Customer Reviews

Daedalus's Children: Part Two of Two (Star Trek: Enterprise)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Star Trek-Enterprise: Daedalus's Children is part 2 of the adventure started in the first book called "Daedalus" and this book concludes the very well-written adventure written by David Stern.

"Daedalus's Children" takes off from where "Daedalus" adventure left off and tells an action-packed adventure where Captain Jonathan Archer shines and plays a majors roll in a good character novel bringing into play the rest of the major characters in the Star Trek-Enterprise series. We get really good character play and problem solving as the charater interact with the adventure at hand.

That adventure is three fold in nature as first the Enterprises and her crew have to be reunited with each other, next Captain Archer must work to solve a civil war that is about to breakout on Denari and deal with the oppressive ruler's "son." And, the third prong of theis adventure deals with getting back home to their own "Universe."

There are twists and turns and heartbreak in the book along with unexpected love affairs and the consequences conserning all of this three fold adventure. "Daedalus's Children" is a well-told action-adventure that will keep the reader's attention till the end as event arise and problems are thrown into the mix you'll read on trying to see if the Enterprise crew is up to the task at hand.

I found the book to be quite captivating and it piqued my interest as I read the first 250 pages in the first setting. I couldn't put the book down. If you like the Star Trek-Enterprise television episodic adventure you'll be glad to know this book doesn't disturbe that timeline what-so-ever. Just that we read another well though out adventure.

As I've said, this book incorporates the whole Enterprise crew to work closely to solve this adventure, along with the Daedalus's crew as they try to solve a Quantum Universe mystery

I found this book to be better than "Daedalus" David Stern's first book in the series as he really gets all of Enterprise working in this three-fold adventure. For this book, I gave "Daedalus's Children" a solid 5 star rating as it kept the reader involved and into the story. Captivating with intrigue and action-adventure and the story is well-written and keeps the reader engrossed till the end.

While part one of this two part series seemed like a pursuit into the life and times of Charles Tucker III, this one was a little more balanced in its use of the crew of the Enterprise.

I liked the way Stern delved into the histories of the character by bringing up the striking differences between this stories universe and the real one. We get to see the struggle of Archer and crew to fight the ailments of this universe and obtain their freedom from the quarreling factions in this universe.

This was a very good completion to a well develop story. Having finished them both part of me would have liked to see them combined into one novel. There seemed to a little too much filler but more story then a single novel. If you enjoyed the first part, you have no choice but to pick this book up and see if the crew makes it home.

I don't much care for 2-part stories, in which the first book has no proper ending, and the second book picks up in mid-story, which is why I marked this book (and its predecessor) down to four stars. Additionally, the actual ending was somewhat abrupt and anticlimactic, after having been built up to be a major issue, but that wasn't enough of a drawback to justify marking an otherwise excellent story down to three stars. The writing itself was quite good, the characterizations well-handled, and the action gripping and intense. Mr. Stern shows an excellent touch as a writer, and I look forward to seeing more of his work -- preferably in stand-alone stories.

Daedalus's Children was entertaining and was well written overall, but I found the long-winded writing and blatent mistakes frequently frustrating. And most of the main characters from the television show, which the book is based on, took a back seat to many new minor characters.

This book seemed to have been rushed to the shelves before being adequately proof-read. For example, a character named Duel is given the rank of an Ensign in the first book, but on page 7 of this book Duel is called Lieutenant, then again called Ensign on page 25. Also, on page 234, a junior Enterprise engineer named Hess is on an alien ship with Archer before Archer is reunited with Enterprise. However, Hess was present on Enterprise on pages 211-221 at the same time as he was supposed to be with Archer. This obvious mistake of one character in two places at once cannot be explained away with parallel universes.

The story itself is smart and fun, but in an effort to be an epic two-parter, it greatly overreaches. In chapter 19, Captain Archer fights a frustrating twenty-page space battle in a little scout craft, though it can't really be called a space battle because it is only between his lone craft and three enemy ships. In page after page, nothing happens, save rediculous references to maneuvers learned at the Academy. Of course, Archer's little ship is victorious. And none of this actually matters, because it makes no sense for Archer to be on the craft anyway; his small crew's presence there was poorly explained as a need for a reconnaissance vessel that somehow couldn't be manned by any of the vast Denari crew.

But the greatest damage to the plot was having Archer direct the Denari war to an outcome of his choosing. Hasn't Stern seen any of the television shows? Sure, the Prime Directive isn't around yet, but having Archer interfere so thoroughly with an alien war in another universe when he only saw one side of the conflict goes against all common sense.

While all the main characters from the television show need not be central to every Trek book, the plethora of minor characters were confusing and overshadowed almost all the main crew. I read an Enterprise book to read about the televised cast, not a whole new crew. If I was looking for that, I would be reading the New Frontier series or the Stargazer series. All the references to people Dave Stern knows were just annoying.

Any good Star Trek novel should be written as though it were a television episode or a movie. Instead, they often expand upon the show so much just to fill pages that they end up becoming almost unrecognizeable as occuring in the Trek universe. I did enjoy Daedalus, and this book almost as much, but halfway through this book I found myself longing for it to end.

I really liked this book. I especially liked how Trip and T'Pol stayed true to character. I found it a very enjoyable read and I am looking forward to the next book. If you like Enterprise the series at all I think you will like this book.

Daedalus's Children was a fine conclusion to the two-part series. Another fast paced, page-turning book, it continues a story of the Enterprise crew being drawn to the center of major political turmoil in an alien star system.

While Tucker and Hoshi continue to play an important role in the story, this book, refreshingly, broadens the plot to include the entire Enterprise crew. Additional characters - the leaders of varios factions - can be appretiated as well. I was pleased to find that Trip's romantic interest, which was barely explored in the first book, was given much more thorough treatment in this one.

As with the first book, the author's blunt, dialoug-heavy writing style is appreciated. It makes for quick reading and allows an Enterprise fan's knowledge of the show to fill in background details.

One star is missing from my review because of another poorly-done plot mechanism. Without giving too much away, there is one major predicament the crew faces (among many) which seems insurmountable. But, suddenly an easy solution is found and an entire sub-plot is retired with little fanfare.

Still, the book is a lot of fun to read. Like the first book, I recommend it to any fan of Enterprise.

A very good 2 volume series. It was the first books in the new Enterprise series, and I was not disapointed. The plot was interesting, and I think the characters were well written. I could almost hear and see them as they are on the TV series.