Cohesion

<b> <u>The String Theory trilogy begins here!</u> </b><br /><br /><br /><i>This is the first book in a trilogy titled “String Theory”, celebrating the 10th Anniversary of “Star Trek: Voyager” (in 2005), each book written by a different author. The whole story is set after events of the TV Fourth Season Finale (“Hope and Fear”) but before the events of the TV Fifth Season Premiere (“Night”) of the original run of the “Star Trek” Spin-off TV series.</i><br /><br /><br /><b> <u>WELCOME TO MONORHAN SPACE</u> </b><br /><br />After the huge disappoinment involving the supposedly <i>USS Dauntless</i> and the insidious revenge of Arturis, the general morale onboard the <i>USS Voyager</i> is quite down and Captain Kathryn Janeway is more than reluctant to divert their course to Earth for any curious sensor signal or space phenomenon…<br /><br />…it’s time to focus in their challenge to reach home as soon as possible…<br /><br />…but Janeway is more than anything…<br /><br />…a Starfleet Officer…<br /><br />…and her duty is to offer help to others and her innate scientific curiousity take the best of her…<br /><br />…when a humongous space ark with an odd propulsion system almost collide in front of <i>Voyager</i> after taking a small detour to analyze something that shouldn’t be scientifically possible…<br /><br />…a planet sustaining life orbiting a white dwarf…<br /><br />…Captain Janeway soon offers help to the peculiar crew of the strange vessel, but…<br /><br />…the road to hell is paved of good intentions, and Janeway ignores that her offering of assistance will lead to a catastrophe…<br /><br />…also, the communication between Starfleet personnel and the new species won’t be easy, since those uses a “secondary speech system” that universal translator is unnable to process…<br /><br />…moreover, the space system works with physics’ rules totally different than anything that Starfleet has ever encountered before, making impossible the warp travel there, along with the threat that a single moment without energy shields can provoke havok onboard <i>Voyager</i>.<br /><br />Never the <i>Voyager</i>’s crew has ever been more pressed up, literally without chance of sleeping, each senior staff member will have to work without rest, having to think totally out of the box, and even having to implement extreme measures, for not saying that some of them, with totally opposite personalities, they will have to learn how to work as a team in levels that they never thought possible…<br /><br />…with the fate of an entire civilization in their hands!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />

I love these characters and read many of the ST: Voyager books in addition to viewing the TV series.<br />The thing with the novels is they are written by many different authors. Most authors I've read do a good job of rendering the essence of these space travelers.<br /><br />Sad to say, not Jeffrey Lang. <br /><br />The story was good, interesting but over and over again I heard myself think, "Tom Paris wouldn't talk like that." Or any of the other nine main characters. <br /><br />Even so I plan to finish this trilogy because well, cliffhanger!

The book is placed between the fourth and fifth series of Voyager. Of course I have seen Voyager (you need to, to know what this book is about), but I don't remember what happenend in which series, so I was a bit worried that I won't be able to catch up with the story. There is not much explaining, but there is also not much interaction with whats happening in the tv show, main relationships were shortly mentioned at the beginning and that was - at least for me - enough to know where to range the book chronologically. The story focusses a lot on B'Elana and Seven, so for me this was fine as I like these characters and found their interaction quite interesting.<br />Of course, as this is part of a series of 3 books, there was a cliffhangar. You should be prepared to read the next books too as many questions are left open.

It was great reuniting with the Voyager (my second favorite crew after TNG) crew after being away for so long. I thought the book was great and loved the character dynamics. I am looking forward to starting book two in this trilogy.

2.5*s<br /><br />While I appreciated the return to ST:V, the writing was not the best. The repetition of using people passing out as a transition was tiring, e. g. The endless reference to the translation devices was off-putting as well; yes, there's a universal translator. Thanks. Also, the plot was odd in how much it jumped around... one minute the Sem character was planning something and the next Janeway was reacting to a plan that had been carried out; what happened in between?

A lovely, fast-paced read that reminded me how much I miss hanging out with the characters of the USS Voyager. I particularly enjoyed spending some time with B'Elanna -- though every character was written spot-on. Managed to tell a pretty complete story while still leaving a clear continuation for the next book in the trilogy. Recommended.

Strange little story, but not bad. It's always jarring when characters speak or act in a way that they wouldn't in the show. (I'm not talking about the link, as that made sense. Sort of.) That's the danger with reading novels based on TV series, though. I'll probably finish the trilogy.

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS<br /><br />Positives: <br />Fun, quick, entertaining read. Read just like an episode of the show. Solid plot. Nothing innovative or particularly well written (all those scenes ending with someone passing out lol), but I didn't expect that from a Star Trek book. Very much is exactly what you would think. Kept you turning the pages, a delightful Trek story.<br /><br />4/5 for that.<br /><br />Negatives:<br />I would have wanted Lang to address the collective of two from Seven's perspective more. That was a place he could have gone deep into the complex feelings of trauma/necessity/relief Seven would have in being part of a collective again, and going out of it. I would have liked for B'Elanna and Seven to have a deeper conversation here and become closer friends. (Although, this book is part of a series, so maybe he will bring this up more in the other books). The entire collective storyline was full of missed opportunities. <br /><br />Another thing that bothered me was the storyline with Sem. Stop making evil female characters that trick/lure men with their feminine wiles. It's overdone and kinda sexist. <br /><br />The characters were also very one-dimensional. In the show, we get to see all sides of the characters. In the book, we only see their caricatures. Again, this may change with the next 2 books as Lang delves deeper into the plot and their personalities. I certainly hope so. <br /><br />2/5 for these things. So, I'll settle in the middle at 3/5.

It's an interesting concept as Voyager goes through an area of space that doesn't conform to the usual rules of physics and I liked the fact that leaving the space has an impact on the resident aliens. The story flows well and ends on a cliffhanger because it's part of a trilogy.<br />The reason it only gets three stars is because the way the characters behave. Torres is always angry, Seven is always aloof and condescending, Neelix is always kind and helpful etc. It feels like the author only had an outline paragraph of each character to work with rather than seven seasons of TV episodes and numerous other books.<br />I'm interested to read the other 2 books to find out what happens, but if the way the characters are written doesn't improve, I can't see myself making it to the end.<br />One final complaint, it follows the current trend of having a spoiler of something that happens later in the book. This really bugs me in books and films and on TV and I wish it would stop. Find another hook to get people interested.

I came to these after reading the first 2 reboot books by Christie Golden, who does a fantastic job with the character voices. I feel this one is a little lacking in that area, though the story is interesting enough to have kept my attention.<br /><br />I do love alternative physics and the weirdness that often accompanies it in Star Trek stories, and this story uses that to good effect in multiple ways.<br /><br />The assimilation of B'Elanna by Seven and the merging of their personalities is an interesting idea. It works better than I expected. But the rest of the character voices just didn't click with me for the most part. It feels at times like the author was only vaguely familiar with the cast of Voyager while working through the story.<br /><br />Despite these shortcomings, I'll read the rest of the series.