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hellsfire's review against another edition
4.0
I loved Mirror Universe but I love what-if and alternate timeline stories. That's what this was.
I'm not a big VOY fan. I think out of all of Star Trek, VOY was the worse series. It was just boring. The characters were boring and the plot was boring until Seven came on board. It was sad because out of all the premises, VOY had the most promise. Luckily, The Mirror-Scaled Serpent was not boring.
Since the Marquee wasn't explored in VOY, you got that sense of feeling here. The Rebellion was basically the Marquee but more violent and some of the characters were ruthless. I actually liked Harry Kim. Surprisingly, Kes and Neelix were even worked in it.
Cutting Ties was the strangest story and the weakest. It didn't take existing Mirror Universe characters and show you what happened with them. Instead, it showed you as far as I knew, a new race and dealt with the Romulans. There were barely any humans in it. That's not to say that it was bad just that you didn't care as much as you normally would.
Saturn's Children was the best story. It picked off with the last DS9 Mirror Universe episode and showed you former Intendant Kira and Smiley. Kira tried to regain power and Smiley had to deal with being a leader of the rebellion. The most surprising thing was that Keiko was in it and that she wasn't annoying.
I don't know if they'll ever be another Mirror Universe television episode but as long as they have the books, I'll be happy. No one's safe in the books and they can do anything they want. It's also great to see the potential of what characters could have been.
I'm not a big VOY fan. I think out of all of Star Trek, VOY was the worse series. It was just boring. The characters were boring and the plot was boring until Seven came on board. It was sad because out of all the premises, VOY had the most promise. Luckily, The Mirror-Scaled Serpent was not boring.
Since the Marquee wasn't explored in VOY, you got that sense of feeling here. The Rebellion was basically the Marquee but more violent and some of the characters were ruthless. I actually liked Harry Kim. Surprisingly, Kes and Neelix were even worked in it.
Cutting Ties was the strangest story and the weakest. It didn't take existing Mirror Universe characters and show you what happened with them. Instead, it showed you as far as I knew, a new race and dealt with the Romulans. There were barely any humans in it. That's not to say that it was bad just that you didn't care as much as you normally would.
Saturn's Children was the best story. It picked off with the last DS9 Mirror Universe episode and showed you former Intendant Kira and Smiley. Kira tried to regain power and Smiley had to deal with being a leader of the rebellion. The most surprising thing was that Keiko was in it and that she wasn't annoying.
I don't know if they'll ever be another Mirror Universe television episode but as long as they have the books, I'll be happy. No one's safe in the books and they can do anything they want. It's also great to see the potential of what characters could have been.
sidetracked's review against another edition
3.0
The first story in this second book, The Mirror-Scaled Serpent, takes place in the Star Trek Voyager universe and features Chakotay in command of a rebel ship and its crew made up of Kate Janeway as engineer, Harry Kim as fighter and torturer, Tuvok as tactical officer and Annika Hansen (Seven of Nine) as engineer. Also appearing in the story are B'ellana a hated klingon-human hybrid trying to seize power within the Cardassian-Klingon alliance and Neelix and Kes, who are thrown into this part of the galaxy by the Caretaker.
The story is ok-ish but the characters are too bland. The accent is not placed on the reasoning behind "why we fight" but on the fact that "we fight because we don't like them, they're ugly, they stink etc". I would have enjoyed it more if Tuvok and his elite group of Vulcan friends would have received more emphasis.
Not really worth the read, unless you're a devoted fan or are travelling by train or plane for several hours.
Second story, Cutting Ties, is set in the Romulan Star Empire and follows the adventures of one of their slaves, M'k'nzy from the planet Calhoun. Freed from the Reman dilithium mines by a high Romulan official's daughter, Soleta he is then used as her protective detail aboard an extremely powerful ship where she accompanies her father on a diplomatic mission. When all goes wrong he uses his powers to gain control of the ship's "soul" and promises a rampage across the known worlds. Only Soleta manages to detour him by showing him what he could have been in another reality.
Somewhat better than the previous story, but it still doesn't excell. Interesting idea for the ship, but that's about it. Again, very much skippable.
The third and last story in this volume is Saturn's Children which is set in the Deep Space Nine universe. Here, the station Terok Nor is in the hands of the terran rebellion who threatens to purge all Bajor of life if the Alliance dares attack them. In this stand-off Miles O'Brien, de facto leader of the rebellion has under his command the warship Defiant, equipped with a state of the edge Romulan cloaking device. He struggles to maintain control of the rebellion when faced with the morality of warfare. On the other end of the spectrum we have Kira Nerys, former Intendant of Bajor, disgraced by her role in Regent Worf's capture by the rebels... she is now a slave of the new Regent. Slowly, by using her witts and her other skills, she manages to maneuver once again in the position of absolute power.
This story is the most interesting in the book. Somewhat connected with the first one in the volume, but not enough to warrant reading the first before this. Good action, nice plot, well drawn characters. The only story worth reading in this volume!
The first volume had more cohesion, in my opinion. The authors had some canon events they could use as plots for their stories. Now, though, the more we move away from the Terran Empire plot and into the rebellion one, it would seem the authors have no clear idea where they'd want to steer this whole universe.
The story is ok-ish but the characters are too bland. The accent is not placed on the reasoning behind "why we fight" but on the fact that "we fight because we don't like them, they're ugly, they stink etc". I would have enjoyed it more if Tuvok and his elite group of Vulcan friends would have received more emphasis.
Not really worth the read, unless you're a devoted fan or are travelling by train or plane for several hours.
Second story, Cutting Ties, is set in the Romulan Star Empire and follows the adventures of one of their slaves, M'k'nzy from the planet Calhoun. Freed from the Reman dilithium mines by a high Romulan official's daughter, Soleta he is then used as her protective detail aboard an extremely powerful ship where she accompanies her father on a diplomatic mission. When all goes wrong he uses his powers to gain control of the ship's "soul" and promises a rampage across the known worlds. Only Soleta manages to detour him by showing him what he could have been in another reality.
Somewhat better than the previous story, but it still doesn't excell. Interesting idea for the ship, but that's about it. Again, very much skippable.
The third and last story in this volume is Saturn's Children which is set in the Deep Space Nine universe. Here, the station Terok Nor is in the hands of the terran rebellion who threatens to purge all Bajor of life if the Alliance dares attack them. In this stand-off Miles O'Brien, de facto leader of the rebellion has under his command the warship Defiant, equipped with a state of the edge Romulan cloaking device. He struggles to maintain control of the rebellion when faced with the morality of warfare. On the other end of the spectrum we have Kira Nerys, former Intendant of Bajor, disgraced by her role in Regent Worf's capture by the rebels... she is now a slave of the new Regent. Slowly, by using her witts and her other skills, she manages to maneuver once again in the position of absolute power.
This story is the most interesting in the book. Somewhat connected with the first one in the volume, but not enough to warrant reading the first before this. Good action, nice plot, well drawn characters. The only story worth reading in this volume!
The first volume had more cohesion, in my opinion. The authors had some canon events they could use as plots for their stories. Now, though, the more we move away from the Terran Empire plot and into the rebellion one, it would seem the authors have no clear idea where they'd want to steer this whole universe.
lefthandedmatt's review against another edition
4.0
The Mirror-Scaled Serpent: maybe my favourite MU story so far, and it's a Voyager one. This is gruesome stuff and features a lot of death and a fair bit of sex. An exciting story which flips the Voyager premise around by having Neelix and Kes be the ones transported to the Alpha Quadrant instead, and encountering the Terran resistance. The Voyager characters are really inverted to be despicably evil people.
Cutting Ties: a New Frontier story, which I've never read any of, but this captivated me pretty well. The protagonist, Muck, is a bit difficult to embrace given his cold anger and hatred, but the story does a lot with him. It also used the TNG characters Shelby and Lefler and even gave us a glimpse into the 'prime' universe. Well written and exciting with some memorable characters."
Saturn's Children: the final story is probably the best one, picking up on the final MU episode of Deep Space Nine and continuing the story for the characters. A story full of intrigue and exciting character conflict as Intendant Kira tries to regain her former position and O'Brien struggles to keep control of the rebellion. As I've now come to expect from these stories, there's a lot of death, but this one has an inspiring element in the form of O'Brien.
A very entertaining book, overall, that's quite removed from the usual Star Trek stories. Your own enjoyment will largely be based on whether or not you're okay with reading tales about hateful characters.
Cutting Ties: a New Frontier story, which I've never read any of, but this captivated me pretty well. The protagonist, Muck, is a bit difficult to embrace given his cold anger and hatred, but the story does a lot with him. It also used the TNG characters Shelby and Lefler and even gave us a glimpse into the 'prime' universe. Well written and exciting with some memorable characters."
Saturn's Children: the final story is probably the best one, picking up on the final MU episode of Deep Space Nine and continuing the story for the characters. A story full of intrigue and exciting character conflict as Intendant Kira tries to regain her former position and O'Brien struggles to keep control of the rebellion. As I've now come to expect from these stories, there's a lot of death, but this one has an inspiring element in the form of O'Brien.
A very entertaining book, overall, that's quite removed from the usual Star Trek stories. Your own enjoyment will largely be based on whether or not you're okay with reading tales about hateful characters.
midwinter's review
3.0
The first story in this second book, The Mirror-Scaled Serpent, takes place in the Star Trek Voyager universe and features Chakotay in command of a rebel ship and its crew made up of Kate Janeway as engineer, Harry Kim as fighter and torturer, Tuvok as tactical officer and Annika Hansen (Seven of Nine) as engineer. Also appearing in the story are B'ellana a hated klingon-human hybrid trying to seize power within the Cardassian-Klingon alliance and Neelix and Kes, who are thrown into this part of the galaxy by the Caretaker.
The story is ok-ish but the characters are too bland. The accent is not placed on the reasoning behind "why we fight" but on the fact that "we fight because we don't like them, they're ugly, they stink etc". I would have enjoyed it more if Tuvok and his elite group of Vulcan friends would have received more emphasis.
Not really worth the read, unless you're a devoted fan or are travelling by train or plane for several hours.
Second story, Cutting Ties, is set in the Romulan Star Empire and follows the adventures of one of their slaves, M'k'nzy from the planet Calhoun. Freed from the Reman dilithium mines by a high Romulan official's daughter, Soleta he is then used as her protective detail aboard an extremely powerful ship where she accompanies her father on a diplomatic mission. When all goes wrong he uses his powers to gain control of the ship's "soul" and promises a rampage across the known worlds. Only Soleta manages to detour him by showing him what he could have been in another reality.
Somewhat better than the previous story, but it still doesn't excell. Interesting idea for the ship, but that's about it. Again, very much skippable.
The third and last story in this volume is Saturn's Children which is set in the Deep Space Nine universe. Here, the station Terok Nor is in the hands of the terran rebellion who threatens to purge all Bajor of life if the Alliance dares attack them. In this stand-off Miles O'Brien, de facto leader of the rebellion has under his command the warship Defiant, equipped with a state of the edge Romulan cloaking device. He struggles to maintain control of the rebellion when faced with the morality of warfare. On the other end of the spectrum we have Kira Nerys, former Intendant of Bajor, disgraced by her role in Regent Worf's capture by the rebels... she is now a slave of the new Regent. Slowly, by using her witts and her other skills, she manages to maneuver once again in the position of absolute power.
This story is the most interesting in the book. Somewhat connected with the first one in the volume, but not enough to warrant reading the first before this. Good action, nice plot, well drawn characters. The only story worth reading in this volume!
The first volume had more cohesion, in my opinion. The authors had some canon events they could use as plots for their stories. Now, though, the more we move away from the Terran Empire plot and into the rebellion one, it would seem the authors have no clear idea where they'd want to steer this whole universe.
The story is ok-ish but the characters are too bland. The accent is not placed on the reasoning behind "why we fight" but on the fact that "we fight because we don't like them, they're ugly, they stink etc". I would have enjoyed it more if Tuvok and his elite group of Vulcan friends would have received more emphasis.
Not really worth the read, unless you're a devoted fan or are travelling by train or plane for several hours.
Second story, Cutting Ties, is set in the Romulan Star Empire and follows the adventures of one of their slaves, M'k'nzy from the planet Calhoun. Freed from the Reman dilithium mines by a high Romulan official's daughter, Soleta he is then used as her protective detail aboard an extremely powerful ship where she accompanies her father on a diplomatic mission. When all goes wrong he uses his powers to gain control of the ship's "soul" and promises a rampage across the known worlds. Only Soleta manages to detour him by showing him what he could have been in another reality.
Somewhat better than the previous story, but it still doesn't excell. Interesting idea for the ship, but that's about it. Again, very much skippable.
The third and last story in this volume is Saturn's Children which is set in the Deep Space Nine universe. Here, the station Terok Nor is in the hands of the terran rebellion who threatens to purge all Bajor of life if the Alliance dares attack them. In this stand-off Miles O'Brien, de facto leader of the rebellion has under his command the warship Defiant, equipped with a state of the edge Romulan cloaking device. He struggles to maintain control of the rebellion when faced with the morality of warfare. On the other end of the spectrum we have Kira Nerys, former Intendant of Bajor, disgraced by her role in Regent Worf's capture by the rebels... she is now a slave of the new Regent. Slowly, by using her witts and her other skills, she manages to maneuver once again in the position of absolute power.
This story is the most interesting in the book. Somewhat connected with the first one in the volume, but not enough to warrant reading the first before this. Good action, nice plot, well drawn characters. The only story worth reading in this volume!
The first volume had more cohesion, in my opinion. The authors had some canon events they could use as plots for their stories. Now, though, the more we move away from the Terran Empire plot and into the rebellion one, it would seem the authors have no clear idea where they'd want to steer this whole universe.
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