Customer Reviews

Do Comets Dream? (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I've noticed that most of the reviews for this album are either 5 stars or 1...it seems to be a love-it-or-hate-it thing for most. As for me, I may have a rather unique perspective because I was very much of two minds about it. Since ultimately I chose to purchase and keep it for future re-reading, I rounded my 2.5 rating up to 3 stars (2 and 1 are for items I do not keep). In order to prepare for this review, I found myself keeping a pros-and-cons list so that I could try to accurately report both. I found, though, that on some of the very same points, I would feel one way about it one second and the opposite a moment later!

Perhaps the best thing that Do Comets Dream? had going for it was the rich descriptive prose. I do not always get vivid sensory impressions as I read, but in this case I could certainly envision myself in this colorful world. Similarly, the richness of the culture he devised was quite enticing, and I vastly preferred the scenes that delved into the history of Thanet to those involving the Enterprise crew. The reason for the existence of the thanopstru was certainly an engaging tale, as well as a look into the political machinations of Thanet.

However, I had mixed feelings about the heavy allusions to Earth culture and languages. On one hand, it was rather fascinating to try to pick them all out, but on the other, I also started to see it as a cheap substitute for inventiveness on the author's part. I would have been even more impressed by his inventing his own mythology rather than a retelling (even such a vivid one) of our own histories. Certain parallels were simply TOO close to be believable. For instance, what are the odds of another world developing root words such as "mnemo-" for memory and "thanop-" for death, which are close to words in ancient Greek holding the *same* meaning? This is where it becomes hard to suspend disbelief.

As I alluded to before, the scenes with the Enterprise crew were nowhere near as convincing as the ones involving characters of Somtow's own creation (with the exception of Simon Tarses, whom Somtow was pretty much on his own to describe, anyway). Another problem that I had with this book was the extremely shoddy editing job. I find myself wondering if Somtow was uncertain of what he wanted to name the young Icelandic student who won a tour on the Enterprise for winning an essay contest (Speaking of unrealistic--after the failure of the Enterprise-D, did Starfleet not decide that it was too dangerous to have children on board ship?). This is because I found the following three spellings: "Engvig", "Envig", and even "Envgvig". The fact that neither Somtow nor the editors rectified this glaring inconsistency is truly pathetic.

Overall, this book merits only a 2.5, but because it can offer an engaging read at times, I kept it and gave it the 3-star rating.

Star Trek - The Next Generation: Do Coments Dream? written by S.P. Somtow is a quick fast paced book that gets right to the point. As the trailer states this book is about a comet that threatens the planet Thanet every five thousand years. Where life begins anew now, as Thanet has achieved space flight and warp capacity, they call upon the Federation for help.

This is an interesting story. I read it in one afternoon and enjoyed it. As I mentioned, this is a fast paced story. The book is divided into for distinct segments or parts:

Part One: The Reluctant Ambassador
Part Two: The Machine that was Mortal
Part Three: The Mortal that was a Michine
Part Four: The Planet that Waited for Death

Each of these parts are divided into chapters that have names of the subject of that chapter. This makes the reading fly by and there is interdispersed parts from the planet Thanet's Holy Panvivlion.

The character development was very descriptive and you could picture the character in your mind as you read on in the book. The principle Star Trek characters are Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Data and Deanna Troi with some minor characters thrown in for spice, like Simon Tarses which I could see his character come to life in the book.

All in all, you'll find the book an easy enjoyable read the action-adventure is not high, but the charater interplay was highly enjoyable making this a good change-of-pace book.

The ending is a suprise, so I'm not going to say anything but... interesting. This is a solid 5 star story with real life scenarios making for a very believable story and the character dialog was very descriptive.

It is as much a bane as a boon having to toil in a shared literary universe, especially in one as contrictive as Trek. If you are compelled to toss one of these things off for a quick buck without resort to pseudonym, one solution is to turn the main characters into generic spear-chuckers, investing instead in your guest characters. Another is to devise a culture so distinctive, it takes on the attributes of a character. Here, Somtow has done both. Not surprisingly, those who like their Trek straight and unadulterated may find themselves lost in space with this one. Those, however, who might be inclined to welcome the depiction of a world inspired by Hindu and other Asian cultural underpinnings will be amply rewarded. The funny, and maybe sad, thing here is that this novel could have worked quite well outside of the Trek universe and its often onerous literary restrictions.

This is not a review. I wished to write just a small comment. I noticed the similarities with the classic old SF novel "The Stars like Dust". I do like to see old themes treated again in a different way and hopefully so do most people. This is after all how one defines "classic".

A comet on a deadly course to destroy the plane Thanet. A child bound to the comets interior. A hate for a people who forgotten about the war 5,000 years ago. A religion on the line. And a starship crew that must solve a 5,000 year old mystery before it's too late. "Do Comets Dream?" is one of the best Star Trek books I have ever read. The words on the page make you feel that you're right there, on Thanet. Right there, in Kio's mind. Right there, on the Enterprise.

If you want something good to read, something you can really get in to, something that can make you think, then I recommend this book to you. "Do Comets Dream?" is well worth your money.

This is not your typical Star Trek: The Next Generation novel. The prose is more flowery, and the plot is straightforward and simple. Unfortunately some of the characterizations are out of place (i.e. "Picard would never say that!"). But the concept is an interesting one and overall I found myself enjoying this novel. It's an extremely quick read (2-3 hours) and has a satisfying conclusion. Pick this one up if you're looking for something new and different from the standard Trek line.

My opinion of this book is that the author tried to work in some kind of connection with Star Trek just to get it published. If I wasn't told, and there weren't some Star Trek characters (poorly portrayed) then I wouldn't have known it was ST. It would have been better to develop the story better and publish it on it's own.

I feel bad rating this book so low because I hate to give anything "Star Trek" a bad rap. I can't honestly recommend it to anyone with a clear conscience. There's not much to say good about it except that it had a good concept which might have been delivered more aptly by someone like Peter David. Unless you feel you've just got to read every Star Trek novel - skip this one!

There is some potential in this novel, particularly with the discussion of Thanet's religious beliefs. That potential is lost amid a sea of ambiguity that detracts from the overall story. The writer could have done a better job with it but missed the opportunity.

This book has a very weak plot, for all that a synopsis of it sounds promising enough. The idea (sister planets engaged in a millennia-old interstellar war, headed towards mutual destruction) isn't very original, the handling of it is pretty shallow and silly, the characterizations are rather two-dimensional and cardboard, the dialogue is bland and stilted, and the ending is contrived. Other than that, it was great!

Sadly, even with all of that, it's far from the WORST Star Trek novel I've ever read, which is why I rounded my 1.5 rating up to two, but seriously, unless you REALLY need a Star Trek fix and there just isn't anything else handy, I wouldn't bother with it.