courtney12345's review against another edition
1.0
Is it the worst thing I've ever read , no. Is it in the bottom ten, yes. The book starts brutally with the rape of Tasha as a child. I should have stopped reading it at this point. Most of the book is flashbacks to a previous marriage of Tasha's. So much of the book was flashbacks that when the actual plot showed back up I was confused. Do yourself a favor, just go ahead and skip this book.
caffeine_books's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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
1.75
Not impressed with the book - moved a bit slow and the ending was a jarring non sequitur. Attempted to show Data's progression with emotions and his relationship with Tasha. As a result did neither of the characters justice.
natalie_davies's review against another edition
2.0
Meh! Not the worst thing I've read, but maybe I expect my sci-fi to be... I dunno? Futuristic, presenting a futuristic vision, this is chock full of weirdness around its female characters, gender roles and the like. The constant references to R*pe gangs on Tasha's home planet of New Paris were also pretty exhausting to read. Tasha is a character with underutilized depths, and somehow, even with a 200 page tie-in novel I still feel like that's the case.
Glad to have this off my tbr though, even if it was less of a fruitful experience than I expected as a fan of the source material. I think the other TNG novels I picked up (especially Dark Mirror) have a better reputation, so I'm not unwilling to give some of those a shot.
Glad to have this off my tbr though, even if it was less of a fruitful experience than I expected as a fan of the source material. I think the other TNG novels I picked up (especially Dark Mirror) have a better reputation, so I'm not unwilling to give some of those a shot.
frakalot's review
3.0
I liked the story as a whole but I can't say I enjoyed the whole journey.
It was great to have a Yar-centric story, since her presence in the episodes was ultimately cut short. I like her character and the complexity of her personality is greatly emphasised in this book.
I especially enjoyed getting inside Data's android perspective. The scenes in the final chapter were lovely.
Some of Yar's background is horrific and tragic. The author treated those topics more matter-of-factly than delicately.
I'm not big on love stories and I found the sections of this story about Yar's love interest to be less than enjoyable.
I'm glad this story is in the collection, even if it wasn't my favourite adventure.
It was great to have a Yar-centric story, since her presence in the episodes was ultimately cut short. I like her character and the complexity of her personality is greatly emphasised in this book.
I especially enjoyed getting inside Data's android perspective. The scenes in the final chapter were lovely.
Some of Yar's background is horrific and tragic. The author treated those topics more matter-of-factly than delicately.
I'm not big on love stories and I found the sections of this story about Yar's love interest to be less than enjoyable.
I'm glad this story is in the collection, even if it wasn't my favourite adventure.
djwudi's review
3.0
Explores Tasha Yar’s past, her reconciliation with parts of that past shortly before her death, and her relationship with Data. Despite having some early-novel oddities, this one was a bit above average.
amelianicholebooks's review
3.0
It was a well written, sad book with a few high points. I had hoped for a different ending, but it was more realistic the way it ended.
octavia_cade's review
2.0
I've had real trouble deciding between two and three stars for this, and two-and-a-half just doesn't cut it. I eventually decided on two, for reasons detailed below. Basically, it had some enjoyable bits but I probably wouldn't read it again.
The good parts were honestly very good, though. Data in particular was portrayed very well - I was genuinely and surprisingly interested. I say "surprisingly" because I've always been largely indifferent to Data. I think Brent Spiner did an excellent job with him, but the Pinocchio type figure who wants to be human is a trope that I've never liked. I didn't like it as a kid, when I first watched TNG, and I don't like it now. This iteration of it, though, was pretty damn thoughtful, which I appreciated. I do think that Lorrah erred on the side of making him perhaps too emotional, but if I understand it correctly this book was written during the first season of the show, so the characterisation naturally had less weight behind it - under the circumstances, her interpretation is entirely forgivable, and anyway if you're going to err with Data, I'd prefer it to be on the side of emotion rather than anything else. The mutual friendship with Tasha was also appealing. When it comes to friendship, Data's most often paired with Geordi so it was nice to see a different duo, and have them be so consistently supportive of each other.
So, everything with Data was good. That just leaves Tasha... who has always been badly utilised in Trek and things don't much change here. It left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth to be honest, and is the primary reason for the two star rating. This book gives her some much-needed backstory, although I could really have done without the description of her gang rape as a 12 year old, and her pet cat being gutted in front of her by the rape gang (really, Star Trek? Really??? Was this truly necessary? I think not. You are meant to be the hopeful franchise and not the edgy tragedy porn one). But it's the romance with Dare that's even more off-putting. He's one of the Starfleet officers who rescues child Tasha from another rape gang. He takes her back to his starship, supervises her education and coaxes her into civilisation and eventually the Academy. It's made very plain that she totally idolises him as a mentor, has pretty much glommed onto him from childhood, and just before she graduates from the Academy they become romantically involved, because apparently she's grown up enough for it now (there's been no-one since the gang rape, age 12, and so of course the much older man who taught her everything else has to teach her this too). Now some decades back this might have passed muster, but now it looks horribly like grooming, and the whole thing is just gross. I'm sorry, but it is.
The good parts were honestly very good, though. Data in particular was portrayed very well - I was genuinely and surprisingly interested. I say "surprisingly" because I've always been largely indifferent to Data. I think Brent Spiner did an excellent job with him, but the Pinocchio type figure who wants to be human is a trope that I've never liked. I didn't like it as a kid, when I first watched TNG, and I don't like it now. This iteration of it, though, was pretty damn thoughtful, which I appreciated. I do think that Lorrah erred on the side of making him perhaps too emotional, but if I understand it correctly this book was written during the first season of the show, so the characterisation naturally had less weight behind it - under the circumstances, her interpretation is entirely forgivable, and anyway if you're going to err with Data, I'd prefer it to be on the side of emotion rather than anything else. The mutual friendship with Tasha was also appealing. When it comes to friendship, Data's most often paired with Geordi so it was nice to see a different duo, and have them be so consistently supportive of each other.
So, everything with Data was good. That just leaves Tasha... who has always been badly utilised in Trek and things don't much change here. It left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth to be honest, and is the primary reason for the two star rating. This book gives her some much-needed backstory, although I could really have done without the description of her gang rape as a 12 year old, and her pet cat being gutted in front of her by the rape gang (really, Star Trek? Really??? Was this truly necessary? I think not. You are meant to be the hopeful franchise and not the edgy tragedy porn one). But it's the romance with Dare that's even more off-putting. He's one of the Starfleet officers who rescues child Tasha from another rape gang. He takes her back to his starship, supervises her education and coaxes her into civilisation and eventually the Academy. It's made very plain that she totally idolises him as a mentor, has pretty much glommed onto him from childhood, and just before she graduates from the Academy they become romantically involved, because apparently she's grown up enough for it now (there's been no-one since the gang rape, age 12, and so of course the much older man who taught her everything else has to teach her this too). Now some decades back this might have passed muster, but now it looks horribly like grooming, and the whole thing is just gross. I'm sorry, but it is.
stamets's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0