Exiles - "I'm in Love With an Ostrich"

 The Premise

    In this Next Generation Era novel, the Enterprise serves as a bridge between two planets - once one culture, who want to reconcile their differences for both of their benefit. On Alaj, there's environmental disasters galore, but the main issue is that the sacred animal of their culture, the neffittifi, have gone extinct. On Etolos, a world that specializes in environmental reconstruction, is suffering through volcanic erruptions and an unlivable atmosphere. With the sacred animal as their bartering tool they strive to reach an agreement with the planet from whence they came, and work out something to benefit both parties. 

The Cast

    While everyone from the starring cast is in this novel, it is mainly about Data, Riker, Troi, Picard, and Crusher. There's two teams; Data, Riker, and a new character called Ensign Lopez, and in the second team Troi, Picard, Robbal, and Retthew. The two R's are from Etolos, and are aboard the Enterprise to bring the neffittifi to Alaj. To warn you, this is a Wesley era novel, and yes, he does have a little girlfriend in this one. 

(Spoiler Free) Initial Thoughts

    This novel is mainly about peace talks and politics. There are some multiple POV's with the leaders of both worlds, though luckily they are brief. The real tension in the novel comes in what I would classify as the 2/3 of the book. Although, I never felt bored, I feel like there could have been some more tension and foreshadowing earlier in the book, but I never felt that it was dragging on too much. 

New Characters? (Spoilers)

    I like when they introduce new characters in novels because, unlike the TV show, I think it's easier to flesh out a side character that can actually have a real role in the story. Robbal, my personal favorite, takes care of the neffittifi, and has a crush on Troi - which I find very unnecessary and proof that no one understands Deanna like I understand Deanna. As I'm writing this I realize that there was this character who like tries to kill Retthew (the leader of Etolos) and gets put in the brig and then has like no point from then on. Hmm, that's kind of random. More on that later. 

The Pacing

    My main gripe with this book was the pacing of the plot. Although I was never bored per say I think that was more due to the writing and characters. I enjoy the characters and because the writing was also enjoyable and engaging I was never taken out of the story. But, when you get to the actual conflict of the story with the Bekeem ship trying to destroy Alaj, you realize that the 150 pages you just read weren't really anything. Like I said in the above section, there was a whole character who committed treason, and it wasn't even relevant. I just feel like the author could have planned it out better, and foreshadowed the Bekeem more. As I was reading I didn't even realize that there was going to be more conflict, I thought the peace meeting was going to be it, which to be honest, would not have been that interesting a story. What annoys me is the way they marketed this book with the tagline "Picard must sacrifice the Enterprise or watch two worlds die". I feel like that plot point is only in the last 100 pages or so, and by telling it right from the get-go, you miss out on some drama, and it misleads you into what this book will be. If it was truly about sacrificing the Enterprise right from the beginning, there could have been a lot of drama and emotions, in dealing with it. But since it only really happens at the end, we don't get a lot of that. 

The Data Problem

    The characterization of Data was really weird in this book. I need to preface this by saying I am not exaggerating: Every SINGLE interaction that Data has, ends with a character using a figure of speech, which then prompts Data to say "hmm but the world CANNOT be your oyster". It was really dumb and I felt lazy. Just because Data's an android doesn't mean he's never heard any of these phrases, plus he doesn't even do that that much in the show. To me it just shows how little he understands about my bff Data, and I think he was done so dirty in this book. Every other character seemed fine to me, but they did Data so dirty. Here's an example of my least favorite instances; "'Then let's go see who's got the green thumb." A perplexed expression furrowed Data's brow. 'How do you know the life forms on this vessel have green thumbs? Or any thumbs at all?'" (235).

The Weird 

    Unfortunately, this book was lacking in some of the weird that I love to see in Trek novels. There were a few, starting with the sacred animal of Alaj - the neffitti. They're small bird-like creatures, that reminded me of ostriches. Weirdly, both Alajans and Etolosans make remarks like "yeah I get it, they look kind of silly, but what can you do, they're sacred" which I feel like is not how someone would actually talk about an animal so highly revered. 

    There is one moment I want to quote. It's between Geordi and Wesley, when Wesley brings his little artist girlfriend to visit the neffitifi, "'Which reminds me, when are you going to pose for me, Wesley Crusher?' 'Dressed or undressed?' Geordi asked in mock innocence" (44). Now why would he ask that!? Doesn't he know Wesley is neurodivergent and a minor! As their conversation continues Geordi says something that only serves to reinforce my head canons for him, "'She's cute, Wes. Go for it.' 'You mean like let her draw me?' Why not? I got to be pretty good friends with a model from my art class.' Did you go out, like on dates?' Geordi grinned. 'He wasn't my type'" (45). I- This does not invalidate Geordi's queer iconicness, it only serves to canonize what we already knew. 

Final Review

    I'm not going to sugar coat it, this book is nothing special. It's very easy to read, and for the most part the characterizations are solid. The story could be better, it's a little all over the place. Some characters are introduced that go no where, and there are plot points that could have been either foreshadowed or introduced sooner. If you want to give it a shot, I say go for it, but I don't think you'll be missing anything if you skip this one.