I don't have much to say about this entry. The main story it tells is nicely cohesive and rather compelling, although I have to admit that I'm not terribly fond of the serialization of so many of the books that have come out in what I've come to call the Post-CBS/Paramount Split Era. Some of the earlier books in this ongoing series I didn't pay as close attention to when I was reading them as I could have, and now I find myself occasionally working hard to dredge up some memory of some event in a previous book. Plus the ongoing serialization is such a barrier to entry for newcomers. I mean, sure, the publisher slaps a shared title on a story arc told across a few books, but they're not really able to stand alone because so much of the "present" world in which the arcs and stories take place was constructed in previous books, and if the reader hasn't read those prior books...oh well!Being the second book in what I believe is a three-part arc, *Silent Weapons* suffers a bit from some pretty obvious setting up for the big finale of the arc as well as some pretty obvious setting up for the *next* story arc. One could argue that such an approach to storytelling is more life-like because our experiences today and in the past bring us to the events of the future. However, I'd like to offer a counterargument: The events and details of the past and of today are not always so obvious in setting up the future. The last time David Mack penned a Trek trilogy, billions upon billions died (Destiny), the Borg were vanquished, and thousands of readers' minds were blown by the intensity of it all. Now he's at it again with Cold Equations, set in the era of the Typhon Pact. A half-score of the Federation's most chronic enemies have their own confederacy, and the two states have been engaged in a cold war of sorts for the last couple of years, vying for power through covert missions. The Persistence of Memory opens with an attack on one of the Federation's most important research laboratories, one housing the deactivated bodies of B4, Lore, Lal, and various other Soong-type androids...the deceased Commander Data's family, as it were. A cloaked ship, later to be revealed Breen, raids the lab and nicks the bodies...and as the Enterprise-E is conducting its investigation, a man is spotted on the streets who looks very much like Data. The man is none other than Noonien Soong, Data's inventor-father -- a man who was supposed to have died years ago. But there he is, and looking rather young to boot -- what gives? The Persistence of Memory is largely his story, the tale of one slightly-mad scientist to achieve immortality while watching the drama of his offspring from afar, with some political drama tacked on at the end.That drama takes on a life of its own in Cold Equations, where Breen intrigue threatens to disrupt a delicate negotiation between the Federation president, Naniette Bacco, and the Gorn Hegemony. Shenanigans from a Soong-type android lead to Data's arrest (did I mention? he's back), and then come explosions and assassinations. The Enterprise is on the scene, attempting to solve the mystery to both get their friend exonerated and to prevent their president's untimely demise, but something is screwy. Their mystery-solving works all too well, aided by a series of anonymous tips that raise Worf's hackles (and Klingons have very big hackles), and lead him to suspect that someone, somewhere, is pulling the strings, manipulating the Enterprise, the Federation, and even the Gorn into playing parts in a bigger scheme. Thus a murder mystery becomes a massive political drama in which the struggle for power between Typhon Pact members proves to be more interesting than the Cold War-like tension between the Federation and Space-Moscow. Unlike the Federation, which is more or less united (forgetting for the moment the angsty Andorians), the Typhon Pact members all have separate agendas, and they view one another as temporary expedients to their eventual nationalistic supremacy than actual partners.After the epic-beyond-words achievements of Destiny, poor David Mack has a lot to live up to. Cold Equations doesn't feature thousands of Borg cubes running willy-nilly, eating planets and inspiring mesmerizing speeches from doomed civic leaders, it's still a fantastic trilogy so far. The Persistence of Memory not only brought Data back (sort of), but gave his, Lore's, and other androids' stories utter cohesion: what Christopher Bennett did for time travel threads, Mack does with robotics, linking not only the Soong family but episodes from the original series. Soong's perspective on watching his sons grow up is captivating, and then right behind that comes an intelligent political thriller that doesn't simply throw two entities against one another, but has at least five participating in a tangled web of self-interest and lies. I already purchased the finale, The Body Electric, and look forward to reading that soon.
What do You think about Silent Weapons (2012)?
This was a trilogy. Fun to read, like catching up with old friends.
—TalinaMunford
Another good STTNG book...looking forward to the final chapter.
—Nickolas1993
Excellent story, lots of action. Series is great so far.
—SpyGirl
