The Light Fantastic (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

"I recovered"This was Data's answer as several times over the course of this book characters who were aware of the fact that Data had "died" and not that he had been "reborn" expressed surprise at seeing him. You might be surprised too if you were not a regular reader of Star Trek Books. The story itself is complicated and goes back to an episode of TNG when Khan Noonien Soong recalled Data to his lab, but also accidentally recalled Lore. Lore gravely injured Soong and destoyed his lab, and we were led to believe that Data left Soong for dead because the Enterprise was desperately needed elsewhere.To make a long story short Soong didn't die there, instead he downloaded his consciousness into a new android body and escaped. He built a gaming empire on Orion and eventually gave over his body in order to download Data's consciousness from B4 into it. So there you have it, Data is alive. Data goes on to locate the body of his daughter Lal and resurrects her as well.Oh, and hey, remember Moriarty from the holodeck? Well he and his wife the Countness were happy in their virtual realm that they thought was real until the Enterprise D crashed and severely damaged it, making their two children disappear. Their program was transferred to the Daystrom Institute where the Moriarty program eventually figures out how to escape and eventually kidnap Lal, believing that Data holds the key to being able to provide him and his wife with android bodies and restoring his family.Here's where it gets weird. Data enlists the help of LaForge and their search for a solution eventually leads them to Harry Mudd. Yes, Harry Mudd. As best as they can describe him he is at least 150 years old and basically a lump in a 24th century wheelchair, but he has something from a TOS episode (I'm sure I saw it years ago but don't remember it at all) that could transfer a human consciousness into an android body, only it is corrupted and won't really work.The climax of the story is where it all falls apart. Moriarty is holding Lal and her nanny Alice (interesting backstory, apparently she is the "Alice" that was supposed to be keeping an eye on Harry Mudd but escaped him long ago) in his virtual place. He supposedly was able to enlist the help of androids to do the kidnapping and whatever else was required. You figure that the androids were somehow linked up to this virtual place, but suddenly LaForge is there with the device. It was a huge plot hole. There was no explanation how LaForge was physically in an intangible place, and no effort was made to explain it. In the end Moriarty was outmaneuvered and Alice was neutralized when she suddenly turned against everybody, and to make it all neat and tidy everybody was sent back to the mysterious android world from TOS where they all got android bodies and everybody lived happily ever after.Overall this was a good book. It was light on action and heavy on moral dilemmas. How far can a parent go in order to save his child? This was a theme that came up over and over as Moriarty and Data both took more and more desperate measures to save their children. It's a good read if you don't think too hard about how implausible the whole scenario was when it played out.

I pre-ordered the digital edition of this book several months ago when it was first announced, so I knew it would be arriving on my Kindle around 2:00 this morning. I was pleasantly surprised when it actually showed up at midnight, because I'm very nocturnal. Translation: by the time I went to bed around 2 AM, I'd read 81% of this novel.<em>The Light Fantastic</em> is the sequel to Lang's own <em>Immortal Coil</em>, which, I confess, left me conflicted when I first read it. The adult part of me, the part that is an improviser and a writer, really liked it, though I felt that Data and Rhea's relationship was both too fast, and not believable (this despite the fact that I liked Rhea as a character). The part of me that was 16 or 17 when TNG premiered on TV and crushed on Data had other issues, but adult-me was able to ignore them.But then David Mack gave us is <em>Cold Equations</em> trilogy, and those expanded upon Data 2.0's mindset and choices, and gave us better insight into the Fellowship of AI, and left a door open for more with this beloved character.And now Lang has wrapped up a truly amazing arc. We get to find out how Data's been spending the last two years of his life. We get a glimpse into his life with the newly restored Lal, his daughter, who is in the midst of the android equivalent of adolescence, and then she's abducted - by Moriarty - yes, the hologram - and we're thrown into a story that is both a mystery and a story about what it means to grow up, grow old, raise children, and explore one's identity.Data as a father is both hilarious and heartbreaking - especially as he's still acclimating to his new body and his permanently engaged emotions.Lal as a teenager is also hilarious, and frustrating, and it gave me new respect for the way my own mother must've felt when I was a teenager myself.Geordi, of course, is along for the ride, because no Sherlock can be without his Watson, and along the way we are introduced to a few favorite characters from both TNG and TOS.Overall, <em>The Light Fantastic</em><em> is a truly satisfying read, and if Data doesn't sound exactly the way we're accustomed to him sounding, well, he himself states in the novel that he isn't entirely certain how much of him is HIM, and how much is leftover Noonian Soong.The tag, of course, teases a new mystery, and I have no idea if that will pan out, or if the soft canon of the novels will eventually merge with the soft canon of the STO game and the Countdown to Trek 2009 (in which Data was Captain of the </em><em>Enterprise</em>), but if it doesn't, I would totally buy a series of intergalactic mysteries featuring Data and LaForge.

I very much enjoyed the first episodes of the Cold Equations serie. This one is good, I liked it, and the exploration of the holodeck "reality" is fascinating. The only question I had while reading the book was "is it still the Data we know"? Granted, we know that Data, since its "resurrection" by his father Dr Noon, now possesses a part of his father personnality but still...Also, another remark is that some of the situations in this book lack of consistency, such as how do they resurrect the old "Mudd", what was really the trick used to visit Fajo the Collector, where Data appeared to be not the real Data, etc. Sometimes confusing, below the 2 first books by other authors, but a good read.

Book arrived in great condition and in great time

Unfortunatly I read this book first before reading the other two books in this trilligy. The story itself was extremly interesting, bringing back Moriarty, that dark but pleasant villain. Data has certainly got his work cut out here. Not sure when the follow up to this novel is going to be written. A good read and again keeping in context with the original writer and producer of Star Trek.

Found the Light Fantastic to be a good solid read.The story was fun in places, but all the tie ins were a bit tiring at times and felt a bit forced.Also, feels like this is setting up for something grander, like TNG started with Resistance, Before Dishonour & Greater than the Sum.Sadly this just doesn't have the same feel.

Wasn't sure about this book at the beginning. But it grows and grows on you with totally unexpected characters from past star treks. Not only stng but also original series, voyager and ds9.I am often good at guessing twists and turns. But not this time. Can't wait for the next book.