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A review by bdplume
Die Standing by John Jackson Miller
3.0
I don’t want the stars to overwhelm my larger thought that this was mostly an engaging read with solid prose and action. I loved the alien races, particularly the Oast and their ultimate connection to the central contrivances of the plot. The Cascade was very cool old-school sci-fi in that it was a fascinating what-if without too much worry about exactly how and why it works. I do wish the story had explored the concept a little more but that’s a quibble.
I was bothered by just how much was generally known about Section 31 and by how many folks... I suppose they were more out in the open on screen already, but they just don’t feel nearly as covert as they did both before and after in-Universe. The amount that Emony Dax in particular learned just seemed like a hole that didn’t need to be a hole.
But, I’m not a “we must bow to the almighty canon” kind of guy, so that only bothered me a little. I otherwise waffled between three and four stars. I think the thing that really capped the ceiling is that this is a story mostly about a mirror universe character, and while I find the concept of alternate selves fascinating in general, the over-the-top evil of Star Trek’s mirror universe can be fun but is a little self-limiting to me. So as much as I enjoyed the author’s work here it’s not a personal favorite.
I was bothered by just how much was generally known about Section 31 and by how many folks... I suppose they were more out in the open on screen already, but they just don’t feel nearly as covert as they did both before and after in-Universe. The amount that Emony Dax in particular learned just seemed like a hole that didn’t need to be a hole.
But, I’m not a “we must bow to the almighty canon” kind of guy, so that only bothered me a little. I otherwise waffled between three and four stars. I think the thing that really capped the ceiling is that this is a story mostly about a mirror universe character, and while I find the concept of alternate selves fascinating in general, the over-the-top evil of Star Trek’s mirror universe can be fun but is a little self-limiting to me. So as much as I enjoyed the author’s work here it’s not a personal favorite.