[BRIEF NOTE] Dark Mirror
Nov. 30th, 2004 06:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldThis afternoon, I exchanged some unwanted Star Trek novels (along with Donald James' deeply disappointing Vadim, which sadly succumbed to the tendency of sequels to be inferior continuations of superior works) for a copy of The French Lieutenant's Woman, plus three dollars.
Yes, I admit that I read Star Trek novels (in the past, mostly). In my defense, the habit began at a fairly early age out of a childish desire to enjoy more Star Trek: The Next Generation than the television provided. And yes, I know full well that those novels mainly constitute extruded Paramount product, and that they are exemplars of how not to write (at least not how to write well). Still, there are some good writers. Margaret Wander Bonnano, for instance, has written some novels which would stand up well on their own. Diane Duane is my favourite, though. Duane is too good a writer to be confined in the horribly and multiply contradictory Star Trek universe. Her origin backstory for the Romulans is particularly inventive, and certainly better than what Star Trek: Nemesis described (and in so doing, contradicted basically all of what had been assumed as backstory by fans for the past generation). Yesterday,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mikedavsi mentioned my favourite Duane Star Trek novel, Dark Mirror.
Dark Mirror is set largely in the mirror universe of the original series, where the benevolent Federation was a genocidal Earth-dominated empire and the personalities of the crew were twisted to match. Deep Space Nine took the mirror universe in a rather different direction from Dark Mirror, what with Earth by the 24th century being a conquered holding of the joint Cardassian-Klingon hegemony and all. In Dark Mirror, the empire is quite intact, thank you very much, having spared the Klingons to serve as warrior slaves (but as we learn in passing, having obliterated the Romulans and countless other unmentioned species). All of the crew of the Enterprise-D save Data (Soong died in a purge) have their counterparts on the I.S.S. Enterprise, and yes, they are very twisted, as our Picard discovers to his horror when he reads this ship's record (the destruction of an alien lifeform menacing Farpoint Station, the prejudicial terraformation of the Ferengi homeworld, the sterilization of Ligon II's secondary continent in response to an attempted hostaged-taking, et cetera). Oh, and the Empire is looking to our universe as ground for conquest, and has abducted the Enterprise-D.
Ultimately, Dark Mirror depends on a single twist for much of its effectiveness: What would the characters we know from ST:TNG be like if they were evil? Duane does evil in the mirror universe well, making their counterparts' evil dependent on their personal aspirations and fears. Does Deanna Troi wish she had stronger telepathic powers? She does here; what she does with them, now. Do fans wish that Crusher and Picard had a relationship? They do here; what happened to Jack, though. Do Worf and Geordi feel isolated and alone? Well. And so on. The broader plot, depicting the skill and bravery of the Enterprise-D's crewmembers as they infiltrate their Imperial counterpart and foil their dastardly plans, is equally entertaining. Somewhat surprisingly, I actually enjoyed the technobabble.
It may be decidedly unfashionable to say that one likes a work of genre fiction produced in conjunction with a television series, perhaps largely with good reason. Nonetheless, Dark Mirror is a fun and well-written novel that (I conclude as I read the TPL's copy) has held up surprisingly well in the decade since I acquired my copy in paperback back in '94.
Yes, I admit that I read Star Trek novels (in the past, mostly). In my defense, the habit began at a fairly early age out of a childish desire to enjoy more Star Trek: The Next Generation than the television provided. And yes, I know full well that those novels mainly constitute extruded Paramount product, and that they are exemplars of how not to write (at least not how to write well). Still, there are some good writers. Margaret Wander Bonnano, for instance, has written some novels which would stand up well on their own. Diane Duane is my favourite, though. Duane is too good a writer to be confined in the horribly and multiply contradictory Star Trek universe. Her origin backstory for the Romulans is particularly inventive, and certainly better than what Star Trek: Nemesis described (and in so doing, contradicted basically all of what had been assumed as backstory by fans for the past generation). Yesterday,
mikedavsi mentioned my favourite Duane Star Trek novel, Dark Mirror.Dark Mirror is set largely in the mirror universe of the original series, where the benevolent Federation was a genocidal Earth-dominated empire and the personalities of the crew were twisted to match. Deep Space Nine took the mirror universe in a rather different direction from Dark Mirror, what with Earth by the 24th century being a conquered holding of the joint Cardassian-Klingon hegemony and all. In Dark Mirror, the empire is quite intact, thank you very much, having spared the Klingons to serve as warrior slaves (but as we learn in passing, having obliterated the Romulans and countless other unmentioned species). All of the crew of the Enterprise-D save Data (Soong died in a purge) have their counterparts on the I.S.S. Enterprise, and yes, they are very twisted, as our Picard discovers to his horror when he reads this ship's record (the destruction of an alien lifeform menacing Farpoint Station, the prejudicial terraformation of the Ferengi homeworld, the sterilization of Ligon II's secondary continent in response to an attempted hostaged-taking, et cetera). Oh, and the Empire is looking to our universe as ground for conquest, and has abducted the Enterprise-D.
Ultimately, Dark Mirror depends on a single twist for much of its effectiveness: What would the characters we know from ST:TNG be like if they were evil? Duane does evil in the mirror universe well, making their counterparts' evil dependent on their personal aspirations and fears. Does Deanna Troi wish she had stronger telepathic powers? She does here; what she does with them, now. Do fans wish that Crusher and Picard had a relationship? They do here; what happened to Jack, though. Do Worf and Geordi feel isolated and alone? Well. And so on. The broader plot, depicting the skill and bravery of the Enterprise-D's crewmembers as they infiltrate their Imperial counterpart and foil their dastardly plans, is equally entertaining. Somewhat surprisingly, I actually enjoyed the technobabble.
It may be decidedly unfashionable to say that one likes a work of genre fiction produced in conjunction with a television series, perhaps largely with good reason. Nonetheless, Dark Mirror is a fun and well-written novel that (I conclude as I read the TPL's copy) has held up surprisingly well in the decade since I acquired my copy in paperback back in '94.
