Reviewing Rihannsu: The Empty Chair
Dec. 4th, 2006 02:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dewlineI've been enjoying ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dduane's Star Trek-related novels since she started writing them. This likely gives Diane as much pause as I for any number of reasons, all of which are equally personal on both our parts in my opinion. So you won't be surprised to know that I've recently gotten my hands on The Empty Chair, purportedly the last of the "Rihannsu-verse" collection of novels.
I'm certainly pleased by the results of seeing this latest installment, although that pleasure is somewhat tempered by various elements...
...most of them having to do with the sense of watching toys being put back the way they were found. This was particularly clear towards the end of the book, although Swordhunt and Honor Blade had their own clues that Diane was going to head in this particular direction, beginning with the usages of Constellation-class ships on the UFP Starfleet side of the story.
As well, other hints dropped in other novels made it clear that that their writers wanted to feel free to play with some of the concept-toys that Diane set up in addition to whatever the various modern TV branch-series had established. (Mangels, Martin, Schwartz and Sherman, and maybekradical as well, I'm looking at you in particular here!) An understandable impulse, given the quality of the toys in question. Applause-worthy, perhaps, as well. Time will tell if nothing else does on this point.
So. No real surprise at the ending. The journey taken to get to that point, though? That was well worth the time and the expense. I could have done with more asides on topics perhaps only tangentially related to the main thrust of the storylines being juggled. Diane's earlier Trek novels were particularly good at making those asides fit comfortably into the larger plot. Perhaps that's a function of experience gained as a writer: the more you write, the more likely you are to become inclined to Get Right to the Point! Is it training, experience, or something else altogether? Likely "all of the above".
Looking at what I've written above, I'm getting a sense of having come across as slightly less than grateful for the gifts I've received of late. I apologize for that, because Diane doesn't deserve the ingratitude. Not for a second.
My one hope, if I may indulge in airing such publicly as a fan rather than a creator, is this: that Diane should feel free to branch off her own version of her "Rihannsu-verse" toys into their own "timeline". The others I spoke of a paragraph or two ago should feel free to keep doing as they've been doing as well. Think of it akin to the unofficial treatment of the Sgt. Rock characters at DC Comics: one version for the creators, one for the DCU fans. Both equally worth the investment, in several senses of the word.
And I hope that Pocket Books Editorial encourages this proposed split, to their company's ongoing benefit.
Let's see what's out there...on both fronts.
dduane's Star Trek-related novels since she started writing them. This likely gives Diane as much pause as I for any number of reasons, all of which are equally personal on both our parts in my opinion. So you won't be surprised to know that I've recently gotten my hands on The Empty Chair, purportedly the last of the "Rihannsu-verse" collection of novels.I'm certainly pleased by the results of seeing this latest installment, although that pleasure is somewhat tempered by various elements...
...most of them having to do with the sense of watching toys being put back the way they were found. This was particularly clear towards the end of the book, although Swordhunt and Honor Blade had their own clues that Diane was going to head in this particular direction, beginning with the usages of Constellation-class ships on the UFP Starfleet side of the story.
As well, other hints dropped in other novels made it clear that that their writers wanted to feel free to play with some of the concept-toys that Diane set up in addition to whatever the various modern TV branch-series had established. (Mangels, Martin, Schwartz and Sherman, and maybe
kradical as well, I'm looking at you in particular here!) An understandable impulse, given the quality of the toys in question. Applause-worthy, perhaps, as well. Time will tell if nothing else does on this point.So. No real surprise at the ending. The journey taken to get to that point, though? That was well worth the time and the expense. I could have done with more asides on topics perhaps only tangentially related to the main thrust of the storylines being juggled. Diane's earlier Trek novels were particularly good at making those asides fit comfortably into the larger plot. Perhaps that's a function of experience gained as a writer: the more you write, the more likely you are to become inclined to Get Right to the Point! Is it training, experience, or something else altogether? Likely "all of the above".
Looking at what I've written above, I'm getting a sense of having come across as slightly less than grateful for the gifts I've received of late. I apologize for that, because Diane doesn't deserve the ingratitude. Not for a second.
My one hope, if I may indulge in airing such publicly as a fan rather than a creator, is this: that Diane should feel free to branch off her own version of her "Rihannsu-verse" toys into their own "timeline". The others I spoke of a paragraph or two ago should feel free to keep doing as they've been doing as well. Think of it akin to the unofficial treatment of the Sgt. Rock characters at DC Comics: one version for the creators, one for the DCU fans. Both equally worth the investment, in several senses of the word.
And I hope that Pocket Books Editorial encourages this proposed split, to their company's ongoing benefit.
Let's see what's out there...on both fronts.
