๏ ๏ ๏  Book Blurb ๏ ๏ ๏ 

๏ ๏ ๏  My Review ๏ ๏ ๏ 

๏ ๏ ๏  MY RATING ๏ ๏ ๏ 

๏ Breakdown of Ratings ๏ 

 

Plot⇝ 5/5

Main Characters⇝ 5+/5

Secondary Characters⇝ 5/5

The Feels⇝ 5+/5

Pacing⇝ 5/5

Addictiveness⇝ 5+/5

Theme or Tone⇝ 5/5

Flow (Writing Style)⇝ 4.5/5

Backdrop (World Building)⇝ 5/5

Originality⇝ 5+/5

Ending⇝ 4.8/5 Cliffhanger⇝ Nope.

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Book Cover⇝ Love them all...

Narration⇝ Olivia Taylor Dudley, Carla Corvo, Johnathan McClain, Lincoln Hoppe, MacLeod Andrews, Erin Spencer, Andrew Eiden, Lisa Cordileone, Matthew Frow, Olivia Mackenzie-Smith, Ryan Gessel, Vikas Adam, Sile Bermingham, Mike Chamberlin, Feodor Chin, Charlotte Cole, Kimberly Farr, Kaleo Griffith, Hillary Huber, JD Jackson, David Jung, Greta Jung, Joshua Kane, Jolene Kim, David H Lawrence XVII, Nick, Martorelli, Donnabella Mortel, PJ Ochlan, Ray Porter, Ray Shappell, Emily Woo Zeller, Dan Zitt 

 

Series⇝ Illuminae #3

Setting⇝ Deep Space and Kerenza

Source⇝ I Own Audible Audiobook
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Star Trek Destiny #2: Mere Mortals by David Mack continues the trilogy that I began discussing on Monday. We find our crews separated across not only vast distances but also by time itself. Hernandez and 3 members of her crew are stranded with the Caeliar in the 1500s trying to find a suitable planet to inhabit without any hope of returning to their lives back on Earth in their time. Riker and the crew of Titan have reached the homeworld of the Caeliar in the present day and things do not go according to plan...in fact events quickly snowball out of Riker's control. Meanwhile, Picard and Dax are going through subspace tunnels in the style of eeny, meeney, miney, moe trying to find the one which will lead them to the Borg's point of origin and hopefully onto a path of defeating them. 

The best parts of this installment were those which followed Hernandez's struggles to adjust to her new existence and the glimpses of the Federation President scrabbling to put together a formidable force to defeat the approaching Borg Armada. There are two reasons I think that I preferred these two storylines: I still haven't watched Nemesis and still feel confused by this reality and Mack's depiction of familiar faces did not sit right with me particularly in regards to Picard. Sometimes I find that the best Star Trek novelizations are the ones where the author focuses more on the storyline element and less on the characters which the audience typically knows really well. In this case, Mack's description of the Caeliar race and their culture coupled with the (unknown to me at least) Captain Hernandez and her never-ending quest to escape/understand her captors was exactly what I wanted in a great sci-fi novel. Conversely, the dramatic characterization of Riker's faltering marriage and Picard's inner struggles against the Borg felt stilted and forced. 

By this point, I was way too invested not to continue so if you're wondering how I felt about the conclusion you can check back next week for that (although hopefully you're checking every day (-:). 7/10 for book 2 in this trilogy.

What's Up Next: The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity by Byron Reese

What I'm Currently Reading: Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond and The Science of Supervillains by Lois H. Gresh & Robert Weinberg

No, no, no....I am sorry, Jeremy, you know I'm a big fan, but this was my least favorite of all your books. For the reasons some of the other reviewers loved it, I did not. Didn't care for the potty humor, gamer references, (guess cuz I'm not a gamer), the over-the-top silliness of the whole thing, and the obvious storyline. Just not my cup tea, but don't worry, I am still a fan and will always read anything you write, except a Space Force sequel.

(I know it's supposed to be a funny book, but I still didn't like it)

Star Trek Destiny #1: Gods of Night by David Mack is the first part in a trilogy which was a journey from beginning to end. Firstly, let me start by saying that when I initially ordered these I did so not realizing that they were written quite a few years ago which did cause me some confusion early on. (I bought them at a discount rate as an ebook set so I really should have put 2+2 together.) Secondly, let me give you the heads up that I didn't have (because I really went in blind, ya'll) that you need prior knowledge about The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, AND Nemesis (which is the one I had not seen (and still haven't seen)) if you want to have any hope of following along. If you haven't seen these you are going to be 1. lost and 2. very much spoiled for future events. 

Now that that's all out of the way let's delve into the meat and potatoes of the plot of this book. Like most books that begin a series Gods of Night really lays down a lot of foundation for future action. And there is a lot of information to get through because there is a mess load of time travel back and forth with many, many different characters. (Hint: I didn't love this.) The reader follows 4 different Starfleet crews through multiple time periods which are denoted at the start of each new chapter. You have to be paying a lot of attention and since I read these as ebooks I found it a bit more challenging. Basically, the Caeliar are chanced upon by the Columbia and her crew and found to be so much more technically advanced that there is no chance of overpowering, negotiating, or escaping. The Borg are back and instead of assimilating they have changed their mission to one of annihilation. The Federation is trying to muster up the forces to stop the Borg without any success and the crew of the Columbia are just trying to get back home. SO many characters and so little time (ha time travel pun). I didn't love this book but I did continue the series because by the time I'd gotten to the end of this segment I was too invested to stop...and I'm glad I kept going because by the third book the action was intense, guys. (Wait til you get to the end!) For Gods of Night a 6/10 but check for the reviews of Mere Mortals and Lost Souls in the coming weeks to see what I thought of those and my overall series rating. ;-)

Quick rundown of details:

The Columbia captained by Erika Hernandez, the Aventine captained by Ezri Dax, the Titan captained by Will Riker, and of course the Enterprise captained by Jean-Luc Picard. The aliens encountered: the Borg and the Caeliar. The times explored: too many to recount.

What's Up Next: Robot Dreams by Sara Varon

What I'm Currently Reading: Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond