Spoilers IKS Gorkon: A Good Day to Die by KRAD Review Thread

[Defcon]

Next round of the classic review threads:

I.K.S. Gorkon: A Good Day to Die by Keith R.A. DeCAndido

Blurb:
BEGINNING AN ALL-NEW SERIES OF KLINGON™ ADVENTURES!

These are the voyages of the Klingon Defense Force vessel I.K.S. Gorkon, part of the mighty new Chancellor class. Its mission: to explore strange new worlds...to seek out new life and new civilizations...
...and to conquer them for the greater glory of the Klingon Empire!

Newly inducted into the prestigious Order of the Bat'leth, Captain Klag, son of M'Raq, leads the crew of the Gorkon into the unexplored Kavrot Sector to find new planets on which to plant the Klingon flag. There, they discover the Children of San-Tarah, a species with a warrior culture that rivals -- and perhaps exceeds -- the Klingons' own, living on a planet that would be a great addition to the Empire. Klag could call in General Talak's fleet to bring the world under the Klingons' heel -- but the San-Tarah offer Klag a challenge he cannot refuse. The Gorkon crew and the San-Tarah will engage in several martial contests. If the Klingons lose, they will go and never trouble the planet again -- but if they are victorious, the San-Tarah will cede themselves to the Empire, and Klag will have singlehandedly conquered an entire world!
The first tale in a glorious adventure that will be remembered in song and story throughout the Empire!

Excerpt

_________________

My (short) review from 2004:

A Good Day to Die is a still good novel, but doesn't belong to DeCandido's best works. Although the crew and their interactions are very good, the actualy story surrounding the Children of San-Tarah wasn't able to fully captivate me. It felt to me like A Good Day to Die is mostly a set-up for the second novel Honor Bound, and the story here is mostly used to be the groundwork for the resolution of the main plot in Book Two. That this novel gets a good rating from me on its own, is ,as mentioned above, a result of the great characters and interactions between them. Especially the ground troops are good for some entertaining scenes

Overall A Good Day to Die isn't the high Point of DeCandido's career, but definitely worth a look as a set-up for the next book and because of the great character work.

 

[USS Firefly]

I think the Gorkon/Klingon Empire books were good, indeed book 1 was not his best work.
It is really a shame that KRAD don't write more books of the Gorkon after book 4, or can we force KRAD to write more about the Gorkon?

 

[KRAD]

I'm not the one who needs to be "forced"......

 

[zarkon]

I usually think of Gorkon 1 & 2 as one story, but they're both fantastic either way.

Book 1 has great characterisation and use of the entire ensemble and lots of fun with the contests.

Davok shouldn't have gone down like that man(or rolled away like that)

 

[Elias Vaughn]

I was really excited that there was a new Gorkon title I hadn't heard about. Now I'm sad again.

 

[Paris]

I'm in the midst of my GKN/KE re-read. Big fan of Klag and the crew. I hope that KRAD's new Klingon book makes a new GKN/KE book more appetizing to the pocket editors. I think it's been 6 years since the last one

 

[DEWLine]

Speaking up as another satisfied customer of tales of the IKS Gorkon, and looking forward to more such as they become available...

 

[Stevil2001]

Side note to the actual book, which I'm sure I liked (it is, after all, by Keith), but do not particularly remember:

Man, isn't I.K.S. Gorkon one of the most clunky/dull/meaningless series titles? Maybe second only to S.C.E./Corps of Engineers. Much as I think the latter should have just been called Star Trek: Miracle Workers, surely there's a better possible title than I.K.S. Gorkon? (Though I don't think Star Trek: Klingon Empire was much better.)

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Side note to the actual book, which I'm sure I liked (it is, after all, by Keith), but do not particularly remember:

Man, isn't I.K.S. Gorkon one of the most clunky/dull/meaningless series titles? Maybe second only to S.C.E./Corps of Engineers. Much as I think the latter should have just been called Star Trek: Miracle Workers, surely there's a better possible title than I.K.S. Gorkon? (Though I don't think Star Trek: Klingon Empire was much better.)

"A Good Day To Die" would actually be a good name for the series as a whole. It's recognizably a Klingon catchphrase and it's suitably dynamic.

 

[Elias Vaughn]

Three out of five Trek television series' have the show named after the ship/station. I don't see why the books should be different.

 

[Jarvisimo]

Side note to the actual book, which I'm sure I liked (it is, after all, by Keith), but do not particularly remember:

Man, isn't I.K.S. Gorkon one of the most clunky/dull/meaningless series titles? Maybe second only to S.C.E./Corps of Engineers. Much as I think the latter should have just been called Star Trek: Miracle Workers, surely there's a better possible title than I.K.S. Gorkon? (Though I don't think Star Trek: Klingon Empire was much better.)

"A Good Day To Die" would actually be a good name for the series as a whole. It's recognizably a Klingon catchphrase and it's suitably dynamic.

Sounds like 'A Song of Ice and Fire'. Nice!

 

[Stevil2001]

Three out of five Trek television series' have the show named after the ship/station. I don't see why the books should be different.

I actually think Deep Space Nine is a pretty dull title, too, but like the writers, I couldn't tell you a better one.

 

[Christopher]

I gather that the title Deep Space Nine was meant to be a placeholder until the producers thought of something better, but then it got out to the public and got used enough that they ended up being kind of stuck with it.

 

[DEWLine]

Which amuses me somewhat to be reminded of that.

 

[KRAD]

Man, isn't I.K.S. Gorkon one of the most clunky/dull/meaningless series titles? Maybe second only to S.C.E./Corps of Engineers. Much as I think the latter should have just been called Star Trek: Miracle Workers, surely there's a better possible title than I.K.S. Gorkon? (Though I don't think Star Trek: Klingon Empire was much better.)

I can't really argue with you there. If I could go back in time, I'd tell my 34-year-old self to come up with a better damn series title. *sigh*

With S.C.E., we only had a weekend to come up with the entire series -- John wanted to call it "E-Corps," but Paramount rejected that -- so I plead insanity on that one.

Thanks to everyone voting in the poll. Nice to see the book holds up a decade later....

 

[Stevil2001]

If only it could have been called BATTLECRUISER VENGEANCE!

 

[Enterprise1701]

A quick question: is B'Oraq's name supposed to be boraq or boraQ according to standard Klingon spelling?

 

[KRAD]

^ Small q.

 

[Enterprise1701]

Thanks, KRAD!

 

[loghaD]

Really enjoyed this one. This was one of the books that convinced me that Star Trek novels might actually be worth reading (having previously been very skeptical), and now that I've read a few more novels I'm very glad it did.

Oddly enough, I originally disliked the book from the get-go. I read the introduction and just decided "Well, this isn't for me."
I'm not sure why, but I suspect it may have been the bawdy, viking:esque theme that it had, drinking bloodwine and telling tales of one's exploits in the Hall of Heroes and all that.

However, a few months later I decided to give the book another chance, and suddenly that same introduction really spoke to me and made me want to read more.

Been many years since I read it, but I remember enjoying the relationship between Klag and Dorrek; definitely one of the highlights for me.
Wol is also a great character for the "lower decks" point of view.
Loved the The Final Reflection references, too.

Ending was excellent as well; great build-up for the sequel. It felt a bit like a scene in a movie, when the protagonist starts laying all of his cards on the table, and you can tell veQ is about to get real.