Star Trek: The Lost Era
The Art of the Impossible
By Keith R.A. DeCandido
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The Betreka Nebula Incident: an eighteen-year cold war between the Cardassian Union and the Klingon Empire. The tale of the conflict over the planet Raknal V that nearly plunged the quadrant into war is finally told!
In this episode of the Positively Trek Book Club, hosts Dan and Bruce discuss The Art of the Impossible, a novel of The Lost Era by master storyteller Keith R.A. DeCandido. We talk about the Klingons and Cardassians, the conflict over Raknal V, the Romulans' resurgence, obsession and blind nationalism, and wrap up with our final thoughts and ratings.
Previous episode: The Next Generation: Metamorphosis
I really want to like this book, but the premise is incredibly flawed. As both of you guys noticed, Kurzon's compromise doesn't make any sense at all. The Cardassians only want to exploit part of the planet and have no interest in the ship. The Klingons only want the ship and have no interest in the planet. Now individual members of both races have been shown to be afflicted with "hard headed alien" disease but the upper echelons of both governments are usually extremely pragmatic when it comes to realpolitik. I don't get why there wasn't an easy compromise here.
ReplyDeleteI asked KRAD about this a while back and his response was:
"From the Klingon perspective, they found a holy relic, and that made Raknal V in general and the ship in particular something they should own. From the Cardassian perspective, they were at a stage where -- as established way back in "Chain of Command" -- they had sold off their art and archeological finds and history to pay for the military and to feed their people. Klingons revere the artifacts of their past, Cardassians have complete contempt for such. And both sides are more than willing to fight, the Klingons for their relics, the Cardassians for their right to expand. There was also no treaty in place, so no means by which a compromise could be made."
I'm not sure that that explanation works for me. It's a shame because the novel was excellent in many respects. It reminds me of Serpents Among the Ruins - a great book hurt by a twist that I just don't find plausible.