VAN: Declassified Review Thread (Spoilers!)

[David Mack]

Re: Vanguard: Declassified Review Thread

^ Google Translation seems to have parsed it well enough ... not that...

Spoiler: translated Chinese curses

- "Hybrid animals to drink dirty goods ... a bunch of stupid natural meat!"
- "With the monkeys throw feces than the orifice"
- "Water, stupid son of bitch and monkeys"

...exactly roll of the tongue as invective.

 

[Zman1]

Re: Vanguard: Declassified Review Thread

^ Google Translation seems to have parsed it well enough ... not that...

Spoiler: translated Chinese curses

- "Hybrid animals to drink dirty goods ... a bunch of stupid natural meat!"
- "With the monkeys throw feces than the orifice"
- "Water, stupid son of bitch and monkeys"

...exactly roll of the tongue as invective.

Spoiler: google was close... kind of

"Filthy Fornicators of Livestock," "Stupid Inbred Stack of Meat," "Have a Shit-Throwing Contest with a Monkey," and "Stupid Son of a Drooling Whore and a Monkey"

If you haven't seen Firefly yet you really should. The invective dose loose something in translation probably

 

[David Mack]

Re: Vanguard: Declassified Review Thread

^ I've watched all of Firefly and Serenity, but I didn't care enough to figure out the Chinese invective.

 

[Ronald Held]

Re: Vanguard: Declassified Review Thread

Finished the third story. it was all right.

 

[Zman1]

Re: Vanguard: Declassified Review Thread

^ I've watched all of Firefly and Serenity, but I didn't care enough to figure out the Chinese invective.

oh but that was one of the most entertaining parts re-watching the series/movie having a page open with the translations.

Has pocket books thought about getting rights to firefly and re-launching that series?

My wife found it amazing that trek authors actually post here, then grumped at me for using language like that, then reminded me that as many books that you have written that i loved to read I should play nice.

 

[Art Vandelay]

Re: Vanguard: Declassified Review Thread

As all other Vanguard novels were, this collection is amazing as well.

Almost Tomorrow is nice, but the weakest story of the bunch, as it basically just re-iterates things we already know - it's more like a recap.

Spoiler: Ambassador Jetanien

Plus, it creates an inconsistency. In Open Secrets, it is stated expressly that Jetanien is oblivious to the fact that Sandesjo was a spy. Now we're supposed to believe that he knew this even before Harbinger?

Hard News is a brilliant second story - I've always loved Pennington, and this is a very intruiging character piece.

The Ruins of Noble Men is a good story, but doesn't seem to do much for the overall arc of Vanguard, thought I might be proven wrong later on. Some paragraphs near the end were written a bit sloppily and hastily, almost like a synopsis. Nice to read more about Fisher.

The Stars Look Down is just brilliant - an incredibly fast-paced action punch to the gut. My heart goes out to Quinn, and that final sentence is just devastating.

Spoiler: the ending of the final story

What makes me wonder is that the reader does not really witness the fates of either the Apostate or Bridy Mac. I wouldn't be surprised if we were to see either of them again. Or both sharing the same body, Nancy-Hedford-Companion style.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Re: Vanguard: Declassified Review Thread

Spoiler: Ambassador Jetanien

Plus, it creates an inconsistency. In Open Secrets, it is stated expressly that Jetanien is oblivious to the fact that Sandesjo was a spy. Now we're supposed to believe that he knew this even before Harbinger?

I'm quite certain that you are mistaken here.

Spoiler: Jetanian

IIRC, we learn in Reap The Whilrwind that Jetanian knew about Anna almost from the start.

 

[Art Vandelay]

Re: Vanguard: Declassified Review Thread

^ You sir, made me look it up, and you are correct! Turns out that when I reached page 53 of Open Secrets (which is chapter 6), one paragraph on that page said...

Spoiler: Jetanien in Open Secrets

... that Jetanien was shocked to find out Sandesjo was a spy. After reading Declassified, I was so taken aback by this ("how can he be shocked!? he knew! he knew!") that I did not properly read the remainder of that paragraph. It says there that the shock indeed came pre-Harbinger, or pre-Distant Early Warning, if you will.

So I take it all back.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Re: Vanguard: Declassified Review Thread

...
The Stars Look Down -

Spoiler: <bleep>... <bleep>

喝畜生杂交的脏货... 笨天生的一堆肉!

seriously he just got his life together and now... why? i really identified with quinn and to see the guy dealt a hand like that... go

Spoiler: <bleep

跟猴子比丟屎

you

Spoiler: <bleep>

流口水的婊子和猴子的笨兒子

up till that point i loved the story was the best of the 4... after that point i'd say i liked ruins best.

What he said. And also nalye i orchion! (I may not be able to converse fluently in Quenya, but I can certainly call somebody the offspring of goblins!)

Spoiler: Which is to say that . . .

Which is to say that most of the last 42 pages read as something specifically contrived to kill off a character even more pointlessly than even Tasha's demise in Skin of Evil, and to violently (and just as pointlessly) throw Quinn off The Wagon.

 

[Basill]

Re: Vanguard: Declassified Review Thread

All finished. A bit... tragedy run amok. But I loved it. I liked "The Ruins of Noble Men" and "The Stars Look Down" the most.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Re: Vanguard: Declassified Review Thread

Spoiler: Which is to say that . . .

Which is to say that most of the last 42 pages read as something specifically contrived to kill off a character even more pointlessly than even Tasha's demise in Skin of Evil, and to violently (and just as pointlessly) throw Quinn off The Wagon.

Wheras I wouldn't go quite that far, but I have to admit that...

Spoiler: Above spoiler.

...I knew that poor Bridy Mac was a goner the moment she agreed to settle down with Quinn.

 

[Ronald Held]

Re: Vanguard: Declassified Review Thread

Just finished the last story. Is there anything positive that came out of it?
What is the Earth calendar date right as the next novel starts?

 

[David Mack]

Re: Vanguard: Declassified Review Thread

^ The repurcussions of "The Stars Look Down" will be seen in the final two novels, which are set primarily in mid to late 2268.

 

[Relayer1]

Re: Vanguard: Declassified Review Thread

Just finished it, and it was on par with the rest of Vanguard - i.e. damned good.

With the series ending (good call - more stuff should have a finite arc) it seems logical that there will still be a demand for more TOS era material, not just that featuring Kirk, Spock and co.

With some of the surviving cast from Vanguard (someone has got to make it !), minor characters from TOS, some new creations and the occasional cameo from the Enterprise another offshoot could service that need. Maybe rotate writing duties through the current core author roster - a book each, one per year ?

Any chance Guys ?

 

[JD]

Re: Vanguard: Declassified Review Thread

^I think this would be the perfect opportunity to do the Kelvin series that alot of people, myself included, want.

 

[William Leisner]

Re: Vanguard: Declassified Review Thread

With some of the surviving cast from Vanguard (someone has got to make it !)

Oh, of course. I expect Dave will end the last book with all the characters living happily ever after on a huge farm full of cute fuzzy bunny rabbits.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Re: Vanguard: Declassified Review Thread

With some of the surviving cast from Vanguard (someone has got to make it !),

Sure. We know from canon and other books that T'Prynn, Terrell, Nogura and Carol Marcus all survive. Probably Pennington as well as we know he became a big name in journalism with a school being named after him.

The rest...?

 

[Christopher]

Re: Vanguard: Declassified Review Thread

Probably Pennington as well as we know he become a big name in journalism with a school being named after him.

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that.

 

[Ronald Held]

Re: Vanguard: Declassified Review Thread

Thanks for those dates, David.

 

[Kertrats47]

Re: Vanguard: Declassified Review Thread

Just wrote my review of Declassified. Enjoyed it for the most part, especially David Mack's story.