Customer Reviews

The Soldiers of Fear

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

 

 

It is easy to see why Book Two in the Invasion series is so readily dismissed by a lot of readers. We went from 289 pages of small print in "First Strike" to 234 pages of big print in "The Soldiers of Fear." There is even a 38 page excerpt from "Time's Enemy" to pad the book even more. But those numbers are only indicative of the qualitative drop off from Book One in the Series. You get the feeling Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch worked from nothing more than a synopsis or an outline, because all of the background Diane Carey put into that first book are totally ignored. There are references to what happened with Kirk, and certainly the fear weapon used shows the invaders learned something about their opponents since that first encounter, but the entire culture of the Furies is abandoned, particularly the entire Druid angle. Since Carey is one of the co-creators of this series I have to feel that her perspective gets privileged. If they had the opportunity to actually read "First Strike" surely Smith and Rusch they would have made some serious improvements in Book Two to bring it up to line.

Of the Enterprise crew, Geordi La Forge is the only character who shows any additional depth, and this is mainly because the book does spend some time while he is engaged in solving problems as opposed to his just being the disembodied voice speaking from Engineering. There are a couple of interesting chats between Picard and Guinan, and some nice insights into Troi's subconscious as well as her relationship with Picard. But a lot of the emotional part of the story is reduced to short hand. Troi and Worf exchange meaningful looks when Troi is in trouble and the reader supplies all the meaning and import, although it is not at all clear where this story fits into the Next Generation chronology.

There was a sense of tragedy to "First Strike" because Kirk was trying to stop a war that was so unnecessary. In "The Soldiers of Fear" the writers try to create an epic moment, on the level of Spock's sacrifice at the end of "The Wrath of Khan," but when we get to the big moment there is no suspense because as soon as you know what the mission is, you know what will happen. The writers really needed to come up with a better way of getting out of that do or die situation. More importantly, "The Soldiers of Fear" simply needed to follow up on "First Strike" a lot better. The feeling of momentum in the Invasion series is gone by the time you finish this novel and realize the rest of the book is a teaser for the next volume. But I promise you that if you keep reading the rest of the Invasion books, you are going to be impressed.

Perhaps not quite as good as the first book, but I loved the way if followed through with the story and made it a continuing series. I've not read the other two yet, but soon will. I highly recommend reading book 1 and 2 of this Invasion series. You'll love it if you're a Star Trek fan.

this was only the second TNG book I have read. I liked it a great deal and it was a perfect followup to the First Strike. The Furies are great enemies, and Kirk and his crew are at their best in confronting the threat. The pace is blinding in speed, the plot tight and well thought out and the characterizations well done. If you can get it (I noted it is out of stock) read it, but after First Strike

Standard Star Trek fare; enemy fleet comes through a wormhole to attack and enslave the Federation (and anybody else in the vicinity) using an energy beam that generates debilitating fear. Enterprise crew distinguishes themselves in standing up to the fear, Picard tries to negotiate, bad guys won't, battle is joined, etc. But even worse in terms of predictability was the fate of Lt. Redbay; did anybody over the age of ten NOT see that one coming almost from the moment that he was introduced? Certainly by the time it was made clear that a hotshot pilot was going to be required for a "suicide mission"? TOO much telegraphing of plot points.

Other than the excessively predictable plot, book was quite well-written.

After the exciting events of the first novel in this series "First Strike," "The Soldiers of Fear" is a disappointing let down. This is extremely rare for these two fine authors, Dean Wesley Smith and his wife, Kristine Kathryn Rusch. It doesn't take too long to notice that the authors probably weren't given too much of a look at the first novel because several avenues opened during that book were seemingly ignored in this one. Most telling of this tale is the rather short length of the novel, at 234 pages of large print to include a 38 page excerpt from the third book in the series, which is considerably shorter than the other three novels.

To add to the disappointment of this novel is the pure fact that conceptually, the premise is wrought with unrealized potential. I'm sure that if these two fine authors were given more time and another opportunity to write this one, they would've written a much better novel.

The cover art for this novel is only slightly better than the rest at the time of its publishing.

The premise:

After a century of peace and no sign of the Furies, they return with a vengeance to reclaim the territory they believe is rightfully theirs. To make matters worse for Starfleet and the rest of the Alpha quadrant, the Furies have returned with a massive fleet of even more deadly ships than the one that came a century before. To add to that, they learned something from their first encounter and are now employing a weapon of fear upon their enemies, literally crippling them and then moving in with their physical weapons to destroy them.

What follows from there, as stated above, is novel that was wrought with potential that is ultimately unrealized in its execution. I would still recommend this novel and the other three in the series as this is only a bump in the road for the series as a whole. {ssintrepid}

I found this one to be lacking more description to create a good image of what went on up until the end when it seemed to be at its best. This one was a 2 day reading for me, and I am NOT a fast reader. It just had larger print and less detail. Pretty boring in most aspects, but the ending was good.

The Furies attack a Starfleet Station. The Enterprise went to investigate. Starfleet Command ordered the Enterprise to Furies Point where Furies are coming through to the Alpha Quadrant. They still want to conquer their "heaven", and this time they can bring out and magnify people's worst fears. Can the Enterprise survive long enough to close Furies Point?

All in all,it wasn't bad.The idea of exposing the fears someone has as a weapon is original,as is the idea of using it.But the weapon itself could have been better named.The battle-scene was not bad,but there were some drawbacks.One was that when you introduce Redbay(personally,I was glad when he went through that wormhole,he was annoying me)then said that a shuttle could destroy the wormhole,it was over right there.Plus,you could probably understand this if you were a trekker as I am,since when did the Enterprise use so many photon torpedoes?One more thing,in First Strike, which I think is the best,the creatures were much darker and mysterious,and didn't look like someth- ing from a Saturday-morning cartoon.All in all,not a very good follow up to First Strike,but not the worst book I have read.Try again Mr. Smith

After the slam-bang action of the first INVASION! book, "First Strike", this book was something of a letdown. The parts dedicated to the "fear beam" (yes they actually called it that) seemed unnesscary, and were resolved too quivkly and easily. Also the aliens seem somewhat like something one would dream up after eating a bad pizza (no infringement intended to Stephen Coonts who thought up that expression--it just seemed to fit here). I mean, come on, abunch of aliens who have 3 heads, or horns, hooves, beaks, sticky wings, and maggots crawling arounf in every orifice?--and oh yeah: "snake hair". And yet they all speak English? Then again, this IS Star Trek... Oh well. Still an OK Trek book

Diane Carey wrote an AWESOME book in "First Strike", she set it up perfectly for this book. Too bad the two authors of this book wrote the plot in two days and took no interest in the charecter's personalities. They are all clones. Riker and Data are irritating... this book is DULL. I can't think of any good points