New review at Unreality SF

[defcons_treklit]

My latest review is up at Unreality SF:

Titan: Sword of Damocles

Comments

[steve-roby.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, I agree with your review. The prose was a problem for me (I called my review on the Starfleet Library blog "Wobbling in the marsh of bizarre energies," one of the odder turns of phrase in the book). Also, while it's good to see some use of lower decks characters in a more ensemble cast-oriented series like Titan, there were some major league events happening, and we should have seen the senior officers' perspective on those events a bit more often.

I found the faith stuff really over the top. It didn't do anything for the character or the story, it just felt like a forced bit of pandering. I wasn't convinced by the science elements of the story, either. Too much of it felt like technobabble rather than anything based in reality.

So... is there a way to comment on the Unreality site itself?

[defcons-treklit.livejournal.com]

So... is there a way to comment on the Unreality site itself?

I don't think so, you can make comments about the site per e-Mail at contact@unreality-sf.net, but as far as I know there is no possibility to make public comments like on a blog.

[defcons-treklit.livejournal.com]

FWIW I have mailed Daniel with a link to this entry, so maybe he will chime in tomorrow with more info.

[steve-roby.livejournal.com]

There are more than enough discussion forums out there already, but still... non-blog sites like Salon.com allow feedback in the form of comments on articles. It's a good way to get people to stick around and to come back later.

[dberry.livejournal.com]

That wasn't something I'd thought of, but it's definitely a good idea.

I'll look into the possibility of adding that feature, certainly. :]

D.

[defcons-treklit.livejournal.com]

Concerning the faith stuff:

I agree, the whole thing came totally out of the blue and did little for the novel. And like I said in the review they're risking to limit the Bajorans just to their faith with "plots" like this. DS9 always had faith as an integral part of the saga, and it works there, but here it felt forced.

[brabbel.livejournal.com]

I also absolutely agree with your review - and I'm just about halfway through with "Sword...". This is just a boring story, the characterization seems 2-dimensional, the prose is flat and unimaginative... I really hope the next installment of Titan will pick up the pace again.

[defcons-treklit.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your comments.

FWIW if you're halfway through you have the worst behind you. :)

While the later parts of the novel still aren't really good, they're a a bit better than the beginning in my opinion.