Re: Vixen tries to do Before Dishonor or: Motherf**king Borg
I'm a fairly casual trek lit fan, but being a fan of the novel Vendetta and of Peter David's writing, I figured this one would be a lock as a fun read. It turns out my expectations were far too high.
It took me a page to figure out I was reading part 2 of a series, so I went out and picked up resistance so I wouldn't be left in the dark. Despite a somewhat shaky premise and some weird characterizations, it was an ok read. But it all went downhill from there.
Putting aside for a moment the ridiculous logic that the federation would leave a massive borg cube intact and unguarded in federation space, the fact that it comes alive and eats people, ships and planets was so out there that I had to do a double take on almost every page. I mean I realize as a sci-fi fan I have the ability to suspend disbelief for the sake of a good story, but this was too much, even for me. It was laughable. I'll admit, having Janeway get owned as badly as she did was hilarious, but the entire novel is so ridiculous that I couldn't even enjoy it like I wanted to. It just felt more like a badly written fan fiction than a serious novel.
None of the characters feel right here. Picard seems right out of TNG season 1. Worf doesn't show any of his evolution from DS9. The new bridge crew are given almost no back story and have no respect for Picard right from the start. One of them appears to have a mental disorder of some sort, as he is literally furious in every scene. Are we to believe that Picard actually hand selected this sorry group? T'Lana has no growth whatsoever, despite playing off of Spock. Lady Q is just thrown in there. Almost all of the jokes feel awkward and out of character, and as a kicker, Picard forgives his mutinous crew who have shown nothing but contempt and mistrust for him throughout the novel.
The first step in trying to captivate a reader is to make the characters seem real and believable. Yet there are such gaping holes in the logic of the plot and in the characterizations themselves, that this is impossible.
I really wanted to like this one. I like Peter David's writing, I like the Borg, I like TNG. But Pete was off his game on this one. Avoid this novel unless seeing Janeway get absolutely owned is worth $9 to you.
I'm a fairly casual trek lit fan, but being a fan of the novel Vendetta and of Peter David's writing, I figured this one would be a lock as a fun read. It turns out my expectations were far too high.
It took me a page to figure out I was reading part 2 of a series, so I went out and picked up resistance so I wouldn't be left in the dark. Despite a somewhat shaky premise and some weird characterizations, it was an ok read. But it all went downhill from there.
Putting aside for a moment the ridiculous logic that the federation would leave a massive borg cube intact and unguarded in federation space, the fact that it comes alive and eats people, ships and planets was so out there that I had to do a double take on almost every page. I mean I realize as a sci-fi fan I have the ability to suspend disbelief for the sake of a good story, but this was too much, even for me. It was laughable. I'll admit, having Janeway get owned as badly as she did was hilarious, but the entire novel is so ridiculous that I couldn't even enjoy it like I wanted to. It just felt more like a badly written fan fiction than a serious novel.
None of the characters feel right here. Picard seems right out of TNG season 1. Worf doesn't show any of his evolution from DS9. The new bridge crew are given almost no back story and have no respect for Picard right from the start. One of them appears to have a mental disorder of some sort, as he is literally furious in every scene. Are we to believe that Picard actually hand selected this sorry group? T'Lana has no growth whatsoever, despite playing off of Spock. Lady Q is just thrown in there. Almost all of the jokes feel awkward and out of character, and as a kicker, Picard forgives his mutinous crew who have shown nothing but contempt and mistrust for him throughout the novel.
The first step in trying to captivate a reader is to make the characters seem real and believable. Yet there are such gaping holes in the logic of the plot and in the characterizations themselves, that this is impossible.
I really wanted to like this one. I like Peter David's writing, I like the Borg, I like TNG. But Pete was off his game on this one. Avoid this novel unless seeing Janeway get absolutely owned is worth $9 to you.
normally I just read these forums to check out which new books I should pick up (and nearly never posting here), but since I read BD I wanted to vent some air.....
so I looked forward to BD and got very disappointed with it. The 'mutiny' was so unbelievable and the new characters, which I liked after Q&A, were so wrong. And what's wrong with Picard and co, de-evolution? 
And supposedly killing Janeway off in a TNG novel? 
I like Janeway and I would hate that to be the last we've seen of her, this book makes me just angry.
