Customer Reviews

Sacrifice of Angels (Star Trek Deep Space Nine: The Dominion War, Book 4)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

I think this book was great,not only because Diane Carey is a good writer, but because you can imagine the scene, not sit on ur ass and watch T.V.

After three previously successful novels, Diane Carey's second DS9 novelization in the series promised to deliver all of the thrills and chills prevalent in the other entries. It doesn't disappoint. The storyline in Sacrifice of Angels follows the Federation's desperate attempt to halt the imminent arrival of Dominion reinforcements through the wormhole, and turn the tide of the war by retaking station Deep Space Nine. While stalwart Captain Benjamin Sisko and his crew aboard the Defiant lead the Federation's charge, Major Kira and her associates aboard DS9 carry on the fight in their own way. The characterization is good and the space battle sequences are top-notch. Diane Carey's second Deep Space Nine novelization is always entertaining, and acts as an excellent conclusion to the Dominion War series.

This book is as good as the other DS9 book in the Dominion War series. And, like that one, is FAR better than the pathetic TNG books in the series. The mission to the Argolis Cluster is written here, which is way cool. The only real problem I had was that the USS Centaur was destroyed, and the battle from "Sacrifice of Angels" was pretty short. But all in all, get this one and read it immediately! Don't buy the TNG books unless you collect.

In this, the conclusion to the "Dominion War" series, we have the novelization of the final seven episodes of the sequence leading up to the re-taking of Deep Space Nine by the Federation, as seen in the television series. It's a very moving, very powerful, very action-packed series of episodes, and makes for an equally impressive novelization. What's surprising is that Diane Carey actually does it justice; all too frequently, she gets carried away with attempts to be a clever wordsmith and use the language creatively; usually, these attempts fall flat as she manages only to use the language incorrectly. In this book, not only does she do very little of this (I can only think of one example; she refers to Sisko's "magistrating events" when clearly she means "orchestrating"; it is true that a magistrate CAN be an "administrator", and thus, by a large stretch, one could say that Sisko was "administering" events by managing them, but the more commonly understood meaning of "magistrate" is "judge", and she was definitely not trying to tell us that Sisko was "judging" events. He was arranging them, and the proper term for that would be "orchestrating", even if that word HAS been used in that sense before and she therefore finds it boring) but in most cases, when she used words in an attempt to be creative, it actually worked. And, as usual, her characterizations, her pacing, her plotting (in those cases in which she filled in missing gaps in the plot) were all excellent. This story is a must for any fan of the series "Deep Space Nine", for any fan of Star Trek in general, and indeed for anyone who enjoys a well-written Space Opera. If, of course, you hate science fiction in general or the action-based "Space Opera" subgenre, this story won't do anything for you, but if that's the case, why are you bothering to read this review? You already know you don't want to read the book.

Book 4 continues where book 2 left off [books 1&3 should really be part 1 of the Dominion War, and books 2&4, part 2]. I believe had I not just watched DS9 on DVD that I would have enjoyed book 2&4 more than I did. The episodes were among my favorite, but reading it, much of which is taken word for word from the show, hardly offered new exciting twists. I agree you get a lot deeper insight into characters, especially Sisko and Martok's plan to do something about the War. At times I questioned whether Carey was right about some of the inner thoughts of Sisko and whether the produces of DS9 had the same views, or if Carey just invented them. Either way, it works. It's also good to see more of what happens when the Defiant goes off on a mission, esp. when Dax is in command. It was also good to see Charlie Reynolds and his crew. For that, I give this book 4 stars rather than 3, and also because I believe if one hasn't seen these episodes, that the books will be quite enjoyable. Seeing O'Brien on a suicide mission was quite funny, although the Tex character seemed very odd and out-of-place. Personally I prefered TNG books (1&3) more.

Diane Carey continues on with this incredible adaptation of the Deep Space Nine episodes. This final book in The Dominion War series leaves me waiting for the re-runs to start-up.

I enjoyed this freshly re-told tale, including the introduction of new characters. The brief mention of one of Sisko's friends-Charlie Reynolds-allowed Carey to develop a ship and crew I fell in love with. The final weaving of their story left me touched. I felt involved with a new friend and sad to see it end.

Diane Carey always provides me with a surprise, every time I grab up a Star Trek novel by her. Most times I expect to be disappointed by a new cast of characters, but by the final page, I always wish I had more time with them. She provides me with the most mixed emotions and jumbled feels. It is always a pleasure to read her magic.

This is the final book in the four part series. I searched for all four of these books together so I would not be lost. Many times I could find the pairing: both DS9 or both TNG, but felt that I needed them all together. I was wrong. Although marketed as a single series, it was simply two, two-part series, with no tie-ins between them. As independent story, take the time to enjoy them.

Along with book two of this series, this book covered seven episodes from Deep Space Nine. I enjoyed the different presectives in these two books. Good work Diane Carey! She has done plenty of covers of episodes and has done well again.

This book was really well done. Diane Carey did a wonderful job

I THOUGHT THE BOOK WAS WELL WRITTEN,AND FOUND IT VERY ENTERTAINING