Sunday, August 2, 2020

Literary Treks 308: Maybe Stop Biting and Kidnapping Counselors

Star Trek: Titan
Over a Torrent Sea
by Christopher L. Bennett

Purchase:
Mass-market paperback: Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk
E-book (Kindle): Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk

In the aftermath of the devastating events of the Destiny trilogy, the Starship Titan is once again assigned to deep space exploration beyond the farthest borders of the Federation. Investigating an oceanic world of abundant and mysterious life, the crew unwittingly causes distress to the ecosystem and to the lives of the inhabitants of the world, nicknamed Droplet. Now, Captain Riker and Ensign Lavena, cut off from the rest of the crew, must convince their captors of their sincere desire to help the people of Droplet before the damage becomes irreparable.

In their final episode as hosts of Literary Treks, hosts Bruce Gibson and Dan Gunther discuss the Star Trek: Titan novel Over a Torrent Sea by Christopher L. Bennett. They talk about Titan's new mission, the Squales of Droplet, Ensign Aili Lavena and her past, a difficult maternal situation for Deanna Troi, the unintended consequences of the crew's decisions, atonement for past mistakes, and wrap up with their final thoughts and ratings.

At the top of the show, Bruce and Dan review the first issue in IDW's new Deep Space Nine miniseries, Too Long a Sacrifice.


Literary Treks 308: Maybe Stop Biting and Kidnapping Counselors
Titan: Over a Torrent Sea by Christopher L. Bennett







Previous episode: Literary Treks 307: Twisted Like a Bag of Bread
Next episode: Stay Tuned for Book Coverage on Positively Trek!

1 comment:

  1. Very good episode. I just don't enjoy the Titan books. The idea of a diverse, non-human crew is interesting, but I just don't like the majority of the characters.

    CLB is a smart guy, and I appreciate his excellent worldbuilding, but I have a couple of issues with his writing. Number one is that he tends to get bogged down with unimportant details. Trying to "fix" perceived flaws or plotholes in the tv episodes is an example of this. Sometimes it can be interesting, but many times it takes me out of the moment. His overall plots are fine, but the "interruptions" really hurt his books, imo. It's like your dad saying "Hey, kids - we're going to Disneyland!" and then stopping every 5 miles on an 800 mile journey to fix potholes and pick up litter.

    The second issue I have is with his interest in transhumanism. It can work out great in some series, but it's the polar opposite of what TOS was about. It works much better in the Titan books.

    p.s. I wish that the Titan books had focused on the war and cloak and dagger stuff that has permeated the Trek novels of the last two decades and left the exploration to the TNG crew.

    p.p.s. Congrats on a great run on LT! Looking forward to your new venture.

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