Your LEAST favorite Star Trek Novel?

[Rush Limborg]

I read Ghost Ship fairly recently and I don't remember the Traveler reference. Can you clue me in where that is? I'd be interested in checking that out.

It's pretty early in the book. Picard is reflecting on exactly why the heck he's letting Wesley work on the bridge on a regular basis.

BTW, the Voyages of Imagination and Gateways timelines say, "Story is set after WNOHGB."



Hey...I've noticed a decent amount of simmering anger on thia forum....

I wonder why?

Altair water allowed is not! Is drink forbidden!

Hmm...well, in that case....

(Breaks out the Romulan Ale)

 

[wahwahkits]

I've never enjoyed anything that Diane Carey has written. Or John M Ford. My least favourite Star Trek book has to be Ship Of The Line. I bought it, read it and then gave it away.

 

[Sci]

I don't get all the hate for Before Dishonor. But that just encourages me, reinforces the ideas behind IDIC. We don't all like the same stuff. And isn't that comforting?

I don't understand the hate either, I must admit a few scenes annoyed me (I can't remember which as I read it when it came out over here almost a year ago now) but on the whole it was for me an enjoyable read. As for the big death towards the end, the person in question who died for me was dead from as soon as the Cube absorbed her and assimilated her as for that level of assimilation, I doubt there was no coming back.

I had exactly 4 problems with Before Dishonor:

1) The Federation Council was portrayed as being both ridiculously unanimous in its decision, and as being incredibly cowardly and full of appeasers. And the bit with the ambassador who was the obvious stand-in for Neville Chamberlain was just painfully obvious (to say nothing of stupid on the character's part).

3) Where was Nan Bacco?

4) Why was Worf written like it was still S1 of TNG?

5) The combat scenes were a bit over-the-top.

Apart from that, I liked it quite a bit. Hell, the scene where the JanewayQueen manages to intimidate the Female Q? Genuinely creepy.

 

[PaulSimpson]

I had exactly 4 problems with Before Dishonor:

1) The Federation Council was portrayed as being both ridiculously unanimous in its decision, and as being incredibly cowardly and full of appeasers. And the bit with the ambassador who was the obvious stand-in for Neville Chamberlain was just painfully obvious (to say nothing of stupid on the character's part).

3) Where was Nan Bacco?

4) Why was Worf written like it was still S1 of TNG?

5) The combat scenes were a bit over-the-top.

Apart from that, I liked it quite a bit. Hell, the scene where the JanewayQueen manages to intimidate the Female Q? Genuinely creepy.

What was number 2?

 

[ClayinCA]

I had exactly 4 problems with Before Dishonor:

1) The Federation Council was portrayed as being both ridiculously unanimous in its decision, and as being incredibly cowardly and full of appeasers. And the bit with the ambassador who was the obvious stand-in for Neville Chamberlain was just painfully obvious (to say nothing of stupid on the character's part).

3) Where was Nan Bacco?

4) Why was Worf written like it was still S1 of TNG?

5) The combat scenes were a bit over-the-top.

Apart from that, I liked it quite a bit. Hell, the scene where the JanewayQueen manages to intimidate the Female Q? Genuinely creepy.

What was number 2?

Leo McKern?

 

[PaulSimpson]

I had exactly 4 problems with Before Dishonor:

1) The Federation Council was portrayed as being both ridiculously unanimous in its decision, and as being incredibly cowardly and full of appeasers. And the bit with the ambassador who was the obvious stand-in for Neville Chamberlain was just painfully obvious (to say nothing of stupid on the character's part).

3) Where was Nan Bacco?

4) Why was Worf written like it was still S1 of TNG?

5) The combat scenes were a bit over-the-top.

Apart from that, I liked it quite a bit. Hell, the scene where the JanewayQueen manages to intimidate the Female Q? Genuinely creepy.

What was number 2?

Leo McKern?

I was resisting a Prisoner joke when I put the original comment in... I shoulda known better!!

P

 

[Dayton Ward]

What was number 2?

:: offers up one of his kid's diapers ::

 

[Rush Limborg]

Quote:
Originally Posted by PaulSimpson
What was number 2?


:: offers up one of his kid's diapers ::

 

[Danoz]

So far? Homecoming Book 2. Book one was fun, but book 2 lost me completely.

 

[JWolf]

Death in Winter was another I did not really care much for. Yes, it started the Picard/Crusher romance. But the sense of danger we got from Crusher's peril wasn't all that exciting. Overall, the book plodded along and for a hardcover, it was way too short.

 

[Rush Limborg]

Hey...anyone else notice that this thread is running a heck of a lot longer than its more-positive counterpart?

 

[Geoff Thorne]

Hey...anyone else notice that this thread is running a heck of a lot longer than its more-positive counterpart?

Well....

It's always easier to tear something down.

I don't have a least fave. Only most. And it shifts.

 

[Darth_Pazuzu]

Altair water allowed is not! Is drink forbidden!

Hmm...well, in that case....

(Breaks out the Romulan Ale)

Hey, whatever it takes to blend in with a primitive culture!

 

[Rush Limborg]

Hey, whatever it takes to blend in with a primitive culture!

Nonshensh, m'lad.... Ah khon hol' me lickuh....

(Faints dead on.)

 

[jgdst]

I feel a bit cruel for saying so, but ENT: By The Book and VOY: Section 31: Shadow. I know both books are by the same writing duo, but these two books took me ages to get through...

To be fair, Enterprise had been on the air all of 14 minutes when By The Book came out, so it's understandable that there are a few things not quite right, but I felt a bit more research would've helped the book. The actual mission seemed secondary to some RPG I had no interest in and the majority of main characters were sidelined for lowly crewmen. Also there was a lot of repetition, about setting stuff on tables and loud noises from bolts hitting tables, and Hoshi seemed to lose her surname...

Then there was T'Pol and Archer's conversations basically revolving around protocol. Protocol, protocol, PROTOCOL

Shadow annoyed me for a whole load of reasons The repetition seemed to rear its ugly head again (a lot of people had hunches). Section 31's role in the story was flimsy at best - the redshirt woman who dies in Scientific Method planted secret instructions to kill Seven over a year later, a la Seska (Worst Case Scenario)... I fail to see how this assassination would have helped the crew of Voyager, much less Section 31 or the Federation on the whole.

Also, the computer seems to have gained some kind of semi-consciousness in this novel in order to pick out Seven, which struck me as odd.

Season 5 introduced the Malon and the idea that Federation technology is pretty clean by comparison, yet this book decides that Voyager has mass quantities of trilithium resin just sitting round ready to explode. Going by Generations, did they even know what trilithium was when Voyager was being built/launched?

And then there's the curious B plot - a civilisation decides to escape a solar system on the brink of destruction by putting all 800 million people on one conveniently cobbled together generational ship. Not a convoy, no, ONE ship carrying all the hopes of an entire planet. The descriptions of people living in the habitation areas lent nothing to the plot, and indeed, hardly featured at all towards the end of the book.

Some of the character's reactions worried me too, especially considering the book was written after the series ended, so it's not like we hadn't gotten to know the crew. Janeway, after spending 5 years (the novel is set just before Equinox) with the crew starts suspecting everyone bar about three people and openly mistrusting them (actually, can you mistrust someone?) - not very likely. Torres thinks the purple aliens are weird and can't really take them seriously. Hmm... very enlightened 24th century view

I've read a few books by Dean Wesley Smith and/or Kristine Kathryn Rusch. I don't mean to be so harsh or critical of their work, maybe I've just happened on two of their weaker outings?

Sorry about going on, they always taught me at school to give a reason for my answer

 

[Rush Limborg]

Sorry about going on, they always taught me at school to give a reason for my answer

Hey, no sweat. I wanted y'all to give reasons, didn't I?

 

[Christopher]

and Hoshi seemed to lose her surname...

That was a case of overcorrection -- the authors assumed her name order was Japanese, with the family name first. But what they overlooked is that "Sato" is the most common surname in Japan, the equivalent of "Smith," whereas "Hoshi" is a fairly common given name for girls. Hoshi's name order was Anglicized; its Japanese form would be Sato Hoshi.

Season 5 introduced the Malon and the idea that Federation technology is pretty clean by comparison, yet this book decides that Voyager has mass quantities of trilithium resin just sitting round ready to explode. Going by Generations, did they even know what trilithium was when Voyager was being built/launched?

Trilithium resin was introduced in TNG: "Starship Mine" as a waste product of warp reactors. GEN somewhat contradicted this by having Riker seemingly ignorant of what trilithium was until it was explained to him. As for the Malon, their toxic waste was some kind of "antimatter waste," which is different from trilithium resin. I think antimatter waste is a residue of the creation of antimatter fuel, while trilithium resin is a residue of dilithium that builds up from heavy use in warp reactors.

 

[jgdst]

Trilithium resin was introduced in TNG: "Starship Mine" as a waste product of warp reactors. GEN somewhat contradicted this by having Riker seemingly ignorant of what trilithium was until it was explained to him. As for the Malon, their toxic waste was some kind of "antimatter waste," which is different from trilithium resin. I think antimatter waste is a residue of the creation of antimatter fuel, while trilithium resin is a residue of dilithium that builds up from heavy use in warp reactors.

Ahhhh, thanks for clearing that up. I probably should have checked that before commenting on it It's still a bit worrying why there were huge vats of it ready to explode all over the ship, but then I suppose there wouldn't have been much in the way of tension...

I think I'll retract that part of my complaint