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Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The High Country by John Jackson Miller
2 reviews
mmoonlight's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
slow-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? It's complicated
3.75
I had no idea what to expect from this book, and I'm still not sure how I feel about some parts of the story, but overall, I enjoyed it. Reading about Pike never fails to keep me entertained.
One of the things I love about Strange New Worlds are interactions between the characters, so reading about the crew being split up was a bit of a struggle at first, but it got better once I got into the story. However, I have to say, as much as I enjoyed reading about what Pike and Number One were going through, I wished for me of Uhura and Hemmer. Every time Uhura appeared I just wished for more of her point of view, because reading about her interactions with her empatherm friend was definitely one of the highlights of the story for me. Reading about Hemmer also gave me an unfair amount of feelings, honestly, but that might be because he's one of my favourite SNW characters.
The world-building was amazing, and the history of Epheska and people living on it was interesting, however, it took quite a while for me to actually warm up to any of them. The thing is, I already loved the crew of the Enterprise before picking up the book, so I knew I'd love reading about them. The new characters, however? It took me about half of the book to start caring about what happened to the Menders, Jennie, and Celarius, and I blame that on how many side characters were introduced in general. It's very difficult to give everyone depth when there are so many characters to focus on.
The chapters were short, which I found helpful, but somehow it still took me surprisingly long to read the book. The reason for that, I assume, was that some parts of the story were very dense at times, and some were just monotonous. It also felt like there was too much going on at once; too many points of view and too many side-plots. If this story was a part of the TV series, it'd definitely take more than two episodes to resolve everything properly. Including the maps of Epheska in the book, though? A very nice touch.
Overall, even if the story was a bit slow, I still enjoyed reading about the characters I love, and I can't wait to read more books about the Strange New Worlds crew.
One of the things I love about Strange New Worlds are interactions between the characters, so reading about the crew being split up was a bit of a struggle at first, but it got better once I got into the story. However, I have to say, as much as I enjoyed reading about what Pike and Number One were going through, I wished for me of Uhura and Hemmer. Every time Uhura appeared I just wished for more of her point of view, because reading about her interactions with her empatherm friend was definitely one of the highlights of the story for me. Reading about Hemmer also gave me an unfair amount of feelings, honestly, but that might be because he's one of my favourite SNW characters.
The world-building was amazing, and the history of Epheska and people living on it was interesting, however, it took quite a while for me to actually warm up to any of them. The thing is, I already loved the crew of the Enterprise before picking up the book, so I knew I'd love reading about them. The new characters, however? It took me about half of the book to start caring about what happened to the Menders, Jennie, and Celarius, and I blame that on how many side characters were introduced in general. It's very difficult to give everyone depth when there are so many characters to focus on.
The chapters were short, which I found helpful, but somehow it still took me surprisingly long to read the book. The reason for that, I assume, was that some parts of the story were very dense at times, and some were just monotonous. It also felt like there was too much going on at once; too many points of view and too many side-plots. If this story was a part of the TV series, it'd definitely take more than two episodes to resolve everything properly. Including the maps of Epheska in the book, though? A very nice touch.
Overall, even if the story was a bit slow, I still enjoyed reading about the characters I love, and I can't wait to read more books about the Strange New Worlds crew.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
taaya's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Oh boy, that was a hard read. It took AGES - the last 100 pages took me five hours of constant reading, and they're the quickest part to read in the book. (Usually 100 pages would take an hour or two.)
Okay, on to the story. While the characters started off as themselves they didn't have any chance to behave in their normal ways for most of the book. Pike was neither the Dad nor the huge teddy bear nor the witty charmer - not even the struggling victim of knowing his own future. And Una hinted at her people, but we didn't see any of her actual resourcefulness. And while Hemmer started off as the lovable grump, he also lost his character trait later on. (Spock and Uhura remained truer to their on-screen personalities, but also felt a little off from time to time.)
And then... Where was the FUN? The found family vibes? Hell, even in the second gorn episode (1x9) and even in "Hegemony", the darkest episodes in SNW so far, we got lots of fun and Pike lightening the mood, and characters just being one big family and here... Nothing. But that's the heart of SNW.
Instead the book splits up our beloved crew and all of them have to struggle on their own.
And Pike having been drawn to a Luddite lifestyle? Just because we've seen him cook and ride a horse in the show? (He did watch SciFi even when he was struggling!) This felt off. (And yes, I know, Anson Mount does pottery, builds furniture from scratch,... But Pike and Mount are two different people.)
So, no. Even though the book got better in the last 100 pages and earned itself another star in my book, this was far from what I hoped we'd get as an SNW book. This could've worked with Archer, where the crew doesn't feel really close to one another. But with SNW, where the charm lies in having the crew interact? This book ain't it.
Okay, on to the story. While the characters started off as themselves they didn't have any chance to behave in their normal ways for most of the book. Pike was neither the Dad nor the huge teddy bear nor the witty charmer - not even the struggling victim of knowing his own future. And Una hinted at her people, but we didn't see any of her actual resourcefulness. And while Hemmer started off as the lovable grump, he also lost his character trait later on. (Spock and Uhura remained truer to their on-screen personalities, but also felt a little off from time to time.)
And then... Where was the FUN? The found family vibes? Hell, even in the second gorn episode (1x9) and even in "Hegemony", the darkest episodes in SNW so far, we got lots of fun and Pike lightening the mood, and characters just being one big family and here... Nothing. But that's the heart of SNW.
Instead the book splits up our beloved crew and all of them have to struggle on their own.
And Pike having been drawn to a Luddite lifestyle? Just because we've seen him cook and ride a horse in the show? (He did watch SciFi even when he was struggling!) This felt off. (And yes, I know, Anson Mount does pottery, builds furniture from scratch,... But Pike and Mount are two different people.)
So, no. Even though the book got better in the last 100 pages and earned itself another star in my book, this was far from what I hoped we'd get as an SNW book. This could've worked with Archer, where the crew doesn't feel really close to one another. But with SNW, where the charm lies in having the crew interact? This book ain't it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Minor: Slavery, Violence, and War
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