amyz001's review against another edition
4.0
Solid story, with characters written to their early Voyager traits. Really enjoyed this one, from the awkwardness of the party at the beginning to the action scenes at the end. I was engrossed all the way through. Only wish is that reset button at the end of each story - which meant the crew had a heck of a lot of plot armour and the attack at the end felt a little unrealistic with a lack of real danger. Certain members of the crew probably should've sustained worse injuries than what was in the story, and were miraculously fine again in the next scene. But that's Star Trek for you - nothing like a good hypospray!
frakalot's review against another edition
4.0
I loved it. Aside from the gory details, there wasn't much that was unexpected in this story, but it was written very well and was a pleasure to read.
polywogg's review against another edition
3.0
PLOT OR PREMISE:
Janeway and her crew are in desperate need of shoreleave...and they receive an invitation from an uncharted planet to visit and enjoy the paradise nature of the lands. All is not necessarily as it seems, including the citizens' treatment of their pets, the Neffaler, which seem surprisingly intelligent, almost sentient.
.
WHAT I LIKED:
Good descriptive prose, with lots of little sub-stories -- Kes' pre-occupation and disturbing telepathic forces, Paris' involvement with the daughter of the leader, and Torres' desire to find the source of some dilithium signatures.
.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
The sub-stories don't come together as well as they could, so the overall story is long and rather confused at times. Many of the characters seem "off" from their TV version, perhaps reflecting the author's pre-occupation with the characters' lives early in the series' history. Lots of descriptions are heavy on the visual, which would be impressive if it was a TV episode rather than a book, but it doesn't work as well here. The ending is rather fragmented, focusing on three different groups' of actions at the same time.
.
BOTTOM-LINE:
Would have worked better as an episode than a book
.
DISCLOSURE:
I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow him on social media.
Janeway and her crew are in desperate need of shoreleave...and they receive an invitation from an uncharted planet to visit and enjoy the paradise nature of the lands. All is not necessarily as it seems, including the citizens' treatment of their pets, the Neffaler, which seem surprisingly intelligent, almost sentient.
.
WHAT I LIKED:
Good descriptive prose, with lots of little sub-stories -- Kes' pre-occupation and disturbing telepathic forces, Paris' involvement with the daughter of the leader, and Torres' desire to find the source of some dilithium signatures.
.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
The sub-stories don't come together as well as they could, so the overall story is long and rather confused at times. Many of the characters seem "off" from their TV version, perhaps reflecting the author's pre-occupation with the characters' lives early in the series' history. Lots of descriptions are heavy on the visual, which would be impressive if it was a TV episode rather than a book, but it doesn't work as well here. The ending is rather fragmented, focusing on three different groups' of actions at the same time.
.
BOTTOM-LINE:
Would have worked better as an episode than a book
.
DISCLOSURE:
I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow him on social media.
dreamwanderer's review against another edition
3.0
First of all let me say that this book is extremely well written. The plot does not drag and there are highs and lows at all the right moments. Cox is probably one of my favorite ST Original Series authors.
I am sure there were reasons for this but I was disappointed to discover that this late in the series the book still had Kes as a part of the Crew. I have nothing against that character, no hate, but there was a dearth of the numbered books that included Seven of Nine. If we were to exclude the Dark Matter and String Theory trilogies I think there might have been a grand total of three.
The story used the much over used 'this practically perfect planet' is not so perfect after all trope. I realize there wouldn't be much of a story if the planet was perfect but at this point I felt it had been overdone in Trek.
There is another overused trope in the Voyager books which was how pre- B'Elanna relationship Tom is smitten or somehow become entangled with some beautiful but dangerous alien woman. We know from the series that happened but several of the authors latched onto that idea. We see it over and over in the books.
However despite that I would encourage those of you who do not have a problem with Kes or Tom's early series woman problems to read it simply because it is well written. I strongly recommend checking out some of Cox's other Star Trek books.
I am sure there were reasons for this but I was disappointed to discover that this late in the series the book still had Kes as a part of the Crew. I have nothing against that character, no hate, but there was a dearth of the numbered books that included Seven of Nine. If we were to exclude the Dark Matter and String Theory trilogies I think there might have been a grand total of three.
The story used the much over used 'this practically perfect planet' is not so perfect after all trope. I realize there wouldn't be much of a story if the planet was perfect but at this point I felt it had been overdone in Trek.
There is another overused trope in the Voyager books which was how pre- B'Elanna relationship Tom is smitten or somehow become entangled with some beautiful but dangerous alien woman. We know from the series that happened but several of the authors latched onto that idea. We see it over and over in the books.
However despite that I would encourage those of you who do not have a problem with Kes or Tom's early series woman problems to read it simply because it is well written. I strongly recommend checking out some of Cox's other Star Trek books.
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