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

[Christopher]

Just a little back-of-the-envelope estimating... Pocket has been publishing Trek fiction for over 31 years now, and if they'd published only one book per month, that would be 372 books. But from about 1995 (when Voyager premiered) to maybe 2007, they published two books per month, which adds another 144 or so, bringing it to at least 516. And that's not counting the dozens of hardcovers and trade paperbacks, which push it well over 550. Throw in the 13 original novels and 2 anthologies Bantam did, plus the 13 volumes of TOS episode adaptations and the 10 TAS adaptations, and you're nearing 600.

And that's just prose novels. The DVD-ROM collecting all the Trek comics up through 2002 contains over 500 comics, and since then, TokyoPop has given us four mangas and IDW has come out with about 30 distinct miniseries mostly ranging from 4-6 issues each and one ongoing series that's about to release its 16th issue. So the number of individual comics probably surpasses the number of prose books.

[Markonian]

That is a lot. It probably takes ages to track down all of those, let alone read them.

On the other hand, you will never run out of Star Trek.

And to swing back on topic: Good thing there are still a lot of older VOY novels I have yet to read. That sugarcoats the long waiting for Beyer's next masterpiece.

[King Daniel into Darkness]

When Pocket's Trek novel count eclipses the Trek episode count, there needs to be some kind of celebration.

[USS Intrepid]

Finally had a chance to finish The Eternal Tide and it didn't disappoint. Thanks for another great read Kirsten Beyer.

[Markonian]

King Daniel Into Darkness wrote:

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When Pocket's Trek novel count eclipses the Trek episode count, there needs to be some kind of celebration.

Is there somebody who keeps track of the exact numbers?

[Jarrod]

Currently, 727 episodes of Star Trek have aired on Television. This does not count the 9 feature films. So for argument's sake, we are going to go with 736.

According to my count, Pocket has released 446 Trek Novels, including Novelizations.

[Jarrod]

I forgot 120 tie in novels in the tie-in series, including New Frontier and SCE.

There are also 36 Starfleet Academy Novels. That brings the count up to 602.

[Markonian]

You mean 11 feature films, right? Plus one about to be released.

[Johnhead99]

zarkon wrote:

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Easily, I own more then that and I only have a handful of voyager books and no Enterprise books.

Zarkon is indeed correct. I own roughly 350 Star Trek novels. I started reading them when I was 9. My first was a TNG novel called Masks by Peter David I believe. I have been hooked ever since.

In addition to my ST novels, I own all the current US versions of the Titan Magazine as well as the entire collection of "Star Trek: The Magazine". I also have a small collection of misc Trek items like boards games, beer coasters, action figures, etc. At some point, I'd like to say I own and have read every Star Trek novel. But even at 350 or so, I probably still have 300 or more to go. I am missing much of TOS, but have complete DS9, Voyager, ENT and most of the spin-offs. I can't help myself -- the latest batch of authors are really quite amazing.

[Christopher]

^Masks was by John Vornholt.

[Johnhead99]

Christopher wrote:

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^Masks was by John Vornholt.

Christopher - 1
Johnhead - 0

Thanks for the correction.

[zarkon]

that merits the teachers mask

[the_wildcard]

Just finished the book myself and was initially estatic to see Amanda revived in the book. But unfortunately it's a shame what happened to her character at the end.

[Markonian]

the_wildcard wrote:

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Just finished the book myself and was initially estatic to see Amanda revived in the book. But unfortunately it's a shame what happened to her character at the end.

Yes, I think the same.

[DigificWriter]

I just finished the book (yes, I know I'm late to the party), and need to say the following before I get deeper into my thoughts on it: Kirsten Beyer, you have officially cemented yourself as a bonafide creative genius. Even if the broader strokes of the story came from others, what you did with those germs of ideas puts you on a level with the likes of George Lucas, Joss Whedon, and J.K. Rowling, which is incredibly esteemed company indeed.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, here's my thoughts on the book itself, presented in bullet form:
* I REALLY love the Q; they're one of the more outlandish yet completely appropriate and awesome aspects of the Star Trek universe and mythos, and so it was great to see them play such a significant role in the story, particularly the eponymous Q brought to life so deliciously by one John DeLancie (whose voice I kept hearing every time his character showed up); it was also great to see the other 3 Q we'd come to know - Amanda, the Female Q, and Q Junior - show up as well; it's also really sad to know that, of those four, now there are only 2 left

* I'm a huge Kathryn Janeway fan, but was by no means among the portion of the Star Trek fandom who was up in arms over her death in Before Dishonor and who believed that the only decent Voyager stories were ones in which she played a part, nor was I opposed to her eventually returning at some point; having said that, though, I was absolutely blown away by the creative nature in which you chose to bring her back, and have to say that, were anyone else to have been given the awesome responsibility of handling her return, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it nearly as much as I did

* It sucks that Asfarah Eden ended up in a way being a 'casualty' of Janeway's return because I really liked her character, but kudos to you for writing her out of things in a fashion that was not only unique and original, but also allowed for closure in terms of her character, particularly in the face of the critics out there (most of whom are from the above-mentioned portion of the ST fandom who were really displeased with Janeway's death and who consequently saw Eden as a poor replacement for her even though the two characters were/are completely different) and the temptation to placate them by simply getting rid of her in the blink of an eye and returning things to the 'status quo'

* If there's a single pair of Voyager-associated characters - be they from the canon or from the novels - who are better suited for each other than Hugh Cambridge and Seven of Nine, I cannot think of who they are (except maybe for The Doctor and Seven of Nine), so I'm really glad you put them together

* Speaking of The Doctor, I loved the tension-filled interactions between him and Cambridge, particularly during their sojourn on the away mission with Asfarah; they are a lot more alike than I think either of them realizes, and it was great to see them get to play off of each other

* I really want to know how B'Elanna discovered that she was pregnant again; did she figure it out/discern it on her own, or did she go to Doctor Sharak or The Doctor for an examination that revealed it? It doesn't seem like there was all that much time between the resolution of the Omega anomaly crisis and her telling Tom that Miral was no longer an only child

In closing, I want to build up Kirsten's ego a bit more by saying that I honestly cannot picture anyone else writing about these characters, and sincerely hope that the editors at Pocket feel the same. I also need to mention that I'm giving the book an enthusiastic 10 out of 10.