"Mirror Universe" Duology Review (Spoilers)
Posted: 2007-03-23 10:10pm
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
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
