Warpath Discussion Thread (major, major spoilers)

[Strider]

I don't know why, but when the Cardassian prison was mentioned my first thought was of Sito Jaxa. My first post on TrekBBS way back in the day was in this forum and it strangely covered two entirely divergent topics of if and how Sisko would be reintroduced to the Relaunch, and if we'll ever see Sito Jaxa again. I'm proud to say my take on Sisko was pretty close to how it turned out, and was mildly excited at the thought of batting two for two. Oh well, another day perhaps.

On a side not, I really enjoyed Warpath. I get a big kick out of David Mack's detailed conceptions of how Starfleet technology and procedure works. Small unit tactics is something we don't get enough of in Star Trek. I really enjoyed the rest of the book, too, especially the confusing by interesting finale.

 

[David Mack]

^ Thanks, Strider. Glad you enjoyed it.

 

[Skittles]

Well, I finished Warpath today. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and found myself captivated by quite a few bits.

I had somewhat separate issues when it came to the coma visions. For the first few interludes, they kept feeling like a distraction to the rest of the events in the book. I found myself resisting the urge to skim over them, since I sort of kinned their signifiance early on. And now that I've finished the book, I "get" the visions and their intent, but I still think they went a little longer than they could/should have. (Sorry, Marco/David!)

I was completely surprised by the Big Reveal at the end with the Cardassian Woman. I really love when ST books weave in minor issues from the series and turn them into much larger issues, so I was quite pleased with that.

I will say, though, that I loved the escape from the prison. In two words, "Run, baby" managed to turn an exciting escape into an emotional moment, and I got a little teary eyed (musta been dirt in the air or somethin'....)

I think my only real, true disappointment is that the Intendant gets so little time in the book. And yeah, I know you're kind of limited in what you can do from a space perspective, but the only thing better than Intendant Kira is more Intendant Kira.

 

[David Mack]

Thanks for your comments.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I liked that there was a Thallonian Starfleet oficer. I think that this might be the first time that I've seen Thallonians outside of New Frontier. ("The First Virtue" not withstanding.)

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Yup, definately a nice touch. As much as I like to see him as a regular character (with an extended backround), I doubt he'll be more than a background character.

 

[Smiley]

Warpath is a gripping read, and I was intrigued enough to finish it in two evenings. On an absolute scale, I would give it a 9/10. Relative to the rest of the post-series DS9 fiction, it would be in the top five books.

In particular, I really dug the scenes with Kira "in the Hands of the Prophets." I could visualize those moments as if David Livingston himself was directing them.

I'd also like to mention that I love the "The Saga of ... Will Continue" endings used here and in Harbinger. It's a nice reminder that there is planning and foresight being put into these books, even if we aren't yet privy to all of the subtleties and vision involved.

 

[KRAD]

^ Of course, now I'm curious what the other four books in the top five are.....

 

[Smiley]

At this moment, they are Unity, Rising Son, Cathedral, and the Avatar duology. Yes, that last one is two books, but it's one story.

All of the relaunch has been top-notch so far, so it's tough to pick favorites.

 

[Guest]

Does anyone know when the eBook of Warpath will come out?

 

[JD]

^ I think it is already available on the Pocket website.

 

[the_wildcard]

Well I just finished the book and have to say overall it was a good read.

My favorite parts have to be your terrific descriptions of the prison. Just reading about the architecture and layout was scary enough.

Some quick questions:

1) I assume the next will answer all questions regarding the "different" women??

2) I didn't quite grasp where the subplot of the visions. Was this subplot meant to be unfinshed and resolved in the next book. If not, could somebody explain?

Thanks.

And thank god for next book. I had feared this would be a one-shot book story.

 

[David Mack]

Glad you liked the Grennokar segments.

To answer your other queries:

1) Yes.

2) More than that, it sets up a shift in the continuing arc of the Kira Nerys character. Re-read just those chapters, then re-watch the various DS9 episodes in which Sisko dealt with the Prophets, then re-read the final Kira/Sisko scene in Warpath. This wasn't just a "foreshadow the obvious" vision. There's more, but you have to look for it.....

 

[Smiley]

I have some vague suspicions about what might happen next, but of course I won't put any story ideas here. I do think that having Ezri on the command track may turn out to be convenient somewhere down the line, though.

 

[the_wildcard]

David Mack said:

2) More than that, it sets up a shift in the continuing arc of the Kira Nerys character. Re-read just those chapters, then re-watch the various DS9 episodes in which Sisko dealt with the Prophets, then re-read the final Kira/Sisko scene in Warpath. This wasn't just a "foreshadow the obvious" vision. There's more, but you have to look for it.....

Will do! Thanks!

 

[HIj'Qa]

I enjoyed this book. It was a quick and gripping read.

There's the usual 'They're not really dead, Jim' problem, but it was compensated by detailed medical procedures and recovery scenes, for the injured folks. Usually people just get better with the wave of a medical tricorder. So, if they're not gonna die, at least this time they didn't simply recover off screen. Nice.

For Vaughn and Prynn, I don't see Vaughn as a character who would fall to pieces, right away, even at the death of his daughter. Taking the vengeance route fit his character. But, hopefully, they are reconciled now and we move on . . .


Edit: OHHHH! Forgot to say HOW MUCH I enjoyed the use of previously established aliens, Chalnoth, Nausicaans, fleshing them out a bit more instead of creating 'new' species for roles well suited for Klingons, Chalnoth, and Nausicaans. Thank you.


tiny nits:
Harkoum made me think Harkonen. The Burning Sea of Coridan made me think Dune again.

"No more than a dozen qams away." Dozen is such a Earth European concept. It jarred with the Klingon qams.

Prynn thinks of Shar's flowing hair, while depictions of the character have dreadlocks, which flop about more than flow in a breeze.

 

[romulus]

Well thanks for explaining who the Cardassian women was. I didn't give it much thought while reading, even at the end when it was "explained" I didn't get it. It seems obvious now that I think back on it. Guess I'm less of a fan.

I liked the book, the characters where written well the story was faced paced and easy to read. There were few areas that I felt like skimming through. I can't really remember right now which areas those were right now, so that should tell you something.

I didn't mind the Kira visions. I thought they were an interesting change of pace fro the most part. I also thought it was a little too LOTR like towards the end but I have thought that of any medieval battle scene since I watched LOTR so I won't hold it agents you.

Can't believe I didn't think about The DNA scans while reading. Guess I was thinking about other things or just to into the story. Glad I didn't though because it might of ruined the story a little for me.

Liked the attempt at giving us more detail at what tactics Starfleet ground forces use. I also thought leaving the red/blue.. stripe on ground forces uniform a bad idea even if it was small.

Favorite threads were probably the Taran’atar/Prynn and Cardassian women/bounty hunter threads. I was always left wonting for more when the story switched to a different thread.

 

[redsoxfan]

Overall, a really good read. At first, I didn't like the coma visions. Then, I think I figured out what was going on. The only thing about the whole book that bothered me was too much graphic detail of everyone being filleted. The end of the book was terrific. But, as I sat back and looked at the untidiness of the universe, I joking thought, we need Garak to help clean this mess up. Thanks for a good read. Looking forward to your next book (but, please, leave a few folks alive)

 

[Smiley]

redsoxfan said:
Thanks for a good read. Looking forward to your next book (but, please, leave a few folks alive)

Hey, we should consider ourselves lucky that only one canonical character died this time around. The rest of the Knife's fury fell on newly-created characters.

"Bounty hunters! We don't need that scum!"
--Admiral Piett, The Empire Strikes Back

 

[Christopher]

David Mack said:
There are three principal reasons why the Defiant was unable to scan for Prynn's DNA after the incident at Nahanas, and why Vaughn would have taken the report at face value:

1. The explosion damaged the ship's primary sensors. (On p.89, Bowers has to patch in the backup sensors.)

2. The composition of the comet had fouled their scanners in the first place; now their external sensor arrays are coated in the junk, and the area around the Defiant is filled with a cloud of sensor-fouling dust and debris.

3. Because Prynn would have been at the flash point of the blast that detonated a comet, it's unlikely any organic material would have survived. Try scanning for DNA at ground zero of a nuclear detonation.

There's also the fact that they were able to scan the runabout and detected only Taran'atar's life signs (since Prynn was in the transporter buffer), so they could rule out her being on it (or so they thought).

Smiley said:
Hey, we should consider ourselves lucky that only one canonical character died this time around. The rest of the Knife's fury fell on newly-created characters.

Yeah... I found that Dave's reputation actually helped up the suspense, because you believed that any one of these characters might actually not survive. So it was kind of a surprise twist when they did.

Another twist was the revelation of who the mystery woman from Fragments and Omens was. (Spoilers ahead The hints seemed to make it so clear that it was the Intendant, and for most of this book that perception was being reinforced... and then we get the surprise revelation that it's really Iliana! As for the Cardassian Woman, I thought "Iliana" as soon as the Klingon bounty hunter thought that she looked familiar. But it turns out to be more complicated -- there are two Ilianas? Hmm.

I have to admit that in Kira's vision scenes, I totally failed to catch on that her "generals" were doppelgangers of the main cast until the part where Kira was back in her own self and saw the vision from the outside, recognizing that "Jamin" was a ringer for Sisko. I missed the anagrams too.

As for the revelation that Taran'atar's mind-controlled somehow undermining or simplifying his character arc, I don't agree. On the contrary, I think it adds more depth to it. As we saw in the text through his inner debate, it wasn't as simple as him just growing beyond the Founders' control, because that would've gone against his whole identity and value system. This sequence of events, where he finds himself forced to obey someone he doesn't want to rather than obeying the beings he wants to serve, forces him to question that obedience, to recognize that he has been essentially a slave, in a way that a simple obedience-to-Founders-vs.-freedom dichotomy never could have. Obedience, deferring to someone else to make decisions for you, can be appealing even to people who aren't bred for it, and just showing someone what freedom looks like isn't going to make them automatically see it's superior. Forcing Taran'atar into a different state of obedience, an undesirable one, is a more potent and believable way of giving him a true crisis of faith and identity. And it's clearly not over.