Rating: Summary: Too Many Plots That Don't Fit Together Review: The real question to be asked about "Vendetta" is, "What is it about?" Picard's unrequitted love for an apparition he thought he'd imagined during an Academy hangover? That apparition's obsession with revenge and her friends' attempt to redeem her? The plight of de-assimilaton? A Picard rival who has all the command stature of Al Bundy? Or the most anticipated clash of the titans since Godzilla vs. King Kong?There is just a bit too much going on in this book for its own good, and it really shows. Almost as if the core idea was "The Doomsday Machine vs. the Borg" and David tried to obscure it by burying it under an excess of derivative subplots that conspire to skew the core plot into absurdity. We can feel for Delcara, whose entire race was wiped out by the Borg, then lost her adopted home (the El Aurians, Guinan's people) to them in turn. One can certainly understand her motivation to avenge herself on the Borg by any means necessary. But how she learned of the Planet Killer (v. 2.0), and how she found it, elicit uncontrollable eyerolling. And Picard's feelings for her, and his attempt to lure her away from he mission of vengeance by proclaiming his undying love in over-the-top fashion, was unintentionally comical. It all combined to take a potentially rich and deeply textured character and reduce her to a unidimensional cardboard cutout. Then there's Picard's old Academy rival, Morgan Korsmo, who has somehow made a noteworthy Starfleet career for himself despite being the biggest martinet and envymonger in the Alpha Quadrant. He descends into near lunacy and definite incoherence simply to contradict Jean Luc - heck, at one point he fires on the Enterprise out of sheer spite - and insanely insists that Delcara is the "real" enemy instead of the Borg. My only disappointment was that when he got his ship blowed up real good, he didn't go down with it. Between Korsmo's intransigence and Picard's sentimentality, it's a wonder the Borg didn't assimilate the entire Federation. Good thing Delcara was so muleheaded. What "Vendetta" has going for it aside from the spectacular battle scenes (What I wouldn't give to see THIS on the big screen) is the oddly gripping subplot of a Ferengi Daimon (Turane) being assimilated as a Borg Speaker (like Picard was turned into Locutus) and his confrontation with Picard on board the planetkiller, and the tragic liberation from the Collective of a one-time human space adventurer who met hell head-on but couldn't survive the expunging of her soul, even with Geordi La Forge's dogged help. Not every drone can become a Seven of Nine. The conclusion of the story, illustrating the ultimate futility of revenge, is very appropriate. Pity the reader must tune out so much extraneous static to get there.
Rating: Summary: Too Many Plots That Don't Fit Together Review: The real question to be asked about "Vendetta" is, "What is it about?" Picard's unrequitted love for an apparition he thought he'd imagined during an Academy hangover? That apparition's obsession with revenge and her friends' attempt to redeem her? The plight of de-assimilaton? A Picard rival who has all the command stature of Al Bundy? Or the most anticipated clash of the titans since Godzilla vs. King Kong? There is just a bit too much going on in this book for its own good, and it really shows. Almost as if the core idea was "The Doomsday Machine vs. the Borg" and David tried to obscure it by burying it under an excess of derivative subplots that conspire to skew the core plot into absurdity. We can feel for Delcara, whose entire race was wiped out by the Borg, then lost her adopted home (the El Aurians, Guinan's people) to them in turn. One can certainly understand her motivation to avenge herself on the Borg by any means necessary. But how she learned of the Planet Killer (v. 2.0), and how she found it, elicit uncontrollable eyerolling. And Picard's feelings for her, and his attempt to lure her away from he mission of vengeance by proclaiming his undying love in over-the-top fashion, was unintentionally comical. It all combined to take a potentially rich and deeply textured character and reduce her to a unidimensional cardboard cutout. Then there's Picard's old Academy rival, Morgan Korsmo, who has somehow made a noteworthy Starfleet career for himself despite being the biggest martinet and envymonger in the Alpha Quadrant. He descends into near lunacy and definite incoherence simply to contradict Jean Luc - heck, at one point he fires on the Enterprise out of sheer spite - and insanely insists that Delcara is the "real" enemy instead of the Borg. My only disappointment was that when he got his ship blowed up real good, he didn't go down with it. Between Korsmo's intransigence and Picard's sentimentality, it's a wonder the Borg didn't assimilate the entire Federation. Good thing Delcara was so muleheaded. What "Vendetta" has going for it aside from the spectacular battle scenes (What I wouldn't give to see THIS on the big screen) is the oddly gripping subplot of a Ferengi Daimon (Turane) being assimilated as a Borg Speaker (like Picard was turned into Locutus) and his confrontation with Picard on board the planetkiller, and the tragic liberation from the Collective of a one-time human space adventurer who met hell head-on but couldn't survive the expunging of her soul, even with Geordi La Forge's dogged help. Not every drone can become a Seven of Nine. The conclusion of the story, illustrating the ultimate futility of revenge, is very appropriate. Pity the reader must tune out so much extraneous static to get there.
Rating: Summary: Borg-blasting Adventure! Review: This book was fantastic. All the intensity of a ST:TNG novel with the beautiful visualization of the television series. Peter David paints dramatic space battles, the borg-torn planet Penzatti, and the characterizations that represent Trek at its is best.
Rating: Summary: Flawed but enjoyable Review: This is one of Peter David's earlier books. There are a few errors in this work. For example, the characterization of the Borg. The Ferengi Borg is allowed knowledge of his previous indentity, which I find hard to believe. Data seems rather 'fragile' in this book because in not one but two instances he is assaulted quite handily by Reannon Bonnaventure. On the whole, quite enjoyable, lots of action. The character Reannon Bonnaventure does not serve any purpose in this book and I thought to myself: Why is she anyway? His writing here is not at its peak, but that's excusable, this was his third TNG novel.
Rating: Summary: The giant cone vs. the giant cube! Review: This novel has some great tie-ins to the original series. The best, however, being the return of the planet killer. The idea that it was sent from just outside our galaxly into the heart of Borg space, preferably straight through the Terran system as well, was awseome. Also, having the spiked doomsday machine destroy a Tholian web was astounding! The Vastator of Borg character was a great added bonus. My favorite part of the book is the final battle between the Borg cubes, the planet killer, and the Enterprise. I recommend this book to Star Trek fans everywhere.
Rating: Summary: Dr. Mccloud must be a Borg! Review: This volume must be one of the best Star Trek adventures ever written. The only reason Dr. McCloud didn't like it is that he has alresdy been assimalated. What form of medicine does he practice?.....Don't wait till he gets it down!!
Rating: Summary: Wasted Opportunities Review: What a waste - the return of the Borg, and its stuck in the middle of this dreary tale of Ferengi and ghosts from Picard's past. It attempts to draw together far too many strings that were never meant to be related, and was a huge diappointment.
Rating: Summary: Best TREK book Review: What do I say? This book captures the TNG universe perfectly! I would recommend this story even to one of those people who don't read any of the books in the new series. 5 stars for sure
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