Customer Reviews

Call to Arms (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine / The Dominion War Book 2) (v. 2)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book was one of Diane Carey's better efforts, and one of the best novelisations I've read of any star trek episode. It was really written well, starting off with the attack on DS9 in 'A Call to Arms' right up to halfway thorugh 'Sons & Daughters' inclusive. Personally, I really enjoyed the first part describing the attack on DS9, Sisko's speech, and some details into the attack the Torros III shipyards. This book is a must for all those fans of DS9, and if you're not a huge fan of it consider it anyway, it's good. Go Carey!

One thing I didn't know when I set out to read this book was that it retold the stories of several episodes, however some were told from points of view not seen in the show. I found those quirks interesting, but I was looking for an original story when I sat down to read it. Overall, it was an interesting read.

Everyone say the book is always better then the movie. Diane Carey's novelization of these Deep Space Nine episodes holds to the same standards. We get to see into the minds of the characters and understand the choices they made on screen. We get to see specific outcomes of events never fully disclosed during the series.

There were a few new characters introduced but the development of the regular cast was great. Captain Sisko's development and the insight into his choices I felt were completely in character. General Martok showed new depth into his character but having read the two part series by J. Hertzler, am not sure of some of this character's actions.

Overall, a wonderful read and I enjoyed pushing through it quickly. As a four part series, I was hoping for some interaction and cross over with the first book. From what I have read so far, I see two, two-book series, rather then an interconnected four part I was hoping for.

Even tough this book was a cover certain episodes from DS9 and I was expected an original story, I enjoyed book, partially because I hadn't seen all of these episodes and it had different prespectives from the original shows.

Diane Carey couldn't have written better novelization like Trials and Tribble-ations. On the other hand, this book is excellent. It's fast-paced story.

This book helped me to get an insight to during and behind the scenes of the dominion war that went on during DS9. I hope that other people like it and read it.

I recently read through Dominion War 2 and 4. As I write this, it is 9/1/01, so I've had plenty of time for the episodes to churn through my head... I couldn't believe much of what I was reading. I remember enjoying most of the Diane Carey books I've read, including her novelizations, but this one was, shall we say, less than enjoyable. The necessary condensation of the episodes is frustrating at times, many of the best scenes being removed, but I expected that with 6 1/2 hours of TV being adapted into a little over 500 pages. But much of the writing makes me wonder if Diane Carey really watched the show. The characters just don't sync up with what we see on-screen. Here Sisko is not the same captain who read the names of every casualty in the war. He his cold, caring only about his immediate goals and ignoring the deaths of hundreds or thousands. (Admittedly, much of the relevant on-screen character development came AFTER the novel was written.) The "Tex" character (a less-than-subtle allusion to Chuck Norris) seems completely out of place, and serves as a ridiculous deus ex machina to allow O'Brien to escape the Jem'Hadar. But not before he outruns a dozen Jem'Hadar shooting at him... on foot... with an injured knee. In both of these novels (and "What You Leave Behind") the Jem'Hadar are treated as slow and stupid, and Carey repeatedly insists that they were bred for space combat, and clumsy on land. This attitude also makes the complex characters in "Rocks and Shoals" seem out of place.In the end, I often found myslef wondering if the author was confusing the Jem'Hadar and the Borg. (Why *does* she incessantly refer to the Jem'Hadar as white? She did the same thing in her novelization of WYLB.) Also the scale of the war frequently seems diminished from what we encounter on the show. Even the novel covers are symptomatic of this, showing only two ships on each cover. Don't get me wrong: The novel isn't horrifyingly bad. Despite my many qualms, I got through it rather painlessly. But it was a strain to see so much inconsistency. Spelling and logical mistakes abound as well. The Jem'Hadar are mispelled EVERY SINGLE TIME in book 2. NOVEL-ONLY SPOILER: The Centaur is chased by three Jem'Hadar ships: One breaks off, one is destroyed (by throwing a rope at it, no less [in a way that admittedly SOUNDS good, but when broken down, just wouldn't work]), and the Centaur gets home safe. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHER SHIP??? Please, save yourself an exercise in frustration and just find something else to read.

My favorite Trek writer is Diane Carey. I've read a few of her TNG books. But Dominion War Book 2 wasn't the best she's done. I didn't enjoy this novel as much as DW Book 1 and 3 by John Vornholt. Maybe it's the fact that I don't like DS9 as much as TNG, or maybe it's because it was a novelization. Novelizations are okay, but real imagination comes out in original novels.

Better luck next time, Carey!

This book captures the excitement of the episodes leading up to the retaking of DS9 in " operation return." Following Sisko's fleet maneuvers and Kira's resistance cell on the station, this book is as exciting as the three books in the series which have come before!

Depp Space Nine is the best television series of all time, and the episodes these books novelized were some of my favorites. I like novelizations if the episodes they're based on are good, I hate them if they're not. I was really disappointed on the T.V. show "Behind the Lines" That they showed the dumb Kira part instead of the Argolis mission, and I was glad that the novelization included that part. This series was so good that I read it nonstop and finished it in four days. The John Vornholt Next Generation ones were good too.