I've looked online for Voyager books but they all seem to be set after the crew get home. Can anyone tell me and recommend some Voyager books that take place between episodes of the show (still lost in the delta quadrant)...do such books exist
There's quite a few, but I can't suggest any good ones - they don't interest me much. I'm sure some of the other posters here will be able to help though.
You want the numbered Voyager novels. There were 25 of them, I believe. Of those I've read, the ones I've enjoyed the most were: The Escape The first original Voyager novel. Surprisingly good characterization considering the authors had so little to go on, and a cool plot about a species that uses time travel. Echoes A story covering several timelines and with a higher body count than Destiny. Battle Lines Voyager is captured and used in an alien war. Chakotay's moment to shine.
http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Voyager#Prose Only 8 of the novels listed there are set after the series: Homecoming, The farther Shore, Old Wounds, Enemy of my Enemy, Full Circle, Unworthy, Children of the Storm, The Eternal Tide All the others are set during the series or before.
For a more recently (2005) written set of Voyager novels set during the 7 year voyage, you could try the String Theory trilogy: http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/String_Theory. I believe they were pretty well received and considered (mostly) interesting to read. (I do have them and hope to read them soon.)
^I loved the first first two String Theory books, but the third one wasn't quite as good IMO. The quality of the first two more than makes up for third, so I would highly recommend the entire trilogy.
If you'll allow me a shameless plug, portions of my next Trek book, NO TIME LIKE THE PAST, take place during the sixth season of VOYAGER.
Agreed on String Theory. Generally, I did not care much for the Voyager books (except KB's second relaunch). But String Theory was excellent and took a very creative approach to filling in a gap in the series. If I remember right it ties in to the Eternal Tide as well.
I would also recommend the String Theory trilogy. It even actually makes the tv series better by resolving some stupid plotholes they left in the show.
Despite not really feeling connected to the crossover, I rather enjoyed the Voyager installment of Gateways. In all honesty, I've never been drawn to the books set during the series per se, though I do want to check out Mosaic or Pathways eventually.
Eeeek, no! Much better is the solo Janeway installment of "The Captain's Table", which actually documents the transition from the "bun of steel" hairstyle to the style she wears in later seasons.
One thing you have to remember with the numbered novels is that volumes 1 to 15 are all set during the Kes era, while 16 to 21 are from the 4th and 5th seasons. Some of the better numbered novels are: The Escape Violations (Voyager's computer core gets hijacked, a lot better than the da Vinci episode) Cybersong The Black Shore Echoes Death Of A Neutron Star 19 to 21 (sorry, it's a trilogy, but I can't recall the name, but it's a sequel to the Season 1 episode "Eye Of The Needle") Flashback (goes into a lot moe depth than the episode, when I first read the book, I had not seen the episode, so I thought the episode was a three-parter just based on the book alone)
In all honesty I may be misremembering how much I liked it. I read it nearly two years ago now and hot on the heels of the TNG installment of Gateways which was horrid.
I quite liked The Garden. Better use of expected voyager-in-dq problems then the tv series ever did, and interesting aliens.
I don't know if it really counts, but Christopher L. Bennett's novella, Places of Exile, in Myriad Universes: Infinity's Prism is an awesome look at what Voyager could have become after the first half of Scorpion.