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odin45mp's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars rounded up. Having seen the Star Trek Picard season in its entirety, I knew full well where this was going and where it would end up. But as with so many tales, the journey is the important part. And what a journey we have here. The Romulan star is going to go supernova. How fast, and how far the devastation will travel is a matter of science... and politics. Picard sees his sworn duty in preserving life, and stakes his career on motivating Starfleet to change from a mission of exploration to a mission of mercy, and devote ships, personnel, and R&D to building transport ships and refugee housing to move almost a billion souls out of the blast radius.
Such a shift is political suicide, especially when more conservative members of the Federation say "It's a Romulan problem" and "The Federation should look after its own first." When the Romulan government tells its citizens and the rest of the galaxy that the disaster is well in hand, not as big as the scientists say it will be, and they have an evacuation plan well underway for their homeworld.
Of course, they don't have a plan, the disaster is well beyond where official documents say it will be, and the rest of the galaxy will feel the impact of their actions and inactions for years to come. This will destabilize the balance of power in the Alpha and Beta quadrants, and in which direction depends on how many, and who, are saved, and who are left to die.
We get a strong injection of the best that science fiction can be, holding up a mirror to our own lives and present reality. McCormick lives in England. I saw strong parallels to Brexit in this story. I saw echos of the 2016 United States culture divide. I saw poorly masked commentary on global warming and our coming ecological doomsday. She pulls no punches and I love her for it. While she is not pulling punches on the commentary, she maintains Picard's and Raffi's voices as they struggle to do the best they can against impossible odds, where the whole galaxy seems to be against them, and what that does to them in quiet rooms after working hours.
Worth a read if you love Star Trek and science fiction that speaks to where we are and where we should be.
Such a shift is political suicide, especially when more conservative members of the Federation say "It's a Romulan problem" and "The Federation should look after its own first." When the Romulan government tells its citizens and the rest of the galaxy that the disaster is well in hand, not as big as the scientists say it will be, and they have an evacuation plan well underway for their homeworld.
Of course, they don't have a plan, the disaster is well beyond where official documents say it will be, and the rest of the galaxy will feel the impact of their actions and inactions for years to come. This will destabilize the balance of power in the Alpha and Beta quadrants, and in which direction depends on how many, and who, are saved, and who are left to die.
We get a strong injection of the best that science fiction can be, holding up a mirror to our own lives and present reality. McCormick lives in England. I saw strong parallels to Brexit in this story. I saw echos of the 2016 United States culture divide. I saw poorly masked commentary on global warming and our coming ecological doomsday. She pulls no punches and I love her for it. While she is not pulling punches on the commentary, she maintains Picard's and Raffi's voices as they struggle to do the best they can against impossible odds, where the whole galaxy seems to be against them, and what that does to them in quiet rooms after working hours.
Worth a read if you love Star Trek and science fiction that speaks to where we are and where we should be.
andreadmw's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This was a much more compelling background of the story told in Picard tv show. I loved so much about this. Darker, gave so much context and background to where the show was. More interesting than the show but also gave so much context to enhance the shows story.
timinbc's review against another edition
3.0
I'n not up to speed on STPicard, but maybe that will bring a new perspective.
This was a serviceable work, needed to set up a new show.
And I get that McCormack was handed the supernova as a must-use. Since a naturally-occurring supernova would be very easy to foresee in a setting where Warp 9 is possible, it's lucky that "may not have been natural" is included. But if we go there, we have to ask "WHO is capable of inducing a supernova, and how did they do it," given what even we 21st-century wimps know about how a supernova happens.
In this book, Picard isn't as practical or sensible as I expected, but that made him more interesting.
The one thing that really bugged me here, though, was the planet selection.
Destinations: One paradise. OK. One nearly-uninhabitable hellhole - WHY?
Sources: A planet whose occupants don't want to go - so why force them? Move on to the next planet that DOES want to go.
ANY trained emergency responders know that you prioritize the ones you can save, and you deploy resources to maximize the number saved. Every time there's an evac order even on our dumb planet, there are always people who just have to stay, and even now we know to leave them and move on to the next house. And later on they even DID that with the mad duke.
But darn it, I guess I will have to start watching STP, so I guess the book worked.
This was a serviceable work, needed to set up a new show.
And I get that McCormack was handed the supernova as a must-use. Since a naturally-occurring supernova would be very easy to foresee in a setting where Warp 9 is possible, it's lucky that "may not have been natural" is included. But if we go there, we have to ask "WHO is capable of inducing a supernova, and how did they do it," given what even we 21st-century wimps know about how a supernova happens.
In this book, Picard isn't as practical or sensible as I expected, but that made him more interesting.
The one thing that really bugged me here, though, was the planet selection.
Destinations: One paradise. OK. One nearly-uninhabitable hellhole - WHY?
Sources: A planet whose occupants don't want to go - so why force them? Move on to the next planet that DOES want to go.
ANY trained emergency responders know that you prioritize the ones you can save, and you deploy resources to maximize the number saved. Every time there's an evac order even on our dumb planet, there are always people who just have to stay, and even now we know to leave them and move on to the next house. And later on they even DID that with the mad duke.
But darn it, I guess I will have to start watching STP, so I guess the book worked.
rachelbz's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
zmull's review against another edition
3.0
Gene Roddenberry decided sometime in the 70s that the Federation from his TV show Star Trek was a utopia and that humans had achieved a level of enlightenment that allowed them to conquer the great ills of the world, hunger, war, environmental damage, etc... and when he relaunched Star Trek as Star Trek: The Next Generation he insisted on putting forward that vision in the new show. And the writers hated it. Utopias and enlightened human beings are hard to write for. But Roddenberry insisted and after him Rick Berman held the line. JJ Abrams was making movies, so it was easy enough for him to side step the issue. But now CBS is making Star Trek for TV again, which means the Federation as Utopia concept is once again at issue. And it looks like the writers are going to win finally. The new Star Trek Picard TV show is pretty good television. It's got some interesting ideas to play with and, of course, a great cast. But at the heart of it is a rebuttal of Roddenberry's vision. The Federation let billions die because they were selfish and fearful. That's no utopia.
The Last Best Hope exists to expand on that failure. As a novel its got a lot going for it. It asks, "How does one help in an apocalypse?" And it fleshes out some of the more underwritten parts of the TV series (mainly Musiker, but also the origin of the synths). And it's all handled by Una McCormack, who is a rock solid writer. It's a good book. But it's also kind of a drag, because so much of it is about tearing down one of the most inspiring visions of humanity's future in all of science fiction. Picard is the living embodiment of Roddenberry's vision in this book and often he comes off as deluded and foolish. I have very mixed feelings about this direction for the franchise. What makes Star Trek unique without Roddenberry's vision? Cynical space stories are a dime a dozen. "Human aren't perfect" isn't exactly a fresh take.
(Also, I don't give a shit about cursing, but I have no idea what value it brings to Star Trek. Yeah, that's how real people talk, but real people don't zip around the galaxy in space ships and eat bowls of soup made out of holograms. Was there anyone on the fence about Star Trek, who thought, "Oh they say 'fuck' now. I should check it out." All the cursing really does is upset people who have strong feelings against that stuff. The cursing is dumb.)
The Last Best Hope exists to expand on that failure. As a novel its got a lot going for it. It asks, "How does one help in an apocalypse?" And it fleshes out some of the more underwritten parts of the TV series (mainly Musiker, but also the origin of the synths). And it's all handled by Una McCormack, who is a rock solid writer. It's a good book. But it's also kind of a drag, because so much of it is about tearing down one of the most inspiring visions of humanity's future in all of science fiction. Picard is the living embodiment of Roddenberry's vision in this book and often he comes off as deluded and foolish. I have very mixed feelings about this direction for the franchise. What makes Star Trek unique without Roddenberry's vision? Cynical space stories are a dime a dozen. "Human aren't perfect" isn't exactly a fresh take.
(Also, I don't give a shit about cursing, but I have no idea what value it brings to Star Trek. Yeah, that's how real people talk, but real people don't zip around the galaxy in space ships and eat bowls of soup made out of holograms. Was there anyone on the fence about Star Trek, who thought, "Oh they say 'fuck' now. I should check it out." All the cursing really does is upset people who have strong feelings against that stuff. The cursing is dumb.)
crochetchrisie's review against another edition
4.0
This book should be required reading for anyone wanting to really grasp the new Picard show. I watched the first two episodes beforehand and I am going to re-watch them before continuing on with a new understanding of the events leading up to 'Picard'.
That said, I feel like I was tricked into reading a contemporary account of what could be any refugee crisis right now in our world. And that's what the best sci-fi stories do... draw parallels to our world and situations, but with aliens and spaceships, lol.
That said, I feel like I was tricked into reading a contemporary account of what could be any refugee crisis right now in our world. And that's what the best sci-fi stories do... draw parallels to our world and situations, but with aliens and spaceships, lol.
traci1974's review against another edition
4.0
This was an excellent lead-in to the show. The audio was excellent as well.
lyleblosser's review against another edition
2.0
I'm not sure exactly what I expected from this book. I knew it was intended to serve as background material for the new Star Trek: Picard series, and I knew it dealt with how and why Jean-Luc left Starfleet -- the book did fulfill those small expectations. But what I did not expect was that the story itself would be so darn depressing -- not what one (or, at least this reader) expects from the franchise. In the past, Star Trek (in almost all of its incarnations) has been more about inspiring stories, of overcoming what seem at the outset to be insurmountable difficulties, but ultimately providing an uplifting conclusion to whatever tale is being told. With a title such as "Last Best Hope" I did expect that to continue but I was quite disappointed to see this was not going to be the case. I can only hope that the series itself provides that positive approach, because it certainly was not present in this book. The author did do a fairly decent job with the characters (both familiar and new) and the prose itself was well-formed and easy to consume. It's just that the thing being consumed was not one that left a good taste. Earl Grey, *cold*.
lottebluebird's review against another edition
Ich kann es nicht genau benennen, warum ich das Buch nicht weiter hören möchte.. wahrscheinlich die Last des unumgänglichen Themas und die Langatmigkeit, die man von Star Trek Serien/Filmen nicht so gewöhnt ist. Die Charaktere waren gut geschrieben.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
weltenkreuzer's review against another edition
4.0
Flott zu lesende Vorgeschichte der aktuellen Star Trek: Picard Serie. Das Buch hilft, die Hintergründe der Serie besser zu verstehen, wirkt aber sehr stark wie eine "nullte Staffel" und weniger wie ein eigenständiger Roman.