Star Trek Destiny

[Cut]

I might now agree that Star Trek hasn't been 'vonged'.

...Minor Spoilers follow...

I finished Destiny (at least a fast read-through of the trilogy) and leave it behind with mixed feelings. There are some interesting passages and ideas. I think that a lot of ideas have been integrated by David Mack in a very clever way. Element 010, anyone? That was nicely put together. I liked the characters of Hernandez and Inyx, but I'd agree with some criticism I read elsewhere, that the discription of Picard is in the Lost Souls book a bit off.

And I simply can't stand the thought of projectile weapons in Star Trek. I just can't. That's Stargate's domain for me... Another thing I want to talk about is the passage with the friendly fire casualties. That didn't anything important to the storyline. Why was that included in your oppinion?

In Lost Souls Ezri came on a bit (head-)strong for my taste, but the passages with the Federation President were simply greatly written stuff.

All in all, I have spent some enjoyable hours. There was suspense, action, and a bit of a modern Star Trek feeling followed with a nice up-beat ending with a probable return to a more classic exploration approach for Starfleet, which I would like very much.

As stated before I am still torn: On the one hand I want to have new stories set in the Star Trek universe and if they don't come on-screen I'll read them.

But recent Star Trek (novels) are lacking. Data is being missed (at least for my taste) all over the place.

Anyway, I have read only three of the "A Time To..." series books and the first Star Trek - Titan novel as well as Greater Than The Sum, which was indeed a good lead-in.

Thank you, Mac, for making me read this

[Atlirith]

Warning: many spoilers ahead!













It sounds like Dax and her new ship will be quite likely be getting a novel and perhaps even an entire series of its own (like Riker and Titan), which is why there was all the back-story there, including the details on the friendly-fire incident and its aftermath. I want schematics, the little picture I saw of her new ship on the web left me wanting more and with all the modifications that Hernandez did before she left, that ship is the cutting edge of Starfleet.

The projectile weapons did not bother me. Given how the Hirogen hunt, it was nice to see the Federation willing to use the tactics necessary to survive and win. The Hirogen do no negotiate with those they perceive to be weak. I loved the female alien crew member who fairly well cut them to ribbons. The Federations is vast and there are a lot of races in it who are not warm and cuddly and humans are lucky to have them as allies. Yet, ferocious as she was, she was Starfleet and was violent to protect her ship and her crew. What a fun character she would be to play.

My favorite character though was Torvig. He stole every scene he was in. He's Data without being an android, he's a cyborg and a geek and socially inept, but he's also just fun to learn about. Watching Keru learn how to not ask Torvig how he got all of his information was quite enjoyable.

What struck me though was, yes, in a way, this was the trek meets the vong. But this author changed the entire Trek universe in three novels. New Jedi order went on for five years and honestly should have stopped after the first three books. To realize that George Lucas officially sanctioned all of that torture, sadism, the death of decades worth of fiction continuity got painful to read very quickly.

Yes the Borg killed billions, worlds burned. But the Federation won. And ultimately it won retaining its ideals and its hopes. It nearly crossed a lot of lines but individuals held fast to their morals and said no. Not today, not to save ourselves and become worse than that which they fought. Watching the Romulans take on the role of protectors of human worlds, a Romulan Khitomer was a very nice touch.

This series created a rich, role-playing environment, full of potential. I for one am greatly looking forward to the next book, A Singular Destiny to see where they go next.

Peace now.