I promised KRAD and the authors I'd post a detailed review for The Sky's The Limit, so here it is.
When I picked up The Sky's The Limit and Resistance, my expectations were fairly high. And I had originally been leaning towards Resistance as the better of the two, since most of these compilations in the past have had mixed messages with me. I would remember reading maybe three or four stories that were great, and the rest were okay, with one or two blech-worthy entries.
Oh how wrong was I.
It's maybe premature, but I personally think that The Sky's The Limit is one of the most excellent of the Trek Lit novels I've read this year. While reading I went from mildly entertained to flat out enjoyed and enthralled. The Sky's The Limit, to be honest, would have made the Great Bird proud. Each story explored the human vista and experience, while also having a bit of science. It's a veritable tableau of emotions, thoughts, concepts, and actions, a rich tapestry with each of the beloved Enterprise crew contributing. When I got to the end of Trust Yourself When All Men Doubt You, and felt the cumulative effect of all the stories wash over me, I got a little teary.
In The Sky's The Limit, we see the crew of the Enterprise at their best, and at their worst. Vulnerable and unassailable. Emotionally under assault and mentally stable. There were laughs, and tears. But at the end of each story, I felt I went away with a more complete...something. It's hard to describe, but each story felt like it contributed to all the others, and to our knowledge of each character in general.
Now, for the individual reviews:
Meet With Triumph And Disaster: A great opening story. The juxtaposition of Halloway's sense of duty with his loyalty to his family was great. If the authors hadn't been careful, it would have been too maudlin. Here, however, the intermix ratios were just right. And I liked the inclusion of Admiral Satie, as we see her fill the role she was given in the series. (Plus, it was nice to see her not being paranoid). One thing I found especially interesting was the reptilian Xindi Secretary of Science. With a combination of all these, set at the Enterprise-D's commissioning ceremony, we have a great way to kick off this compilation, boldly going.
Acts of Compassion: Cardassians?! Season One?! Dr. Crusher?! Tasha Yar?! Yes, and more! The story started out as seeming to be a simple medical mission, not much going on. It quickly morphed into an awesome medical mission with fighting and strategy and enemies becoming allies. Between Crusher's fast thinking and Yar's fighting skills, we have a major blow for feminism, as well as a damn good story. I especially liked having Cardassians so early on in TNG, and having the Gul be a fairly intelligent, reasonable guy. The excellence continues.
Redshift: Combining Pulaski's known ability to not mesh well with the rest of the Enterprise crew with an almost Year of Hell-like plot may sound weird, but it worked here. At one of the most crucial times for the senior staff to get along and work together-when the ship is under attack and boarded-any hesitation or uncertainty could be fatal. And that was picked up on very well. In the end, Pulaski does manage to work with the others, and even gets to sort of be victorious when Riker asks her to play poker. Definitely an interesting read.
Among The Clouds: Yay, a Geordi story! The flashbacks between the current time, and before the mission starts, provides a nice background and helps explain how Geordi got to where he ended up. And with space creatures and a mini-civil war going on, with the Enterprise crew sort of tossed in, it felt like another one of "those" missions, but in a decidedly great way.
Thinking of You: There are so many things this one could have had working against it. Lwaxana. Barclay recovering from holodiction. Ro still a rebel. Trade negotiations. The Sacred Chalice of Rixx. And yet, it ended up being a great read. Lwaxana isn't just a haughty, flighty pampered politician but is actually able to contribute and not be as much of a burden as she could have been. The little struggle between Barclay and his holodiction played out nicely, especially considering the scenario is on a malfunctioning holodeck. And Ro, despite still being that rebel, is able to help out the others and mesh a bit more closely. And how many trade negotiations deal with frog-like creatures, swamps, and poison spitting eyes? And the Sacred Chalice of Rixx reprises it's moldy old pot role. A humorous and entertaining read.
I'm hating doing this, but I'll post more reviews later.
When I picked up The Sky's The Limit and Resistance, my expectations were fairly high. And I had originally been leaning towards Resistance as the better of the two, since most of these compilations in the past have had mixed messages with me. I would remember reading maybe three or four stories that were great, and the rest were okay, with one or two blech-worthy entries.
Oh how wrong was I.
It's maybe premature, but I personally think that The Sky's The Limit is one of the most excellent of the Trek Lit novels I've read this year. While reading I went from mildly entertained to flat out enjoyed and enthralled. The Sky's The Limit, to be honest, would have made the Great Bird proud. Each story explored the human vista and experience, while also having a bit of science. It's a veritable tableau of emotions, thoughts, concepts, and actions, a rich tapestry with each of the beloved Enterprise crew contributing. When I got to the end of Trust Yourself When All Men Doubt You, and felt the cumulative effect of all the stories wash over me, I got a little teary.
In The Sky's The Limit, we see the crew of the Enterprise at their best, and at their worst. Vulnerable and unassailable. Emotionally under assault and mentally stable. There were laughs, and tears. But at the end of each story, I felt I went away with a more complete...something. It's hard to describe, but each story felt like it contributed to all the others, and to our knowledge of each character in general.
Now, for the individual reviews:
Meet With Triumph And Disaster: A great opening story. The juxtaposition of Halloway's sense of duty with his loyalty to his family was great. If the authors hadn't been careful, it would have been too maudlin. Here, however, the intermix ratios were just right. And I liked the inclusion of Admiral Satie, as we see her fill the role she was given in the series. (Plus, it was nice to see her not being paranoid). One thing I found especially interesting was the reptilian Xindi Secretary of Science. With a combination of all these, set at the Enterprise-D's commissioning ceremony, we have a great way to kick off this compilation, boldly going.
Acts of Compassion: Cardassians?! Season One?! Dr. Crusher?! Tasha Yar?! Yes, and more! The story started out as seeming to be a simple medical mission, not much going on. It quickly morphed into an awesome medical mission with fighting and strategy and enemies becoming allies. Between Crusher's fast thinking and Yar's fighting skills, we have a major blow for feminism, as well as a damn good story. I especially liked having Cardassians so early on in TNG, and having the Gul be a fairly intelligent, reasonable guy. The excellence continues.
Redshift: Combining Pulaski's known ability to not mesh well with the rest of the Enterprise crew with an almost Year of Hell-like plot may sound weird, but it worked here. At one of the most crucial times for the senior staff to get along and work together-when the ship is under attack and boarded-any hesitation or uncertainty could be fatal. And that was picked up on very well. In the end, Pulaski does manage to work with the others, and even gets to sort of be victorious when Riker asks her to play poker. Definitely an interesting read.
Among The Clouds: Yay, a Geordi story! The flashbacks between the current time, and before the mission starts, provides a nice background and helps explain how Geordi got to where he ended up. And with space creatures and a mini-civil war going on, with the Enterprise crew sort of tossed in, it felt like another one of "those" missions, but in a decidedly great way.
Thinking of You: There are so many things this one could have had working against it. Lwaxana. Barclay recovering from holodiction. Ro still a rebel. Trade negotiations. The Sacred Chalice of Rixx. And yet, it ended up being a great read. Lwaxana isn't just a haughty, flighty pampered politician but is actually able to contribute and not be as much of a burden as she could have been. The little struggle between Barclay and his holodiction played out nicely, especially considering the scenario is on a malfunctioning holodeck. And Ro, despite still being that rebel, is able to help out the others and mesh a bit more closely. And how many trade negotiations deal with frog-like creatures, swamps, and poison spitting eyes? And the Sacred Chalice of Rixx reprises it's moldy old pot role. A humorous and entertaining read.
I'm hating doing this, but I'll post more reviews later.
