Finished this today. Enjoyed it and gave it 4 of 5 stars, meaning above average, and Star Trek books are generally average.
A few notes on it, deliberately written to leave out specific spoilers.
Things I liked:
- Hearing the full story of what happened to Rugal after he was ripped away from his adoptive Bajoran family (“Cardassians”)
- Getting a glimpse of the dissident movement that existed in connection with Tekeny Ghemor and Natima Lang
- Seeing Rugal adapt to all the various situations he’s thrust into as well as they people he meets. You see him learn that there’s more to some people than there may seem and that people can change, especially after grief or hardship.
- Learning about Cardassian cultural concepts through Rugal’s eyes – for example the extreme gratitude of an orphan towards an uncle who adopted them, even though they’re being badly treated. To Rugal this makes no sense, to feel such obligation, but it makes absolute sense to a Cardassian. There are many other examples involving family loyalty, treatment of the environment, conquering people, the keeping of secrets, etc. It’s not that he ever learns to accept it, but he understands it; I think by the end he feels sorry for them and above all wants to see them learn to change.
- Description of the disintegration and chaos in various outer colony plants following the end of the war, the various events that unfolded, how various races slaughtered one another or managed to get along.
- Rugal’s complicated relationship with his (Cardassian) father and grandmother.
- The couple of scenes with Rugal and Ziyal.
Things I didn’t like:
- Ambassador Garak, who shows up toward the end, is way too glib and cheerful, like, I don’t know, a queeny uncle, with nary a care in the world, and it doesn’t suit him. I can see him being an ambassador but with a different demeanor, after the war, at least some of the time. Yes, he’d have a “front,” he’s Garak, but still, it was just off. Other people have remarked on McCormack’s Garak, so I’m not the only one. (I did like him in The Crimson Shadow.)
- Never, at any point, is it explained how anyone is speaking to anyone. Universal translators? Everywhere? Implanted? After the war? Asking because I kept wondering if Rugal knew Cardassian, or later when he meets Bajorans, why he didn’t speak it to show he could. Later I wondered if he was speaking Standard with Federation people and human colonists. There’s a Romulan in the story too – what do they speak? Not that I buy the translator concept (it’s always had logical flaws), but usually authors at least make a cursory reference and also have scenes where people aren’t using a translator, so it struck me as odd.
- Some of the ending plot on Ithic seemed kind of rushed. Like things started to build, characters were built, but then it was abandoned, I guess because of length.
- The final scene. Come ON. (People who’ve read it know what I mean. Just: Jeez.)
I agree with the above and I would add:
Things I liked:
- While we followed Rugal’s life, not all the scenes were about him, which was nice (I especially liked when it was about Kotan Pa’Dar)
- I really like Geleth and Alon Ghemor’s characters
- Ziyal’s portrayal was rather nice and Dukat was overall very credible
- The book was overall quite entertaining and made me laugh at several occasions amidst the more tragic events
Things I neither liked nor disliked:
I felt like McCormack’s vision of Cardassia, while interesting, could have been more thought-through and insightful, and that she missed certain subtleties present in the show. I chose to appreciate the vision for what it had to offer, but it didn’t convince me.
- In several aspects, her Cardassia felt very European, starting with the weather and seasons: I personally have a hard time believing there would be European-feeling seasons in Cardassia City when it’s so close to the equator, and on a planet so polluted we can imagine the climatic disaster.
- The social portrayal could have benefited from more research on communist totalitarian regimes such as the Soviet Union and North Korea. I didn’t really get to feel the extent of totalitarianism reflected in the way of life (ie: I have a hard time believing private transports would be allowed when everything in Cardassia is geared toward the community and glory of the State).
Things I didn’t like:
- A lot of different foods are mentioned in the book, but they are never described in a way that allows you to imagine what it looks like, smells like, tastes like, feels like, etc. I’m the sort of writer/reader who goes by the idea that if it’s not going to be described to further immersion, it shouldn’t be included, at least not with alien names that refer to nothing. Writing “some kind of bird meat” or “an infused beverage” does a finer job.
- The language/translator problem was already mentioned but it bugged me so much I need to mention it again. It really threw me off.
- I had issues figuring out how much time had passed or not. I read with the list of DS9 episodes to see which were being referenced, and sometimes it felt odd how little or how much time had passed between one or the other. The book sometimes went back and forth between past and present moments, in a way that didn’t feel very fluid. Not dramatic, but could have been better.
- Cardassians palm-kissing each other all the time. Palm-kiss isn’t a handshake, it’s something more alike to a French kiss, because you don’t go French-kissing your mate in public in such a society: as such, a palm-kiss is a more proper gesture to signify your feelings in public without being indecent. The way palm-kiss was used in the book felt out of place and obscene, and gave me a feeling that McCormack misread Garak indulging Ziyal (Garak lets her have fun because he feels bad for her, and then strongly provoked Dukat when they palm-kissed in front of him). I felt like McCormack read it as a commonplace “Cardassian only” behavior although Garak had already proven his inclusiveness of aliens by Cardassian-flirting with Julian and allowing the same to be present during Enabran’s shri-tal (meaning Garak considered Julian as close family/spouse)
Additional comments on The Never-Ending Sacrifice from another reader. Thanks @noxfoxarts – some very good points.
When you bring up depiction of totalitarian regimes, it leads me to wonder what a Cardassia novel by Ursula Le Guin would look like, as she did a couple of novels like that, notably The Dispossessed. And her sci-fi writings have so much to do with sociology and anthropology. One of my favorite writers. She certainly doesn’t do Star Trek novels but oh, if she did!
McCormack’s post-canon Cardassia tries too hard to be a post-WWII Germany tbh.
Tell me about that! My history is spotty and I’d love to know more.
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