VOY: The Eternal Tide by Kirsten Beyer Review Thread (Spoilers!)

[BillJ]

Warp Coil wrote:

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At the rate we're going, the next novel will feature the destruction of the remaining fleet ships except for Voyager, and their slipstream drive will be damaged beyond repair, stranding the ship in the Delta quadrant again and re-creating the series all over again. And then I'd just have to stop reading.

Ah, the Return to Gilligan's Island scenario. I also fear this is where the relaunch is headed. It's the reason I decided to not go on reading, I prefer to leave the Voyager universe on an upbeat note.

[Warp Coil]

BillJ wrote:

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Ah, the Return to Gilligan's Island scenario. I also fear this is where the relaunch is headed. It's the reason I decided to not go on reading, I prefer to leave the Voyager universe on an upbeat note.

I'll wait to see what the next installment has in store for the VOY crew. If they really do re-create the circumstances and premise of the TV series, then I'll likely stop, too. However, I will try to remain hopeful that they'll go in a more interesting direction than that.

[ICW]

I'm also a little annoyed with all the romances on Voyager:

Chakotay/Janeway
Tom/B'elanna
Cambridge/Seven
Harry/Conlon

Just a little too much for my taste.

[Hugh Cambridge]

Warp Coil wrote:

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At the rate we're going, the next novel will feature the destruction of the remaining fleet ships except for Voyager, and their slipstream drive will be damaged beyond repair, stranding the ship in the Delta quadrant again and re-creating the series all over again.

I don't think that could work since the Federation has other ships equipped with slipstream that could reach and help Voyager repair their own drive

[Warp Coil]

Hugh Cambridge wrote:

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I don't think that could work since the Federation has other ships equipped with slipstream that could reach and help Voyager repair their own drive

A valid point, indeed. The fleet dropped communications relays to help them contact Starfleet from such a long distance away. Even if Voyager's slipstream was damaged and the comm relays were down, it would be only be a matter of time before Starfleet sent a slipstream-equipped vessel to the DQ to investigate.

[Paris]

...and don't forget about Barclay in IFM, which takes place in 2383, over 2 years after the current point that Voyager is at in 2381. He came to Challenger from the FC fleet through the transporter relay network, but he doesn't serve on Voyager. He's on the Galen. I think everything will work out with the Voyager crew, and in turn, the FC fleet in terms of still being able to access the AQ from the DQ. They aren't going back to the status quo for the series in these books.

[Lynx]

I haven't read it yet. But I will read it!

What I've found out, there are finally some good news in the Star Trek Universe! (I guess you know what I mean!)

[teacake]

Just got two more copies of The Eternal Tide in the mail. So that makes three ET's and one CotS I've bought since my very powerful boycott finished.

[Enterpriserules]

I am excited to have written A review for Trek.fm that is coming out soon!

[Enterpriserules]

ICW wrote:

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I'm also a little annoyed with all the romances on Voyager:

Chakotay/Janeway
Tom/B'elanna
Cambridge/Seven
Harry/Conlon

Just a little too much for my taste.

I think that this is really the heart of the book. It is all about family and community. So looking at the love lives of these characters is a huge part of that. It also makes sense in light of all these people have been through. They would naturally be looking to what is truly important in life and that is people and relationships, friends and lovers.

[teacake]

Yeah even though I am not a romance person at all it makes sense that they would find special importance in it after all those billions of people died.

[OverlordSpock]

Just finished The Eternal Tide. This was another good Kirsten Beyer outing, but is definitely the weakest of her VOY Relaunch books. I voted "Average".

She still nails the characterizations, which I greatly enjoyed. Beyer has done an excellent job of making me care about characters that I really actually didn't care much about in the previous books or even the television show. She's made them "real" people and not the cardboard cutouts they were before.

That's the only thing that I actually enjoyed about this book though. There were several things that made me disappointed too:

- As others have said, too much of this book feels like a reset. The destruction of most of the fleet was actually completely unneccessary. I, for one, really enjoyed the characters on the other ships and the intra-fleet interactions. Yes, the Voyager characters tended to take the spotlight (rightly so), but I enjoyed the "expanded" universe. I know that there are still a few other ships still out there, but "realistically", the even the characters that were saved probably won't be returning.
- Eden's story wrapped up way to quickly. She was obviously set up to be a mystery since she was first introduced. I liked the fact that it was happening slowly, over time. But, suddenly, in this book it goes from still being a big mystery to being totally laid out. Plus, not only is it no longer a mystery, but it also means that she's actually a super being. Too quick. Too convenient.
- I agree that it would seem very unrealistic if Janeway became commander of the "fleet". She was assimilated. She died. SHE CAME BACK TO LIFE. I don't care how strong a personality you are. If that actually happened to anyone, there would be a lot of mental, emotional and spiritual issues that person would have to deal with. I know she's not actually been declared the commander of the fleet yet, but the mere possibility of it seems unrealistic to me. If I had a say in Starfleet, I'd insist she needed thorough evaluation and counseling before ever being put into a position of major authority again. I know Picard was allowed to remain captain of the flagship, but he obviously had his issues and he didn't die and come back to life.
- Lastly, the simple fact that Janeway came back to life. It was obviously set up in Before Dishonor that the Q would be involved with her inevitable return. But, I hoped beyond hope that she wouldn't be back, at least not in this continuity. Death should be death. Death is a horrible thing. It is a sad thing. It is something that those left alive have to deal with. All this is because it is permanent. Whether you believe in an afterlife or not, death is the end of your presence in this life. The idea of making death a temporary thing actually cheapens everything that Janeway did, even if everyone at the time assumed it was permanent. I understand completely that she is the lead character of the series and people picking up the books because it says "Voyager" on the cover would expect to see Janeway in the book. But, despite the fantastic circumstances in the Trek universe and the unrealism that pervades that universe—things happen that can never happen in the real world—I still consider there a line of realism that should not be crossed in a series that is meant to be taken as realistic. That line was crossed with the return of Janeway. I'm not sure I'm explaining myself correctly here, but I can't think of another way to say it. Also, I have the same problem with the return of Spock in Star Trek III. I'm glad Spock is back—he's one of my favorite Trek characters—but it cheapened his death in Star Trek II and it totally destroyed the illusion of realism for me. Not sure how else to put it.

Don't get me wrong. I love what Beyer has done with the Voyager relaunch. She is the right author for this series. She has taken the story and these characters to unparalleled heights. And in many ways, I did enjoy this book. But I just couldn't get past these points and it brought this book down in my mind.

I have no idea how much was Beyer's decision and how much she was directed to included in the story and I'm not sure her previous responses to that question in this thread really answered that question. And, probably, it's none of my business. But, it did make this book the weakest of her outings for me.

However, I do look forward to the next installment (if there is one—as others have said, this did seem kind of like a finale to me).

[JoeZhang]

I quite enjoyed this except for a few things:

* yes it feels like we are heading towards some form of reset

* Since I didn't like the TV show I was lost in a few places to the backstory elements involving the Q.

* Would it kill anyone if in print the Q were referred to as Qn or similar?

That 'n' is actually to the power of but I can't make the character display correctly here.

[teacake]

JoeZhang wrote:

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* Would it kill anyone if in print the Q were referred to as Qn or similar?

Yes. If the Q are referred to that way people will die.

[Christopher]

JoeZhang wrote:

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* Would it kill anyone if in print the Q were referred to as Qn or similar?

That 'n' is actually to the power of but I can't make the character display correctly here.

Actually what you'd want there is a subscript, not a superscript.

But it was TNG itself, and then VGR, that established that all Q refer to themselves and each other simply as Q. The books are just being true to that precedent.