Before Dishonor (Star Trek: The Next Generation) (ISBN 1416527427)

Yes, I did like this book, unlike him ------->:
I read through most of the other top reviews just now and I find some good points, but mostly bad attitudes. Yes, this was another Borg book, something which seems to have been done quite a bit lately in the NCC1701-E world, but it did contain quite a cast of characters. You always have to love when Spock gets involved in a story. I thought the author portrayed him well. I don't believe that I have read a Peter David novel before. I have some of his comic work on my shelf, yet unturned, but that I can recall, this is my first of his novels. And, having read the previous 3 novels to this one in this storyline, I must say that I can't see what everyone's problem is (unless everyone hated ALL of them, which doesn't jive with the reviews) I thought that David did a great job of descriptive prose, better I believe than K.R.A.D. on Q & A but maybe not so well as the author of Death in Winter. So the enjoyment factor of simply letting the words blossom on the page was entertaining for me. I read this book in less than 48 hours. Sure, I was on a cruise ship and there was no World of Warcraft to occupy my time, but I read it because I simply couldn't put it down. I really enjoyed the story, quite thoroughly. I agree it had some points in it which didn't add up, but as far as T'Lana being a bigot, this was David's idea, she has been that way every since she was introduced in Resistance. She is getting worse sure, but isn't this progression and growth for a character on paper? I didn't think Picard was quite strong enough in the book and I believe that Starfleet Admirals had been written much better previously, but overall I was sucked into the story, good and bad parts each, and I thought it turned out rather well. I will continue reading this line of Enterprise-E books, all the way up to the new Destiny series, and beyond that, if the writters keep producing them. From a true Star Trek fan, someone like me who has seen ALL the shows and movies, I want to say.... WELL DONE.

Star Trek The Way It Ought To Be - Big Concepts, Great Characters, Grand Adventure:
One of the biggest advantages for Star Trek novels and comics, now that there aren't any ongoing television Trek series and the movies are few and far between, is that there's a new freedom to go in new directions and make new changes with characters, ships' lineups, alien races, the inner workings of the Federation and the balance of power in the galaxy, without having to watch out for contradictions with what might happen next month on tv, or to save out certain 'big' ideas in case they want to use them for a season cliffhanger or a new movie. They're also 'mixing up' the characters a lot, where a book, regardless of its heading ('Next Generation', 'Voyager', etc.) can bring in characters from all across the Trek universe. And thus it is with 'Before Dishonor', which features (and this isn't a spoiler, I'm only listing characters who appear early on) Captain Picard, Seven Of Nine, Mr. Spock, Worf, the Borg, and the Q Continuuim, all in a truly epic tale penned by one of the best Trek authors, Peter David. It's epic in more than one way - although there's massive space action this isn't just one big melee. There's a big story tying all the action together, and making it more potent, and there's humor, ongoing development of the characters and their relationship to one another (including on the bridge of the Enterprise, where there's real tension between different crew members now that some of the originals are gone and the new blood is sometimes in sharp conflict with old favorites and their decisions), familiar places and bits of Trek lore coming in when they're least expected, and a spiritual element that works extremely well (David has handled this expertly in previous Trek books). Much of that spiritual element is incorporated into a study of the Borg, with such questions as 'Does the Borg Collective have a soul?' and 'What happens to an individual's soul when the Borg assimilate them?' Seven Of Nine is deeply troubled by a vision of the Borg that abruptly comes to her, and the feeling that something terrible is wrong with Admiral Janeway, who's currently leading an expedition to examine a dead-in-the-water, nonfunctional Borg Cube. When Seven brings her concerns to the hierarchy of Starfleet Command, they fall on deaf ears, but when she defies their cease-and-desist and tracks down Picard, he's inclined to have a much more open mind over anything the Borg may be capable of. And to ignore a Starfleet cease-and-desist himself, and take the Enterprise out to see if there really is anything amiss with this 'dead' Cube. Which there most certainly is. I loved the Voyager tv show, but in its latter run it, along with the movie Star Trek - First Contact (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition) were inadvertently watering down the Borg - they were getting defeated too often, and sometimes almost easily. In the Borg's first couple appearances on Star Trek Next Generation it always seemed like a one-time miracle that the Enterprise and the Federation managed to survive, let alone triumph. Later on, it wasn't so much any one single episode, it's that there so many times something gets pulled out of the hat to take them down. It felt like there'd always be something to bring them down, and they lost a lot of their element of awe. With their appearances in recent books, obviously they don't always win outright (otherwise there'd likely be very few subsequent Trek stories told...) but they're regaining that edge. The book writers seem to have acknowledged the Borg had lost something, and set out to bring that something back, starting out by having a Collective weakened by its recent defeats, and then letting them recover and then grow. And they're doing it through something they seemed to have stopped doing - adapting. They're supposed to be the ultimate adapters but that was lost for a while there. In 'Before Dishonor' they're not only adapting, they're evolving into something Beyond what they were in the original shows. And as this evolution unfolds, new revelations are coming out about the Borg that have apparantly been true for some time, but the Federation never realized. Even the Q seem unsettled about some of them... Most of what I've written about comes into the story in the first third or so, and there's a lot of new surprises later on that I think it's best not to mention. The characters - both the old favorites like Picard, Spock and so on, and new ones who've been introduced either here or in other Trek novels or comics, are handled with perfection. Overall, I think 'Before Dishonor' is one of the best works of Peter David's career, and one of the best Star Trek stories ever told.

Really really bad and so very disappointing.:
Where did it go wrong? This book was part of a great series of TNG stories set after Nemesis. So far, every book in the series had been great and captivated my attention. This book was written by my second favorite Trek book writer, Peter David. He has always managed to impress me with his writing and storytelling ability. So what made this book so bad? Well, first off, this book has HORRID character development. Most side characters, some that have actually appeared in the series and some that appeared in previous books in the series, all act out of their established characters. Characters that have been made to be extremely loyal to Picard and trust in his judgment quickly commit mutiny at the first sign of his disagreement with Starfleet. First off, Picard has disobeyed Starfleet numerous times (including a couple times in this very series) and very few have disagreed. Also, mutiny is... very out of character for anyone who is supposed to be a Starfleet officer. It just wouldn't happen. The story's dialouge is laughable, but not at its lame attempts to be comical. Peter David attempts to make popular culture jokes that just don't fight into the story and setting. When the largest borg threat over to face the federation comes baring down on Earth, all that some of the characters in the conflict can think about is how Pluto has been changed from a plant to a non-planet in the past-300 years, an attempt at a joke at Pluto's recent change. It just felt wrong. Finally, the story itself is horrible and unbelievable. Peter David has the borg cube actually "eat" a pluto and other planets. A borg cube EATS a planet. WHAT!? Does anyone find that even remotely plausable? How the heck does that happen? A borg cube is a machine... How in world would by "EATING" a planet would it get bigger and more powerful. But apparently, Peter David thinks thats how it should work. But thats just the beginning of the horrible plot development. In the end, Peter David actually kills **SPOILER ALERT** Katheryn Janeway. I know that David disliked Voyager (to be honest, I never really liked it either, though I did enjoy the characters) but at the very least he should have left her death for a Voyager novel and not a Next Generation one. It was just his excuse to get rid of her. This not only just hurts this book, but it may result is a weaker lineup for future Voyager novels in the Voyager relaunch series, which I have also greatly enjoyed. **END SPOILERS** This book does have a few redeeming values, but that are completely outweighed by its faults. Normally, this book would have gotten a two, because it has some redeeming value, but it gets a one because its author, David, should have been able to write something so much better, but ended up crashing and burning. At least the next book in the series "Greater Then the Sum" actually puts the series back on track and attempts to pick up the pieces of this lame excuse for a story. If you aren't following the TNG relaunch series religiously, save yourself the time and skip this book. The only reason to read this is so that you know what has happened in the story so as to understand the next books.

Peter David, was that really you?:
Hahaha, I get it. This wasn't really Peter David! It was doubtlessly the same ghost-writing imposter who butchered "Blood Canticle," a mockery of the Vampire Chronicles supposedly written by Anne Rice. At least, I hope it was. Because honestly, there's not much I can say about this, which is frustrating because I was so incredibly let down. Peter David's "Vendetta" is one of my all-time favorite sci-fi novels, right up there with Dan Simmons's "Hyperion." So when I heard that there was a sequel, I was thrilled! Actually, "Before Dishonor" also follows J.M. Dillard's "Resistance," but David was bringing back the planet-killer and I didn't think I'd have the patience to sit through "Resistance" first. I do not, however, believe that affected my reaction to David's book, which tragically deserves its one-star rating on startrek.com. My issues were poor writing, not plot. The story is so rushed that it feels like David just polished the whole thing off in about three hours. It also lacks any subtlety whatsoever. Yes Mr. David, I understand that there is sometimes a conflict between fate and free will. You didn't have to beat me over the head with it. But worst of all is the fact that they apparently didn't even have the decency to kill off Admiral Janeway in a GOOD book! Oh well. Better luck next time?

Easily Peter David's Worst Novel:
I've read all of Peter David's Star Trek work and can say that this novel easily qualifies as the worst of his career. It builds to a climax that is so unsatisfying I had to check the cover again. David Mack's new trilogy, Destiny, does build from some of the elements discussed here, so if you read it and hate it, don't write it off completely.