Past Imperfect by Fletcher DeLancey
Pages: 312 (estimated)
Date: 2002
Publisher: Self
Series: Past Imperfect (first book of series)
Book Website: The free book is found at website
link.
Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: January 10 2016
1) I mentioned in that other book I've read by DeLancey that I had read 15, I believe, Star Trek Voyager books, and that I had seen most, maybe all of the television series. And that I didn't exactly recognize the people involved from Voyager in the book I had read. But then that's to be expected. That other book that I had read by DeLancey was not a Voyager book. This one is a Voyager book.
A lot of people from Voyager had mostly cameo roles in this book. Or, at least, their scenes were quite small. Tuvok, Chakotay, the Doctor, and Harry Kim had scenes. Kim's were mostly 'contacting people. They are not responding. Scanning' type scenes and did not give enough to see if the characterization matched up with what I recalled of him from the show. Chakotay had a slightly larger role, at least in the importance of his words, but again, not enough there to get a handle on if this Chakotay matched up. Tuvok and the Doctor had even larger roles, and there I can say that both matched up - both of their characters matched what I recalled from the television show I've seen and books I've read. Paris? If this was a television episode, his role would have consisted of seeing how good of a nonverbal actor he could/can be. At least I recall him in the book, but not actually saying anything. Which is more than what Neelix had - he was mentioned, not seen.
Other than Janeway herself, B'Elanna Torres and Seven of Nine appeared to have the largest roles for Voyager crew. Well, Tuvok's could be at or slightly less than their roles. Seven of Nine didn't specific match my recollection, but was within the range of her characterization - which has morphed over the years. B'Elanna? She was a fiery angry person on the show. She was a fiery angry person in the book. Still, there seemed something vaguely 'off' about her. No matter.
Janeway had the most scenes. And seemed to match up well with what I recalled of her character from books and television. The transition from 'nonlesbian' to 'lesbian' wasn't exactly very detailed. Janeway had a guy back on earth. But there always seemed something vaguely off about their relationship, like it was excepted for her to have a relationship, so she did. She seemed a lot more concerned with missing her dogs than missing her man. So something could have been inserted to at least make it appear that she could have always been a bisexual. At least. Since there isn't anything that would make that non-canon. That would remove it from official Star Trek Voyager universe to have her be that. Since she's basically a nonsexual being (on the show - she's the Captain, everyone works for her, who'd she be a sexual being with exactly?). Sure, there's some sexual tension between Chakotay and Janeway, but that always seemed more on Chakotay's side. Instead it's just that Janeway has been able to appreciate the female form before now, but now feels deeper feelings than appreciation.
2) I wish I knew the page total. I dislike leaving it as 0 pages read. mmphs.
3) The book came in parts. Hmm. That's a short sentence and I've already messed it up. There are sections in the book - Voyager finds a ship drifting in space. Finds a woman in there in a stasis chamber. Then book turns to something of a budding romance novel. Then back to science fiction with the introduction of new aliens, and a new planet. I mention this because everything was rather well done. To the point that I was/am vaguely confused as to how well done this all turned out. Quite professionally done, this fanfiction. Then we got to about the 91% and well, weirdness occurred. Granted, by about 96% everything's quite brilliant, but there was the literal introduction of an element . . . well, I can't really say without being spoiler-y. Just . . . it was jarring how I was reading, thought there were a few pages until book conclusion and suddenly . . . a rift in space opens. And weirdness occurs.
4) There were graphic sex scenes and eroticism. Something that probably is unexpected to anyone that has never read a Star Trek book before but has seen them in, say, the young adult section of a library - I've read several Star Trek books, the official ones, that had heightened levels of eroticism in them. One or two might even have had sex. One I think was explicit (the one I recall involved Riker), most were implied.
January 10 2016
Present Tension
Pages: 200 (estimated)
Date: 2005
Publisher: Self
Series: Past Imperfect (2nd book in the series)
Book Website: The free book can be found at this
link.
Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: January 11 2016
Note: estimated page totals appeared on GoodReads after I had written this review (well, I think they appeared after I'd read the fourth book, actually). I do not know if the two are linked - appearance of page total, and my reviews.
I really wish I knew how many pages these books contained. The first one seemed closer to 400 than 200, but could have been anywhere between 200 and 800 pages in length. This one was rather short. I think it was book length, but I'm not really certain. I just know that I started it, and shortly thereafter I looked down and saw that I was at 47% complete (as opposed to the current book I'm reading, the third in the series, which is only at 41% at the moment and feels like it's the size of three of the second books combined).
Of the Voyager crew from the tv show, Janeway still keeps much of the stage for herself. As expected (at least in terms of people from the show). Tuvok's time on the screen, or, um, page, was slightly more than in the first book. I would say that he has continued to act within the characterization that I had come to expect, except he didn't really. There was an incident during a prison break that seemed off.
Tuvok performed an invasive mind meld that literally destroyed a guy's brain pathways. And had no inherent issue with doing so. I had some vague recollection that Tuvok was reluctant to do mind melds, or maybe I'm thinking of a different Vulcan. I know Spock seemed to do them at a drop of a hat. *boom, Spock appears 'Mind meld anyone?'* Though there his mind melds, many of which were, if I recall correctly, without consent, but weren't brain destroying. Tuvok causally destroying someone's brain seemed odd.
Chakatoy's role also was larger in this book. Somewhat barely. And mostly to show how much of a giant ass he is. I never particularly liked the giant pompous ass, so let's not examine too closely into whether or not this is in keeping with his other characterizations - on the show and in official books.
Seven of Nine had the largest increase in stage presence/pages. Hmm, no idea why I keep saying 'screen' and 'stage'. After growing deeper in emotional awareness, social ability, and friendship acquiring and keeping, Seven has, in this book, come to the conclusion that she should retry that dating thing she had tried before but failed at. This time she isn't going to use a computer hologram for tips, the Doctor. She is instead going to get help from her two new friends, Lynne and Torres (a human woman and a half-human, half-Klingon woman). An interesting development.
Everyone else had their roles narrowed or remain at a low level. Harry Kim might have squeaked a couple of times. I'm fairly certain Neelix was actually able to have a couple of lines - "Brownies anyone?". I know Paris finally had something like two lines in the third book (so far), but I'm still not certain he said anything in the second one - this book here.
I mentioned a prison break earlier. After an ion storm, Voyager needs some supplies. So heads to the nearest high tech planet. And into some aliens that seemed really familiar. No idea if they are or not, but they seemed like ones I ran across in the Star Trek Corps of Engineers books, and in one (or three) specific 'missions/episodes' in/on Star Trek Online. Well the prison break part comes in when Janeway finds herself in one. A prison, that is.
While in said prison, Janeway . . . um. hmm. Okay, she got herself into prison because she meet another human on said planet and tried to talk with her. Police erupted and ran towards them with the intention of beating said female human. Janeway, naturally, got in their way. Both were beaten bloody. So then, while in prison, Janeway and the female human get to know each other. The female, Revi Sandovhor(sp?) is an ex-borg ex-Collective ex-Starfleet refugee.
Good solid book. I liked the first book more than the second, but still a high quality book. Professional quality. Quite short. I read it in one go without realizing I'd begin and end it so quickly.
January 11 2016
Future Perfect
by Fletcher DeLancey
Pages: 450 (estimated)
Date: 2005
Publisher: Self
Series: Past Imperfect (3rd in series)
Book Website: The free book can be found at this
link.
Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: January 11 2016
I'm 48% into the next DeLancey Voyager book so it's a little too late to write anything in here. Things merge, and stuff.
There was a lot of funny moments that occurred in this book, which was something of a nice change from all the melodrama. It's not that there wasn't humor before, just that there was enough that I could actually put this book on a humor shelf. There was also a lot of sex. And sex toys.
Hmm, see, as I said, I can't really say anything in here. Separating out what happened in this book from what has occurred during the first 48% of the next book has turned out to be impossible.
January 11 2016
No Return
by Fletcher DeLancey
Pages: 575 (estimated)
Date: 2005
Publisher: Self
Series: Past Imperfect (4th in series)
Book Website: The free book can be found at this
link.
Review
Rating: 3.0 out of 5.0
Read: January 13 2016
My fifth book by this author, fourth in this series.
It’s quite possible my lowish rating is due partially to how I had approached this series. As in, I gobbled up the books as prior one was completed, before taking a breath. And the inherent emotionalism/emotional roller coaster kept building and building until I just couldn’t take it any longer. It’s possible I’d still have rated this around this rating regardless, we’ll never know now.
I was somewhat slightly nervous about starting this specific book because I knew it was deeply connected to, and or was the basis for The Chronicles of Alsea. And I had read the first book in that series already, so I wasn’t certain how much of this would end up being something of a modified reread.
My worries were not meet. This book did in fact visit Alsea. And then left again. And the entirety of the Alsea section was over by the 8% mark in the book. It was also, mostly, massively boring. A lot of the feeling that I’d expect from a DeLancey book didn’t seem to be there for this section. As in, it was bland. The information is just relayed without much else.
Voyager, while attempting to get home, gets caught in another void. With other ships. Gets a certain amount of damage, but the biggest issue was the loss of food. So the ship and crew look for food. Arrives at a pre-warp civilization. One that has just two cities on the entire planet. Because they are pre-warp, Janeway and the away team have cosmetic surgery to make them look like Alseans (why this actually ever worked on the show/movies/books I'll never know; 'let's cosmetically add ridges to your nose/a tail/hooves; no no,you don't need to know the language - the universal translator will handle that; what's that? knowing the customs and stuff? no no, time restraints, don't have time for that . . . just bluff'). Two sets of away teams beam down to the planet. They find food. They buy food. They have the food delivered to abandoned warehouses. They beam food up. They begin to depart the system. They stop when they pick up a Borg signal coming from the planet. They hurriedly investigate. Find that it’s about to explode and kill three million people. They rush to help keep the ship from exploding and keep the people from dying. They meet Andira Tal. They deactivate the Borg ship. They have dinner with Tal up on Voyager. She links Janeway and Lynn. Voyager leaves. The end. And everything was conveyed in about that level of emotion and excitement. 8% of the book has now been read. This boring recap sounds like it is filled with exciting thrilling stuff. It wasn't conveyed in a thrilling exciting manner in the book.
I had the thought, while reading this book, that there’s a feeling, false or otherwise, that the author had been massaging the Voyager books for a longish while. Bringing them up to a higher quality. As mentioned, I could be wrong about that. I mention, though, because this specific book reads more like the first book the author wrote. I’m phrasing that wrong. I mean, that this specific book reads as if it is the first book the author had ever written. With all the flaws and issues inherent in first books. That or, since an entire series of books was made up based off of the first 8% of the book, more time was spent on those other books, and less on ‘polishing up’ this one.
None of that really mattered in the rating. The rating is deeply connected to emotional roller coasters the author seems to love deeply. Before this book there were just two couples who didn’t go through a particular pattern. A pattern of coming together, having one or both fuck things up, have them split, have them come back together, have them reach the highest levels, and while there have one or the other fuck up again, and have them crash yet again. Repeat. 80,000 times. That’s how these books read. Up, down, plateau, Janeway, while in a state of blissful happiness suddenly becomes weirdly enraged, and boom, explodes. Yet again the relationship is in turmoil. Or, yet again Lynn feels inadequate, and boom. Or, yet again, Revi feels undeserving of love, and destroys her relationship with Seven. The only one who didn’t regularly fuck things up was Seven. Odd, I know.
I had mentioned that there had been just two couples who hadn’t been on this roller coaster before this book. Then ran off and talked about what the ‘roller coaster’ meant. Well, back to the two couples. Harry Kim and his girlfriend, and Tom Paris and his girlfriend B’lanna Torres. Vaguely interesting, that, how the relationship that actually did go through a bunch of up and downs, and emotional turmoil on the television show, Paris and Torres, were ‘flat’ in DeLancey’s books. Well, until this book. And Harry Kim himself also had a bit of emotional roller coaster to ride in the official books – mostly the books set after the return of Voyager to Earth and reuniting with Kim’s girlfriend/spy. But no emotional turmoil in DeLancey's books.
Is there a message here? The two straight couples that have any importance in the series have very limited ‘trouble’ to handle, and the one that Torres and Paris face isn’t internally created (unlike on the show), but externally created. Granted, Kim and his on ship girlfriend have no real scenes in the books. They are just seen, and/or talked about. So, for all the reader knows, they do have issues. But the focus isn’t on them so the reader doesn’t learn of them. Right, the message. Straight couples equal no internal emotional turmoil. Lesbian couples equals massive, and I mean massive, and repetitious horrifying angsty turmoil. Constantly. There’s never a level reached wherein things kind of level off. No, always bitter angry fighting. So, am I supposed to be seeing a message from that? Are lesbian relationships inherently unstable and explosive? By the way, there is, in fact, one male-male relationship mentioned in the series, but they have just one scene (up to now), and neither are ‘important’ characters.
So, yeah, my lower rating for this specific book is based on all of that above. The constant beating against my head that lesbians are unstable, plus . . . um well, for the first time I started skipping passages, pages. I mean, for fuck sake, someone important actually ‘dies’ and I just kind of read it with no emotional impact. Just, get it over with already. Heartless, I know, but this was something like the 26th time in this book where some relationship got into trouble, where someone was at the height of happiness and suddenly tragedy strikes. For fuck sake. There’s only so many times the emotional manipulation can occur before I just grow numb. Seriously, I just became numb. I just couldn’t keep my brain from numbingifying itself to save me.
So, yeah, maybe the low rating is because I read all of these books all at once. But, then again, maybe I would have had a lower rating for this book anyway.
I feel vaguely bad on two levels: this is the first DeLancey book I didn’t rate 5 stars, and remember this is the fifth I’ve read, and everyone else who has ever read this book just absolutely loved it. I was just numbed. (Hehe, so I go look at the ratings on GoodReads. What do I see? “100% of people liked it”. Hmms. 34 rated it 5 stars, 14 rated it 4, and I’m one of the 4 losers who rated this book 3 stars. There are no 2 or 1 star ratings for this book).
January 14 2016
Glass Empires by Mike Sussman
