The Fall: The Crimson Shadow (Star Trek)

This is probably the lowest I've ever rated a Trek book; 2.5 stars rounded up due to how great Garak is. Crimson Shadow (CS) is the second novel in The Fall series, and may very well be the only one I read within the story line... I haven't made this decision yet because I know each entry is by a different author, and have read that the over-arcing plot line is loosely connected in lieu of subplots. It's clear this opinion is in the minority regarding CS, but I can't get over how plodding and dull this was; barely recognizable as ST beyond a few character names and places.Una McCormack seems like a capable writer, so I'm not opposed to giving some of her other works a try, though I don't care for her over-long chapters. CS however didn't seem to know what kind of book it wanted to be. Political drama, spy thriller, murder mystery...? It certainly wasn't science fiction, action or adventure, and it didn't pull off any of those other genres adequately enough to fall under them either. To me it felt like a discarded script to the TV show 24 without any of the action or tension. Take away the known Trek terms/people/places, this could easily be a run of the mill political thriller, sans thrill.I'm all for a deep dive into an alien society, but Cardassians have lived under the rule of the military for probably over a century, and in just ten short years they've devolved into modern day western culture? I don't believe that for a second. A Bajoran becoming Federation President pro tem when they've been part of the UFP for what, eight years? This was only thrown in to add pseudo-drama to a story involving their biggest enemy.I had to take a break from reading CS, and the book in between I completed in the time it took me to get halfway through CS. I'm not a very fast reader to begin with, but it was a slog getting through this book. If you like the direction Star Trek has been going since 2009, you may enjoy this book/series. However, unless you’re a completest, or desperate for something with ST in the title while under quarantine, I wouldn't recommend Crimson Shadow.

I used to read a lot of Star Trek novels, but about four years ago they stopped appealing to me, and I decided to spend my money on other things. But I'm still in touch with people who do read them, and I've never really lost track of what's going on in the Trek novel "universe." So it was probably inevitable that something would pull me back in. The something has turned out to be an event miniseries where the first two books were written by my two favorite Trek novelists back in the day: David R. George III and Una McCormack. I should note that McCormack, author of the book under review here, is an Internet acquaintance of mine: we follow each other on Twitter and occasionally make unfunny jokes about geeky things. But I was a fan of McCormack's work before I ever "met" her, so I don't think it's the personal-knowledge factor that made THE CRIMSON SHADOW such a fast, fun, thoughtful read.It was, though, probably personal knowledge that got me to read it before the previous book in the series, REVELATION AND DUST, which I own but hadn't gotten around to when THE CRIMSON SHADOW was delivered. I don't know whether I would recommend that course to most readers. There's a biggish plot development in REVELATION AND DUST that also influences events in THE CRIMSON SHADOW; I had already been inadvertently spoiled, but if you're going to read REVELATION AND DUST at all, you might want to do so before starting THE CRIMSON SHADOW.But enough preliminaries. What is THE CRIMSON SHADOW actually about? In a word: Cardassians. There are smallish supporting roles for some TNG regulars, particularly Picard, but this is basically a book about Cardassia. Nearly ten years have passed within the Star Trek universe since the DS9 finale, and the Federation is preparing to withdraw its occupation and humanitarian forces from Cardassia Prime. Federation President Nan Bacco and Cardassian Ambassador to the Federation Elim Garak have worked out on the final agreement, and all that needs to happen now is a signing to seal the deal. But the end of the occupation means a new order, and not even a tailor like Garak can guarantee that it will be a movement toward freedom and democracy rather than a return to authoritarian xenophobia. When unexpected events on Cardassia Prime and elsewhere threaten to unleash chaos, extraordinary steps may prove necessary to prevent the worst. But will those steps bring about the very moral decline they're meant to avert?The interesting thing about this novel is that it manages at once to be a fast-paced quick read (I only needed a few hours) and a resonant examination of a society in transition. McCormack has always been good with Cardassians ( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Never Ending Sacrifice  was the last Trek book I read four years ago, and I definitely left on a high note), and here she focuses on how the Cardassians as defeated aggressors can come to terms with their past and shape a decent future. While there's one obvious demagogue, most characters are honestly trying to do the best thing in a difficult situation, at least according to their own frames of references. But since those frames of reference were shaped by a society that was poisonous and eventually poisoned itself, there's plenty of room for conflict. Almost everyone has something to be guilty about, must struggle with the line between acceptable bending of the rules for the greater good and abuse of power. After a light-hearted Part One, events take a darker turn in Part Two, and the sense of tragedy is, by Star Trek standards, surprisingly potent, as former allies turn on each other and battle lines are drawn.But, as I've suggested, this isn't a slog through dark territory. Garak being Garak, there's plenty of humor, and McCormack doesn't feel the need to drive her thematic points home with lugubrious language-- a few mentions of the extent of the wartime devastation and of the inherently inhospitable climate on Cardassia Prime prove sufficient. Intrigues piled on intrigues keep the plot moving at a steady clip without becoming over-complicated. And, as in other books, McCormack occasionally plays with omniscient, slightly obtrusive narration, rather than the straight third-person limited of most Trek fiction. I'd like to have seen more of this, actually; it makes a nice change, and compensates for occasional infelicities in the rest of the prose and in the dialogue. Garak aside, the characters aren't terribly complex, but that has its own benefits: they're ordinary people making their way as best they can in a destroyed world. Overall, THE CRIMSON SHADOW is a fine novel, not enormously substantial but more than complex enough for its own purposes, and comes highly recommended to fans of DS9, Garak, or Cardassians generally, and to readers interested in science fiction about the aftermath of tyranny. If you don't want to commit to the full miniseries, it works by itself, but the intersections between it and REVELATION AND DUST (which I've now started) suggest an intriguing approach to the overall structure of THE FALL, one that has me happy, for the moment, to have given Star Trek fiction another shot.

When you have Garak and Picard together, how can you not like this book? I really enjoyed it, and the way characters interact and how the story unfolds. I read first "Enigma Tales" and I found out Picard and Garak met at some moment in the past and they worked together. Well, this I had to read. :-DI liked to see how Garak gets to be a Castellan and how he met Mhevet. She is a good character and one you can trust. It is good to read about this. I must say, I am a little fascinated by the Cardassians and their fight to escape the horrors of the past. I am looking forward to see where this takes them next.One more thing that I would like to mention: it is good to see Picard working on Cardassia, taking into consideration how much he suffered from one of them in the past. :-)

The way this book was padded out with so much dialogue that made relationships between characters, even when they were determining the political options, primary, rather than action and dramatic narrative or tension, somewhat obscured what the book was meant to be about. There were probably a little too many female characters for male readers to identify with the story easily. Picard was overshadowed. Genderism is only central in ideology that creates facts from words instead of the other way round.

This is Book 2 in The Fall mini-series and, as other reviewers have commented, quite different from what preceded it. In a strange way though that is both its strength and its weakness- if you were expecting merely a continuation of the previous storyline then you'll be disappointed, but take a broader and slightly longer term viewpoint and it could be seen as providing another story strand that runs alongside the events in `Revelation and Dust', and which will presumably add to the eventual climax and resolution in the final book.Set almost entirely on Cardassia Prime and with Garak as its main character, others have described it as a political thriller, which if you are looking for a two word description is probably about right. Garak is one of those characters from the TV series who was genuinely interesting and it does say a lot for Andy Robinson's portrayal of him that even now, as you read, you can just see him smiling with that hint of menace, or having a polite conversation with a potential adversary while weighing up several ways to inflict serious pain (or worse) and still escape unscathed. That said however his character has moved on, he is a little older and mellower, but still does what he does for patriotic reasons. Only his methods have changed...There is a little interplay with Dr Bashir and with Captain Picard, and there are a few new or enlarged characters, but essentially this is a one man story. By the end he gets his rewards, even if he didn't really want them! It can be read as a stand-alone story, or see it as widening the narrative of the mini-series as a whole, even if it doesn't move it on much at this stage. That's what I did and, as such, I enjoyed it.

One of my favorite DS9 episodes is Beneath the Pale Moonlight, and one of my Favorite Trek novels is a Stitch in Time by Andrew Robinson. If you relish such works, then read 'Revelation and Dust' (book 1 in this series, which also good) so you can truly revel in Una McCormack's vivid descriptions of trial and dark events on Cardassia which seek to threaten the future of so many. Nicely paced and focused around the roles of one my favorite DS9 characters, this is a splendid development of the timeline, and has me eager to read others in this series.

...than the first "Fall" book, "Revelation and Dust". I can just give this indication, which for me represents evidence of a good book: at the end of each chapter, even if you have something else to do at this time in the day, well...you can't resist reading at least the first lines of the next chapter. I found here not only characters that I like in the ST universe (Picard, Worf, Garak,...) but they are just very credible in their journey. Plus the sceanrio holds and the tension and interest, even if sometimes the tempo temporarily slows down a bit, are well maintained until the end. I liked The Crimson Shadow and can't wait readinbg the next "episode", "The Poisoned Chalice".

This was the second story in "The Fall" Mini series set during and after the events of Revelation and Dust. Despite the stunning cover, this story is mainly set around Ambassador Garak and how he and Cardassia reacts to the events of the previous novel. I don't want to say much about the plot except that it is a must read however what i will say is that I feel in the same way Voyager is best written Kirsten Beyer, DS9 by David R George III, TNG by David Mack and the original series split between Dayton Ward and Kevin Dillmore, The Cardassians Belong to Una McCormack. Not just characters but her descriptions of whats left of the planet after the events of the dominion war and everything else after. She immersed me in that world and I would love to go back there again soon.An excellent novel of an excellent mini series so far :) Looking forward to the next book and Una's next entry which has been advertised on amazon as being out December next year .... lets hope we see more of her work in the trek universe before then  Star Trek: The Next Generation: Home AgainStar Trek: The Next Generation: Home Again