3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hit and Miss, June 21, 2010
This review is from: Star Trek: Titan #5: Over a Torrent Sea (Mass Market Paperback)
I enjoyed this Star Trek novel, but I have to admit that the mixed reviews are on target. This novel is hit and miss. I enjoyed the provocative science which underlies this book and it seems the author did his homework when it came to the water world Droplet. The aliens are fascinating and the planet's biology was believable. The miss part is where it comes to the crew of the Titan.
Tuvok's character development and behavior was treated spot on, but the whole subplot with Troi being kidnapped by the saurian doctor was stupid and implausible. Riker's helplessness and prudery was completely out of character. He's afraid to be seen naked? Really? And a crewmember has to wipe his butt for him? Really?
In the future, I hope the author sticks to what he does best-- which is the fascinating science he put forth in this novel-- and leave the soap opera to someone who is better suited to producing character driven Trek novels. Or at least step back a moment while plotting and ask himself, Is Will Riker really ashamed of his own nudity? Would Deanna Troi really be so out-of-touch with her own psyche she could subconsciously drive another crew mate to irrational behaviour with her empathic abilities?
This book would have been so much better if the characterizations had been researched as exhaustively as the science.
And why not let the drama of a human-alien birth lie in the difficulties of a hybrid birth? Why did the author feel like he had to come up with a stupid kidnapping subplot? It was a very immature development. Don't people ever get tired of "save the princess" storylines?
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic world cannot overcome awful characterizations, February 13, 2011
This review is from: Star Trek: Titan #5: Over a Torrent Sea (Mass Market Paperback)
This book shows that Christopher Bennett has the ability to create fantastic, believable, and immersive worlds. The world of Droplet is well laid out, and its inhabitants interesting. Unfortunatley this book also shows that Bennett is limited by his ability to only write horribly one-dimentional characters. Each of the Titan crew is given only one personality trait that is stretched to the point of absolute absurdity. Most regretable are: Tuvok (why is Bennet the only Trek writer who envisions Tuvok as a whiny, self-centered preteen?), Captain Riker (One would think that being married to a Betazoid he wouldnt be so squeemish about nudity, a theme that comes up over and over again) and Dr. Ree, whose bizzare behavoir is so badly out of character (and badly written) that I don't even like bringing it up. Personal interaction between the characters is equally subtle, wholly defined by who is either sleeping with or screaming at whom; it reads like a bad teen drama. Even the main plot point with the asteroid is anti-climactic.
I sincerely hope that in the future Mr. Bennett either cowrites his next Titan novel, so that he can focus on his strengths (I stress that the world itself is great), or avoids the Titan series altogether. As it is, there will be almost as much cleaning up required for this book as "Mack's Mess" minus any of the satisfaction. This is the first Star Trek novel I have found myself skimming (and I've read Resistance and Before Dishonor... don't recommend those either). If you have to read it, enjoy the world, but don't set your expectations high. It will make it easier to get through.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
The Great Therapy Couch in the Sky, June 7, 2009
This review is from: Star Trek: Titan #5: Over a Torrent Sea (Mass Market Paperback)
STAR TREK TITAN: OVER A TORRENT SEA is the fourth novel centered on the Prometheus-class Starship Titan under the command of Captain William Riker. In the wake of the game-changing events of STAR TREK DESTINY, Riker receives orders to resume Titan's mission of exploration on the outer reaches of Federation space. This brings the crew to "Droplet", a world comprised entirely of water around a small rocky/icy core. When Titan discovers an asteroid on a collision course with Droplet and determines that it would kill thousands of "squales" -- members of the ocean planet's sentient "squid/whale" species -- it attempts to destroy the asteroid. These efforts, alas, have unintended -- and seriously bad -- results. In order to save the squales (!) and redeem themselves, Titan's crew must employ all of their ingenuity, courage, and compassion.
Now, the good, the bad, and the ugly:
The good: Author Bennett draws upon recent developments in astronomy and planetary science, and related speculation about xenobiology (cited in an appendix). His background knowledge gives discussions of planet Droplet, its structure, weather, biology, and ecology an appreciable degree of verisimilitude. This makes OVER A TORRENT SEA more science-based than most Trek novels.
The bad: Much of the novel is tedious filler. On one hand, OVER A TORRENT SEA continues in the footsteps of many recent Trek novels in its focus on high-schoolish (at best) crushes and flings among crew members, including first officer Vale's unrequited love for Riker and the tentative affair between officers Ra-Havreii and Pazlar. Repeated mentions of how embarrassed Riker is to be seen naked or to be around naked female crew members are ... sad. I guess the intention is to bring in more female readers, but I doubt that this sort of bad romance writing is going to do anything positive for anyone.
On the other hand, the Titan series continues the ST:TNG fixation on psychotherapy. (There's a reason that neither ST:TOS or ST:E had a Counselor on the bridge.) It is not surprising that many crew members emerged from the catastrophic events of DESTINY with emotional scars. Everyone is affected to some degree by survivor's guilt, and others have more specific burdens, such as Tuvok and his wife's grief for their son, Troi's trauma over the near-loss of her unborn daughter, and ensign Lavena's guilt over her parental irresponsibility. These are legitimate topics, but the even though their treatment in TORRENT is more sophisticated than Troi's "I sense you are feeling distressed", I couldn't help but feel more annoyance than compassion.
The ugly: Once again, as in DESTINY, Deanna Troi's pregnancy is milked for over-the-top drama and sickening sentimentality. Fortunately, this is the last time this pregnancy will be misused in this fashion, but unfortunately we can count on the ruthless exploitation of her child for future plot complications and pious declarations about maternal and paternal instincts and responsibilities.
The bottom line: While not awful, OVER A TORRENT SEA was not generally a pleasure to read. Since it is standalone, not contributing to a major Trek plot line, it is easily skipped. Save your money.
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