From archive (archive) Subject: KNIGHT LIFE by Peter David >From: ecl@mtgzy.UUCP (Evelyn C. Leeper) Organization: AT&T, Middletown NJ Date: 8 Jul 87 15:33:33 GMT KNIGHT LIFE by Peter David Ace, 1987, $2.95. A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1987 Evelyn C. Leeper Arthur's been sleeping for 1500 years and now he returns--to New York City?! Why he's in New York rather than Britain is not entirely explained, though it probably has something to do with Morgan Le Fey being there. How he manages to cope with modern city life is more the point of the story anyway. This book presumes that Arthur is under some stricture never to lie, even a "little white lie," so a lot of the suspense is supposedly based on how he answers people's questions without lying or getting thrown into Bellevue. The battle between the forces of good and evil becomes a side- plot to whether Arthur will be elected mayor of New York. It's a fun frivolous read, but on closer examination the picture of benevolent dictatorship that Arthur seems to be building up toward may worry the more literal-minded of the audience. Though I enjoyed it while I was reading it, I can't recommend it as anything more than a time-filler. Evelyn C. Leeper (201) 957-2070 UUCP: ihnp4!mtgzy!ecl ARPA: mtgzy!ecl@rutgers.rutgers.edu From rec.arts.sf-lovers Wed Apr 24 14:34:46 1991 Xref: herkules.sssab.se rec.arts.startrek:1816 rec.arts.sf-lovers:25704 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!unido!fauern!ira.uka.de!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!spool.mu.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!batcomputer!amnesia.tcnet.ithaca.ny.us!mikey From: mikey@amnesia.tcnet.ithaca.ny.us (Uncle Mikey) Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek,rec.arts.sf-lovers Subject: Shappe's "My God, It's Full of Stars" Spoiler Review: _Vendetta_ Summary: Cervantes would be proud Keywords: Peter David Star Trek Next Generation Picard Guinan Geordi Borg Classic Doomsday Machine Albatross! Message-ID: <0101002C.ckhndp3@amnesia.tcnet.ithaca.ny.us> Date: 12 Apr 91 01:53:19 GMT Reply-To: mikey@amnesia.tcnet.ithaca.ny.us Organization: Hertz Rent-a-Life Lines: 180 X-Mailer: uAccess - Mac Release: 1.1.b1 Yes, boys and goils, it's time for Uncle Mikey Shappe's "My God, It's Full of Stars" Spoiler Review Star Trek: The Next Generation--Vendetta A Giant Novel by Peter David (New York: Pocket Books, 1991. ISBN 0-671-74145-4. $4.50 US) Twenty Lines and an invisible bovine ignition system follow 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 5 4 (Uh, Mike, where's Six?) (Oh...sorry...I've always had a bit o' trobule with sixes) 1 Peter David tends to excel at taking diverse concepts and juxtaposing them. His non-Trek novels, _Knight Life_ and _Howling Mad_, both take old plot concepts and twist them around--the former brings King Arthur back to life in modern day New York City and has him run for Mayor, the latter answers the question, "What happens when a werewolf bites a WOLF?" He also does a good job at finding reasons for things. For example, in _The Incredible Hulk_, Peter has finally proposed a good reason for why Bruce Banner was affected the way he was when he got whammied with Gamma Rays, when other Gamma victims have been affected differently (She-Hulk, for example, is big and green ALL THE TIME, but retained her intelligence). The answer--Banner was a Multiple Personality Disorder victim. The Green Hulk represented the repressed, abused child; the Grey Hulk the repressed adolescent. Both of these strengths are put to good use here, and result an a gripping plot and a good read. The book, as most of you know, is a Borg story, taking place a few months after "The Best of Both Worlds", sometime after "The Loss" [there is a reference to Troi losing her abilities]. There are several plots, including a "liberated" Borg who had once been a freighter pilot for the Federation, a Ferengi Daimon turned Borg, the travels of the Borg themselves, and the Doomsday Machine, Mark II (reference: Star Trek: The Original Series--"The Doomsday Machine"). But most of all, it's about tilting at windmills. Throughout the novel, Geordi is trying to break through to the personality of the unBorged woman; a revenge-crazed woman whom both Picard and Guinan know is trying to wipe out the Borg, using the second planet-killer; a Federation captain is trying the Matthew Decker approach to planet-killers, while also trying to live up to his classmate Jean-Luc Picard's standard; Picard is fighting against his past. Like _Don Quixote_, the novel is a tragedy. Very few of the "good guys" win; no one really accomplishes their goals; in short, despite Mr. David's flippant manner, there is no happy ending this time. The novel is a continuity lover's dream, however. Guest apperances include Pulaski, Shelby, and a brief mention of Argyle. The original "Doomsday Machine" incident was oft' referred to, answering [albeit non-canonically :-)] many netters' questions regarding how well the 23rd Century is remembered. Also, as I said before, Peter has come up with a very convincing explanation of why the planet-killer should exist. It really does make a perfect Borg-killer. He also comes up with a convincing--and haunting--explanation of what happens as you approach Warp 10. But, as I have recently argued, good _Star Trek_ is about PEOPLE first. It's all fine and good that they've got all that technology, but a story should be about what happens to people, and how the react. Here, too, Mr. David shines. Picard's...discomfiture at having to face the Borg--and something possibly more powerful-- is palpable. Geordi's confusion and anguish over the liberated Borg woman's ultimate failure to return to normal is a frustration many can sympathize with. At the same time, it is difficult not to sympathize with the revenge-crazed Dantar the Last, whose entire planet has been Borg-decimated. In short, every character of merit is given a dimension and life that the television show itself often must gloss over in the course of fitting a story into 47 minutes. The real shame, in my opinion, is that the ST production folks are so against turning such novels into teleplays. This is an excellent followup to "The Best of Both Worlds", and easily comes up to BOBW part one's standard in many ways. Of course, it would have to be a three or four part story to do it justice, but I really cannot imagine a better way to follow the Borg story line up. Some itemized notes... The Good * Continuity!!!!!!! * Doomsday machine. Nice touch. Thank you for finally providing an explanation to one of the great mysteries of Classic Star Trek. * Mention of Kirk and Spock and the original Enterprise. Despite my devil's-advocate comments on the thread "Why is Kirk not remembered?", there really should be a little more frequent mention of past events in general, and the original Enterprise's in particular. * Mention of other stories and events in the series. Helps to put things into temporal perspective and give a little more sense of where this would fit if only Paramount acknowledged it as canonical :-) * Good use of Guinan as a CHARACTER and not just a guest. * Pulaski guest shot. Would have liked a little more, actually, but then I'm one of the few who thought she was a good character to begin with. * Shelby guest shot. * Terman, Boyijan and Meyers guest shots :-) [Three Rec.Arts.Comics regulars] * Characterizations * NOT a happy ending (yes, that's a good thing. A happy ending would not have been easily believable) The Bad * Characterizations. "What?!" I hear you say. "Didn't that appear under 'The Good'?" Yes, it did. They were, for the most part good. However, I do think that Mr. David went a little overboard on the humor. Ordinarily, I agree with his making the characters a little more sardonic than they ususally appear on the screen. Here, however, there were situations where I did not feel it fit. * Too much techie. Yes, it was a good thing to use the Official Writer's Tech Manual (soon to be publicized as the _Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual_, by Mike Okuda and Rick Sternbach, With a special introduction by Gene Roddenberry, due in July). However, I think perhaps the tech references (particularly some of the warp tech references) were to overt. They needed a bit more subtlety. The question marks * Should Troi have been so...negative toward the recovered Borg/former freighter pilot? She always struck me as someone who would join the position Geordi took. * Same question for Crusher. She seemed a lot less sympathetic than I would have expected. * The Feregni Daimon-Borg. I supposed it's possible, but every other Borg we've seen has been clearly homonid. On the other hand, it opens an interesting question--if homonid isn't requried, than are there any limits on the kinds of minds that could be absorbed? Imagine a Sulamid Borg [apologies to Diane Duane], or a Horta Borg. The Numbers [yes, an actual breakdown for a change] Grand Average--> 8.985--> 9. Nice work, Peter! Plots: 8.83 Picard-Delcara: 8. A nice insight on Picard, but I didn't think that the reasoning for one finding the other in the first place was clear enough. Delcara-Doomsday Machine: 9. Nicely eerie. Picard-Korsmo: 9. Nice development of Picard's past, and Korsmo makes an intersting antithesis to Picard, showing that not all 'Fleet captains are like Jean-Luc. Geordi-Rheannon: 9. Answered several questions (How many other Terran-humans have they taken? What would have happened had Picard been a Borg longer?) and developed Geordi nicely. Daimon Turane: 8. Could have used a little more development, I thought. The Borg: 10. Spot on, all the way, I thought. Character usage [includes characterization]: 9.14 The regulars: 9.71 Picard: 10. Riker: 10. Troi: 9. Crusher: 9. Worf: 8--not enough "screen time", I thought, and played a little simplistically. Geordi: 10. Guinan: 10. Data: 9--nothing specifically wrong that I can pin down...just a general non-10 feeling. The guests: 8.56 Delcara: 10--beautifully obsessive. Turane: 10--pure Ferengi--even to the point of teaching the Borg a bit about the Ferengi mindset. Dantar the Last: 10--victim-reaction spot on. Shelby: 9--I'm sorry, but the Shelby from BOBW part one, at least, would have punched Korsmo in the mouth about halfway through :-). Korsmo: 9--well played, but I find it hard to believe a man so blind to the obvious [that the Borg, and the Doomsday machine, could both tear his little Excelsior-Class ship into small pieces] made it to Captain two weeks before Picard did :-). Rheannon: 10. This almost was a non-rating, simply because for most of the piece, she had no character to judge--she was a tabula rasa; her ending, however, was poignant in the extreme. Taggart: 7--a throwaway, but well played. Pulaski: 7--far to small a cameo for a former crew member. O'Brien: 5--oof; surely, something more could have been done here. Coming Soon: ????: _Star Trek--Probe_ by Margaret Wander Bonanno (Giant, Hardcover) June: _Star Trek--Renegade_ by Gene DeWeese (#55) July: _Star Trek: The Next Generation--Boogeymen_ by Mel Gilden (#17) _Star Trek: The Next Generation--Technical Manual_ by Rick Sternbach and Michael Okuda, with special introduction by Gene Roddenberry (Trade Paper) Sept: _Star Trek: The First 25 Years_ by Gene Roddenberry and Susan Sackett (Oversized "coffee-table" Hardcover) Mike "Uncle Mikey" Shappe Counting out time =-=-=-=-=-= "Can I help it if I have arguments with my body parts and lose?" --Lizard Hazard, President CUSFA