Customer Reviews

Oblivion (Star Trek: Stargazer, Book 4)

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

 

 

This is a good read, for the most part. There are still a few rough spots -- I'm getting awfully tired of the painfully slow development of the subplots regarding Nikolas & Ulelo, for instance -- but the main story here, the one involving Picard & his first encounter with Guinan, was actually quite good. Plenty of action, good characterization, good pacing. And we had only a tiny 5 page partial chapter dealing with Admiral McAteer, which was also a pleasant change.

Star Trek-Stargazer: Oblivion written by Michael Jan Friedman is the latest installment in the Stargazer series featuring a young Captain Jean-Luc Picard. As with most of Friedman's work this story has both an A and B plotline. So, hopping from one story to the next is what you'll have to do to finish this story.

Jean-Luc Picard is on a mission to find a long lost friend, Demmix, who has vital information on the Ubarrak about a defensive system to be installed on all of their spacefaring vessels. Demmix will only offer this information to his friend Picard, but the Federation isn't the only organization that is trying to cull this information, so are the Cardassians. Now, with the Cardassians in the picture, things get rather heated as Picard trys to avoid capture. Picard is young in this adventure, but he is developing his instincts as he runs into Guinan the El-Aurian who will become, much later, the master of Ten Forward on the U.S.S. Enterprise.

This book brings the reader into a tumultuous adveturous relationship between Guinan and Picard... as Guinan a long-lived El-Aurian still remembers Picard, who at the time of their first meeting was much older in San Francisco back in 1893. Now, she must work with Picard to find Demmix and all of his secrets.

As we read on in the book, we find a very different more vunerable Guinan... a person who experiences pain and longing, but with budding qualities that we've come to expect. There is some real soul searching going on on Guinan's part. As she yearns of the Cosmic String and it's promissed peace and oblivion. The story between Picard and Guinan gets filled in as to their relationship and brings the reader into a personal relationship.

So much for storyline A, storyline B is the crew on the Starship Stargazer. We get to see more of the personal relationships between the crew members in Picard's absence. Nikolas is still not over with his encounter with Gerda Idum from the other universe... that story is found in the book Stargazer: Three. The purpose of this storyline is to give the reader insight into the lives and thinking of the Stargazer's crew. Yes, it can be views as filler, but more importantly it gives us a view of the crew's fragilness.

I gave this book a solid 4 stars, for the good story between Picard and Guinan that sheds some light on their long relationship. The character development between Picard and Guinan may have been written stronger, but this is an early encounter between them and their relationship only grows strong with time. All in all, we begin to know what makes Picard tick and how Guinan draws her strenght from the man called Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

This Stargazer book gives us the story of Guinan and Picard's "first" meeting and gives us insite into the deep relationship that Picard and Guinan developed over the years. We learn a bit more about Guinan's past. This is a well done story that is a must read for fans of Picard, Guinan and the Stargazer period

Picard is sent to get a friend who is being hunted by some enemy, and they try to trap him. Guinan, a woman he met years earlier when he is an older man (it's a time travel thing) saves his life, saves his mission, and saves herself from sorrow at losing everything to the Borg! Guinan is a great character, this shows how they became friends and learned to trust each other. The story is one of the best in the Stargazer series, the bad guys stay bad and the good guys are not always so fantastic. The events are more believable and the trials and efforts are more realistic and so the end result is more satisfying.

Slowly, so very very slowly, the Stargazer book series is starting to approach redemption. After a quality drop off of astonishing proportions between The Valiant and Gauntlet, the Stargazer series has been climbing by small degrees towards something approaching postive. Oblivion in and of itself is not there yet, but at this rate the next book just might.

First and foremost, what sets Oblivion apart from the rest of the Stargazer series so far is a palpable sense of place. The series overall has suffered from an appalling lack of detail when it comes to settings be they ships, species or places. With the mish-mash orbital city of Oblivion, there's finally an interesting location with which to set a Stargazer story in. A descriptive setting is something that can occasionally go missing in Trek literature, but the city makes for an interesting place in the mind along side Vanguard or even the hidden meeting place in the Neutral Zone described in Exodus.

Trying to maintain an unsteady balance of power in the sector between the Federation, Cardassian Union and the Ubarrak, Picard is dispatched to the city to rendezvous with a scientist with tactical information on the Ubarrak. The thing is, the Cardassians are interested in that info too if their expansionism is going to continue. Enter Tain. What follows is a sort of deadly game of cat and mouse, with Picard getting some unexpected assistance a woman named Guinan.

This book tackles a Guinan still in a state of flux after having experienced the Nexus, as expressed on the beautifully stark cover art, a huge contrast to Three's bland and confusing cover. Michael Jan Friedman's minimalistic approach to the series actually works here in relaying Guinan's bitter existentialism to the reader. Her first line to Picard actually elicited a chuckle from me.

As a story of the first (or second?) meeting of Guinan and Picard, Oblivion is entirely adequate reading material. There is certainly still a fair share of problems with the work, but they just simply aren't as annoying or obtrusive. Purely on the basis of relating to the work, the writer seems to like sticking with an entirely original group of species with which he regularly works (Ubarrak, Balduk, Dedderac etc.) and it often creates a feeling of disconnect from the rest of the Trek universe. It might help if it's established sometime that these are just heavily localized species that don't travel much.

One almost doesn't notice the rookie mistakes that the supposedly experienced Obsidian Order operative Tain made on a regular basis. He didn't seem to think that making public and showy inquiries all around wouldn't get him and his team noticed by city security. Or that they wouldn't put two and two together after a Cardassian turns up dead. Also, I had to wonder how old Tain exactly was at the time of this story. I imagine that even in this time period, he'd be a lot older and already higher up in the Order (it's never said if his glinn rank was a cover or just a mistake). I remember being confused in the same manner when it came to the age of Seven's father when he appeared in Progenitor. Everyone seems younger than they should although I bet Dooley and Robinson are much closer in age than their characters were meant to be and that's why I think Tain should be a lot older.

Picard is more front and center than he's been in previous Stargazer novels and in general, I liked the characterization of the younger captain on his own and how he doesn't realize he has to live up to his future self in Guinan's eyes. Unfortunately, there's a moment that seems completely out of character for the captain and I suspect it was done so that Guinan could simply have a guilt-ridden examination of her newfound optimism. Back on the Stargazer, we get a very interesting development in the relationship between Ensign Cole Paris and Ensign Jeterica, one of the more intriguing original characters to the series. The trepidation and innocence of these two very different species exploring a more intimate relationship was very well handled. However, Nikolas' melodramatic moping over Gerda Idun grew obnoxious. I read through his segments very quickly to move on.

Overall, if you can get Oblivion at a discount, I'd say don't hesitate to pick it up. It'll probably be worth your time. It creates a place in Oblivion that I'm already wanting to see more of and fairly documents a meeting between two characters that fans have long been waiting for.

Star Trek Stargazer: Oblivion takes place on a small planet called Oblivion, where what happens there, stays there. The story also takes place on the ship Stargazer, the ship Picard captained before taking the helm of the Enterprise. Oh, in Oblivion Picard is young with a full head of hair.

Although this novel features Guinan, none of the other Next Generation Enterprise crew is in this novel. There is, however, a whole new and interesting set of crew members for the reader to get to know. They include a human crew member who is falling in love with a female gaseous being who works in a containment suit.

The main story involving Picard and Guinan on Oblivion involves Picard trying to find an old Academy companion with whom Picard is supposed to rendezvous. Denmix has valuable information for the Federation. But at their meeting place, a bomb goes off and the two are fugitives from the Oblivion security forces, and from a pack of ruthless Cardassians hot on their heels. Guinan is a mysterious woman who knows Picard from the past, but he does not know her. Who is this mysterious woman? Who will get to Denmix first: the Cardassians, security, or his friend? What of the other dramas on the ship? This novel is fast paced and furious, with several big twists. A well-written and engaging novel. I recommend it for Next Generation fans.

I like this book. It provides a good contrast of the Guinan character from what we see of her in the series. We find out that her character has suffered much greater losses than we knew and why her feelings against the Borg are so strong. We also see how important her meeting with Picard is. How in many ways, the meeting (the second one for her) makes her turn over a new leaf.

I think out of the whole "Stargazer" series so far, this one and "The Valiant" tie for the best.

That sums up the extent of what one will find in "Stargazer: Oblivion." The plot is thin; Picard is sent to Obl'viaan (Oblivion, a hodgepodge of ships that is somehow a "city) to rendezvous with an old acquaintance of his, Demmix. Demmix has important information on the Ubarrak, a race that threatens the Federation and the Cardassians--basically, everyone is threatening everyone else and the potential for interstellar war exists unless this information is obtained by the Federation. And, of course, the Cardassians want Demmix as well, but that is to be expected. I mean, you can't have an easy time of picking up your charge. A bomb goes off in a crowded bazaar, security men arrest Picard, and Demmix runs because that is what he does (he and Picard ran a marathon against one another, and that contrived bit of past is how they've become such "good" friends).
So Guinan springs him, they dye their skin, change their hair, and go off in search of Demmix. Also after them is the chief of Oblivion security and Enabran Tain, who seems to be out of continuity as a Glinn.
A merry chase ensues, and it's hard to stay for the plot. It's better to see the interplay between a stricken Guinan and a blossoming Picard, and here is the true payoff: she knows they will become friends, he does not, and yet Guinan cannot believe this is the man who will become the captain of the "Enterprise" and her good friend. Interesting bit of characterization here, and, as I said, the only real reason to read "Oblivion."
On "Stargazer," Nikolas is upset about losing Gerda Idun so he lashes out at a few people and knocks out a Bolian (twice) and feels sorry for himself. Yeah. Not really caring about his attitude, just wondering how he became so childish; this isn't the Nikolas we've seen over the past few novels.
However, the Paris/Jiterica relationship is excellent; they are both confused after a moment of unintentional intimacy, and what develops between these two as the novel progresses is simultaneously bittersweet and poignant.
Oh, and we're still in the dark about Ulelo at the end, so don't get your hopes up.
Let's hope the follow-up gets here soon, because these loose ends and pseudo-cliffhangers are maddening.
Don't pick this up unless you are absolutely dedicated to the "Stargazer" series or want to know how Guinan and Picard "first" met.