I was so psyched when a few days ago I managed to get both The Sky's The Limit and Resistance. I had been looking forward to reading both, as well as Q&A and Sword of Damocles. So, I jump into Resistance.
That essentially sums up my final thoughts, in a nutshell. I've usually enjoyed a Trek novel, especially if the author is one as established as J.M. Dillard. However, this was not her best work.
Lieutenant Susan Nave (and I could have sworn I've seen that name before. Vanguard, perhaps?) turned me off. She came across as a Mary Sue, a pseudo-Klingon, and First Contact Picardesque all rolled into one unseemly bundle. She can do conn...and Security! *gasp!* She falls in love with the Security Chief...who is assimilated and starts this whole vengeance factor! And in the end, she dies! (Or does she? Dum dum dum...)
T'Lana also annoyed me. A Vulcan with intuition! And emotional/mental issues. And the whole Worf/T'Lana thing just cluttered an already claustrophobic novel.
At times it seemed like Dillard couldn't think of anything, and so decided to throw in something from First Contact. And there was the ubiquitous Wolf 359 reference every so often. (Wolf 359, the 9/11 of the Federation. If so, is Picard Giuliani?) I did enjoy the medical/science parts, what few there were. And I do have go give Dillard credit for coming up with the hypothesis on how a Borg Queen is created. But that was overshadowed by the rest of the maudlin, overly dramatic plot. Whenever the time until the Borg Cube was activated was brought up, I got a mental image of the timer from 24, complete with annoyingly loud countdown.
Another thing that bothered me was Worf's uncertainty and the constant bringing up of Jadzia. Jesus freaking Christ drinking margaritas in Tijuana! Should I use the refresher? Gagh or chicken? Sash or no sash? Millions of people might die!. He didn't act like a Klingon, and it took Beverly, of all people, to remind him of that. And then we throw the whole T'Lana...is a female?! thing into it and Worf looked and acted more like a emo teenager in high school.
Janeway was portrayed as usual. And by "as usual", I mean erratically. She's going to lecture Picard on disobeying orders and on choosing courses of action?! But, in the end, she goes along with his plan (implemented by proxy through Worf), so the point is almost moot, except for when she decides to threaten him with a court martial. Because, as we all know, disobeying orders to save the Federation is on the books now. Did the whole seven year voyage of Voyager just not come into play. I could have seen Nechayev lecturing Picard, and it would have worked better.
And with Janeway and Seven of Nine's inclusion (if we can call it that for the latter) into the plot, it felt more like "Ooh! Borg+Janeway+Seven of Nine+Picard+Enterprise=SALE!"
Overall, it was disappointing. I don't see why Picard couldn't have ordered a couple spreads of photon torpedoes into the cube and be done with it. That would have made the story less painful and melodramatic, as well as quicker.
Compared with what I've read from The Sky's The Limit and Q&A, this pales. A few bright spots amongst a lot of disappointingly dark stretches.
That essentially sums up my final thoughts, in a nutshell. I've usually enjoyed a Trek novel, especially if the author is one as established as J.M. Dillard. However, this was not her best work.
Lieutenant Susan Nave (and I could have sworn I've seen that name before. Vanguard, perhaps?) turned me off. She came across as a Mary Sue, a pseudo-Klingon, and First Contact Picardesque all rolled into one unseemly bundle. She can do conn...and Security! *gasp!* She falls in love with the Security Chief...who is assimilated and starts this whole vengeance factor! And in the end, she dies! (Or does she? Dum dum dum...)
T'Lana also annoyed me. A Vulcan with intuition! And emotional/mental issues. And the whole Worf/T'Lana thing just cluttered an already claustrophobic novel.
At times it seemed like Dillard couldn't think of anything, and so decided to throw in something from First Contact. And there was the ubiquitous Wolf 359 reference every so often. (Wolf 359, the 9/11 of the Federation. If so, is Picard Giuliani?) I did enjoy the medical/science parts, what few there were. And I do have go give Dillard credit for coming up with the hypothesis on how a Borg Queen is created. But that was overshadowed by the rest of the maudlin, overly dramatic plot. Whenever the time until the Borg Cube was activated was brought up, I got a mental image of the timer from 24, complete with annoyingly loud countdown.
Another thing that bothered me was Worf's uncertainty and the constant bringing up of Jadzia. Jesus freaking Christ drinking margaritas in Tijuana! Should I use the refresher? Gagh or chicken? Sash or no sash? Millions of people might die!. He didn't act like a Klingon, and it took Beverly, of all people, to remind him of that. And then we throw the whole T'Lana...is a female?! thing into it and Worf looked and acted more like a emo teenager in high school.
Janeway was portrayed as usual. And by "as usual", I mean erratically. She's going to lecture Picard on disobeying orders and on choosing courses of action?! But, in the end, she goes along with his plan (implemented by proxy through Worf), so the point is almost moot, except for when she decides to threaten him with a court martial. Because, as we all know, disobeying orders to save the Federation is on the books now. Did the whole seven year voyage of Voyager just not come into play. I could have seen Nechayev lecturing Picard, and it would have worked better.
And with Janeway and Seven of Nine's inclusion (if we can call it that for the latter) into the plot, it felt more like "Ooh! Borg+Janeway+Seven of Nine+Picard+Enterprise=SALE!"
Overall, it was disappointing. I don't see why Picard couldn't have ordered a couple spreads of photon torpedoes into the cube and be done with it. That would have made the story less painful and melodramatic, as well as quicker.
Compared with what I've read from The Sky's The Limit and Q&A, this pales. A few bright spots amongst a lot of disappointingly dark stretches.
(I'm embarrassed that I got the names mixed up now...)
