tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529911059865628556.post2380252873718134350..comments2024-03-27T08:28:02.203-06:00Comments on Trek Lit Reviews: Death in WinterDan Guntherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05894089240112561224noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529911059865628556.post-69134765726032962872019-07-11T08:54:55.034-06:002019-07-11T08:54:55.034-06:00Federation President: Congratulations on your firs...Federation President: Congratulations on your first day as Head of Starfleet Medical!<br /><br />Luscious Bev: Thanks!<br /><br />Federation President: ...so u ready to go undercover on a solo undercover mission in Romulan space?<br /><br />LB: ...ummm...sure.<br /><br /><br />lol. It's like saying "Hey congrats on being appointed Secretary of Agriculture - here's your hoe and giant bag of seed." MJF was never one to bother with setting up a detailed explanation to get the story where he wants it. He just sort of throws things together. He's not as bad about it as John "ok the Enterprise D crew are gonna be used as crash test dummies and terrorists steal half the ship!" Vornholt but it's still kind of funny. <br /><br /><br />Good review. I listened to the Literary Treks episode too and I agree with almost all of your points. I think this book is much better than its reputation. Reading comments at Trekbbs made me expect the worst, but I ended up thinking it was pretty decent. As you said, the Romulan sections were the highlight of the book. Another thing I like about this one (and Resistance) is that we get to see Dr. Crusher in a major role. She's a very underutilized character, imo. I thought the romance portions were handled fairly well. Good catch on connecting the final scene of the book with the Riker-Picard scene in Farpoint. I would never have noticed that. <br /><br />There was some recapping which is something that I usually hate, but since it was a book about examining the relationship between Picard and Crusher I don't think it seemed as intrusive as it usually does. I also didn't mind the recapping of Reunion; it makes sense considering it's a 20 year old book that many people may not have read. This isn't the gratuitous page filling recapping of well known episodes that we find in some books. <br /><br />Criticisms:<br /><br />I think this would have been a very good Stargazer book, but instead it was just a pretty good TNG book. I didn't hate the Geordi and Worf scenes onboard the Enterprise, but I wish those scenes had been replaced with more scenes featuring the fate of Dr. Greyhorse or maybe with a couple of more Crusher scenes. I would have loved to see a scene with showing Beverly getting her undercover assignment, or a scene at the end showing Beverly's thoughts after Picard confesses her love for her. The book could have been improved immeasurably with 10 extra pages filling in those blanks, but those parts were inexplicably left out for some reason. <br /><br />Final score:<br /><br />3 out of 5 forgotten lucky marbles. <br /><br /><br />p.s. "Legacy" is still probably my favorite MJF trek book. Since you've been reviewing Pike era novels recently, you might want to check that one out. It (sort of) fits the bill. <br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com