This book, while not as riveting as “The Good That Men Do”, was (in my opinion), extremely good. Michael Martin & Andy Mangels have jumped to the top 15 authors on my little list; right up there with James Patterson and Stephen King.

The story here might not’ve been as good as others, but the writing, at least I think, is excellent!

I don’t see anything bumbling about Archer. I see Archer following orders as an officer of a weak and untested Earth. I don’t see anything inept or ineffectual coming out of Starfleet. I see Starfleet officers obeying their oaths to take direction from the civilian united Earth government. And, I see that government as only one government among the coalition, a coalition that does not trust the humans.

The behavior of the characters in this book seem to me quite believable and consistent with what we’d expect from members of a brand new coalition who face the prospect of war as the initial task facing them.

The only unrealistic behavior in the book, frankly, is Trip’s magical ability to avoid death. He’s alive at the end only because of a series of lucky breaks that strain credulity.

Thanks.

I would agree about Archer’s lack of discovery with regard to Reed’s absence. It’s a bit hard to believe, even if you accept that the second-string crew is fully capable. What I wanted was a scene upon Reed’s return (and the other character involved), where they spoke frankly with Archer and hashed out the issues in question. This is my major real complaint with the novel. That and I actually wanted to a lot see more of Reed and said other character doing what they do while they’re away from the ship. More focus on them and a little less focus on politics might have made all the difference.

As for Hernandez, keep in mind, she’s facing her first major crisis. She’s only been a captain for a few months at this point. And given what she knows Archer has been through, her decisions are believable to me.

As for the Coalition council becoming so fragmented so quickly, I think if you’ll recall the last few episodes of the series, they were NEVER really fully unified. It’s a VERY fragile alliance at this point, with each party having its own agendas, and it was often Archer alone who found ways to keep them together. So this aspect worked for me too.

I totally agree about wanting more impact with Travis, but then Enterprise has always had a difficult time integrating Travis and Hoshi into the narrative thrust of the action. I’m hoping for more in the next book.

Also agreed about Valdore and the Trip storyline – definitely these are the strengths of the novel. I would add to that my appreciation of T’Pol’s story – it’s more personal, but I completely buy it given the events of the previous book and the last few episode of the TV series, including Demons and Terra Prime.

I should point out, it’s not that I disagree with your review, simply that I have a different perspective. I’m a Trek fan of 40+ years, but only a very casual one in the last 10 or 15 years. These last few Enterprise books are the only Trek books I’ve really read since I was in college, so I’m sure you have more experience with recent Trek lit. Enterprise the series actually rekindled my interest in Trek, so my point is that, from that casual perspective of someone who really enjoyed the show (until the awful finale), I’ve found this book, and the last one, to be very enjoyable… if, like the series, occasionally a bit flawed.

Bill,

I appreciate your thoughts on the book. Some of my thoughts…

The Kobayashi Maru incident itself didn’t feel like it had the dramatic impact to be the final straw (as you put it). In fact, it didn’t hit me with any dramatic impact (perhaps because, at least for me, from the moment Archer started to approach, I knew what his solution would be). I fail to see why the Coalition would go to war over one ship, especially considering the kind of stuff that is going on throughout the novel.

As for not living up to their potential, let’s start with Archer. Indeed, there is a reason that Reed isn’t around… a good reason. But the cover story is lame. I don’t, for one second, believe that the commanding officer of a ship going immanently into battle, would allow his tactical officer to sit on the toilet. That’s incompetence, at least to me. Obviously his absence is designed to draw out Archer’s discovery of another plot point to a more appropriate time, and, sadly, by delaying that discovery, it robs that moment of the emotional impact it could have had if Archer had looked into Reed’s absence earlier. As the story comes to a climax and the Reed story is (somewhat) resolved, none of the real tension that should be there between Archer and Reed is felt… and while one knows that business as usual won’t be the same between them, the closing pages just don’t give that impression.

As for Hernandez, she’s been briefed about what’s going on in Coalition space, suddenly finds herself faced with a situation that is a dead ringer for what she was told was going on, and just sits there trying to figure out what to do. I can’t tell you the number of times I wanted to yell “Just start shooting!” at the pages…

I appreciate the behind the scenes political struggle that the Coalition was facing, but I find it hard to believe that the council would become so fragmented so quickly over something that they already had some inkling could be happening. The council appeared to be deliberately dumbed down in order to allow the story to move forward. Perhaps this was meant as a bit of contemporary political commentary, I don’t know… but it just didn’t resonate with me.

While I felt that Horizon story was a nice tip of the hat, the real payoff should have been with Mayweather. At least he got a few lines in the book, but I just don’t feel that he got enough exposure, considering the Horizon’s role.

Back to the Trip storyline, I have to agree that Valdore is simply one of the neatest (did I just say that?) Romulans… crafty, sneaky, and out in the open at the same time. If this novel had been the same length, and focused only on Trip’s story, I would have been pleased as punch. The Trip storyline is really a positive contribution to the Enterprise mystique.

Rob+