'Errand of....' Books... *SPOILERS*

[Joel_Kirk]

These books are definitely epic and well-written (although, there are some minor editing issues which don't necessarily take from the story, but...)

I just finished the sixth and final book in this series....

It's interesting that the Organians actually stepped in due to the Klingons and Federation fighting near their planet. (This is similar to The Prophets, who seem to step in on battles if anything affects Bajor).

Like The Prophets, the Organians seem to have insight on future events....

I would like to know what happened with Parmet, Parrish, Jawer...

Aside from that, it is interesting to know how eager and knowledgable Colonel West was when he was a Lieutenant, before he committed treason years later...

Sidenote: In the final book, it seems like the fleet is still in the early stages...i.e. there are only 12 top-of-the-line starships: the Constitution-class; and those of the earlier Icarus-class vessels had to be taken out of museums/mothballs to defend against Klingon incursion...

****

I haven't seen too many posts concerning this novel series.

What do you guys think about this series?

 

[Deranged Nasat]

I found them...average. Which is, of course, by my standards, good (I think the vast majority of 21st century Trek books are enjoyable), but they certainly aren't on my favourites list. The primary problem was with how human-centric the Federation appeared here. Beyond an Andorian chief of staff and mention of Vulcan strategists, the brewing conflict with the Klingons seemed to be the issue of humanity, not an alliance of dozens of races/civilizations. I thought the depiction of the build up to war was actually very good (I love Trek politics), but it was jarring that the internal politics of the Federation and the participation of its non-human members received no attention.

That said, the books' depiction of Klingons was good; they did a pleasing job of reconciling TOS Klingons and their sneakiness, smarminess and treachery with the honour-obsessive Kahless-followers they mutated into later.

 

[T'Ressa Dax]

I liked them, though it took me a little time to warm up to the first book. After that I was interested enough to get the others and enjoyed them.

 

[lstyer]

I liked them a lot, but I felt like they dragged out longer than they needed to. The first trilogy in particular, felt to me like two books stretched into three.

I really enjoyed the portrayal of the Klingons in the series, and I'd love to see more Klingon stuff by Kevin Ryan as well as some followup on the original and/or expanded characters.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Interesting comments....!

I forgot to post this question in my initial post:

Is Karel supposed to be the Gorkon that we see in TUC....?

It's stated that he is of the House of Gorkon, but outside of Worf (adopted by humans and given a human last name), I don't know any Klingons who have full names...i.e. Karel Gorkon, etc...

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Interesting comments....!

I forgot to post this question in my initial post:

Is Karel supposed to be the Gorkon that we see in TUC....?

It's stated that he is of the House of Gorkon, but outside of Worf (adopted by humans and given a human last name), I don't know any Klingons who have full names...i.e. Karel Gorkon, etc...

Since Gorkon shows up in "Vanguard", which has tried to be consistant with the "Errand..." books, Karel can't be Gorkon. He's probably a cousin or something, a different branch of the House of Gorkon. Many established noble Houses probably have quite large memberships. Or perhaps he isn't related at all. Perhaps "Gorkon" is simply a name with significance for Kahless-followers and our Gorkon was named independently of House Gorkon? Has it ever been confirmed that Gorkon is of House Gorkon? After all, the House of Mogh retained that name after Mogh's death; it didn't become the House of Worf. Gorkon doesn't actually have to be affiliated with House Gorkon at all

 

[Joel_Kirk]

^^

Yeah, that makes sense....

 

[lstyer]

Since Gorkon shows up in "Vanguard", which has tried to be consistant with the "Errand..." books, Karel can't be Gorkon.

What you're saying seems correct from the Vanguard perspective, but I wonder if that was the original intention in the Errand books.

If I'm remembering correctly Karel's family seemed far less prominent than one would believe that the family of the Gorkon in Vanguard must be, so I'm not sure just how well the two series mesh on that point unless we go with your branches-of-the-family suggestion. Again, though, I wonder about the original intention.

I understand that Mr. Ryan has read and posted to this board in the past. Maybe he can shed some light.

 

[Kryan1701]

Karel was always intended to be Chancellor Gorkon from Star Trek VI, but I do understand that the Vanguard books are supposed to be pretty awesome so I leave it to the reader...

 

[lstyer]

The Vanguard novels are pretty awesome, but honestly, I prefer your Karel-as-Gorkon to the Gorkon presented in at least the first several Vanguard novels. I enjoyed seeing Karel's transformation from stock TOS Klingon into something different.

It's not necessarily a fair comparison, though, because Karel is a main character in three novels, while Gorkon is almost a background character in Vanguard, at least in the books of that series that I've read.

I would love to see more of Karel's transformation into the statesman that we encounter in The Undiscovered Country, which is, by a pretty decent stretch, my favorite Trek film, and quite possibly my favorite single Trek "episode."

Your presentation of Klingons, generally, almost seamlessly bridging the gap between their TOS and TNG portrayals is probably my favorite in modern Trek novels. I would love to see more Klingon material from you.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Karel was always intended to be Chancellor Gorkon from Star Trek VI, but I do understand that the Vanguard books are supposed to be pretty awesome so I leave it to the reader...

It's a shame I'm so continuity-obsessed because now you've confirmed that I really like the idea that your Karel character is Gorkon.

Great to see you here, by the way! We can't have too many writers around here!