trek setting. I really hope to see more of them, as well as some other outside-context tricks from the Solanae. The sacrifice at the end was surprisingly poignant, even though I've only read one or two other Titan books, a very bittersweet ending.
I hope the Solanae are used sparingly as a Big Bad, and to powerful effect. I'm looking for more along the lines of TNG/BoBW in style rather than Voyager.
I hope the Solanae are used sparingly as a Big Bad, and to powerful effect. I'm looking for more along the lines of TNG/BoBW in style rather than Voyager.
I really enjoyed this book. It was very entertaining. The plot moved expertly from one tense crisis to the next, making it a real page turner. I loved the tension and problem-solving throughout the story. The characters were interesting. The tie in with a TNG episode was good and I particularly liked what the author did with the Solanae, developing them into something more than just cookie cutter villains. And the ending was optimistic and faithful to the ideals of Trek, specifically this inspirational speech by Vale in the final chapter: "I guess we can't always hope to make allies everywhere we go. But if I've learned one thing serving aboard the Titan above all else, it's that we can never stop looking for them. We can't stop moving forward, offering the hand of friendship, even when it costs us. The moment we do that...If we can't look past our fears, if we let ourselves prejudge then all this has been for nothing. And I will never accept that outcome. This crew wants to make history, they want to make a difference. We're going to do that." That's great stuff!!!!
Finished this recently, so I'll try and put down some thoughts and then go back and read the thread.
In general, very enjoyable. I am definitely one of those who thought that recent Titan books had not really been Titan books at all. And after the Michael Martin entries (which were fairly 'real Titan' but just not especially good), that made me worry that the series had lost what made it unique. I felt like the early segments in which Riker was struggling to adjust to the new status quo were aimed directly at me - effectively telling the reader, "Look, this is the way it is now, so just get used to it." And it was a valid argument. And then the book ended up being exactly what I wanted after all - a proper Titan book.
It just goes to show that you don't necessarily need to be on the other side of the galaxy to do the types of stories Titan was designed to do. In fact, this new setting might actually be better. Not only are you still on the frontier of Federation space with plenty of wacky goings-on to get involved in, but there is a greater chance of exploring some of the homeworlds of the wacky alien characters on the Titan itself. I'd said way back in the first phase of the series that I was very much in favour of a Worlds of Titan -style set, exploring worlds like Pakhwa or Choblav or wherever Cethente is from. That wasn't really possible when the ship was so far out of Federation territory, but now it might just be. Get on that, Pocket people!
Characters - Sarai is a very strong presence and makes an interesting conflict with the existing characters. Part of the fascination of the Titan concept at first was such a wide array of disparate species learning to work together without killing each other. With all the massive time-gaps that the novels have jumped over (still not happy), we never really saw that process in much depth. Now the crew has been together for several years, they're all friends. So having someone like Sarai come in spices it all back up again. I just hope her big 'secret' isn't a copy of what happened in and after Zero Sum Game. And since when are Efrosians telepathic? Did I miss something?
Kyzak - pleasant enough bloke and I definitely appreciated the off-hand mention of heteroflexibility. (I plan to make a whole other thread about the drop-off in LGBT representation recently.) Since he was new, I thought that he was the more likely one to be killed off than Dakal, which I'm sure was deliberate. Not as strong a debut as Sarai, but I have nothing against him.
Ra-Havreii - what a jackass. I've disliked the character ever since Taking Wing, and this book pushed his asshole qualities into orbit. Which is not to say I don't enjoy reading him - he's a well-written asshole and it's good to have a variety of characters. We shouldn't like everyone, but God what a @%$! I wonder if the break-up with Melora, and there being a second Efrosian on board now, means he will go after Sarai? She'd kick his ass.
Vale - this was pretty much her book, her story, she had the strongest character arc. I love that a books-only character is captain of her own ship now, and I love that almost the entire bridge crew is female - Vale, Sarai, Troi, Rager, Lavena, McCreedy (glasses - why?), Pazlar. Only Tuvok bucking the trend. I liked how she wasn't sure of her speech-giving skills at the start, and by the end circumstances were such that she didn't have time to worry about giving inspiring speeches but was instinctively giving them anyway. Her experiences in The Poisoned Chalice and Takedown have prepared her more than she realizes.
Dakal -
White-Blue - I hope you haven't got rid of him altogether. I loved him in Synthesis, was furious with MM for practically killing him off in Fallen Gods, and was thrilled when you found a way to bring him back in The Poisoned Chalice. So don't you dare kill him off again! It's so sweet how he seems so cold and robotic at times and then somehow comes out with something so touching in his innocent little robot way.
Some very minor nitpicks which I must give because OCD demands it. Vale was not on the Enterprise-E during the encounter with Shinzon and the Scimitar. She was on vacation, which was the whole reason Worf was there. JJM made the same mistake in Absent Enemies. Also, I'm pretty sure the naming conventions were wrong for Y'Lira Modan and Se'al Cethente Qas. IIRC, Selenean names are like Bajoran names - pod-name first, given name second - so she is Ensign Y'Lira, not Ensign Modan. Why is she still an ensign anyway, when Dakal and Torvig have both gone from cadet to lieutenant in the same amount of time? Maybe she just doesn't care about promotion. And Cethente's first name is not Se'al - IIRC, his name is Cethente, and Se'al is a title and Qas is the version number, or vice versa, or something like that. Not Dr Se'al regardless.
The above is 0.001% of the book, so don't get too upset with me. I just can't help noticing these things and blowing them out of all proportion.
Anyway, upshot is, an Above Average at minimum. Perfectly happy to read more Titan books from Mr Swallow.
.
In general, very enjoyable. I am definitely one of those who thought that recent Titan books had not really been Titan books at all. And after the Michael Martin entries (which were fairly 'real Titan' but just not especially good), that made me worry that the series had lost what made it unique. I felt like the early segments in which Riker was struggling to adjust to the new status quo were aimed directly at me - effectively telling the reader, "Look, this is the way it is now, so just get used to it." And it was a valid argument. And then the book ended up being exactly what I wanted after all - a proper Titan book.
It just goes to show that you don't necessarily need to be on the other side of the galaxy to do the types of stories Titan was designed to do. In fact, this new setting might actually be better. Not only are you still on the frontier of Federation space with plenty of wacky goings-on to get involved in, but there is a greater chance of exploring some of the homeworlds of the wacky alien characters on the Titan itself. I'd said way back in the first phase of the series that I was very much in favour of a Worlds of Titan -style set, exploring worlds like Pakhwa or Choblav or wherever Cethente is from. That wasn't really possible when the ship was so far out of Federation territory, but now it might just be. Get on that, Pocket people!
Characters - Sarai is a very strong presence and makes an interesting conflict with the existing characters. Part of the fascination of the Titan concept at first was such a wide array of disparate species learning to work together without killing each other. With all the massive time-gaps that the novels have jumped over (still not happy), we never really saw that process in much depth. Now the crew has been together for several years, they're all friends. So having someone like Sarai come in spices it all back up again. I just hope her big 'secret' isn't a copy of what happened in and after Zero Sum Game. And since when are Efrosians telepathic? Did I miss something?
Kyzak - pleasant enough bloke and I definitely appreciated the off-hand mention of heteroflexibility. (I plan to make a whole other thread about the drop-off in LGBT representation recently.) Since he was new, I thought that he was the more likely one to be killed off than Dakal, which I'm sure was deliberate. Not as strong a debut as Sarai, but I have nothing against him.
Ra-Havreii - what a jackass. I've disliked the character ever since Taking Wing, and this book pushed his asshole qualities into orbit. Which is not to say I don't enjoy reading him - he's a well-written asshole and it's good to have a variety of characters. We shouldn't like everyone, but God what a @%$! I wonder if the break-up with Melora, and there being a second Efrosian on board now, means he will go after Sarai? She'd kick his ass.
Vale - this was pretty much her book, her story, she had the strongest character arc. I love that a books-only character is captain of her own ship now, and I love that almost the entire bridge crew is female - Vale, Sarai, Troi, Rager, Lavena, McCreedy (glasses - why?), Pazlar. Only Tuvok bucking the trend. I liked how she wasn't sure of her speech-giving skills at the start, and by the end circumstances were such that she didn't have time to worry about giving inspiring speeches but was instinctively giving them anyway. Her experiences in The Poisoned Chalice and Takedown have prepared her more than she realizes.
Dakal -
White-Blue - I hope you haven't got rid of him altogether. I loved him in Synthesis, was furious with MM for practically killing him off in Fallen Gods, and was thrilled when you found a way to bring him back in The Poisoned Chalice. So don't you dare kill him off again! It's so sweet how he seems so cold and robotic at times and then somehow comes out with something so touching in his innocent little robot way.
Some very minor nitpicks which I must give because OCD demands it. Vale was not on the Enterprise-E during the encounter with Shinzon and the Scimitar. She was on vacation, which was the whole reason Worf was there. JJM made the same mistake in Absent Enemies. Also, I'm pretty sure the naming conventions were wrong for Y'Lira Modan and Se'al Cethente Qas. IIRC, Selenean names are like Bajoran names - pod-name first, given name second - so she is Ensign Y'Lira, not Ensign Modan. Why is she still an ensign anyway, when Dakal and Torvig have both gone from cadet to lieutenant in the same amount of time? Maybe she just doesn't care about promotion. And Cethente's first name is not Se'al - IIRC, his name is Cethente, and Se'al is a title and Qas is the version number, or vice versa, or something like that. Not Dr Se'al regardless.
The above is 0.001% of the book, so don't get too upset with me. I just can't help noticing these things and blowing them out of all proportion.
Anyway, upshot is, an Above Average at minimum. Perfectly happy to read more Titan books from Mr Swallow.
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I caught that, too. Since it was the second time that happened, I was starting to wonder if maybe we were just retconning that bit of ATT and should start assuming Vale spent the movie doing a rotation keeping watch on the Battle Bridge or something.
I have to ask... is the USS Whitetree a reference to The Final Reflection? Because that would be kinda awesome if so. 
Just finished it. Wow. I was not expecting
Usually there's some kind of build up, like special focus or foreshadowing. I loved that I never thought "this guy's gonna die" until he was gone. It didn't feel like a cheap way to build tension, but rather the result of the all the tension that was already built.
Also, loved the Vale/Riker conflict. It felt like a natural extension of both their promotions. Also, I love that Riker being an Admiral allows for a deconstruction of the idea of "badmirals". It's easier to believe the Admiral/Captain conflict when both sides seem reasonable and both characters are likable.
Dakal's death.
Also, loved the Vale/Riker conflict. It felt like a natural extension of both their promotions. Also, I love that Riker being an Admiral allows for a deconstruction of the idea of "badmirals". It's easier to believe the Admiral/Captain conflict when both sides seem reasonable and both characters are likable.
Thanks for all the positive comments, I'm pleased to see people have been enjoying the book!
Not intentionally! Although Final Reflection is one of my all-time top Trek novels...
I have to ask... is the USS Whitetree a reference to The Final Reflection? Because that would be kinda awesome if so.
Not intentionally! Although Final Reflection is one of my all-time top Trek novels...
As have many others, I loved this novel. I typically find time to read before bed each night but I know I'm really enjoying a book if I make more time in the evening after work to sneak in a few chapters and I was doing that here. The new characters clicked for me right away and I like the complexity of our new XO. Very interested to see what comes next in the Titan series. Haven't felt that way in a while but this novel was just that good!!
I'll be frank...I teared up a bit on two occasions...the promotion and, well...near the end...lovely work, Mr. Swallow.
I'm a little late but I have a few thoughts on this novel.
I always expect great work from James Swallow, and he certainly didn't let me down this time.
I've always wanted to find out more about the aliens from "Schisms", so I was glad when I realized that this book was a follow up to that episode. I really enjoyed the insights we got into the Solanae. I also liked that the crew, especially Riker, had to face his own biases about the Ciari faction.
I immediately liked Kyzak, and enjoyed him throughout the book, so I look forward to seeing more of him. I'm also interested to see where the storyline with Sarai goes.
I've always liked Dakal, so his sacrifice was truly heartbreaking. I liked that he didn't really get upset, he understood why it had to be him and he did his job. I felt really bad for Vale having to give that order. We've often heard in the shows how one of the hardest orders for a captain to give is to send a crewmember to their death, but I don't think we've ever actually seen that happen. Sure, the captain may give someone an order that ultimately leads to their death, but to actually order one of your crew to essentially kill themselves is whole other thing. I was almost expecting a last minute rescue, but I'm actually glad that didn't happen, because it would have felt kind of cheap. I'll definitely miss Dakal, but his death was very well done. Just please don't ever kill Torvig, he's just too sweet.
Oh, and a wooden starship, so cool!
Looking forward to more Titan novels, and more James Swallow novels. Even though I like Titan being a multi-author series, I would not be disappointed if it became James Swallow only series.
I always expect great work from James Swallow, and he certainly didn't let me down this time.
I've always wanted to find out more about the aliens from "Schisms", so I was glad when I realized that this book was a follow up to that episode. I really enjoyed the insights we got into the Solanae. I also liked that the crew, especially Riker, had to face his own biases about the Ciari faction.
I immediately liked Kyzak, and enjoyed him throughout the book, so I look forward to seeing more of him. I'm also interested to see where the storyline with Sarai goes.
I've always liked Dakal, so his sacrifice was truly heartbreaking. I liked that he didn't really get upset, he understood why it had to be him and he did his job. I felt really bad for Vale having to give that order. We've often heard in the shows how one of the hardest orders for a captain to give is to send a crewmember to their death, but I don't think we've ever actually seen that happen. Sure, the captain may give someone an order that ultimately leads to their death, but to actually order one of your crew to essentially kill themselves is whole other thing. I was almost expecting a last minute rescue, but I'm actually glad that didn't happen, because it would have felt kind of cheap. I'll definitely miss Dakal, but his death was very well done. Just please don't ever kill Torvig, he's just too sweet.
Oh, and a wooden starship, so cool!
Looking forward to more Titan novels, and more James Swallow novels. Even though I like Titan being a multi-author series, I would not be disappointed if it became James Swallow only series.
Kyzak is my new trek-lit crush. Can't wait for a book to feature the Solanae again!