Customer Reviews

Orion's Hounds

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

FINALLY! A book where Counselor Troi shows her true value. I always thought she got short changed on the air, and in the books written while the series aired. Up to now, I always considered her part-Betazoid empathic skills to be more of a gimmick than an asset. This book easily dispels that notion.

This was by far my favorite Titan book. (No slight to Misters Mangels and Martin is intended. I thoroughly enjoyed those books also.)

I liked the beginnings of Mr. Bennett's development of the dynamics among Riker-Vale-Troi. They're reminiscent of the Kirk-Spock-McCoy triad, yet totally unique as well. I hope that particular element carries over to the next installment.

I'm glad to see that some of the crew, both those who are already familiar to us and those who have been recently introduced, are getting a little more character development. I'm anxious to see more of the same. Hopefully, Mr. Bennett will be asked to write for this series again. I would certainly purchase it without a moment's hesitation.

Finally a Titan book that completely convinced me!
In my opinion it has three major points, that are reflecting it's strength:

1) crew diversity

In the first two books it was constantly mentioned, that this ship features the most biodiverse crew in whole Starfleet and the characters became intoduced, but apart from discribing differences in species appearances, the authors did not make clear, what such diversity means for a ship's crew.
This book makes the difference!
The alien key characters are portrayed beyond body characteristics. One really gets the feeling, that they are aliens and not just strangely looking humans from another planet. Even more noticable is, that the author lets these aliens express their cultural and biological distinctivness without succumbing to Federation standards (which are pretty much human standards), like usually shown in ST. From this arises conflict among the crew, but also strength. The characters have to adjust themselves to oneanother and have to overcome prejudice, cliches and fears in order to function as a crew - fascinating!

2) no moral highground for the Federation

The author manages to portray the Titan crew as well as their opponents as complex societies with complex ethics and moral, that are not necessarily superior to one another. Christopher L. Bennett dares to take a second, unbiased look - bravo!

3) a strong Deanna Troi

Finally Deanna experiences a character developement, that logically reflects her past. She is one of, if not THE main character of this book and has the chance to show how fine an officer, how skilled a telepath and how passionate a wife she is. She's written strong without having to take on characteristics, that are traditionally associated with males - refreshing!

I agree with the previous reviewer. This book is a 5 star; I don't know why someone would give it a 1 star.

Titan Book Three is a terrific completion to the three part series depicting Captain Riker's first missions. The characters are well thought out and this book further defines all characters. This book is much better than Book Two in that you learn more about the characters. This book is very upbeat and well-worth reading; much more reminiscent of what made Star Trek so great. This book is well worth reading.

I hope that the Star Trek franchise will produce more Titan books and possibly a movie or series with Titan. These books are really terrific and so reminiscent of the plots that made Star Trek so great!

Readers of Trek!!! Did it ever bother you that in TNG Riker and Picard would be speaking to each other only to be disturbed by the communicator, never finishing the conversation?! Riker couldn't kiss Troi-or for that matter, Troi couldn't kiss Worf-without the twerp of the intercom! The viewer understood the reason for the interruptions: Too much dialogue or character development curtailed the plot development. This same technique was taken from the small screen and put into the books; however, the reason was different. Paramount wanted to keep watch over the Star Trek characters, fearing outside writers would go too far or better said, the company wanted to protect its copyright priviledges. The results were mixed.

When the strategy worked, books such as True Q or Vendetta were produced. The conversations were brief, but the action was ongoing. When the strategy failed no one asked about Nightshade or Boogeyman. Regarding the protection of the franchise, this lead to stagnated characters. While Picard, Data, and Worf were given almost every opportunity to grow and explore on film and in books, Riker, Troi, Geordi and Crusher were allowed to basically languish, leaving them in an eternal time warp that stunted their development. For almost twenty years, this has been the pattern for TNG until now.

What makes Orion's Hounds so special is the ability of its characters to mentally and physically evolve and communicate with each other. Personal growth and development appear to be prerequisites that each character carries with him or her. This is done using dialogue, which has often been sacrificed in Star Trek lore in order to please the objectives of TPTB. In Orion's Hounds, the characters are allowed to finish their conversation, reflect on their experiences and make decisions in accordance with earlier dialogues and events. Riker talks to Troi, Troi communicates with Vale, and Ree consults with Tuvok. Their conversations are not trivialized and abbreviated, making the reader unhappy. It is just the opposite. The reader is treated to mature conversation by the characters who are affected by their experiences and who very much want to work out their problems.

How does Riker distinguish himself as a leader and what are his fears and strengths since he is no longer under the shadow of Picard? Although Vale is Number One, Troi has maturity and experience on her side. How do these women come to a consensus over their roles, so that there is a smooth chain of command on the Titan? Tuvok holds logic above all else, but what if he is no longer capable of total control over his emotions? These questions, which were for many years ignored or left up to the television programs, are written about.

For people who said this book was poorly written, I can understand their unhappiness. I, too, would be upset if the rug was suddenly pulled out from underneath my feet. Over the years, despite its diversity, the reality of Star Trek is that it has catered to SWM ages 18-45, ignoring many of the very tenants that it has stood for. To please TPTB and SWM, over the years the reader received along with Picard-Data-Worf triad, an endless barrage of war stories to keep up with its nemesis, Star Wars. It didn't matter if the supporting characters suffered, the dialogue empty or a tiny majority were tired of the same refabricated tales.

It was good for business until Star Trek's star began to fade after Nemesis. This is when the editors realized that another approach was necessary. War, famine and corruption cannot dominate every arm of the franchise that must somehow evolve. Characters cannot remain stagnant and eternally youthful like a Barbara Cartland romance. There is a need to recognize that readers want their favorite characters to grow and go forward. There is also a need to recognize those who are faceless such as homosexuals. Thus, the human condition of a character is many times more important than the war at hand.

Based on this, Orion's Hounds is a good read. Once, in a great moon, TPTB produce something that goes outside the box. Read this book if you want something other than a meal of war. You may find yourself actually liking who Riker, Troi, Vale & Co have actually become and wishing that the true adventure of exploring space never ends.

I don't know why the pundits and apologists in the Star Trek book community (in which I deem myself a proud member) write glorious and positive reviews about every Star Trek book that comes out. Can't someone in this community just honestly say what they really think, i.e. that a lot of Star Trek books nowadays are just plain crap? I don't want to offend any writers (I envy your job), but I hope that the quality of Star Trek books that are published is indicative of lower reading ability and laziness on the part of the reading public, and not a matter of weak talent among writers. I can say this with confidence about "Orion's Hounds" because I know that Bennett can write really well. And just don't take my word for it, read "Ex Machina." In any event, on to "Orion's Hounds."

This "Titan" series appeared promising. After a good start with the first book, it was all downhill from there. Isn't there anything else to write about except bringing back the "star jellies" from the first season of "The Next Generation" (TNG)? I couldn't even finish this book, and after a month, I don't really care anymore. The characters violate their own set of ethics (the Prime Directive) just so a group of space faring creatures won't be killed. Are we now to justify interfering with every culture that hunts to sustain itself, or that even eats meat. I don't think so, because that includes 24th century humans.

The writing is weak, characters act out of character, there's a mishmash of species that don't even exist in the Star Trek universe (I could tolerate this at first, but now it's getting annoying; part of the essence of Trek is the Trek universe's unique races; by making up more and more races that don't exist as part of the Trek universe waters down the essence of Trek), and the author obviously writes with a political agenda in mind, which is fine itself, but stop preaching. It's not that I necessarily disagree with the author on some points, but I read Trek novels to escape and be entertained.

Orion's Hounds is by far the best titan book so far. this story is why star trek is made for the only down side is the 2nd half of the book slows down but it is the best one so far....

Well, this has to be one of the best written books that I didn't really like in a lot of places. This is a very well told story with intelligent, engaging dialogue (in fact, some of the best dialogue I've read in a Trek book to date) that should give one pause and consider how tolerant a person they really are towards others and the story is competently handled as well.

The problem here, which might just be me, is that I really didn't need the lion's share of a Sci-Fi fiction book to serve as catalyst for personal growth in the area of tolerance among diversity. This book, and the Titan series in general, continually bludgeons me over and over and over with how diverse the crew - and life in general in that galaxy. Don't get me wrong, I agree and the topic is treated fairly and intelligently and the discussions and stories in the books are well done. Problem is, it's more of a distraction than it should be and I'm really just looking for a little Sci-Fi escapism and a bit more fun in the Trek books I read. Intelligent fun to be sure, but still, fun.

That's my biggest beef with the book, really.....not much really happens. At 50% of the way through the book it was largely set up and a lot of discussions with just a couple important scenes of any substantive action. It picks up a bit in the last half, but it's still largely intellectual and not enough mystery, action, suspense of the other elements that made for some classic Trek.

So, bottom line, I rate it 3.5/5 stars because I recognize this is quality, intelligent writing....I just wish the balance that's so often talked about in the book could have been achieved with other elements in the story. Beyond that, I did like the author and have hopes that his next novel will achieve a bit better balance.

The USS Titan is a new ship with a super-diverse crew. While most of the command crew is human, they are not the majority. The crew includes a water-breather, a predatory meat-eating reptilian doctor, a member of a micro-gravity dwelling race and many others.

In this, the third Titan novel, Riker, in his new role as Captain of the Titan encounters a race of beings who hunt and kill large space-faring creates affectionately known to the crew as `star jellies'. Star Trek TNG fans were introduced to these creatures in the 2-part series pilot episode. In his attempt to correct what he perceives as an injustice, he discovers that the truth is far more complicated and that his interference has upset the balance in a millennia-old system.

In the midst of all of this, some of the crew is affected by the physic powers of the creatures, causing them to sabotage the mission. Now Riker must deal the furious hunters, a collection of hostile space creatures and psychically affected crew members as he tries to remedy the situation.

The story, especially with the focus on the giant space-dwelling creatures, is interesting and moves along well. As in the previous Titan stores, the reader is subjected to the non-too-subtle social rants of the author, who even manages to slide in a page of gun control along with sermons on tolerance.

If you do not mind that, then you should enjoy this book.

With "Orion's Hounds" being the third book of the Titan series, I'll say that this is the second best book of the series. What makes this book so good and a stand-out among the other novels it's that it has an original plot. This is a departure from other novels, other plot lines, things that have perhaps dominated and bogged down modern-day Trek. This novel is about exploration and a conflict that has you torn between the different sides.

It's not hard to get into or to read; if you haven't read the other two Titan novels, you'll be missing out on the crew's first big adventure and mission. Yet, this novel is more like the true start of the Titan series. The first novels were a setup to the crew and new ship. It also continued plots from the "A Time to ..." series as well as served as a continuation and wrap-up to the film Star Trek Nemesis and an earlier novel written by the the authors. This one though is easy to get into, there are some references to the past novels but it serves a true showcase of the new series and Riker as the captain.

This novel also deals with the large cast of characters well. There are still a lot of characters to keep up with but it's better dealt with in this novel than in the previous ones. It actually is a good Deanna Troi novel. The author amusing has her voice what many fans of Trek have said in the past; that she simply voices what can be clearly seen and that she's more there for show than for actual use. In this novel, Troi uses her empathy well and shows off her diplomatic skills. Riker must also learn to balance his duties as a captain with his relationship with Troi, an interesting situation that is explored.

The new aliens introduced are also interesting. They aren't completely bad and they aren't good but the author actually provides a lot of moments for the audience to decide things for themselves and to actually think while they're reading the novel. At times, there's a lot of description or information being packed in, making the novel feel as if it's dragging at some parts, but that is one of the few flaws that held this novel from being a five-star, in my opinion.

This is definately a recommended reading. If you haven't read a Titan novel yet, this is a nice place to start, in my opinion. This is the true mission, perhaps where the Titan series should have started. Going back to exploration is an interesting theme to play with since Trek has been about war and corruption in the past few years. It's refreshing though and has an early "The Next Generation" feel to it. Definately worth your time and money.

This book is an emotional roller-coaster. The first quarter was good, the last quarter was enjoyable, but they just don't make up for the middle half. The first quarter is essentially about establishing the crew. There are all sorts of small details to fix them in our minds. In fact, I noticed that Bennett, a much less experienced author than the two who wrote the first two Titan books, avoided one of their mistakes. In those books it is hard to keep track of which character is which. Bennett always gives us little reminders of what they look like or what species they are. I had no problems keeping track this time. Apart from that, while the author is very fond of using excessive introspection, there is a lot of good dialogue. The characterisations are all well done, and at this stage enjoyable. His descriptions are excellent. In fact, this is a good point to say that that is one area he succeeds in throughout the book. The backcover blurb mentions that this book deals with space-dwelling creatures. It is a major part of the book and the author does a great job. Take the best and most awe-inspiring documentary you have ever seen on whales, or other sea creatures, and imagine it done in space, and hopefully you will have some idea of the scope of this. The author isn't afraid to be daring in other areas either. At one point Troi is channelling some space aliens' emotions and reactions, and she basically has an orgasm right on the bridge, with what must be a dozen people carefully not watching her. It is very well done and well handled.

So, what goes wrong? The ship encounters a group of aliens shooting at some of the spacedwellers, who are sentient and send out a distress call. It is not much surprise that Riker charges in and disrupts the fight. But in total contravention of what Kirk or Picard would do, and the Prime Directive, he then declares that the victims were pure and innocent, and despite his verbal protests sides with them absolutely. The crew and the reader spend two hundred pages being shown just what a stupid decision that was. It is two hundred pages of guilt trips and self-recrimination. Riker also throws in a few lectures to Christine Vale about his plans to use the Luna series to restore Starfleet's virtues, while cooperating in ruthless and brutal combat. The crew's supposed allies also give frequent self-righteous and gloating speeches about how natural selection favours the ruthless and brutal because such people kill off moral and principled. Also, the crew and the general situation are presented as having the same fault lines as American society, and every single one of them is stressed to breaking. It makes me wonder what is left for the next author to work with. It is too long, too intense, about issues that are way too inflammatory for me in the real world, and it is just too much.

Then, at about the three quarter mark, the characters do a 180 and start acting like Starfleet officers again. They stop accepting the aliens' "be murderer or victim" viewpoint and start working out ways for everyone to talk through their problems and stop fighting. The solutions they come up with and how they work out are very imaginative and quite well done, although you can tell how the aliens are going to respond from a mile off. Actually, that is a problem throughout the book. When it comes to explaining and dealing with issues, the author refuses to be subtle. Virtually every single emotional problem every character has is dealt with only by being dragged out and confronted full on. It might work if it was just one or two characters, or on issues actually central to the topic. But virtually every character in the book has some major emotional issue, and virtually every one is dealt with in this brutally direct fashion. It is once again just too much to handle for just one book.

It is hard for me to summarise my feelings about this book. I guess I would have to recommend against it. The sections that are enjoyable just do not make up for the relentless focus on everything that is morally wrong with the situation, and the crew's attempt to rationalise it rather than work to change it goes on far too long. As for the series so far, I find that the last two books have been too morally ambiguous and too bloody. Spoiler warning here: as Riker himself points out, this is the second mission to involve the death of an entire planet's population, and I also don't want this to be a regular part of the Titan's adventures. Still, I continue to like the characters, so unless they bring in David Mack to kill most of them off I will be getting the next one. With that said, unless it is by this author. He has joined the unfortunately lengthening list of skilled authors whose Trek writing style I dislike.