by Kirsten Beyer
“What lay beyond the ledge looked like small stars suspended in the darkness above, and below and emitted the only ambient light in the shaft.” “Lieutenant Kim and Commander Fife can speak their theories, but conditions were nominal until the tremors began.” “The Doctor registered a smile creasing his holographic lips that elicited a smile from Glenn.”
Thirteen more Old Star Trek books under my belt, and another package from Amazon brings me a newly published one! Time to take a break and read something new. New Star Trek, of course!
The U.S.S. Voyager, under the command of Captain Chakotay, and its companion ship, U.S.S. Demeter, continue their mission in the Delta Quadrant. They intend to travel farther than Starfleet has ever previously explored. Vice Admiral Janeway, who recently was killed as a Borg Queen and then returned to life by Q, is recalled to Earth to be evaluated for fitness to command. Meanwhile the Borg are no more, B’Elanna is pregnant again and suffering from hyperemesis gravidarium, Tom is 1st officer, and Harry is security chief. Seven is in love, but not with The Doctor, who is in love with her. Chakotay and Janeway are also in love. Even Harry has a steady girl.
Random Thoughts Written Down as I Read:
Just like in the afternoon soaps, death is not permanent in the Star Trek Universe. Just like in the soaps, the goal seems to be to marry a member of the opposite sex.
“Today is a good day to die” does not mean you should embrace death, but that you should live as if every day is your last.
Why is it so important to have a son? This is a serious question. Does a man love a son more than a daughter? Aren’t the genes passed on either way? Western societal norms have traditionally passed the family name through the male, but that is changing even now. So why is it important, especially considering the Star Trek future, to have a son? Can we stop this little bit of sexist expectation?
The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager are all closely tied together now in the Star Trek book-verse. This can sometimes make it difficult to keep track of details from other books and remember what is going on. Especially since the last Voyager book was published in the summer of 2012 and so Voyager ‘current events’ are behind the times.
Holy crap–several paragraphs about hybrid plants for colonizing asteroids involving some dude I don’t know, which made my eyes glaze over…
The Demeter is captained by a captain who doesn’t want to captain. He wants to science. This is supposed to be endearing, I guess. But it seems an illogical waste of resources to me.
Tom’s mother is going to sue for custody of his daughter even though both he and B’Elanna are alive, healthy, sane, and good parents. It seems to me she won’t have a leg to stand on and it’s just contrived drama.
Why do female Vulcan’s names begin with T’ ? The gender politics of this disturb me.
Voyager finds a planet that another civilization has made into an ‘ark.’ It contains many species of plants and animals from many different worlds all dumped together with no concern for compatibility. The planet’s ecosystem is all kinds of effed up and everything is dying. Voyager is loathe to help because such help will violate the Prime Directive. Two things: 1) The Prime Directive pertains to the natural order of a planet. 2) Since when does Voyager care about the Prime Directive?
I am lost and feel really stupid for not being able to understand a fricking STAR TREK NOVEL. But then I start counting typos, repetitions, clumsy analogies, bad science…I think this is just not a very good novel. It feels like it was written in pieces and reassembled poorly.
I’m sad. I think of Kirsten Beyer as ‘Kathryn’s Keeper,’ because she took Voyager out of the mess it was as a series and began making sense of it. She gave everyone deep, consistent characters and rationales. But this book is an incoherent mess. Details are introduced and then just hand-waved away. Janeway’s trauma is solved in just one session with a counselor.
It’s kind of sad when you finish a book and think, “Well thank god THAT’s over.” But this was a chore to read. And after 385 pages of typos and dead-end plot lines, we arrive at the end of the book to find ourselves right back where we started. Nothing has changed. The book feels like a place-holder.
WTF:
I’m sorry; I know it’s not Ms. Beyer’s fault. But every time I read the name O’Donnell, the face of Christine ‘I am not a witch’ O’Donnell pops into my mind. I apologize to O’Donnells everywhere.
