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polywogg's review against another edition
4.0
BOTTOM-LINE:
Decent views of the various backstories
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PLOT OR PREMISE:
The Voyager crew are separated from the ship and captured by an alien race. The crew are placed in a prison camp full of various races. While awaiting rescue by Captain Janeway, the members tell stories from their pasts to each other at night to help pass the time.
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WHAT I LIKED:
Chakotay's tale is of his rejection of his tribe's ways and embracing the Starfleet ideals, and then joining the Maquis to chase the Cardassians. Harry Kim's focuses on his privileged upbringing, discovering Starfleet hikers, meeting Boothbie, and his rough adjustment at the Academy. Kes' tale is a bit odd, seems off from her character on the show, but covers her short life before meeting Neelix (told through some sort of psychic link with her essence that has already left Voyager) including pushing the Elders to reveal the history of the Caretaker and her decision to explore the surface. Tuvok's backstory includes his double career with Starfleet, namely first joining Starfleet as a young man, and then leaving Starfleet, returning home to raise a family, having a spiritual quest in the desert, and deciding to rejoin Starfleet, reviewing Janeway's first mission as part of his duties, and then being posted to her ship only to butt heads repeatedly with her over her impulsive nature.
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WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
I wasn't totally comfortable with B'Elanna's story about never being part of the life of either Klingons or humans, her decision to leave Starfleet Academy and work on a freighter, and meeting Chakotay and Paris in the Maquis. It seems at odds with her very Klingon personality at the start of Voyager, as if she didn't have much experience with humans. Yet the backstory talks about even her first serious boyfriend having been human. Paris' story doesn't reveal much, it's mostly rehash of excerpts from other episodes -- his relationship with his Admiral father, joining Starfleet and starting a ski team, an chance to be the pilot for the Enterprise, an accident with his flight team (similar to the character he played on TNG episode with Wesley Crusher), his joining the Maquis, his imprisonment for firing on a Starfleet ship to protect the Maquis, and finally joining Voyager. Neelix's story probably had the most potential as being different and unique, i.e. growing up on a quiet planet on the edge of war and the loss of his family and trading partners, and then meeting Voyager's crew, but the story went nowhere.
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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 her on social media.
Decent views of the various backstories
.
PLOT OR PREMISE:
The Voyager crew are separated from the ship and captured by an alien race. The crew are placed in a prison camp full of various races. While awaiting rescue by Captain Janeway, the members tell stories from their pasts to each other at night to help pass the time.
.
WHAT I LIKED:
Chakotay's tale is of his rejection of his tribe's ways and embracing the Starfleet ideals, and then joining the Maquis to chase the Cardassians. Harry Kim's focuses on his privileged upbringing, discovering Starfleet hikers, meeting Boothbie, and his rough adjustment at the Academy. Kes' tale is a bit odd, seems off from her character on the show, but covers her short life before meeting Neelix (told through some sort of psychic link with her essence that has already left Voyager) including pushing the Elders to reveal the history of the Caretaker and her decision to explore the surface. Tuvok's backstory includes his double career with Starfleet, namely first joining Starfleet as a young man, and then leaving Starfleet, returning home to raise a family, having a spiritual quest in the desert, and deciding to rejoin Starfleet, reviewing Janeway's first mission as part of his duties, and then being posted to her ship only to butt heads repeatedly with her over her impulsive nature.
.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
I wasn't totally comfortable with B'Elanna's story about never being part of the life of either Klingons or humans, her decision to leave Starfleet Academy and work on a freighter, and meeting Chakotay and Paris in the Maquis. It seems at odds with her very Klingon personality at the start of Voyager, as if she didn't have much experience with humans. Yet the backstory talks about even her first serious boyfriend having been human. Paris' story doesn't reveal much, it's mostly rehash of excerpts from other episodes -- his relationship with his Admiral father, joining Starfleet and starting a ski team, an chance to be the pilot for the Enterprise, an accident with his flight team (similar to the character he played on TNG episode with Wesley Crusher), his joining the Maquis, his imprisonment for firing on a Starfleet ship to protect the Maquis, and finally joining Voyager. Neelix's story probably had the most potential as being different and unique, i.e. growing up on a quiet planet on the edge of war and the loss of his family and trading partners, and then meeting Voyager's crew, but the story went nowhere.
.
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 her on social media.
octavia_cade's review against another edition
4.0
One of my favourite Star Trek novels, primarily I think because of the sustained focus on character. The frame story's a little thin, but that's forgivable here because it's not really the point - it's merely an excuse to give the backstory of all the supporting characters of Voyager. They're all decently well-written, but naturally some are more interesting than others and the real stand-out here is Tuvok. I may be biased because he's one of my favourite characters on the series anyway, but Taylor's building of his background is both immensely believable and immensely interesting. It can't have been easy trying to form a regular Vulcan character after the enormity that is Spock, but Tuvok is completely unlike him and yet still as fascinating, and his desert sojourn especially is outstanding. Worth reading for that alone.
birdmanseven's review against another edition
3.0
That was just what I needed, a nice relaxing book that was entertaining and unstressful. I'd say this was a pretty solid Voyager novel. The plot deals with several members of the crew getting abducted and held in a prison camp. That plot serves basically as a framing story, since most the book is devoted to fleshing out the background stories of the main characters. The author already filled in Janeway's life story in her book Mosaic. Also The Doctor & Seven were excluded because they don't really have backstories. Some of the characters really held up and could carry a story, others just didn't work in my opinion. Chakotay, Kes & Tom's life stories were the most interesting. The others had their moments but were a little weak. So as a whole this wasn't perfect, but still worth the read.
bdplume's review against another edition
5.0
I liked Voyager more after reading this. Good job revealing the characters.
rachreads925's review against another edition
3.0
I loved the back stories of characters I grew up watching on tv every week, learning about why they were they were and how they ended up on Voyager. The action wasn't great, but it was just the vehicle for them to be sitting around telling their stories to each other.
dreamwanderer's review against another edition
3.0
This book was written by Jeri Taylor who was one of the creators of Star Trek Voyager. Since she in effect created these characters it could be argued that this book is 'canon' but even if it is not it does reveal the back stories of the characters as originally envisioned by the creators.
The framing story leaves quite a bit to be desired. The bridge crew with the exception of Janeway is captured and placed in a prison camp. As they plot their escape they pass the long nights telling each other the stories of their lives before they met Janeway and become a part of her crew.
The stories themselves are for the most part familiar from the bits and pieces we can gather from the TV show but it is nice to have them all in one place in this anthology. There are better written books in this franchise but if nothing else this is good for a reference.
There are some departures from the TV show. Paris's accident takes place at the Academy and it is insinuated that his reputation of being a 'ladies man' is actually sex addiction as he struggles with the guilt of the accident. He and B'Elanna met briefly while they both served with the Maquis but this isn't touched upon in the TV series. Even though Kes is gone Neelix manages to shoe horn her story in.
If you must read all things Voyager this is a good starting place.
The framing story leaves quite a bit to be desired. The bridge crew with the exception of Janeway is captured and placed in a prison camp. As they plot their escape they pass the long nights telling each other the stories of their lives before they met Janeway and become a part of her crew.
The stories themselves are for the most part familiar from the bits and pieces we can gather from the TV show but it is nice to have them all in one place in this anthology. There are better written books in this franchise but if nothing else this is good for a reference.
There are some departures from the TV show. Paris's accident takes place at the Academy and it is insinuated that his reputation of being a 'ladies man' is actually sex addiction as he struggles with the guilt of the accident. He and B'Elanna met briefly while they both served with the Maquis but this isn't touched upon in the TV series. Even though Kes is gone Neelix manages to shoe horn her story in.
If you must read all things Voyager this is a good starting place.
ambassadorfae's review against another edition
3.0
Meh. It could have been epic. I did enjoy the backstory for the non-human characters like Neelix, Kes and Tuvak. The other stories were ho-hum, but they could have been great.
geekmom's review against another edition
3.0
I have yet to come across a Star Trek novel that can be classed as great literature, but sometimes it's fun to read about the screen characters in a book - my preferred storytelling format :-)