What do you think?
Rate this book
Star Trek: Voyager #8
Cybersong
A mysterious signal lures the USS Voyager to an uncharted sector of the Delta Quadrant – and an enigmatic ghost ship floating adrift in space. Janeway mounts an investigation, hoping the alien ship may hold a clue to the whereabouts of the Caretaker's long-lost ship and his mate – the only known entity to have the power to send the USS Voyager home.
The ghost ship appears deserted, but soon a strange presence casts an eerie spell over the hearts and souls of the crew. Unless Janeway can solve the vessel's mystery, Voyager itself may succumb to its haunting song…
The ghost ship appears deserted, but soon a strange presence casts an eerie spell over the hearts and souls of the crew. Unless Janeway can solve the vessel's mystery, Voyager itself may succumb to its haunting song…
277 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 1996
10 people are currently reading
384 people want to read
About the author
S.N. Lewitt
20 books3 followersAlternate Known Names:
Shariann Lewitt
Shariann N. Lewitt
S.N. Lewitt
Gordon Kendall - pseudonym also for Susan Shwartz
Shariann Lewitt
Shariann N. Lewitt
S.N. Lewitt
Gordon Kendall - pseudonym also for Susan Shwartz
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
July 5, 2020
If you can read this message there is no spy tampering.
August 5, 2025
A mediocre, ho-hum Voyager book. The story really did not interest me - lots of talk about computer code and a virus. The character interactions were somewhat rote, with the characters playing to type. The only arc that I found somewhat interesting was Chakotay's, with him struggling to control the invading thoughts of the alien. It was notable that "AI" was mentioned, this being thirty years ago; given how much bandwidth is being used in today's society to discuss its role and relevance, with some people pushing hard for more adoption of it and many others being concerned and/or horrified over its implications for future jobs and how it will impact our lives. If this story here has any accuracy to it, then centuries from now it will still be an issue!
October 3, 2016
One of the joys of reading a Star Trek Voyager book, so long after the series is finished, is that it feels like finding a long lost episode. This book is no different. The characters are well presented and the story pretty good and well written.
October 17, 2020
For a short book, this felt like it took a long time to read. It's not a bad "missing episode" of Voyager circa the end of series 1, but it's also... Well, just not a very interesting one. The build up to discovering what lured the crew into a tachyon field of Star Trek jargon and speculation took most of the page count, only for the resolution to be rushed over in the space of about 1% of the book's total. It was pretty unfulfilling as an ending; abrupt too.
It does that thing of referencing events in the show that aren't relevant, like a little wink-wink-nudge-nudge of course you remember when that happened, which I found a bit annoying at the start. It also makes characters state their emotions bluntly in the third person narration. There's a lot of Chakotay musing on tribal/spirit world things (#awkward; though I laughed picturing the character stating he was going to spank the "baddie") and Torres is literally just a rageball, rivalled only by original character Mandell who isn't so much a character as a collection of "groused" or "whined" statements. I didn't get her actions at the end at all; she just suddenly... does things out of character and everyone's like "yeah, that's cool, kthnxbai".
Scathing as that sounds, the writing was engaging enough to hold my attention and I generally thought the characters matched how they appeared in the early seasons of the show. It was a bit weird, but par for the course with lots of those TV-tie-in novels of the 90s that retain some nostalgia value. Maybe one for hardcore gotta-read-'em-all fans though.
It does that thing of referencing events in the show that aren't relevant, like a little wink-wink-nudge-nudge of course you remember when that happened, which I found a bit annoying at the start. It also makes characters state their emotions bluntly in the third person narration. There's a lot of Chakotay musing on tribal/spirit world things (#awkward; though I laughed picturing the character stating he was going to spank the "baddie") and Torres is literally just a rageball, rivalled only by original character Mandell who isn't so much a character as a collection of "groused" or "whined" statements. I didn't get her actions at the end at all; she just suddenly... does things out of character and everyone's like "yeah, that's cool, kthnxbai".
Scathing as that sounds, the writing was engaging enough to hold my attention and I generally thought the characters matched how they appeared in the early seasons of the show. It was a bit weird, but par for the course with lots of those TV-tie-in novels of the 90s that retain some nostalgia value. Maybe one for hardcore gotta-read-'em-all fans though.
May 16, 2020
Probably closer to a two-star book but I give it an extra star because I'm a huge Voyager fan and there are so few Voyager novels. The author has repeated problems of clarity throughout. The plot concepts are oddly developed. I'd recommend giving this one a miss. For hardcore Voyager fans only.
May 16, 2014
A low-intensity story where Voyager is toyed with by something big and powerful and not Q at all. Honest.
Which is a shame... Q would have been more fun.
Which is a shame... Q would have been more fun.
April 17, 2014
I really enjoyed this book. It took me a while to get into it, not much in the way of tension or action. But it asks some of the old questions Star Trek has asked since TNG, but it does it in an interesting way. I also really like Mandel, and I want her to be utilized in some future edition of Voyager. I would love to see her show up with the AI using an image of the doctor (probably tweaked to Daphne's liking) and helping out ships in the Delta Quadrant instead of killing them. Maybe just a one-off, or maybe rejoining the crew now that her work with the AI is done...or even potentially as a BORG DRONE! If I were writing these Voyager relaunch novels, I would absolutely utilize this character multiple times, because she was awesome and quirky, a bit childish, but I related to her myopic interests and her love of space. Well needless to say, I liked this one. But I'm an optimist, and not very critical. So those of you who are more sensitive to things like that (and those who aren't), don't take my word for it: go read the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 17, 2013
Voyager gets caught in a storm, and the computer goes strange, telling them the wrong things. What is dragging them to a debris field, and can they escape before they run out of food.
This would have been a good episode, there's lots of technobabble and mysteries to solve. Though saying that the outcome was slightly predictable. A good read.
This would have been a good episode, there's lots of technobabble and mysteries to solve. Though saying that the outcome was slightly predictable. A good read.
November 9, 2015
Another story from the early days of Voyager's Journey. Kes is still on board.
Voyager has become trapped in a ship graveyard. The computer is acting up, energy levels are down and the food stores are running low. They need to get out now. Projections of angelic like beings show up on the view screen asking for help but it is all a ruse. Some kind of entity is communicating with Kes and Chakotay. The entity affects everyone.
This writer does a good job of building the suspense and the mystery. Every crew member gets focus and the story flows well. The characters jell well with what we saw in the early Voyager episodes. This is one that I probably would re-read.
Voyager has become trapped in a ship graveyard. The computer is acting up, energy levels are down and the food stores are running low. They need to get out now. Projections of angelic like beings show up on the view screen asking for help but it is all a ruse. Some kind of entity is communicating with Kes and Chakotay. The entity affects everyone.
This writer does a good job of building the suspense and the mystery. Every crew member gets focus and the story flows well. The characters jell well with what we saw in the early Voyager episodes. This is one that I probably would re-read.
January 14, 2015
Star Trek Voyager-a good way to start the year. I enjoyed this more than some of the others in this series even though there was some woo. The AI that was luring everybody in reminded me of petulant Q and also of TOS and v'ger. It ended abruptly, just like a TV episode, and just like this review.
July 6, 2014
This was a nearly perfect book! The characterizations were really good. The action was non-stop. It was about as close to watching an episode as you are going to get from a book! I recommend it. :)
June 7, 2017
I wouldn't recommend this for fans of Star Trek: Voyager. The characters are awkwardly presented, dialogue feels off and often uncharacteristic, and the plot feels obvious and predictable. It's best feature is the wonderful descriptions of the environments they explore, and it's creative design.
November 7, 2019
I’m excited about anything Voyager, but… no. The writing was trash, the plot made no sense, and there were SO MANY TYPOS. How do you have that many typos in a published book? Madness. I did like this line; it made me laugh: “She tried, truly she tried, not to want to kill him.”
February 18, 2008
I think this was an extremely boring story. But I can't remember any of it... perhaps because it was so boring?
September 3, 2012
excellant, could hardly put it down
January 9, 2017
A fun, though unoriginal plot and setting. Characters are pretty much right on. The ending was insanely rushed and I thought maybe I was missing a few pages.
February 5, 2025
Star Trek: Voyager #8: Cybersong by S.N Lewitt
This book was utterly forgettable. In honour of Voyager’s 30th anniversary, I took it upon myself to read some Voyager books. For the large part, I’ve avoided Voyager books that have a rating of lower than 3.5/5 on Goodreads as they aren’t usually good. This is a general rule of thumb for reading any Star Trek book. And it was right in this case.
Lewitt wrote the characters right but the plot was forgettable. Daphne Mandel was just a bunch of angry quotes and like the worst ensign of all time in Star Trek. Her character was not existent. But they were some cool ideas in here. We saw a plot device like this later in Voyager with the episode of the giant space creature casting illusions and only 7 of 9 can see through it. This was like a worst version of that. I really wish this book was better but it left me feeling frustrated and wishing I saved my 5 bucks instead of buying this. Another big criticism I have of a lot of these books is that there’s too many set up in the early seasons, but I know this was being released as the series originally came out.
3/10
This book was utterly forgettable. In honour of Voyager’s 30th anniversary, I took it upon myself to read some Voyager books. For the large part, I’ve avoided Voyager books that have a rating of lower than 3.5/5 on Goodreads as they aren’t usually good. This is a general rule of thumb for reading any Star Trek book. And it was right in this case.
Lewitt wrote the characters right but the plot was forgettable. Daphne Mandel was just a bunch of angry quotes and like the worst ensign of all time in Star Trek. Her character was not existent. But they were some cool ideas in here. We saw a plot device like this later in Voyager with the episode of the giant space creature casting illusions and only 7 of 9 can see through it. This was like a worst version of that. I really wish this book was better but it left me feeling frustrated and wishing I saved my 5 bucks instead of buying this. Another big criticism I have of a lot of these books is that there’s too many set up in the early seasons, but I know this was being released as the series originally came out.
3/10
March 3, 2020
The story was original and well developed, overall. I thought there was some plot holes here and there, minor as they were, but it was a complete and interesting, though not very exciting, story.
The characters and dialogue felt a little forced at times, but it was mostly on point.
I like the character of Mandell. She was a fun addition. Though I do wonder how someone so insubordinate made it onto Voyager in the first place.
My lasting complaint was that the ending of the story felt a little rushed and sort of out of character for Janeway.
The writing was solid and there was a clear flow of thought and progression throughout the story.
The characters and dialogue felt a little forced at times, but it was mostly on point.
I like the character of Mandell. She was a fun addition. Though I do wonder how someone so insubordinate made it onto Voyager in the first place.
My lasting complaint was that the ending of the story felt a little rushed and sort of out of character for Janeway.
The writing was solid and there was a clear flow of thought and progression throughout the story.
October 8, 2024
Two and a half stars, rounding up to three. There's nothing essentially wrong with this story of a bratty, abandoned AI that's luring in ships like an anglerfish, or the disaffected and isolated officer who bonds with it. Maybe it's that I'm not terribly fond of AI-gone-rogue stories, and the realisation that this is what the story was came a whole lot earlier than the twist reveal. I did like the cookie mechanism of telepathy, but again that was telegraphed well in advance.
I enjoyed it, but mildly. It was a little dull in places, sorry to say.
I enjoyed it, but mildly. It was a little dull in places, sorry to say.
March 10, 2018
Ugh, this one sucked. Heavy on the Neelix and the cooking jokes, characters thinking what their emotions are, a cliche villain and an ending that made me want to throw this book out. It had all of Voyager's weaknesses jam packed in one awful book! I was thinking I might like this one as it had a lot of Chakotay but how they used him was kind of dumb. Plot holes abound and the Janeway's solution was absolutely stupid. Unless you need to read them all, avoid this one.
August 13, 2021
Enjoyed the concept - thought the alien AI idea was interesting - would have been more fun to see it actually succeed in causing chaos by talking to the ship. Really enjoyed the action packed beginning and the descriptions of navigating through the ships debris. Ending was a little abrupt and convenient - rather than giving a character redemption she was just conveniently gotten rid of although it was to help the alien AI. Overall okay, could have had a lot of potential.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 9, 2020
It's primarily getting 2 stars for an interesting premise...but it's one that takes a hell of a long time to get to properly. The rest of the book is a very ordinary, almost typical A & B plot episode of "Voyager" that characterizes the crew in eccentric and off-kilter fashion...another victim of the early run of novels (like its DS9 counter-parts) that doesn't get the crew at all.
May 27, 2021
Trevlig historia. Den är från 1996 och alltså tidigt i TV-serien. Vi får se mycket av de konflikter som råder vid denna tid ombord Voyager, men också gryende vänskapsförhållanden. Boken var mycket lättläst och det skulle vara kul att läsa något mer av samma författare (men tyvärr är detta den enda som gjorts). Berättelsen kändes trovärdig, vilket helt klart är ett plus i sammanhanget.
June 9, 2023
"had had" appears in than book no less than 10 times. In spite of that and a few typos this was a fun read for sure. Lewitt did a fantastic job of capturing the crews personalities. I'd recommend for any Voyager fan.
December 24, 2018
The concept was good but the writing was uneven.
December 17, 2019
Great book. Interesting story plot, classic characters, and compelling action within the text. Good Read
January 14, 2020
The ending actually surprised me a little, but this still felt like a mashup of other Star Trek novels and episodes. Better than some Voyager novels I've read but not as good as others.
September 24, 2020
I did really like this story but what a strange ending!
February 3, 2022
It was good but not as good as previous books
Read
March 4, 2022Now this is one I enjoyed reading; cause I think it is cool what the enemy might consider to be
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews