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A review by octavia_cade
A Rock and a Hard Place by Peter David
3.0
I remember reading this as a kid! I liked it then and I like it now - and most of that's down to the portrayal of Troi. She kind of got the short end of the stick in a lot of TNG episodes, reduced to stating the obvious much of the time, so I really appreciate that here, David shows her as a highly competent professional, a well-trained and well-regarded psychologist with a challenging case in the form of an officer temporarily seconded to the Enterprise.
That officer, Stone... well, I have mixed feelings about him. I think he's effectively abrasive, and he can certainly out-manoeuvre many of the people around him. While I can often find that appealing in a character, I do think he's a little over the top. He once comments, somewhat snarkily, on questions of style, and I think that's the issue. I want to see an ambiguous officer who is questionably sane, because that is interesting in the context of the well-ordered structure of the Enterprise, but what I am getting is an ambiguous officer who is questionably sane but who I think I'm supposed to see as cool. Even his back story is over the top, and I don't for one minute believe that the Federation would admit as members planets who see no problem torturing children and infants to death for political purposes. Not for one minute, but it's the style isn't it, that insertion of edge for coolness factor. This is something that turns up in another of David's characters, but where Stone is merely over the top, Calhoun - who I admittedly loathe - is full on caricature, albeit come from the same mould. I can't help but think that Stone is an early version, or at least an influence, on what Calhoun turned out to be. (If only any of the New Frontier women were portrayed as well as Troi is here.)
Anyway. Easy, quick, fun read. Troi is excellent, may there be many more stories like this for her in the rest of the tie-in novels.
That officer, Stone... well, I have mixed feelings about him. I think he's effectively abrasive, and he can certainly out-manoeuvre many of the people around him. While I can often find that appealing in a character, I do think he's a little over the top. He once comments, somewhat snarkily, on questions of style, and I think that's the issue. I want to see an ambiguous officer who is questionably sane, because that is interesting in the context of the well-ordered structure of the Enterprise, but what I am getting is an ambiguous officer who is questionably sane but who I think I'm supposed to see as cool. Even his back story is over the top, and I don't for one minute believe that the Federation would admit as members planets who see no problem torturing children and infants to death for political purposes. Not for one minute, but it's the style isn't it, that insertion of edge for coolness factor. This is something that turns up in another of David's characters, but where Stone is merely over the top, Calhoun - who I admittedly loathe - is full on caricature, albeit come from the same mould. I can't help but think that Stone is an early version, or at least an influence, on what Calhoun turned out to be. (If only any of the New Frontier women were portrayed as well as Troi is here.)
Anyway. Easy, quick, fun read. Troi is excellent, may there be many more stories like this for her in the rest of the tie-in novels.