"Mirror Universe" Duology Review (Spoilers)

[JME2]

The Mirror Universe has become one of the staples of Trek lore and in turn, popular culture thanks to the classic 1960's episode. South Park's parodied it. Shatner and the Garfild Steven-Reeves made it a key plot point of their second trilogy of Trek novels. Perpaps in response to coming 40th anniversey of the episode that started it all, "Mirror, Mirror", Pocket Books is taking another stab at everyone's favorite parallel universe in the form of two new anthologies. The two anthologies consist of six novellas (three per book) with each focusing on an aspect of the Trek EU as seen through the, heh, lens of the Mirror Universe. I had the pleasure of having the anthologies for travel reading and here's my thoughts on the latest literary offerings. First up is Glass Empires:

Age of the Empress
The ENT entry kicks off the series by picking up seconds after the ending of "In a Mirror, Darkly". Mike Sussman, who wrote said episode, contributes the story here with Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore assisting in fleshing out the reign of the Empress Hoshi Sato I. It's a fun ride with plenty of political intrigue and look at ENT's MU counterparts, from Sharn to Arik Soong. It's also very much in the style of ENT's last, more prequel oriented season. Just as the Kir'Shara trilogy moved the ENT-era Vulcans into the classic TOS culture, the novella transitions the Terran Empire of ENT into the interstellar power that Kirk and company encounter a century later. Like the SW prequels, we know where it's going, but it's fun to see how we got there.

Sorrows of Empire
Easily my favorite of the six. Like Age of the Empress, the TOS novella picks up immediately after the ending of "Mirror, Mirror" and follows Spock's attempts to reform the Terran Empire. Now, we know from DS9's "Crossover" that Spock's reforms ultimately weaken the Terrans and led to the Klingon/Cardassian Alliance and ultimate conquest. So, naturally, readers familiar to the Trek canon expect to see this and we do. But, author David Mack challanges those preconceptions and delivers a twist so big that I dare not spoil it. Let's just say that should Paramount ever admit this novella into the canon, well, you'd never look the DS9 Mirror Universe episodes the same way again. It's also fun to see certain things never change from universe to universe (hint; think TUC).

The Worst of Both Worlds
Easily my least favorite of the six novellas. As one can infer from the title, this third and final entry in the first anthology is both TNG's entry and an examination of the MU Borg. While author Greg Cox provides a few good elements, from a Raiders of the Lost Ark opening and the identity of the MU Locutus, but overall, it's rather weak and contrived, even with the interesting loophole used against the Collective here. In addition, the Alliance suffers its own Wolf 359, yet the devestation isn't mentioned in any of the other novellas and given the level of inter-connectedness between all six entries, it's kind of dissapointing.

***

So, that's Glass Empires in a nutshell. Next up is the second anthology, Obsidian Alliances:


***

The Mirrored-Scaled Serpent
VGR kicks off the second collection and despite my dislike of the series, it's also a fun outing. Writer Keith R.A. deCandido, my favorite current Trek novelist, takes the familiar plot of "Caretaker" and completley turns it upside down. Elements of the story tie back into Sorrows of Empire (again, I won't mention how) and gives us an interesting look into several MU VGR crew (If you hated Harry Kim, you'll love his MU counterpart). KRAD also manages to slip in references to his previous Trek works, from The Art of the Impossible to the I.K.S. Gorkon novels, so it's a nice touch for his fans like myself. It doesn't detract from enjoying the novella, though.

Cutting Ties
Peter David steps up to bat with the first New Frontier tale set in the MU. This wasn't the weakest outing, but certaintly the one I had the most difficulty getting into. This is because despite the recommendations of several members, I still haven't read much of the New Frontier series, so I'm only familair with the basics of certain characters/species. Still, from what I do know of them, it's an interesting look at their counterparts, especially the MU Mackenzie Calhoun. It's also interesting to examine the workings of the MU Romulan Star Empire and how they responded to the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance.

Saturn's Children
The final novella picks up after the last DS9 MU episode, "The Emperor's New Cloak". While author Sarah Shaw doesn't provide provide an answer to the cloaking device goof as I'd hope it would, (see "Through the Looking Glass), it does answer a few other MU questions, from looks into the Terran Rebel's leadership to why MU Bajor, an ally of the Alliance, made no attempts to attack the Rebel-held Terok Nor. While it can stand alone, it also serves as a lead-in to the latest DS9 relaunch novel Warpath, so any fans left hanging on the edge of that novel's end will understand how we got there.

***

In short, if you love the Mirror Universe, pick these up. If you don't, pick them up anyway; it's a fun look at what may have been and you'll never know what you may find on the other side of the looking glass.

4.5/5

[Patrick Degan]

Maybe it's me, but I just find the Mirror Universe simply tedious, just like so much of recent ST's bastardisations and brain bugs. I can't really be bothered to care anymore.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Which ones were written before TNG premiered? I might be bothered to give those a chance...

[Catman]

I don't care about the Mirror Universe much, although some pretty nifty stuff came from it in my opinion.

[FedRebel]

The stories seem interesting except for the TNG era ones

The way DS9 dealt with the MU just trashed the concept of it completely, so the TNG era stories are unnecessarily forced

The novel 'Dark Mirror' is a preferable account of TNG era MU in my opinion, select portions of the Voyager episode "Living Witness" I believe would be preferable as a MU viewpoint than the crap DS9 providied

[Bounty]

Would y'all like some cheese with that whine?

JME2: Good reviews, thanks for those. Does the ENT novel say anything about which characters survived IaMD? There was some debate about that right after Pt II aired.

[Darth Fanboy]

JME, could you please PM me with the big twist in "Sorrows of Empire" and some extra spoilers for "Worst of Both Worlds" if you have spare time?

[Crazedwraith]

The only story I'm at all interesting in is that of M'K'N'Z'Y. But after the schocks of Missing in Action, I'd prefer a main stream NF novel. Or better yet a novel set in the time jump between Stone and Anvil and After The Fall because while I am not opposed to change, I'd of rather have like to seen it.

Still that reminds me to get Tales from the Captain's Table, for the Shelby/Soleta one.

[JME2]

JME2: Good reviews, thanks for those. Does the ENT novel say anything about which characters survived IaMD? There was some debate about that right after Pt II aired.

You're referring to members of the Senior Staff, yes?

JME, could you please PM me with the big twist in "Sorrows of Empire" and some extra spoilers for "Worst of Both Worlds" if you have spare time?

Sure, check your inbox.

[Bounty]

You're referring to members of the Senior Staff, yes?

Named characters who weren't explicitly alive or dead at the end of Pt II - T'Pol and Phlox, who were not seen to be killed but were as good as dead; Reed with his 50/50 survival chance; and Archer who went down but may only be drugged.

And I'd like those spoilers too please, if you don't mind me asking

[JME2]

You're referring to members of the Senior Staff, yes?

Named characters who weren't explicitly alive or dead at the end of Pt II - T'Pol and Phlox, who were not seen to be killed but were as good as dead; Reed with his 50/50 survival chance; and Archer who went down but may only be drugged.

Ah, of course.

T'Pol: While Sato and Defiant engage the Terran fleet defending Earth, T'Pol puts a contingency escape plan into effect, makes it off ship, and hooks up with T'Pau and the Vulcan Resistance. Ultimately, however, she ends up switching sides back to and frees Sato -- the Vulcans captured her with the intent of putting her on trial -- after discovering T'Pau killed her mother for her pacifist tendencies and how it could have doomed the Resistance. It's primarily through T'Pol's efforts that lead to Vulcans becoming equal members of the Terran Empire by the time Kirk and company show up a century later.

Reed: Survives and, though never explicitly proven, arranges attempts to kill Travis Mayweather for command of the Defiant (which Sato rewards Mayweather with after the conquering of Earth).

Phlox: While in on T'Pol's escape, ultimately opts to stay on Defiant for his family's sake (Sato would hold them hostage or worse, kill them). Sato keeps him alive and he stays on as one of the top scientific minds of
the Empress and is responsible for...

Archer: Dead. However, by the novella's end, the Empress is preparing an expedition to investigate the potential thread level of the Romulans - having learned of the Earth-Romulan War from the Defiant's databanks. She needs a capable - and trusted - commander to lead the expedition and gives Phlox both Defiant medical tech and the successful task of resuscitating Archer...

And I'd like those spoilers too please, if you don't mind me asking

You'll find them in your inbox.

[Bounty]

Cool. Thanks for the spoilers.

I'm surprised that Phlox and T'Pol would be kept around, especially since Sato was just itching to shoot the former and the latter didn't exactly make himself popular with...you know...trying to kill everybody on the Defiant. Bringing Archer back is just asking for trouble.

And Spock's plan? I didn't think the DS9 MU could be fitted in the the TOS one thematically, but that might just work. If I find the books, they may be worth a read.

[Stofsk]

Maybe it's me, but I just find the Mirror Universe simply tedious, just like so much of recent ST's bastardisations and brain bugs. I can't really be bothered to care anymore.

I liked the concept, but I didn't like how DS9 treated it.

Would y'all like some cheese with that whine?

So long as the wine has aged well, unlike that joke.

[JME2]

So long as the wine has aged well, unlike that joke.

Is it a bottle from 2309?