Star Trek Reads discussion

I’ve really been enjoying the reboot of the Star Trek Voyager books. Author Kirsten Beyer has managed to keep the same spirit of the show and continue it through the books, all the while allowing the characters we know to grow and change.

Voyager: Eternal Tide continues the reboot and doesn’t disappoint! Also, Janeway is on the cover!

This is going to be a tricky one for me without revealing too much, but here goes.

The best part of this was the fact that it centered on a character who wasn’t in the show, and yet the story still managed to be gripping. Even though I missed Janeway, Afsarah Eden was a good replacement for her. Eden is smart, strong, and even-tempered – traits she shares with Janeway – but has a depth and history that are all her own. Over the past books she’s earned the trust of the crew, but still has enough flaws that she doesn’t end up being a perfect replacement for Janeway.

I also love the character of Hugh Cambridge. He’s gruff, he’s witty, he’s not afraid to tell you what he thinks. And yet he’s entirely loveable, and cares a great deal for his friends (he reminds me of my friend Shane, actually). I hope he continues to be a series regular.

At times a little confusing, the Q conversations in their own universe made for an interesting read. It helps to break up some of the pacing of the book while still pushing the plot along.

While all in all I enjoyed this book, I’m not really sure why the first portion of the book was included. In it, Voyager heads off to Riley’s Planet to see if former Borg who had been severed from the Collective. The point of this mission was to draw Voyager away from the rest of the fleet for a short while so that other events could transpire (that I won’t spoil). I think that could have easily been done without the need to develop a fair background behind why they had to leave the fleet, only to leave that thread dangling in the breeze and then forgotten for the rest of the book.

One of the things that really irked me was the inclusion of so many characters. This is a problem I have with the Titan books, and though the other Voyager books had a lot of characters from the other ships, it wasn’t nearly as distracting as it was here. Characters would show up for only a brief time, and while they did add somewhat to the sense that yes this is a big fleet, it made it tricky to keep track of them (especially if they didn’t show up again).

HERE BE SOME POSSIBLE SPOILERS WHERE I ACT LIKE A FANGIRL:
YAY Janeway is back! I love Janeway’s character, so I was really pleased to have her come back. And though I guessed the way she comes back way back in Full Circle, the reasoning behind it is great. She’s called on to assist the Q, and even though she contributes to the final outcome of the mission, she’s not the one who swoops in and saves the day. Also… I admit I teared up a bit with the Janeway / Chakotay bits. Even when the show was on I loved their chemistry, so I thought these passages were a nice touch. END SPOILERS

I definitely recommend the Voyager reboot books!

I've been meaning to read Beyer's "Voyager" books for years. Hoping to get to it when I'm done with the book I'm on now.

I just finished the last one Architects of Infinity. The series continues to be well done.