Just finished. Viewing
The Eternal Tide as the conclusion to the first arc of the “second Voyager relaunch” and
Protectors as the opening to the second, here that second arc becomes firmly established and certain of itself. There's a good sense that Beyer knows where this is going and is therefore able to successfully convey the themes and dilemmas in a sure-footed and strongly affecting way. The book held my interest, largely because it promised a lot while delivering enough of the meat up front.
As to the unfolding plot, I appreciate the sense that
Voyager's actions and encounters coming back to haunt them, with the question of the ship's impact not being shied away from but placed centre-stage. The Delta Quadrant - that harsh, disorganized place with a cancerous sprawl of Borg defining much of it - has now, in the wake of the Collective, taken its first uneasy steps toward building a united community and a communal identity. The Delta Quadrant peoples - sorry, the First Quadrant peoples – are struggling with the sense (justified? Maybe a little?) that
Voyager, and so the Federation, was reckless, not a harbinger of peace but a nuisance, something that stirred up what it shouldn't and no longer has the excuse of desperation. It’s going to be fascinating to see Janeway on trial for her decisions and actions, and I trust we’ll get some great analysis of the sort of thing fans (and detractors) have been arguing over for years. Finally having Janeway speak in her own defence, as written by an author with a good track record in handling the character, is something to look forward to.
The Confederacy is portrayed with a great deal of sophistication. There's a lot of thought put into them; the sense of how this society works - of who they are and who they perceive themselves to be - comes through in various intriguing ways. Their religious and philosophical outlooks, how these creep into their speech and define their choice of perspective; their origins as a refugee culture (evident in their obsession with the bearing of children and successful pregnancy, and the social ethos built around the necessity of work and perseverance, an assumption of the need for survival in the face of potential disaster rather than a presumption of security, all of which defines them even in a time of plenty). This is a convincing civilization, with its internal stresses and blind points sketched out as logical outgrowths of its foundations. O'Donnell's early comment that he knows how this process of mutual discovery ends is great. We suspect he’s right, but you want to see it unfold regardless. Perhaps we are more morbidly curious than he? I also particularly enjoyed Mattings' conversations with Harry Kim.
In all, I find the Confederacy very convincing, and poignant. Glenn and Janeway’s discussion was another highlight. Janeway perceives what Glenn perhaps cannot, that it’s more than practical restrictions that holds the Confederacy back in improving its people's way of life. They’re committed to their mentality of trial and the need to prove one’s worth, and are unlikely to easily accept the concept of assistance and easy improvement for its own sake; the social instinct that freeloaders are bad for society and detrimental to its chances is too strong. Virtue has ossified into proud necessity and identity. The regard in which they hold those who manage to retain their citizenship in the face of trial and struggle makes them a unique and fascinating opponent/obstacle.
In essence, their identity has been established around their early efforts at growth and success in the face of great adversity: They now face, in the form of the Federation, something disconcerting and counter-intuitive to them: the idea that further growth and progress might mean relaxing and even abandoning the outlooks and values that allowed them to come this far. How does the struggle to build a life transform into the willingness to set aside the struggle? When you define your life around the sacrifices needed to build a house, are you then able to put the tools down and live comfortably in the house when it's done? Or, if you lived in the house, are you willing to then disassemble it and face the world? (It’s no wonder, for example, that the Presider is almost confused and borderline hostile regarding the idea that childbearing not be the defining goal of a fertile female’s life – why on earth would one wish to abandon the surest means of earning the societal worth and respect that all Confederates must find? To the Presider's mind, whether she can articulate it or not, Janeway isn't suggesting that people's individual worth might be enhanced by a change in perspective - it's seen as something threatening or undermining to her people's dignity). The Confederacy is not yet able to accept or trust in the idea of a safety net, so to speak. For the first time there is the glimmer of the idea that this might change though, though, with the revelation and threat of the Federation. In a similar sense, worlds that saw the Confederacy as the means to prosperity now consider that their needs and desires may better be served by severing ties with it, something that isn’t going to go down well. The Confederacy’s values are now potentially in conflict with the goals those values were geared toward, their means of defining themselves is potentially in conflict with the identities they believe those definitions to serve. There’s a lot more I could say regarding this, but I think I’ll save it for now.
Of course, playing the Confederacy as a suspect "Federation", we have the strange martial alliance that includes the Vaadwaur, Turei and Devore as a Delta Quadrant "Typhon Pact", of sorts (no doubt a deliberate mirror). As an aside, I wondered if we’d see Kashyk again. "Counterpoint" is a favourite of mine. Anyway, it’s revealed that this is actually “Meegan” and the Eight, who have, amusingly enough, pieced together a sense of how this quadrant should be perceived based on the information at hand to Meegan – the experiences of
Voyager. Even as the races of the First Quadrant rally against the troublesome meddler that is
Voyager, they are in fact being defined around the ship’s experiences, probably without their comprehension. The Delta Quadrant is being remade in accordance with what its worlds and peoples meant to the crew of the Starfleet ship. Very ironic. Moan about Janeway’s meddling all you will, Delta Quadrant – but you’ve well and truly been
meddled and that’s become as important to you (perhaps?) as the idea of working for your worth has to the Confederacy. The history and future of the Delta Quadrant has become increasingly tied to the provocation of this outsider. Add to that the cause of the Borg's removal...
The Federation characters are engaging, too. With the Voyager books still set only a year after
Destiny, these books are a return to the days of tired struggle in the aftermath of that conflict, with the Federation as a wounded and somewhat jaded civilization. Most of the secondary supporting characters come across as interesting and well-rounded personalities. Also, I finally got some Sharak.
He was portrayed very successfully, too; the musings on what it means to be a Tamarian among Federates were provocative - this was successful world-building subtly conveyed within exploration of character. Good stuff. And the scene in Tamarian/Basic was well put together. The revelation that Tamarians make decisions based on ritualistic invocation of chance is interesting and fits with what we know of them. I also liked the similar world-building hinted at with Lasren when he recalled Betazoid ritual; I believe this may be the first time that Betazoid religious experience has been truly explored.
I look forward to the next novel.
