"Yes," she said absently, "it would have been a shame to blow up Enterprise too. The workmanship appears excellent." She flashed a smile at him: Jim became aware he was being teased. "Captain, I come to you because I see my world in danger - and incidentally yours - and there's no more help to be found among my friends. At such a time, with millions and billions of lives riding on what is done, pride dies, and one has recourse to one's enemies. Of all my enemies I esteem you highest..."
Well... what can I say that hasn't been said before? Diane Duane has produced a superb book again, this time in the form of a high stakes adventure involving the Romulan Empire in My Enemy, My Ally (1984) (#18 Pocket, #21 Titan).
Well... what can I say that hasn't been said before? Diane Duane has produced a superb book again, this time in the form of a high stakes adventure involving the Romulan Empire in My Enemy, My Ally (1984) (#18 Pocket, #21 Titan).
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| I've used one of the new covers this time. It's not so different and it shows the artwork off nicely :) |
My Enemy, My Ally is quite frankly a phenomenal read and it is of little surprise that Duane should spawn a mini series from this book. The Rihannsu Saga is a five book series written between 1984 and 2006 and has left fans demanding that it should be made canon.
I've previously reviewed The Wounded Sky and Doctors Orders by Diane Duane, if you're interested, go check them out!
When I talked about The Wounded Sky I waxed lyrical about the necessity of entropy and how the book was literally falling apart while I was reading it. Well, the condition of this first edition copy of My Enemy, My Ally is only slightly better. It's obviously well read, its spine utterly broken and the pages threatening to fall out... though it hasn't disgraced itself quite yet.
Now, a confession. When I first tried to read My Enemy, My Ally a couple of months ago, I wasn't in the mood for it. I ended up selecting a much shorter, snappier novel that suited my mood better. I'm really glad I didn't try to push through it when I wasn't in the right frame of mind, because I wouldn't have enjoyed it half as much! My Enemy, My Ally isn't a light read, there's a lot of backstory to set up, new characters, a political situation and indeed, much of Duane's version the Romulan culture. What is nice is that in the forward Duane pays homage to D C Fontana, and says that she has tried to use much of Fontana's vision of the Romulans and Vulcans, as Fontana was heavily involved in their creation.
My Enemy, My Ally documents an unusual alliance between the crew of the Romulan vessel Bloodwing and the crews of the Federation's Enterprise, Intrepid (II), Constellation, and Inaieu as they try to prevent the permanent (and detrimental) alteration of the Romulan species and then the rescue of over four hundred of Intrepid's Vulcan crew - just in case the stakes weren't great enough.
At the centre of all this is an original character -Ael- who is a distinguished Romulan Commander who also happens to be the aunt of the Romulan commander Spock and Kirk had a hand in disgracing in The Enterprise Incident, an event which comes back to haunt both Ael's loyal Romulans and the crew of the Enterprise late in the novel.
In My Enemy, My Ally, Duane has fixed I think many of the complaints people had of The Wounded Sky, namely the pages of techno babble that some have found confusing or boring (personally I like it, but hey) and instead keeps it to a more palatable level. In its place she adds in swathes of Romulan (or Rihannsu) language which reminds me strongly of Tolkein's high elven (which is a mix of Finnish and Welsh language), and extensive exposition of their society, culture and beliefs. I think the language is a bit of a mixed bag, as it both adds and takes away from the narrative a little bit. For example, we often are privy to conversations solely in Romulan, but why would it be there without translation when we are observing through Ael's eyes and her thoughts we are able to understand. On the other hand the language difference is effective when dealing with new concepts which are not easily translated. At some points a word which represents a broad concept is explained and then it is used frequently in the text in its original form.
Duane's development of the Romulans is in depth but interestingly not too removed from Ford's ideas about the Klingons in The Final Reflection. Duane's Romulans are also scheming and aggressive although not so overtly savage as they wear a veneer of civilisation. The Romulan savagery comes from their complex, tiered society and their political games. Whereas Ford's Klingons affirmed that with determination, guile and luck that even a nameless orphan could rise through the ranks and make a great commander, in Duane's society there is clear demarcation of the 'haves' and the 'have-nots'; the Romulans have a rigid class system.
Another crossover between Ford's Klingons and Duane's Romulans is that they both have a fixation on 'names' and 'houses'. However, Ford's Klingons seem to be able to create their own lineages (albeit with some restrictions) whereas Duane's Romulans appear to to lose all status if their names are removed from them and don't appear to be able to create a new name to try and rise again.
Duane's Ael is also used to introduce an element of spirituality to the Romulans, although her beliefs seem a little out dated as they are not referred to by any other Romulan we encounter without prompting from Ael herself. The Romulans seem to have the belief in opposing and complementary elements; basically something like Taoism. Ael uses this belief system to understand those around her, and attributes various elements to characters like, for example, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy to explain what their roles are and why they work as a team. Ael's reflections actually give some really nice exposition on the characters we know and love, but also has a narrative function in that it's these observations which allows Ael to accept the differences and similarities between the Romulans and the Federation crew.
And really, like Krenn in The Final Reflection her ability to break from the mental mold of her people and find kinship with people from the Federation is also what eventually isolates her from her people and even face betrayal from members of her own family.
However it is because she is so loyal to her people that she doesn't wish them to change themselves to make themselves more like the Vulcans, she sees that this would not only destroy their culture but also cause them to destroy themselves because of the way their culture and society has developed. In saving them, Ael faces permanent isolation from the people she loves so much with only her much depleted loyal crew as company and support. It's testament to her ability as a commander that so many of her crew do stay loyal to her despite the fact they will be pariahs.
It's really hard to pick out a part of My Enemy, My Ally that could be considered 'best', but I certainly enjoyed reading about the developing relationships between the Enterprise crew and Ael's Romulan crew. I really enjoyed the recurrence of characters first seen in The Wounded Sky, like Harb, and the Sulemid crew members. Duane also includes a Horta in her mixed crew! I really do like how she includes so many different species on the Enterprise crew and elsewhere in her novels! Of course, one of the most moving aspects of this is the message that with exposure, even the most xenophobic people can become friends and allies of 'the other'. This is exactly what happens to the Romulans when they mix with the diverse crew of the Enterprise.
The relationship between Kirk and Ael builds up slowly between the two captains and by the end of the book, they trust each other completely. It begins with a grudging respect of a talented commander, and progresses slowly to an unshakable trust based on a true assessment of each others character. Knowing Kirk well, we understand the trust he has to place in Ael in order to put his crew and ship in danger, Ael's thought process is, by necessity more exposed by the narrative. She gradually makes her assessments, she sees that Kirk is of the element of fire (like herself) and that his crew (especially Spock and McCoy) balance him out. A funny little observation is that Ael sees the three of them moving as one, as if one entity - essentially, all the elements together. I suppose I should point out that the relationship between Ael and Kirk is platonic, Ael herself is Romulan and has a grown up son (who is her second in command), and does show her age somewhat, though Kirk is left to speculating how old she truly is.
My Enemy, My Ally is set between Star Trek TMP and TWOK (about 2275) which I think is a really interesting time to set a novel, as you have all that character development from TMP especially between Kirk and Spock but also because he is a seasoned commander and the Enterprise is pretty much an icon of the Federation. One confusing thing however (and perhaps I'm missing a trick) is that uniform wise we appear to be in the TOS era, while Kirk seems to be going by the title of captain despite being an admiral at this point?
Ah while I think about it, there was another funny inconsistency (?) I noticed, well my partner did (despite the fact I play World of Warships and it should have been apparent), was that Duane calls the Inaieu a 'destroyer'... Destroyers are little ships, I think what she really meant was 'dreadnought!'. Oops!
Anyway, I guess I'm nitpicking, because I've gotta make a point - those few thing are literally all I've got to complain about! Everything is just so tight!
Something I seriously can't complain about is Duane's ability to write interesting hand to hand fight and space battle scenes! Kirk of course has to get stuck in with an incredibly large assault group and manages to get injured - thankfully he gets off light this time! Bless him, that little cinnamon roll! Duane just makes the fight scenes flow, she can write tension but she knows when to break the tension with humour too. She also throws the eye of the reader around a little, she doesn't just concentrate on one perspective of the fight but updates us on how other crew members are doing. I particularly like her updates on her OC crew members, who supply some variation to the fights!
Duane's space battle scenes which of course I can't talk too much about without giving away the story, were just fantastic as usual. It got very tense close to the end when Kirk is not in the captain's chair, I tell you! However, it was rather gratifying to note that Kirk 'called it' at the end!
I'll leave you now with one exchange that made me spit out my tea when I read it!
Well, someone certainly has read the Roddenberry Footnote!
5/5 - Just read it, it's a no brainer.
I've previously reviewed The Wounded Sky and Doctors Orders by Diane Duane, if you're interested, go check them out!
When I talked about The Wounded Sky I waxed lyrical about the necessity of entropy and how the book was literally falling apart while I was reading it. Well, the condition of this first edition copy of My Enemy, My Ally is only slightly better. It's obviously well read, its spine utterly broken and the pages threatening to fall out... though it hasn't disgraced itself quite yet.
Now, a confession. When I first tried to read My Enemy, My Ally a couple of months ago, I wasn't in the mood for it. I ended up selecting a much shorter, snappier novel that suited my mood better. I'm really glad I didn't try to push through it when I wasn't in the right frame of mind, because I wouldn't have enjoyed it half as much! My Enemy, My Ally isn't a light read, there's a lot of backstory to set up, new characters, a political situation and indeed, much of Duane's version the Romulan culture. What is nice is that in the forward Duane pays homage to D C Fontana, and says that she has tried to use much of Fontana's vision of the Romulans and Vulcans, as Fontana was heavily involved in their creation.
My Enemy, My Ally documents an unusual alliance between the crew of the Romulan vessel Bloodwing and the crews of the Federation's Enterprise, Intrepid (II), Constellation, and Inaieu as they try to prevent the permanent (and detrimental) alteration of the Romulan species and then the rescue of over four hundred of Intrepid's Vulcan crew - just in case the stakes weren't great enough.
At the centre of all this is an original character -Ael- who is a distinguished Romulan Commander who also happens to be the aunt of the Romulan commander Spock and Kirk had a hand in disgracing in The Enterprise Incident, an event which comes back to haunt both Ael's loyal Romulans and the crew of the Enterprise late in the novel.
Duane's development of the Romulans is in depth but interestingly not too removed from Ford's ideas about the Klingons in The Final Reflection. Duane's Romulans are also scheming and aggressive although not so overtly savage as they wear a veneer of civilisation. The Romulan savagery comes from their complex, tiered society and their political games. Whereas Ford's Klingons affirmed that with determination, guile and luck that even a nameless orphan could rise through the ranks and make a great commander, in Duane's society there is clear demarcation of the 'haves' and the 'have-nots'; the Romulans have a rigid class system.
Another crossover between Ford's Klingons and Duane's Romulans is that they both have a fixation on 'names' and 'houses'. However, Ford's Klingons seem to be able to create their own lineages (albeit with some restrictions) whereas Duane's Romulans appear to to lose all status if their names are removed from them and don't appear to be able to create a new name to try and rise again.
Duane's Ael is also used to introduce an element of spirituality to the Romulans, although her beliefs seem a little out dated as they are not referred to by any other Romulan we encounter without prompting from Ael herself. The Romulans seem to have the belief in opposing and complementary elements; basically something like Taoism. Ael uses this belief system to understand those around her, and attributes various elements to characters like, for example, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy to explain what their roles are and why they work as a team. Ael's reflections actually give some really nice exposition on the characters we know and love, but also has a narrative function in that it's these observations which allows Ael to accept the differences and similarities between the Romulans and the Federation crew.
And really, like Krenn in The Final Reflection her ability to break from the mental mold of her people and find kinship with people from the Federation is also what eventually isolates her from her people and even face betrayal from members of her own family.
However it is because she is so loyal to her people that she doesn't wish them to change themselves to make themselves more like the Vulcans, she sees that this would not only destroy their culture but also cause them to destroy themselves because of the way their culture and society has developed. In saving them, Ael faces permanent isolation from the people she loves so much with only her much depleted loyal crew as company and support. It's testament to her ability as a commander that so many of her crew do stay loyal to her despite the fact they will be pariahs.
It's really hard to pick out a part of My Enemy, My Ally that could be considered 'best', but I certainly enjoyed reading about the developing relationships between the Enterprise crew and Ael's Romulan crew. I really enjoyed the recurrence of characters first seen in The Wounded Sky, like Harb, and the Sulemid crew members. Duane also includes a Horta in her mixed crew! I really do like how she includes so many different species on the Enterprise crew and elsewhere in her novels! Of course, one of the most moving aspects of this is the message that with exposure, even the most xenophobic people can become friends and allies of 'the other'. This is exactly what happens to the Romulans when they mix with the diverse crew of the Enterprise.
The relationship between Kirk and Ael builds up slowly between the two captains and by the end of the book, they trust each other completely. It begins with a grudging respect of a talented commander, and progresses slowly to an unshakable trust based on a true assessment of each others character. Knowing Kirk well, we understand the trust he has to place in Ael in order to put his crew and ship in danger, Ael's thought process is, by necessity more exposed by the narrative. She gradually makes her assessments, she sees that Kirk is of the element of fire (like herself) and that his crew (especially Spock and McCoy) balance him out. A funny little observation is that Ael sees the three of them moving as one, as if one entity - essentially, all the elements together. I suppose I should point out that the relationship between Ael and Kirk is platonic, Ael herself is Romulan and has a grown up son (who is her second in command), and does show her age somewhat, though Kirk is left to speculating how old she truly is.
My Enemy, My Ally is set between Star Trek TMP and TWOK (about 2275) which I think is a really interesting time to set a novel, as you have all that character development from TMP especially between Kirk and Spock but also because he is a seasoned commander and the Enterprise is pretty much an icon of the Federation. One confusing thing however (and perhaps I'm missing a trick) is that uniform wise we appear to be in the TOS era, while Kirk seems to be going by the title of captain despite being an admiral at this point?
Ah while I think about it, there was another funny inconsistency (?) I noticed, well my partner did (despite the fact I play World of Warships and it should have been apparent), was that Duane calls the Inaieu a 'destroyer'... Destroyers are little ships, I think what she really meant was 'dreadnought!'. Oops!
Anyway, I guess I'm nitpicking, because I've gotta make a point - those few thing are literally all I've got to complain about! Everything is just so tight!
Something I seriously can't complain about is Duane's ability to write interesting hand to hand fight and space battle scenes! Kirk of course has to get stuck in with an incredibly large assault group and manages to get injured - thankfully he gets off light this time! Bless him, that little cinnamon roll! Duane just makes the fight scenes flow, she can write tension but she knows when to break the tension with humour too. She also throws the eye of the reader around a little, she doesn't just concentrate on one perspective of the fight but updates us on how other crew members are doing. I particularly like her updates on her OC crew members, who supply some variation to the fights!
Duane's space battle scenes which of course I can't talk too much about without giving away the story, were just fantastic as usual. It got very tense close to the end when Kirk is not in the captain's chair, I tell you! However, it was rather gratifying to note that Kirk 'called it' at the end!
I'll leave you now with one exchange that made me spit out my tea when I read it!
"All right," he said. "I consider myself warned. But if you two are going to play 'mother hen,' don't either of you be surprised if you find me holding your hand."
"Fine by me," McCoy said. "But watch it with Spock. People start the damndest rumors about this ship's crew, even without provocation...."
"Doctor, how does one hold hands with a mother hen?" Spock asked innocently.
"Gentlemen!!"
Ael kept her laughter to herself.
Well, someone certainly has read the Roddenberry Footnote!
5/5 - Just read it, it's a no brainer.
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