Posts Tagged ‘review’

WARPATH review on Tor Dot Com

Today on Tor Dot Com, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro reviews Warpath, my Star Trek: Deep Space Nine post-finale novel published in April 2006.

This review is part of a series, just as the novel was. Alvaro is reviewing the entire run of post-finale Star Trek: DS9 novels, which was started by editor Marco Palmieri in 2001.

Warpath falls somewhere in the middle of the series, and as such, though I am proud of it on its own merits, it would be a hard place to try to jump into the ongoing post-finale DS9 narrative.

Regardless, it is still immensely satisfying to read comments such as these:

Warpath is an intricately-assembled emotional rollercoaster which, despite plenty of quiet character scenes, never lets up on tension. Part military thriller, rip-roaring medieval battle, detective mystery, post-modern Western, and high-tech medical drama, it plays on the strengths of all these sub-genres and fuses them together into a dazzling story that is amply greater than the sum of its parts. The main reason for this success, outside of fastidious and intelligent worldbuilding, is Mack’s prose. He is able to switch effortlessly between scenes of muscular action, measured dialogue, and evocative description.

And there’s plenty more where that came from. Read the full Tor.com review of Warpath here.

As it happens, all U.S. eBook versions of Warpath (as well as my Vanguard series debut Harbinger) are on sale until the end of May 2020 for just $0.99 each. So get ’em while the getting’s good, my friends.

 

 

first review of Shards and Shadows

As noted by kradical and ineti, starri1 has posted his review of the new Star Trek Mirror Universe short-story anthology, Shards and Shadows.

From his remarks about my story, “For Want of a Nail” —

“Given all of my glowing love for just about every one of Mack’s other stories, I think you can fairly safely assume that this story would have had to release flesh-eating beetles from its pages in order for me to not find something to like. Fortunately, while he was poking about in the dark corners, he found something interesting as well, most notably the dynamic Memory Omega superteam of K’Ehleyr and Reg Barclay. Their pairing as work chums (where, of course, Reg is secretly in love with her) who grew up together inside the secret base on Regula I is such a good idea, just because it’s so elegantly simple.”

Be warned, however: The reviewer’s other effusive comments are laden with serious spoilers about many of my story’s twists.

An LJ review of Gods of Night

My thanks to starri1 for her his review of Star Trek Destiny, Book I: Gods of Night.

Ze “money quote” —

“When David Mack said this was going to be epic in scale, he wasn’t kidding.

I mean, this makes his work on Vanguard seem positively provincial by comparison.”

Sweet!

ETA: Another LJ-based review, this one from VoxBomb (aka Julio Angel Ortiz).

Its quotes de money:

“[Mack] does an amazing job in developing the Caeliar. The Caeliar are the kind of race that one expects to find in great science fiction: they inspire a sense of awe and wonder.”

“[T]he Borg return to their elite status as Trek’s most fearsome enemies. Mack does a great job of setting the stage for the epic battle, including a few vignettes from the battle lines. The reader is left with no doubt about the scope of what is at stake, and knowing that there is no reset button at the end of this tale makes it all the more thrilling and disturbing.”

“Titan‘s tale features some of the most heart-wrenching writing I have read in Trek literature. As a father, reading Riker and Troi’s struggle was hard. This is powerful writing, in particular Troi’s counseling session. While the scientific and exploratory portions of the Titan‘s story (and how they begin to tie-in with the wider arc of Destiny) are very well done, the character-focused moments on board Titan carry the biggest punch (train, meet rabbit).”

Mega-sweet!

Steve Roby’s review of Gods of Night

Steve Roby has posted a lengthy and very well-reasoned review of Star Trek Destiny, Book I: Gods of Night on his blog.

I love this review not only for the nice things he says about the book, but also because of his very legitimate (though mild) criticisms, some of which echo a few of my own feelings about the finished book.

A few of the quotes I most enjoyed:

“Continuing with the Hernandez storyline, I really liked the big old-fashioned space opera/adventure feel of it, with its mysterious and powerful aliens, and the huge, scientifically advanced alien cities. … The Caeliar world has a good, old-fashioned SF alien feel about it, and it’s fun to find a big exploration and adventure story as part of what so many people think will be a Borg overdose.”

“This is how to do a Star Trek crossover. With epic scope, intensity, and raw emotion, Gods of Night is a powerful beginning to a story that looks likely to have real consequences for the Star Trek universe. Not to be missed.”

Color me pleased. 🙂

TrekWeb’s review of Destiny

Jeff Ayers has reviewed Star Trek Destiny, Book I: Gods of Night for TrekWeb, giving it a 10 out of 10 rating.

The money quote par excellence:

“…the novel focuses on the characters and their preparations for the inevitable fight, elevating the story above the usual fare. Star Trek show fans will find much to enjoy. Fans of the Star Trek books should consider this a gift from the Gods. As far as the first entry in the trilogy is concerned, it lives up to the hype and is one of the best Trek novels in quite a while. Will the next books be as great? I, for one, can’t wait to find out.”

Also, one lucky fan on the PsiPhi Star Trek Books Discussion Board says his copy arrived from Amazon this morning, so don’t delay, folks — order yours today, and pre-order books two and three, Mere Mortals and Lost Souls!

New review of Star Trek Destiny: Gods of Night

Robert Lyons has posted his review of Star Trek Destiny, Book I: Gods of Night over at TrekMovie.com.

My favorite “money quotes” —

“Page after page in Gods of Night is loaded with outstanding narrative, story development, and personal touches that ensure that not even a single letter goes to waste. Mack’s alien creation, the Caeliar, is another ‘impossible for TV but possible in novel form’ race that allows us to truly explore the strange new worlds that all of us dream of at night. They are impressive, vast, and utterly alien, yet their philosophy is, in some respects, the ultimate dream of humanity.”

“If you are a Trek fan that’s been avoiding the TNG relaunch, the DS9 relaunch, the Voyager relaunch, the Titan books, or any of the rest of the current crop of twenty-fourth century Trek literature, do yourself a favor: go get this book.”

Sweet!