BETTER DO BETTER IF YOU WANT TO WRITE "STAR TREK"
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I HARDLY KNOW WHERE TO START HERE.
THE BOOK WAS DIS-JOINTED WITH POOR CHARACTERISATIONS. IT SEEMED TO ME THAT THE AUTHOR HAD PAID NO ATTENTION TO PREVIOUS TITAN NOVELS,TNG NOVELS OR EVEN THE TV SERIES ACTOR PORTRAYALS.
THE STORYLINE DID NOT GRIP AND THE CONSTANT JUMPING BACK AND FORTH IN TIME AND/OR LOCATION QUICKLY BECAME ANNOYING AT BEST.
I REALISE THAT ALL THIS IS PERSONAL OPINION BUT HOW THIS CAN GET A 5 STAR FROM A REVIEWER MAKES ME RAISE A "SPOCK-LIKE" EYEBROW !
IF I SEE THIS AUTHORS NAME ON ANY FUTURE STAR TREK BOOK I WILL THINK VERY LONG AND HARD BEFORE SPENDING MY HARD EARNED CASH !
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Decisions, decisions, decisions...Star Trek: Titan is full of them
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Geoffrey Thorne is a relative newcomer to the published Star Trek mythos, with just a few short stories to his name. Sword of Damocles, the latest "Titan" novel, is Thorne's first full-length novel, and he's written an exquisite one. The Titan writers seem to be excelling at not having "villains" in their novels, instead having antagonists that have conflicting points of view with our heroes, and Thorne provides us with a perfect example of that here. All of that, and Pocket Books has given us technical diagrams of the new ship too!
While the technobabble can get a little thick in Sword of Damocles, Thorne never lets it get out of control, and it helps that he has some non-technological characters for others to explain things to. Thorne has created an extremely intricate plot, dealing with some time travel, cultural contamination (and its avoidance), and how things that are not understood can assume heightened significance in those who don't know any better. Thorne puts all of his characters through the wringer, as all of them must make choices based on both the Prime Directive (the non-interference policy Starfleet has) and what's best for their ship.
What I especially liked about Sword of Damocles, though, is that the fact that the crew is extremely diversified was not used as a cudgel over the reader's head. We saw the integration of the crew, but nobody actually *mentioned* it. It was a breath of fresh air given the past three books. Thorne doesn't avoid this by not using any of the alien crew members, but by showing us how they're interacting with the crew without actually announcing it. I hope future Titan books do the same thing. I realize that this diversity is sort of a novelty, but we're four books in now, so it really should be stopped.
Thorne's characterization is almost perfect, from Vale, Troi and Riker to the other Titan crew members and even the Orishans themselves. Commander Ra-Havreii, the rather arrogant chief engineer, is annoying to everybody, but somehow he walks that thin line of not turning off the reader as well. The reason for the rift between Riker and Troi seems a little basic for how much anguish it causes, but it is understandable, especially in their situation. Still, the writing is powerful and the characterization is right on the nose. The climax to the story veers a little bit into the heavy technobabble mode, but it's exciting nonetheless.
Thorne's prose is quite good for a first novel, and the book reads very smoothly, with very few clunky phrases throwing you out of the book. He describes both the character scenes and the action scenes quite well, never making it boring but also not overdoing the action too much. There were a couple of coincidences that I shook my head at, but for the most part they have a plausible explanation that makes it so they're not too annoying.
Sword of Damocles is the best Titan book since Taking Wing, and here's to many more adventures in the future. Of course, we'll have to see what the upcoming Destiny trilogy holds for our Titan crew before we get the next Titan book, and since that series is written by David Mack, maybe they'll all be dead! Whatever happens, though, Geoffrey Thorne has himself a winner here, and I look forward to reading some more of his stuff in the future.
David Roy
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Does Geoffery Thorne know anything about TNG and Titan? If not he should have stuck to Strange New Words
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Okay, i have been a fan of the Titan books since they first came out, Taking Wing was excelent as was The Red King, i had a little trouble with Orions Hounds, but after a reread loved it. That said Sword of Damoclese is a little dissapointing, where in the last three books the characters essentially drove the plot, in this book the plot reads like its supposed to drive the characters, but fails misserably to do so.
There is no strong focus on one character, and some of the interpersonal conflicts don't make sence. For example the whole subplot about Riker and Troi having trouble getting pregnant makes no sencse at all, considering that Troi is already half human. And Betazoid-Human incompatability has never been mentioned in the show; as well as the fact that she once had a child in the series who was Humman-Betazoid-Ian Andrew Troi(Season 2's "The Child")and there wasn't a father that time!
The story itself is intersting, but the characterisation is just off to me and much of the interpersonal confluct again seemes manufactured snd pointless, what could have been a ripping time travel yarn has been turned into a lakluster and mediocre tale, one hopes the next Titan book is better, and writen by an Author who knows the characters from the show and the last three books.
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