"Enterprise: The Romulan War"

[WarpGirl]

I'm banned from every library in my county! Thank you annoying younger sister who lives in another country, for sticking me with a fine I can't pay!!!!!!!!! I'm thinking of asking for the text files, but my computer is so finicky. Besides people might kill me if I end up not liking them.

[honeybee]

I think the scene in KM is something of a quickie (40 minutes?) but again, that is all they have. Trip seems to be content just to give her a passionate goodbye kiss - and she's the one that decides that sexual congress is the best way to spent their precious time.

SPOILER!!!:

The love scene in the new book seems like a counterpoint - it doesn't specify how long but as written it seems to nearly stop time and go on forever simultaneously. And manage to be pretty hot without being explicit due to the all-ages nature of the book. And then they do finally exchange I love yous within the bond - but it's appropriate as they are on Vulcan. When in Rome, as they say.

My hopeful prediction is that T'Pol will return to Vulcan in the next book (perhaps with the whole ship, due to the assassination) and she and "Sodek" will spend more time together. Perhaps Sodek will wind up being the chief engineer on Enterprise for awhile.

[WarpGirl]

Hmm. Well I won't say I'm not interested, but again I don't see how I can get my hands on the books, anyway. So I'll just enjoy the topic.

[Silverbullet]

Got the book today. It will take me a while to read it.

I cannot remmeber where but in one thread someone said that he/she hoped that T-Pol would quietly marry Sopek someday. I thought he was a baddy.

Whatever, I am looking forward to a good read.

[honeybee]

My bad. That was me - it was a goof. I wrote Sopek, when I meant Sodek (corrected in the upthread.) Sodek.

SPOILER!!!:

That's Trip's "Vulcan" name.

I thank Martin for giving the two characters such similar monikers.

[Distracted]

You'd think he'd be a little more imaginative. Of course, there WAS that oft quoted memo during the OS in which somebody said something to the effect that Vulcan male names needed to start with S and end with K and be five letters long. Kinda limits your choices. Was that Roddenberry or one of the writers that decided that? At any rate, practically everyone's been ignoring it since the OS aired anyway, which is a good thing. Otherwise there would have been a heck of a lot of Vulcans running around with the same name. Might get confusing, especially if no one but another Vulcan could pronounce the last names.

[Silverbullet]

Thank you Honeybee. Gave me a heart pain. I peeked at chapter 71. Couldn't help myself. I so adore reading Trip and t-Pol love making. If my eye hold up should finish the book in a week or two.

[honeybee]

Objectively speaking, I do think the whole Trip plotline is the most compelling - but then I love "who is double and triple crossing who" type espionage stories. I'm also not sure who is betraying who and who is good or bad yet. It's still possible that Sopek (the bad guy) isn't as bad as all that. As far as I'm concerned the jury is still out on Denak, Y'Cha and Sopek. We can only be sure that Trip/Sodek and T'Pol are in the "right" here. I also think T'Pau is doing what she thinks is best, but she might be wrong.

I also liked Malcolm's plot and the stuff about the new helmsman, although I'm afraid she might be a sitting duck.

SPOILER!!!:

The loss of Surak's katra is a huge deal, and Martin really evokes that well. It should be interesting to see how that plays out.

[Reanok]

Objectively speaking, I do think the whole Trip plotline is the most compelling - but then I love "who is double and triple crossing who" type espionage stories. I'm also not sure who is betraying who and who is good or bad yet. It's still possible that Sopek (the bad guy) isn't as bad as all that. As far as I'm concerned the jury is still out on Denak, Y'Cha and Sopek. We can only be sure that Trip/Sodek and T'Pol are in the "right" here. I also think T'Pau is doing what she thinks is best, but she might be wrong.

I also liked Malcolm's plot and the stuff about the new helmsman, although I'm afraid she might be a sitting duck.

SPOILER!!!:

The loss of Surak's katra is a huge deal, and Martin really evokes that well. It should be interesting to see how that plays out.

I defintely agree with you Honeybee this espionage storyline with Trip is one of my favorite parts of this book so far. And keeps you guessing who are the good guys and who are the villians.

[Zane Gray]

It also means, as Archer himself realizes at the very end of the Raptor's Wing, that T'Pol is most definitely going to have to return to Vulcan for the next novel. Where her husband Trip/Sodek is currently working with T'Pau. So I would guess the two will be very much together for most if not all the next book.

[honeybee]

My guess is that Enterprise may just return to Vulcan in the next book.

SPOILER!!!:

Given Archer's having held Surak's Katra, I'm guessing he's going to be pulled into the aftermath, too. It would be nice to see the whole crew working together again. It will be interesting if that includes Travis.

SPOILER!!!:

And yes, you are right. Sodek/Trip and T'Pol are as married as Y'Cha and Denak are. My guess is an official ceremony is not nearly as important to Vulcans as the bond itself, and that bond is definitely there.

[michelle]

SPOILER!!!:

As much as I hate Archer, i must say this book really made me feel for him with the Travis situation. In the last book I sadistically loved that Travis had been pissed at the captain but it was a little hard to take when Travis decided to leave in this one.

It seems Trip and T'pol get a few weeks rest on Vulcan, living in T'Pol's house while investigating the weird cargo headed to Romulan space after they meet up. I would so loved to have seen more scenes of them together during that time. Though It took bloody ages to see them together, but personally i think it was worth it although there needed more.

I really LOVED the "mi casa es tu casa" Line from T'Pol. I mean even after it's been pretty well established that TnT are married by vulcan standards, i still liked that T'Pol was telling Trip her home was his.

Although I found the supernova analogy T'Pol made about their relationship more than a touch daunting. :s

And maybe it's supposed to be like that but i felt it just a little annoying how the enterprise crew never seemed to have a good picture of what was going on, always a good few steps behind, if they were trying to convey the frustrations humans must feel for Vulcans i have to say they did a good job. it sure as hell is frustrating all round, even without not know who's a romulan spy and who's not.

[Zane Gray]

I bet Malcolm and Hoshi will play a bigger part in the next book. It would be interesting to see Section 31 involved again too.

I really liked Gannett Brooks in this book. Her war correspondant role was a pretty clever way to reveal a lot of stuff we've never seen on Enterprise before about other Earth colonies, plus how they're reacting to the Romulan theat and attacks - stuff we never got to see on the show. It's like watching CNN frontline reporting from Iraq and Afghanistan. I just wonder if Martin forgot that she was working with Starfleet Intelligence in Terra Prime - or maybe he remembered and he's setting her up to play a key role with the Intelligence thing in a later book. You know, I wonder if reporter isn't her front and her editor doesn't know about her intelligence role. But if she's got a secret loyalty to Starfleet that her news editor doesn't know about, it gives Starfleet a key voice in how the war is portrayed back home via her reports without anyone being the wiser.

I wish there was a little more of each of the main characters in the book, but now that the war is on and all the details of the conflict have been set up, I'd bet we'll see more of each of them as events play out from here.

[Zane Gray]

SPOILER!!!:

And maybe it's supposed to be like that but i felt it just a little annoying how the enterprise crew never seemed to have a good picture of what was going on, always a good few steps behind, if they were trying to convey the frustrations humans must feel for Vulcans i have to say they did a good job. it sure as hell is frustrating all round, even without not know who's a romulan spy and who's not.

I definitely think it's supposed to be like that. War is nothing if not frustrating.

[honeybee]

I actually liked the use of Gannet Brooks as a narrative tool - I just think Martin used her too often. I would have liked to see Trip's brother or Malcolm's sister or some other characters also providing the Earth POV. I really do think she had more chapters than Archer, but I haven't counted.

Does anyone around here ever watch Joss Whedon's weird, problematic but interesting show Dollhouse?

SPOILER!!!:

Anyway, I think the the therapeutic mind melds that Y'Cha is giving Tetrix are probably influenced by the "treatments" given to the the "dolls" on that show. It's not a criticism, but it wouldn't shock me if Martin watched that show last season.