Endgame

Star Trek: Voyager

by Diane Carey, Christie Golden

For seven tumultuous years, the U.S.S. Voyager™ has explored the Delta Quadrant, encountering strange alien civilizations and bizarre space-time anomalies as it steadfastly made its way back toward the safety of Federation space. Captain Kathryn Janeway and her heroic crew have faced all manner of harrowing danger and hostile life-forms -- including the Kazons, the Borg, and the Q -- while never losing sight of their ultimate home. Now, at last, Voyager's epic trek may be nearing its end... After so many perilous and astounding adventures, will Captain Janeway finally bring her wayward starship back to the Alpha Quadrant? And what will become of her diverse yet tightly knit crew? Will Chakotay, B'Elanna Torres, and the other former Maquis freedom fighters face long-delayed justice for their crimes against the Federation? And is there any place in Starfleet for the uniquely independent Borg known as Seven of Nine? As the ultimate destiny of Voyager is revealed, all that is certain is that nothing will ever be the same!

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Star Trek Voyager, Fiction, Ebooks, Media Tie In, Time Travel

231 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 26, 2001

About the author

Diane Carey also wrote the Distress Call 911 young adult series under the name D.L. Carey.

Diane Carey is primarily a science fiction author best known for her work in the Star Trek franchise. She has been the lead-off writer for two Star Trek spin-off book series: Star Trek The Next Generation with Star Trek: Ghost Ship, and the novelization of the Star Trek: Enterprise pilot, Broken Bow.

For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Carey

Reviews

[Chris Townsend · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I watched most of Voyager when it first aired, I never caught the series finale. Now, all these years later, I thought I'd read the book before rewatching the series. The results were pretty disappointing.

The main problem was most severe in the first part, but also came up again in the conclusion. That being, even though we're in Admiral Janeway's head, the author keeps avoiding telling us her intentions. This narrative approach works on the screen, but in a book, it just feels phony. It's like a frustrating itch you can't scratch. It's not like the events of the story were difficult to predict either. She was obviously going to go back in time and once there would find something akin to a wormhole to get back. It wasn't a big mystery. And then later in the novel, Admiral Janeway goes charging blindly into the Borg ship, except it wasn't like that. The author was just omitting the Admiral's intentions even though we were in her head. There was no reason to write the story this way.

Having finally experienced this finale, I now understand why so many people were upset with what they did to Seven in Picard. Everyone liked her with Chakotay. And with Starfleet. Sometimes, it's better to let a story end with its original creators.

2.5 out of 5. Mostly due to bad storytelling.

My copy of the book came with the first four chapters of Homecoming, which serves nicely as a proper ending to Endgame. Definity don't skip this part.

[Jonathan Koan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Star Trek Voyager: Endgame is quite possibly my favorite Star Trek episode(s). I loved the whole Voyager series, and Endgame just felt like the perfect send off for the crew. Voyager was able to effectively end the series without it becoming stale and with an epic conclusion. I know there are detractors out there who don't like the story, but I am not one of them.

That being said, my review is not of the television episode, but of the novelization itself.


Diane Carey is able in this book to tell the exact same story as the television episode while adding a few little nuggets of information here and there. Carey's adaptation stays true to the majority of the dialogue of the episode while adding new information. Carey spends a great deal of time adding internal dialogue from the characters, which we don't see on the show. This adds such great depth to the existing lines and makes them worth so much more.

There are a few very quick scenes, almost blink-and-miss-them. I assume that these were scenes cut for the episode for time. Whether they were or not, these scenes add a lot of extra depth to the story and specifically to Admiral Janeway, Chakotay, and Seven of Nine.

There was one point where the math of the future confused me even more than the episode did, but Diane Carey finally explained it and it eventually made sense.

Since this book is 182 pages, Carey certainly could have added several more scenes and truly fleshed the book out. However, since that wasn't her mandate, I won't fault her for it.

This isn't a comment of the book itself necessarily, but I realized how much this episode means to me because I felt emotional throughout the book, particularly at the points where Admiral Janeway is saying goodbye to everyone in the future. That feels more emotional to me than the stuff in the present.

Overall, this is a great novelization, and it perfectly captures the feel of the episode. It's a quick read, but totally worth it for the Voyager fan. 9.0 out of 10!

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, memories! I love Voyager, even though I didn't start watching it until the end of Season 6 (thank goodness for reruns that let me catch up by the time Season 7 started). Janeway is the consummate Starfleet captain and the crew are old friends. It was especially fun to read this while I was back in Utah and actually had a chance to catch up with the two friends whom I watched the series finale with. The novelization captured a lot of the emotional nuances that the television show didn’t explicitly address -- the conflict between Admiral Janeway and Captain Janeway and the shock of a possible abrupt transition from seven years alone in the Delta quadrant to being back in the bosom of Starfleet in the Alpha quadrant, with a minor little battle to the death with the Borg in the middle of it all.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having finished this book feels a little bit like coming to the end of a road. For the past two years I've been reading the Star Trek: Voyager books that's been taking place during the series run. This one, being a novelization of the series last episode Endgame, was the last one of those books.

I would say that I felt about this book pretty much the same way I did of the episode; I kind of liked it, but I also had some problems with it. The main one being the relationship between Chakotay and Seven of Nine. It made me cringe. I can't even begin to press upon how much I did not want that relationship to happen. So yes, it even got the point that this romantic sub story affected how I felt about the entire episode. Or in this case about the entire book. It's not that I'm against romance in Star Trek, it's just that I'm a J/C:er (meaning I'm a strong advocate of Janeway and Chakotay belonging together). Any hints of romantic feelings between Janeway and Chakotay I cherish, and any between Chakotay and Seven I almost want to delete from my conscious mind. But enough about that. I think you get the picture.

Apart from the relationship I just mentioned I actually do like the story of Endgame. I might argue to some extent that the future we got to see in the beginning of the story was too dark and too depressing, and that the future Janeway wasn't the woman I've come to know and love. But at the same time, I sort of like the drive in her to change all of that and the change we got to see in her during the story. It gives me the message that what you go through can so utterly change your outlook on life, but that it's never to late to see light again. And that is something that gives me hope. I could also argue that the ending felt too abrupt and that I would have wanted more out of it. But at the same time it was beautiful just the way it was. The last words were epic and tied the whole story of Voyager together in such an amazing way, not to mention the whole To the journey-speach by Harry Kim.

He hesitated, formulating his thoughts. "I think it's safe to say that no one on this crew has been more obsessed with getting home than I have. But when I think of everything we've been through together, maybe it's not the destination that matters... maybe it's the journey." He paused again, and made contact with each of them at the table. "I can't think of any place I'd rather be, or any people I'd rather be with."

His words hung in the air for a moment, then drifted into the coffee cup Tom Paris held up in front of him.

"To the journey," Paris declared.

One by one they raised their glasses or cups, and to the last echoed the sentiment of solidarity, admiral or no admiral, Borg or no Borg.

When it comes to the novelization as such we did get a few extra glimpses that wasn't in the episode, but I would have liked more of them. Having read episode based books by Diane Carey before I would say that this wasn't her strongest one. If you were to compare this one with for example Flashback that book is so much more thorough and has so much more "extra material" in it. In comparison this book therefore feels more mundane. But I do want to give a few kudos to Carey for bringing in some subtle proof into the story that Janeway feels more for Chakotay than she's willing to admit. I'm guessing that she might be all for J/C as well.

Ending this review I'd like to say that I'm glad that this is not the end. Thankfully this journey is far from over, so now I'm moving on to the relaunch novels...

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

A poor series finale written by my most disliked Star Trek author. I am actually surprised I didn't hate it. I would loved to have said I hoped for more and I did got more but I got Diane Carey more which is...just bumping up the word count I guess. Some scenes were expanded from the show, the order of scenes for the first half was changed and I am thinking that actually was probably a bit for the better so it doesn't flip between two timelines like the aired episode did. I had hoped for an expanded ending but that wasn't the case. They really did just end it there - there's the Homecoming start at the end but I am just evaluating the novel itself and not the continuation here. Anyway, it's a novel about the last episode of Voyager which tried to cram too much into the ending and shortchanged all parts of it due to that decision. The novel does no work to enhance this other than adding the author's opinion to the events in the episode.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Missed the fact that this was the last Voyager tv show when I bought the e-book, which led me to read it anyway because I liked it too. Gives a few insights into thoughts of characters not always apparent in the show.

[Amy Tudor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this novelisation of Endgame - some great extra conversations which really puts you into the mindsets of the characters as they prepare to take on the Borg. And they joy of them getting home always warms my heart!

[Romana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing.

[Gabriel Mero · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic adaption of the two hour series finale. It makes me want to go back and rewatch Voyager again!

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story based on the final Star Trek Voyage episode, Endgame, in which Voyager has returned to Earth. It goes into what has happened to some of the characters and then covers Janeway's plan to get the ship back to the Earth quicker than it actually did.

To do that she'll have to break some rules, convince the younger version of herself to go along with her plans, face the Borg Queen, destroy a Borg facility and do all this while at the same time convincing her younger self that this is the best solution to their problems.

It's an interesting concept although I wonder just what changes would there be by essentially wiping out a future that the crew has lived through and replacing it with a different one. Would it cut their original voyager short and save some lives? Yes.

But, is there going to be some kind of cost? That's unknown.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Voyage Home

Always a pleasure reading Star Trek. I am a particular fan of the Voyager series on TV. I was always rooting for them in their travels. I was a third of the way into this one when I realized I had read it before. Still a great read. I like that the author has used a trope still repeated in the Star Trek universe. Janeway is a Starfleet officer through and through but she has gotten to know her crew well over the years and has grown to care about them in ways she did not know possible. The whole goal of the show was to find a way home and this book follows that same idea. This time 47 Borg ships are between them and their destination. What will the captain and crew do? You have to read to know the stellar conclusion. What will be next if they survive? Too many questions.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a quick, easy read, and for all there are parts that I like about the book, even decades later the story is coloured for me by the dreadful sudden romance between Chakotay and Seven of Nine. In all fairness to Diane Carey, she is not responsible for that and does her best to make something of this ludicrous piece of characterisation, but she's hampered by the source material.

I keep my copy of the book because Kate Mulgrew signed it for me at a Star Trek convention once, and she did a fantastic job in "Endgame". Janeway's part of the story was the most enjoyable, and it's pretty clear that Carey thinks so too.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually stay away from novelizations, but this was part of the library book sale, so I picked it up for cheap. Even for my low standards, it was disappointing. It added nothing to the Voyager finale and had some very uneven writing. At under 200 pages, I feel like there were definitely some missed opportunities to flesh out the plot more. The big battle scene at the end was only a few paragraphs. Lesson learned again.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Endgame has always felt like a mixed bag of a series finale to me. The novelization does its job of recounting the events of that story, adding little insights here and there. Perhaps not as much substantial insights as one would hope, though. Some of the best novelizations elevate the original story, and this was not necessarily one of those. It was fairly straightforward and the inner thoughts are mostly what you'd expect.

[Josh Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

"She had him in a headlock --- with her lips."

And other such nonsense :D

Honestly, I enjoyed the sometimes silly prose. It made me laugh and smile. Very pulpy in tone.

But on the whole, the book was just OK. It's a retelling of the episode with a few extra asides and internal thoughts. The occasional awkward or overwrought phrase was fun but also jolted me out of the story. The characterization was mostly on-point, but a few times was jarringly out of synch. And in general, I was acutely aware this was a book written off a script (and not a great script).

[RumBelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Endgame was, in my opinion, one of the most satisfying ends to a Star Trek series, and this novelization captured it beautifully. The idea of Kathryn, and Voyager making it home, but Kathryn wanting to change it to make it easier, and safer, for her crew was a wonderful concept. Add in, a battle with the Borg and you have action, mystery and intrigue from beginning to end.

[Chris Haynes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good book

I watched Voyager when it first aired but I don't remember watching the series finale. I picked up this ebook to see how it all ended. Now I need to watch the episodes!!

I thought the writing was good and the characters are always great. If you're a fan of Voyager, I recommend this book.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good novelisation of the final episode of "Star Trek: Voyager" in which Admiral Janeway, ten years after Voyager returns to earth following a 22-year journey back from the Delta Quadrant, devises a way to go back in time and bring Voyager home earlier - after only seven years away.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great little book. Pretty much to the point

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adaption of the TV series grand finale. Enjoyable but I think I'd rather just watch the video.

[Frans Werrij · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a nice and intriguing story, makes much more sense than just watching the two episodes from the series. But what about 'to be continued'

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty good novelization of the last episode of Voyager. It started a little slow, but overall, it was an easy, enjoyable read.

[David Bondelevitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not much more than is in the finale.

[Janet Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally they made it!

Well they finally made it home! But not to the
welcome they deserved or wanted! Another good
Book to find out what happened after, good story all around, hope their are others that will continue on!

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a solid novelization of a television episode, but I was hoping for more insight, "deleted scenes" so speak. While there was slightly more insight into the characters' internal monologues, not a whole lot was added.

[Gabe Waggoner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deeper exploration of the finale

As an unabashed fan of the series and its finale, I enjoyed this book thoroughly. Far from being simply a hollow transcript of the episode, the book gives you access to internal character thought—particularly of Janeway, who's one of my favorite characters across all fiction. (I didn't think Janeway was as cynical during the 10-year reunion as the book makes her out to be, but even so I love exploring the character.)

I noticed a few discrepancies, such as the number of years that Voyager was in the Delta Quadrant. In several places, the book refers to Voyager's having spent 26 years lost in space (in the original timeline), when it was only 23. When Admiral Janeway meets her younger self, they are 26 years apart. Mixing up the numbers would be an easy thing to do. Nevertheless, the book captures what for me was a gratifying end to a not-always-even series. (I don't care at all, though, for how later books deal with Janeway, or for the supposed consequences of Admiral Janeway's timeline meddling, so I commend Diane Carey even more for this novelization.)

[Jimyanni · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a reasonably good telling of the final episode of the Voyager series, which was, in its own right, an excellent and fascinating (if flawed) story. It doesn't suffer from more than one or two instances of Diane Carey trying to get over-cute with the language, as she sometimes does, but there ARE a fairly large number of sloppy typos that I might be inclined to blame on the copyediting rather than on her writing, were it not for the fact that this, too, is a problem that shows up far more frequently in her books than in the general run of Star Trek books edited by the same people. (Things like "boing" instead of "going", "know" instead of "known", "vaulted" experiences rather than "vaunted", "where" instead of "there", "going" instead of "go", "borg cub" instead of "borg cube", "apurtures" instead of "apertures".)I continue to not understand why Diane Carey is given the assignment so frequently when there is an episode to be novelized, as she is far from the best of the Star Trek authors, but at least she did a better job on this one than she has on many others.

[Saphirablue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm currently feeling very nostalgic regarding Star Trek (especially DS9 and Voyager) and since I've wanted to re-read this one for a while now, I picked it as my last book for 2015. I didn't expect to finish it in 2015 (especially sind I only started to read it in the evening, right before dinner at my parents'), but it gripped me and I couldn't put it down and finished it ~10 minutes before midnight. XD

I love Janeway. I love her so much and having her POV here and re-reading how the crew of the Voyager got home? To re-visit all these characters I adored for 7 years? For whom I worte epic episodes/fanfics in my head? Awesome. ♥

[Nicolas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finally broke down and read this novelization of the final episode because the channel I was watching it on never aired the first of final episodes! To my surprise the book really expanded on the episode and when I finally was able to watch it I was glad that I'd read the book first. There was a lot of interesting character stuff and much more insight into (Future) Janeway's thought process. Very good.

Listen in to hear about some of my favorite novelizations: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/ep...

[Heather Mac]

Ugh. This was the worst series finale in the franchise (though only because Enterprise doesn't count as Star Trek).