Customer Reviews

Warped

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I don't understand why everyone keeps saying that this book is so bad. I picked it up, and couldn't put it down. Sure, it got a little overinvolved with some technological details at points, but it's not bad.

The only reason I will give it only four stars is because the author made one slight mistake. As I am writing a book about Federation starships, the author used both the runabouts Mekong and Ganges. Well, during my research, I learned that the Mekong is the runabout that was assigned to Deep Space 9 after the Ganges was destroyed. Just a little annoyance with me that the author did not research the information first.

Overall, a good pick. I highly recommend you pick it up to read.

It's the worst StarTrek book I've ever read

I've a lot of Trek books. Some were very good, some I've wondered how they got published, and some are average. This one is slightly above average. Usual Trek technobabble when characters are discussing the innerworking some gizmo, and some great interaction between favorite pairs of characters, here in the case Odo and Quark. But nothing new really new or exceptional (except for the idea of holosuites that shoot data straight into the user's brain), but on the other hand the characters didn't say or do anything that most Trek fans would find uncharacteristic. If you're a Trek fan, Warped is good way to spend an evening.

This book definitely ranks with others in what I like to call the "Star Trek Horror" subgenre. Other books in this unusual subgenre include Bloodthirst, "Dark Mirror" by Diane Duane, and "Q Squared" by Peter David. I especially liked the scenes of interaction between Sisko and Kai Opaka's "ghost," or whatever she was--a great foreshadowing of the DS9 finale story ABC is showing right now! Kudos to Jeter and others for showing us that Star Trek doesn't have to be atheistic to be true to Gene Roddenberry's vision!

As a general rule I do not normally like to completely run an author's work into the ground, so in this case my intent is to be as fair as possible with reference to this title. It was not thoroughly surprising to see "Warped" be the second and final Star Trek novel by KW Jeter, who I know to be a very popular author in other genres. Between this and his first DS9 novel "Bloodletter," an astute fan of the series can quickly catch on that the author just didn't seem to grasp the characters or the overall theme of the series very well.

Although no one but those at Pocket Books can say for certain, I believe that the reason that this was the only hardback Star Trek Deep Space Nine release up until DS9's "Unity," which is due out this year, is because "Warped" did so poorly in sales due to it's slow pace and lack of familiarity to the actual series. I find this to be a sad fact as well, considering the novels that came out later that so richly deserved a hardback release!

The cover art for this novel is standard fare for the time it was published, not exceptionally imaginative.

The premise:

Attempting to capitalize on the outstanding second season trilogy episodes of "The Homecoming," "The Circle" and "The Siege," the author brings into play these aspects, playing on the political strife in the newly formed Bajoran provisional government. A series of murders occurs on the station and Commander Sisko finds himself dealing with a new religious faction that wishes to force the Federation away from Bajor.

Odo soon traces the mysterious murders on the station to a dangerous new form of holosuite technology which has also affected Commander Sisko's son, Jake. Sisko must now deal with this new religious faction and the very real possibility of murder coming his way from any direction, to include his own son.

I've also owned the audio tape for this novel for several years; read by Rene Auberjonois, it can be an "okay" distraction for three hours while driving down the highway. Of course, Rene Auberjonois' reading is excellent for what he was reading.

Overall, the premise to this story is an extraordinarily intriguing one; it's in the execution of the story where it falls flat. I would only recommend this title as a collectors or completist's type find. {ssintrepid}

One has to be warped to read this boring wordy hardcover. I'm glad I only paid $3 bucks for it (2.99 too much in my opinion). The only good parts were the moments with Odo and Quark. Other than that it was a waste!!

One has to be warped to read this boring wordy hardcover. I'm glad I only paid $3 bucks for it (2.99 too much in my opinion). The only good parts were the moments with Odo and Quark. Other than that it was a waste!! zzzzzzz..thats all you will do if you read this tedious, wordy novel. Boring boring boring !!!!!! No wonder it's thrown in discount bins around the galaxy. Live long and prosper but dont read this book!!

Believe the title. The reason "Warped" didn't sell very well was that the author fundamentally misread the DS9 characters and feel. If you want to see stronger work from K. W. Jeter, read the Boba Fett books. The same cynical, violent outlook that works so well in that Star Wars story just seems creepy here. It's like all the Star Trek characters you know and care about have been replaced with twisted dopplegangers of themselves.

This is a paranoid book. Corridors are dark and oppressively silent. Much of the action takes place at night. A string of bizarre and violent murders upset the calm of the station. Political unrest stirs Bajor. There is even a ghost! Oh, and somebody's been tinkering with the holosuites, which now twist their users into violent and sociopathic behavior. It's a premise that deserves a stand-alone novel instead of trying to squeeze it into the rubber suit of DS9.

If you like dark books, and can avoid plot holes without mental distress, this is a decently-written story. However, big DS9 fans should avoid this one.

If you're one of those fans of Deep Space Nine who enjoy that series' tendancy to supply a healthy dollop of psuedo-mysticism along with the usual Star Trek psuedoscience, you'll doubtless love this book. It was well-written, the characters were handled well, the plot moved nicely, and so forth.

If, on the other hand, (like me) you find the credibility granted the Bajoran mysticism and mumbo-jumbo (including Sisko's status as the "Emissary") to be at best minorly irritating, then this is definitely NOT the book for you. The basic concept was just a little too silly for words.

I had been aware of the prevailing opinion of this book, which is along the lines of "This book is why the DS9 Hardcover series ended after one book." When I picked it up used a few years back, I was not motivated to read it right away for that very reason. But in my grand tour of reading all the Star Trek hardcover novels, this book finally came due. So I read it. I must say, I honestly agree with the opinion. The book was Dickensesque in verbosity, but while that worked for Charles Dickens it didn't work for K.W. Jeter.

I had previously read Jeter's N-Vector comic, set at the beginning of the DS9 re-launch era, which mostly due to the art was rather bizarre. But I didn't think the story line was so bad. And I had previously read Jeter's Star Wars Bounty Hunter Wars, which I did enjoy. With Warped I'm realizing that the story of N-Vector was a veiled rehash of the idea from Warped--an evil parallel-station/city/universe plot. This book presented a very simple conflict, which due to technologically vague explanations seemed more trivial to me than the story made it out to be. And as seems to be the case for many dramas, if the characters would just be honest with one another with their actions, intended actions, or thoughts, instead of sneaking around doing things on their own, the central conflict could have been avoided. Of course, that would make for a bland story, but conflicts that go unstemmed due to the poor actions of the main characters, when they are supposed to be the heroes, not the anti-heroes, aren't as enjoyable to me. Additionally, the resolution was very much a deus ex..., hinging on the central plot of the DS9 mythos, that of Sisko's connection to the Prophets.

Overall, I'd have to say I am glad I read this book from a completionist's point of view, and for some of the Kai Opaka elements, but I do not highly recommend it.