Rating: 
Summary: Ominpotent Hit and Miss
Review: When I first picked up this book, I was expecting a good story about Q, as only John De Lancie can tell it. Unfortunatly, I was greatly disappointed in the final product. On the cover of inside jacket, it basically says that Q will be fighting against the end of the Universe with the help of the Next Generation crew. However, the entire book ends up as nothing more than a tour of the stages of death. Q does nothing except whine and attempt to make himself look brave, and Picard and Data, the only members of the enterprise to actually show up, are used even less, often disappearing for no apparent reason. Finally, Q's amazing powers, which could have saved the book and made it somewhat interesting, are immeditaly 'nullified' as soon as he enters the land of death. As a result, he simply bumbles through to the end of the book, which is a simple, contrite ending, written simply to end the book and satisfy the reader. All in all, this book is a serious blemish on an otherwise amazing character.
Rating: 
Summary: something to stretch your mind around
Review: Did you ever notice the bad reviews never seem to have names? Anyway. The makings of a good story: Tight concise plot, focused narration, great conclusion. Introduce characters, building action, climax and denoument.If this is an unbreakable law to you, do not pick up this book. If you can, however, stretch your mind around something different, to new places, challange yourself to allow something OTHER than the ordinary, pick it up. Consequently, if you suffer from accute attention deficit disorder, you love it, too. What you have here is a narrative put forth by that omnipotent, omniscent, trickster, Q, chronicling his attempts to save the universe and his family, with Jean Luc Picard and Data by his side. The narrative jumps from one place to another, and often completely OFF story as Q digresses into some farflung largle irrelevant, but always entertaining, story from his past. And in the end, well...lets just say in the end you may or may not be sure what to make of it. And that is the books greatest strenght, for which most will damn it. It leaves you not knowing what to expect from one minute to the next, not entirely sure how to grasp what you're reading. It's always challenging, always involving, and, as told by Peter David (writer of stuff) and John De Lancie (Q, himself) always entertaining...well worth the trip it takes to get there. The one minor flaw is that much of the book seems too familiar, too humanizing, though, that too is explained in the pages. So, give it a chance. Or, if you've already purchased it, give it another one. Allow your mind into new possibilities and see where they take you...after all, isn't that what Trek's been about all along?
Rating: 
Summary: one of the best Q books ever
Review: It is one of the best Q books ever it is about how the univers almost endes thats all I am goingto say hope you like
Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Viewpoint From An Omnipotent Being
Review: The above people are likely Trekkie fans, and read this book solely because it was in the Star Trek section. Believe me, this book is one of the best I have ever written, and definitely is one I recommend to anyone seeking to understand the universe better. The entire story (almost) was written by Q, as a narrative. Some people apparantly did not like this. I did. It showed a lot of wit, philosophy, and just plain good writing. Some of the jokes were incredibly funny, like the one about the man complaining to god. And I spent much of the book wondering about the hidden jabs against both religion and atheists. But which one is truly being supported? I cannot say. This book however, is really a funny view on life in general with the camoflage of being just another dull Star Trek adventure. I hope to see more books from Q's viewpoint written as well as this in the future.
Rating:
Summary: A few flaws, but still good
Review: This is astonishingly the first time I've given a Peter David novel less than a 5 star rating! This is one of those types of books were you read certin things in the plot and wonder "Was there a huge underlineing signifigance about this part, that I missed, or what?" Be mindful, though, that this book did have some very good points. Some surpriseingly drimatic points. Like Picard's encounter with a mirror image of him self as Locutus of Borg - or Q's travels in the vally of dispair. (Truely, I could almost feel the hopelessness.) The characters were very in-character. (Why another reviewer would think otherwise is a mystery to me. There always seem to be people who think that, for the strangest and unkown reasons.) The story, as a whole, is very symbolic - which, based from past Star Trek episodes, you'd expect. Symbolism can be very confuseing, sometimes, but some times, also, very enjoyable. I think the "End of the Universe" plot of this story was very symbolic of our approching "End of the Century" Which I found as a very enjoyable twist. The symbolism, though, gets strange at the end, concerning the end of the universe. (Which we wen't really told how it ended.) But, then again, to not understand is to truely understand. A good book, but not really worth the cost of a normal hard cover. (Too small for a hardcover) Wait for the paper back, which might look a little bigger in terms of size.)
Rating:
Summary: Ha, Ha.
Review: Peter David is funny. Very funny. John DeLancie is funny. Very funny. Together, such strongholds of wit ought to do very well in portraying Q as he really ought to be. Sadly, the book comes out as too absorbed with its own humor to really be the fall-on-the-floor laughing riot the authors think it should be. If you like Piers Anthony's writing, especially the later books in the Xanth series, this ought to be right up your alley.
Rating:
Summary: Histerical Q
Review: Verry funny, and a good storyline as well. See a "human" side to Q, and great tangents as we would expect.
Rating:
Summary: STNG - I, Q - Simply genius!
Review: As we learned in Peter David's first Q novel, STNG #18, "Q-In-Law" and his later and even more brilliant hardback, "Q-Squared," he knows Q and he writes Q with nothing but perfection. With I, Q, Peter David raises that level of perfection to a new height as this narrative story, written almost entirely from Q's perspective is nothing short of brilliant, witty and extraordinarily intriguing. Of course, this novel is made even better by the fact that Q himself, John De Lancie co-wrote this masterpiece. While some may have found the style in which this novel was written somewhat distracting, I found it to be "dead on" with the character of Q and his personality. The premise: We begin this story with a character that by all appearances seems to be superior to Q and the Q-Continuum. In this beautifully well written beginning, we learn that this "supreme" being has decided that the multiverse is no longer of any value and that it should literally be run down the drain. Just as this process begins, this "supreme" being discovers a bottle with a narrative in it, written by you know who. This is where the story gets extremely interesting as Q takes us through his narrative as he takes Captain Picard, Data and us, the readers, through multiple planes of existence, on a search to find his wife and son. While the story advances along, he also regales us with tales from his past that at times are utterly intriguing, humorous and a bit telling of his character. In no uncertain terms, I, Q is a purely brilliant story as Peter David takes us through Q's trials and tribulations along the way to finding his wife and son while the multiverse is crumbling around him. While there are many absolutely great Star Trek authors, Peter David work stands above the rest, as does I, Q. I highly recommend this Star Trek novel to any all fans of Star Trek, whether you're a die hard fan or a casual fan that has only seen one or two episodes with Q, you will thoroughly enjoy this outstanding Q novel. I would also recommend the audio book or CD, as it makes for a wonderful way to pass three hours on the highway, made even better by the fact that this story is read by Q himself, John De Lancie. {ssintrepid}
Rating: 
Summary: ennui
Review: Make sure you know the definition of "ennui" before you read this novel, because it is repeated throughout. There is very little that is more annoying than someone, who thinks they are funny, when they are not. Such is the case with this novel. The reader is subjected to such hilarious comedy such as "Q, go stand in that queue." Makes one want to double over with laughter. Most serious, the story is told by Q but there are so many metaphors that are strictly human that the reader is unable to maintain any "suspension of disbelief." More often than not the reader is stopped cold wondering why Q would be making comments about "needles in haystacks." The worst was a half-chapter devoted to the letter "Q". Q discusses the symmetry of the letter...apparently the reader is suppose to accept that the Q-continuum uses human English as its designated alphabet, or that by some fluke the letter is the same from human to Q. Yet another annoyance was the cardboard cutout characters. Picard's entire role in this novel is to yell at Q about how smug he is. The universe is collapsing and this Picard is worried about whether Q is "belittling" him. One would think that such pettiness would be best saved for, say, when the universe isn't collapsing. There are two good points I can make for this novel:
1) It is an excellent example of why writers should be very careful when choosing to write in first person narrative. The use of first person here hinders the story and is very annoying after the first few chapters.
2) If the author had removed about 200 pages there would have been a pretty good idea for a novel. If interested in reading about Q, try "Q-Squared" instead.
Rating:
Summary: Call me Ishmael, well on second thought...
Review: Q is a great Star Trek character that Jon De Lanice plays brilliantly. The fact that he co-wrote a book is a real treat.
These types of books are best if you don't take them too seriously and just enjoy the ride. Q's anecdotes and asides were more entertaining than the story being told which at times seemed like an attempt to pack as much action as possible onto every page. Often times it felt like television channlels flipping too rapidly. However the humorous tone of the book makes it worthy of a rather enjoyable if thoughtless afternoon. Picard and Data seem to be thrown into the action for no reason but I guess they had to be there since it's a Next Generation book and all. Picard isn't very noble in this book functioning mainly to yell at Q. He sounds like a bitter old man. Ah well. Other than that I think people will enjoy it if they like the Q character and aren't expecting Moby Dick.
|
