Spoilers VOY: Atonement by Kirsten Beyer Review Thread

[Mage]

It is a very good book indeed. Voyager has never been better than it is with Beyer's relaunch.

I'll try to get a full review up soon...

I just wish someone like her loved DS9 as much as she loves Voyager. I'm dying for a future author to do just that.

There is. And we could get into that, but since this topic is about Kirsten's Voyager novel, I think we should try and talk about that, and not risk this getting into another discussion about DS9 and wether or not that series of novels is good or not.

 

[stormy]

I had wanted to do a reread of the relaunch books prior to reading this one. Unfortunately, I was just finishing Protectors when this was released. Part of me wanted to skip Acts of Contrition so I could jump right into the new material, but I made myself wait, and I'm glad I did. It was nice to have the whole story fresh in my mind.

I'm going to put my review in spoiler tags because I don't always know what people will classify as "spoilers" in a spoiler thread, so I prefer not to risk saying something I shouldn't.

Spoiler: Atonement

Overall, I quite enjoyed this book. For some reason I had expected Janeway's "trial" to be the main event/prime focus, so I was very surprised when it was resolved early on and relatively quickly. I didn't really agree with their decision to help the Seriareen. It didn't make sense to me that they had been so cautious and negative around the Confederacy and clearly had to work hard to try to have a working relationship with them, yet other than Chakotay's reservations, they seemed to have no problem agreeing to help people with a reputation for being extremely dangerous. While I agreed with the decision not to cut their losses, take the easy, safe route, and just leave after Janeway was rescued, (I actually really liked that whole scene where they discussed that decision), it seemed they displayed too much trust in their captives. It just didn't make sense to me.

I have mixed feelings towards the Confederacy and the way it was portrayed and how that story developed. Part of me is fascinated and intrigued by it. Part of me didn't like some of the things I felt were being implied through that story. But I loved the characters that were highlighted and I loved the way that story was resolved. I actually wasn't sure what sort of outcome to expect because it seemed they would either make an alliance or they would make an enemy. I was glad Kirsten found a third option that was inbetween the two.

Someone mentioned how one thing they dislike in Kirsten's books is that all the characters seem to have some troubling, haunting past that keeps surfacing. While that doesn't necessarily bother me, it did manage to deflect me from suspecting Xolani had taken over Conlon. The signs were all there - Kirsten didn't really hide it, she made a point of mentioning that Conlon wasn't acting herself, and Conlon was noticeably absent for much of this book. But I had just dismissed that as her responding to the stresses of the job, much as she had in Eternal Tide when the disaster they were faced with was a little too much like the recent experiences during the Borg invasion. I had just assumed it was a character development story and was going to open up something else about Conlon's past. Consequently, I didn't figure it out until the briefing where B'Elanna figured it out and I realized I should have made that connection much sooner.

The Alpha Quadrant story was very interesting to me and I was eagerly reading and anxious to see how that was resolved. I was disappointed with how Axum was resolved. When I watch Unimatrix Zero, I find Axum to be a very likable character that I sympathize with and I was very excited when he showed up in Acts of Contrition. While I understand that his experiences after being separated from the collective left him traumatized in many ways, I was disappointed with the direction his character went in this book, and that the resolution had him bitter and resentful and portrayed as the "bad guy." I understand the story. I just didn't like the character development in this case. I wonder if we will get a follow up with him later down the road.

I love books where there are various elements throughout a story that initially seem insignificant, but later come back to play an important role, and there was a lot of that in this trilogy. I liked seeing different things get referenced again and come back into play in the resolution of different stories. The one thing I had expected to factor in that didn't was when Captain Farkas had informed Janeway in Acts of Contrition that they had transphasic torpedoes. I kept waiting for that to come back and play some part in the story and it didn't. Maybe in a future story...

One of the things Kirsten excels at in her writing is her characters and relationships between them. I love all of the characters in Kirsten's books, whether original characters from the show, or ones developed in the novels. I have grown to love all of the characters. Characters like Sharak, Conlon, Farkas, Glenn, O'Donnell, and Fife have become just as beloved as the original crew. Farkas remains one of my very favorites. I love the relationship of respect and friendship developing between Farkas and Janeway. I admit when they got off to a bad start in Protectors, it caught me off guard. I hadn't expected it as I had thought they would have a lot in common and make a great team. But I like how that initial conflict has created a more meaningful relationship. And that's what I like about Kirsten's writing. She's doesn't paint everything as rosy and carefree. Even the best of relationships go through ups and downs. And I love how you see that in all the relationships, whether it's Janeway and Chakotay, who have a well-established working and personal relationship, or characters like Tom and his mom. These relationships feel realistic and I like that.

I also love how Kirsten makes good use of all of her resources. She brings up so many familiar faces to play a small but key role in her books: family like Julia Paris and Gretchen and Phoebe Janeway, friends like the Wildmans and Icheb and Naomi. And other characters like President Bacco and Garak. I don't read novels outside the Voyager series, so when news came out that Garak would be in this book, I didn't know what that meant. But I found the character to be intriguing and he seemed to fit in well with the story. I think a lot of authors tend to be nervous to branch out too much or have too many characters because it stretches them thin and it's too much to keep up with. As a result, the characters suffer and come across as wooden. But Kirsten has a way of making me love the secondary characters just as much as the primary characters. She develops them and makes them likable and real.

Another thing Kirsten always delivers in her novels is great themes. Every one of her novels seems to have at least one recurring theme in it. This one seemed to be focusing on unity and loyalty and family. And I love how she conveyed that through this story. The other theme I noticed was that of working together despite your differences. You don't have to agree or even get along, but when you work towards a common goal, you can set those differences aside and accomplish great things. She showed this in the relationship with the Federation and the Confederacy, Tom and Julia, Janeway reflecting on her relationship with Kashyk, Chakotay and Mattings, Farkas and the Voth, O'Donnell and Bralt, and many others I'm sure I'm forgetting. I just love the way those themes are integrated into the stories being told and how they keep surfacing. They're not so obvious that it's like hitting you over the head with it, but they're strong enough to be noticed and appreciated.

Sorry for the mini-novel I've written here. Apparently I had more to write than I realized. Another fantastic book and I eagerly await the next one, and hopefully many more!

 

[star trek]

Great Trek book!. Kirsten has never disapointed me whenever I finish reading a book she wrote.

 

[Kirsten Beyer]

Holy crap, multi-quote seems to be working again, so I'm going to dive in and hope for the best.

The only real issue I have, and it's a pet peeve I have with all of Kirsten's Voyager novels.... Everyone seems to suffer from some form of guilt or angst over something. I suppose we all have our crosses to bear, I know I do. But at some point, I would love to have our intrepid crew find some more lasting happiness in their lives.

Thanks for the kind words that I cut. As to this...a few thoughts.

First, I understand your frustration with the darkness. There are times I share it as I'm writing. The issue is realistically creating/exploring conflict. Obviously some of it is always coming from the outside, but I think there needs to be a balance between that and what comes from the inside or the character's response to whatever is before them. So I tend to dig deep. The upside is, readers tend to feel that they are getting to know characters better. The downside is...pain.

That said, I sort of felt the same way after I finished writing Atonement. I kept thinking, when this is done, we're going to move in a lighter direction, at least for a bit. Not that there won't be conflict, but you know....lighter.

And then I wrote PFoL and I really, really, didn't do that. I mean really. So gird you loins. But working now on the story that comes after...it's hard to make promises before it's written but it already feels brighter and lighter. I've hit upon a premise that fills me with hope. Perhaps it will do the same for you.

I'm really excited that the next installment will hit shelves this upcoming January, and the news that Kirsten is most likely going to write at least 2 more Voyager books after Pocket Full of Lies.

Voyager has really benefited from the whole one-author situation. This series is fantastic! Keep it up Kirsten; I'll be back next time for sure

Thanks, Paris! I always look forward to reading your thoughts. And nothing is finalized yet on those next two novels....but it's looking good. I'll share when I can confirm.

Question for the native speakers (I'm referring to the paperback version, but I guess the ebook text is the same)

on page 40, at the bottom, one sentence contains ........"proscribed penalty".....

It hast to be prescribed, anything else would be illogical. I guess I struggled with those words in the last Voyager novel. Only now I ran into it again.

proscribed = prohibited

prescribed = required

Did I miss something? Am I wrong? Is it a mistake? I'm confused.

You didn't miss anything. I was scratching my head after I read this because I could have SWORN that my copyeditor caught this and took me to task for it. I mean I honestly remember realizing that I was using that word wrong.

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

And then I checked my final galleys and there it was in all its wrongness.

Heartfelt apologies. Along with everyone else here, I applaud and envy your ability to read these books in two languages. Imagine how it feels to know that you know mine better than I do.

Even if not financially, though, I'm sure it adds to her numbers in some significant way. I can't imagine having a large international audience would be a bad thing for a Trek author.

I can't discuss contract details, but yes, it is a great thing to have an international audience...and a surprising one to me but I'll take it.

A question, and my apologies if it's been asked before, but is General Mattings intended to suggest General Mattis?

Nope. It's an inside reference to someone who is very close to me.

Cool, bought. And congratulations Kirsten, two words I had to look up in the prologue alone - usually that's my average for a whole book!

Hm...only two? I must be slipping.

Great novel Kirsten but no surprise there. The best Trek relaunch currently in publication.

You are much too kind.

Just finished it, and all I can say is this:

Kirsten, thank you.

You are most welcome.

Dear Kirsten,

Thanks to you and Atonement I stayed up until 3 am and overslept, missing two commitments this morning as a result. And I only got half way through it at that.

It was well worth it.

Aw....sorry about that and glad you thought it was worth it.

It is a very good book indeed. Voyager has never been better than it is with Beyer's relaunch.

I'll try to get a full review up soon...

Many thanks.

And....(tapping fingers, waiting for that full review.)

I rarely post on TrekBBS but had to come on here to share my love of this book! Super great ending to a gripping trilogy of novels...
I really loved seeing Garak in this novel; his voice and mannerisms were spot on!

Hi Emily....thanks so much for coming in to share your thoughts. I think I remember that you came up to speed reading these not that long ago. Glad they are still working for you.

And thanks for mentioning the Garak scene. No one else has. I was curious to know how people would respond to it. Must not disappoint Una, you know?

....cutting for space...

Stormy....lots of interesting thoughts here. I'll share just a few responses...but not in spoilers because I really don' t know how to do that and I'm not going to learn it tonight. Plus...the book has been out for a bit. I assume those who aren't finished are avoiding this thread.

When I started the book, what feels like a lifetime ago....I, too, planned for the trial to take up most of the book. That's how my original outlines worked. But then I realized that I could do that, or I could do all of the other things I had planned to do as well. I could not, however, do both in 120,000 words.

That said, once I started the actual manuscript, it didn't feel odd to me at all from Janeway's POV that she would just cut to the damn chase and try to solve the problem. I honestly didn't see her having the patience for re-litigating all of the finer points of those encounters, especially when she knew that there was more going on than met the eye.

As to her choice to help the Seriareen vs. the Confederacy....hmm. With the Confederacy, they were looking at the possibility of forming a lasting diplomatic alliance, so scrutinizing all of the small stuff. With the Seriareen, they had a relatively simple request and it is exactly the sort of request Starfleet crews dig in and try to solve all the time. Yes, the Seriareen were obviously dangerous, but at the time, the threat seemed to be contained. Glad that the longish conversation about that worked for you. It did make sense to me that not everyone would agree with that choice. But it also seemed like the right thing to do. YMMV

Re: Axum...yeah, I get that. I had a soft spot for him as well after that episode. Thing was...it didn't feel right to gloss over the real world implications of the choice made in Unimatrix Zero. Freeing all of those Borg meant that some of them were going to have a rough time of it. Pretending that Axum didn't or that he would be able to move quickly from all of that trauma back to the guy we knew just felt wrong. And for what it's worth, I like to hope that Seven's take on the situation is true...that he may hate it right now and that pain is dictating his actions, but in time, he will come to realize that he has gained more than he has lost. Whether or not we will ever see that, I don't know. But that was part of the choice to have Riley's people accept him and agree to try and help him going forward. He's not with Seven. But he's not alone.

Glad so much of this worked for you!

Great Trek book!. Kirsten has never disapointed me whenever I finish reading a book she wrote.

Aww....here's hoping I never do.

Thanks to all who have come in to share their thoughts. I'm going a little nuts right now with everything I have on my plate, but I am checking in as often as I can and will respond whenever I have the chance.

Best,
KMFB

 

[Mage]

Wow, it's always a bit humbling when an author replies to your reply....

I do see where you are coming from, and it's one of the reasons you have made Voyager's crew more real to me as people than the show did. I really appreciate that. As for more angst in the next novel, I think I can take it. I've been with you and the crew you've assembled for a while now, I'm not planning on ditching them, or you.

Oh, btw, also an international reader myself. I'm from the Netherlands.

EDITED TO ADD:

About the Garak scene... Me and my girlfriend are huge Niners, and we both adore Garak. I read out his scene to her, and she just grinned from ear to ear. You nailed him, right on the head.

 

[Kiwein]

Thanks for your insights, Kirsten, and the very long reply.

I don't know if I am really looking forward to or can handle more angsty stuff, but I just keep hoping for a happy ending and no major character or relationship deaths. Reading Star Trek novels is my way of escaping reality for a while and I prefer happy over angsty in that world.

I am also very interested in the process of writing and I am happy thaf you share some of your thoughts with us. I really enjoy reading your Voyager books, just because you keep the characters SO real, the plots are SO deep and well, everything else.

Thank you!

 

[Kilana2]

I'm still in the middle of it, but it's going to be outstanding.

 

[Kertrats47]

Just posted my review. Great resolution to the various storylines that were going on. My favorite was the resolution to The Doctor's story. It would be easy to do the reset button thing, but I love that there are long term consequences that he has to deal with. Part of his formative life experiences are just gone... I love the way that he and Seven are dealing with it.

My full review.

 

[Jedi_Master]

I must admit, at first this book made me nervous - the sudden resolution of Janeway's trial, the "reset" where the Kinara alliance was dissolved, the Seriareen going from mortal, vicious enemies to somewhat sympathetic aliens with a desire (ostensibly) to "go home", and a few other changes confused me a bit and I wondered if the amazing train had gone off the rails. So once I had gotten to around page 80 or so, I set the book down for a day. However, when I picked it back up I didn't stop reading until about 2 in the morning.
This book should come with some Starbucks coupons...

What a fantastic finish!

The resolution of each of the major challenges felt authentic and realistic. The revelation of the Seriareen's true motivation was marvelously done and a scene that I would have loved to see on the big screen. The beauty and "alienness" of the Delta Quadrant was one of the best parts of the VOY TV series and Kirsten NYTBSAMF Beyer has always brought that to life in the best way.

The development of the Full Circle Fleet's mission and Starfleet oversight was excellent, and I am looking forward to seeing how the Fleet responds to the "real world" events including Bacco's assassination.

Kirsten's ability to maintain a sprawling character list and story reminds me of TV series production team compressed into one person. Well done! I assume you have some significant written aids/charts/maps to help you keep track Kirsten?

A quick aside that segues into my final point of admiration: Garak. Other than the works written by the actor who portrayed Garak - the small scene that you wrote for him was the most authentic portrayal of the character in any TrekLit novel. I don't normally "hear" the character's voices when I read, but his literally leaped off the page. Absolutely perfect, and made me wish that Kirsten could write some DS9 novels. I don't suppose you could clone yourself Kirsten?

The masterful portrayal of Garak highlights the best part of the entire novel - the characters. So authentic, so interesting, so enjoyable. In some ways Kirsten reminds me of a suitably less verbose P.D. James - she has the ability to give a character, even a minor one, motivation and depth with a few brush strokes. So while her main characters are developed carefully over time, and the "legacy" characters like Harry Kim or the Doctor grow in ways that are perfectly organic and fitting, the minor characters never feel out of place or tacked on.
That's a talent.

I was pleased with the resolution of Icheb's story arc and Naomi's story arc. I have always felt the idea that wunderkinds must automatically go to the Academy and stay there to be a bit odd. So the choices they made or that were made for them felt right.

I could go on and on, talking about the sheer joy of watching the Doctor gain new abilities that made even more of a sentient being, the pleasure I got from any scene that contained the Tamarians, but I might end up staying up to 2am again.

My one minor quibble is that the Commander felt a tiny bit cartoonish. I appreciated how the motivation for his heinous actions was revealed late in the novel, but he still felt a little too much like the "mad scientist" sterotype. Perhaps Kirsten has a hard time creating a purely evil character .

However that minor quibble does not take anything away from the grandeur of this novel, indeed of the unofficial trilogy to which it belongs. Kirsten continues to show why she sits at the pinnacle of TrekLit authors and why she deserves to continue making books that inspire, interest, intrigue, and inadvertently exhaust us.

Thank you very much Kirsten.

 

[Kilana2]

With Riley's people as refugees there is still a topic with currentness involved, even though for different reasons.

The relationship beween Tom and his mum seems to get less strained.

I wish I had more time for reading.....

 

[stormy]

Kirsten, I love reading your comments and getting the background and "behind the scenes" look into how your books are written. Your insight helps give a more full picture of what goes into these books and how characters and stories are developed. Thank you for taking the time to read and reply to my long review.

The only real issue I have, and it's a pet peeve I have with all of Kirsten's Voyager novels.... Everyone seems to suffer from some form of guilt or angst over something. I suppose we all have our crosses to bear, I know I do. But at some point, I would love to have our intrepid crew find some more lasting happiness in their lives.

...The issue is realistically creating/exploring conflict. Obviously some of it is always coming from the outside, but I think there needs to be a balance between that and what comes from the inside or the character's response to whatever is before them. So I tend to dig deep. ...

One of the things that makes Kirsten's books so amazing to me is her characters. They feel very real. And I think part of that is seeing their past challenges. I think that people are shaped by their experiences - the good and the bad - and those experiences influence how they respond to new experiences. We need to know those past experiences to really understand who these characters are now. Sometimes it may seem a bit overdramatic or like everyone has some deep dark secret, and they just can't catch a break, but I think that's only to be expected. Everyone has a story. Everyone is going to have lived through challenges and trials in their life. But those experiences and how they dealt with those experiences are crucial to who they are now.

And without that guilt or angst, the lighter, brighter moments wouldn't be as meaningful. Yes, these characters are burdened and have had more than their fair share of dark moments. But they can also still laugh and enjoy life. I imagine they will find pieces of that lasting happiness you mentioned along the journey - much as B'Elanna and Tom continue to realize the joy they find in their family - but that doesn't mean they won't still have challenges in the future, or past demons come back to haunt them. I think the fact that Kirsten is able to show both sides of conflict is why these characters work so well.

That said, Kirsten's warning has me a little nervous for Pocket Full of Lies...

Thanks to all who have come in to share their thoughts. I'm going a little nuts right now with everything I have on my plate, but I am checking in as often as I can and will respond whenever I have the chance.

Will be anxiously waiting until things are official and finalized and you can tell us what new things we can look forward to. Hope that you are able to continue to write for Voyager as long as you want to!

 

[Thrawn]

The masterful portrayal of Garak highlights the best part of the entire novel - the characters. So authentic, so interesting, so enjoyable. In some ways Kirsten reminds me of a suitably less verbose P.D. James - she has the ability to give a character, even a minor one, motivation and depth with a few brush strokes. So while her main characters are developed carefully over time, and the "legacy" characters like Harry Kim or the Doctor grow in ways that are perfectly organic and fitting, the minor characters never feel out of place or tacked on.
That's a talent.

This is one of the things that keeps blowing me away, every time, in each of her books. She can have a character show up for three scenes, at like two pages per scene, and just with that give them a sympathetic complex character arc. It's amazing how real she makes all of these characters feel in such a small amount of prose.

 

[Markonian]

With Riley's people as refugees there is still a topic with currentness involved, even though for different reasons.

Slightly OT but in the same vein - I've recently re-read Places of Exile and found it very much up to date in that regard.


Back to Atonement. One thing that surprised me was that the ban on genetic engineering included cloning extinct species. So, the chance to bring a lost sentient species will not be used by the Federation? Poor Aenar, whose extinction the Federation apparently just shrugged off and will not bring back even though the Andorian Crisis was resolved.

I mean, it's not about building a Jurassic World. The Federation could revive Ria's species, have them resettle their homeworld and become members. What if another member species became threatened with extinction due to low numbers?

The novel is thought provoking on several levels. I wonder how many times I'm going to re-read the Voyager relaunch in the future.

 

[Idran]

Back to Atonement. One thing that surprised me was that the ban on genetic engineering included cloning extinct species. So, the chance to bring a lost sentient species will not be used by the Federation? Poor Aenar, whose extinction the Federation apparently just shrugged off and will not bring back even though the Andorian Crisis was resolved.

I mean, it's not about building a Jurassic World. The Federation could revive Ria's species, have them resettle their homeworld and become members. What if another member species became threatened with extinction due to low numbers?

What would be gained from that, though? The culture would still be lost, they would only be similar in name and DNA. Would an ancient Planarian even recognize Ria as one of their own? She'd know nothing about what it means to be a Planarian, know nothing of their history or their outlook or who they are as a people. The only sense in which she is a Planarian is her DNA, but everything that made them who they are is just gone.

 

[Markonian]

What would be gained from that, though? The culture would still be lost, they would only be similar in name and DNA. Would an ancient Planarian even recognize Ria as one of their own? She'd know nothing about what it means to be a Planarian, know nothing of their history or their outlook or who they are as a people. The only sense in which she is a Planarian is her DNA, but everything that made them who they are is just gone.

Correct, their culture could only be gleaned from artifacts. But the cultural void could be filled by the Federation, and a formerly lost species would be back in the fold of galactic society. Isn't the retrieval of a unique (and non-harmful) lifeform not a worthy goal?

 

[Idran]

What would be gained from that, though? The culture would still be lost, they would only be similar in name and DNA. Would an ancient Planarian even recognize Ria as one of their own? She'd know nothing about what it means to be a Planarian, know nothing of their history or their outlook or who they are as a people. The only sense in which she is a Planarian is her DNA, but everything that made them who they are is just gone.

Correct, their culture could only be gleaned from artifacts. But the cultural void could be filled by the Federation, and a formerly lost species would be back in the fold of galactic society. Isn't the retrieval of a unique (and non-harmful) lifeform not a worthy goal?

Not if it's for the benefit of your civilization instead of theirs, which it would have to be by definition since theirs is gone and irretrievable. It just seems fundamentally unethical (not to mention morbid) to me to resurrect a sentient species just because you can, and then force them into your own culture because theirs is long dead. It seems maybe one or two steps removed from forced re-education of native peoples to me.

Using these techniques to help restore a living civilization, with the consent and cooperation of that civilization's existant members, is one thing, but I don't see it as ethical without consent and participation. And if that can't be given because it is a long dead civilization, then it simply isn't ethical to me no matter how you do it.

 

[Deks]

Am on my second reading of Atonement and getting through it almost as fast as the first time.

One thing I found odd was near the ending and how Voyager was ready to destroy the subspace creature (aka the 'Source') as opposed to study it and even attempt communicating with.
Seems to go well out of character considering Janeway's and the fleet's (and other characters) previous efforts to uphold the Federation's core values in their highest regard (something which I actually liked).
The only one who made sense was Mattings in that 1 scene (who for a change, didn't want to use weapons or force to solve a problem).
This kinda reminded me of the space creature the Enterprise-D encountered and accidentally killed while wanting to originally stun it - Picard's devastation at the realization that they killed it was very upsetting at the time, and his reminder that they were out here to seek out new life not destroy it.

I seriously didn't get that.
Janeway was already pushing altruism quite far (again, something I liked a lot to see in their behaviour as its a lot more consistent with how SF is supposed to behave) by trying to even help Lsia (who initially wanted orchestrated that entire tribunal) before, so why the sudden change?
She went to extraordinary measures to try and focus on diplomacy and showing that their way of going about things CAN work (it may be more harder and takes more time, but it does work) - so this seems... odd.

One other thing... the Full Circle fleet seems a bit short-handed.
It would be good to see if SF decided to give them backup with say 2 more ships (at least), that way, the smaller ships with weaker defences like Galen and Demeter can travel in separate directions with a larger ship being relatively close by to act as a good backup should trouble arise.
And after what Seven and Paris did back in the AQ, one would hope SF would want to given them further support (it wouldn't be beyond SF's capabilities, nor would it leave them short-handed).

I liked how the fleet managed to set right various first contacts gone bad and even possibly open a theoretical dialogue with the Voth.
Hopefully, we'll get more of this in the future novels.

 

[Deks]

The mod requested earlier to end the conversation on this topic.

 

[Idran]

A mod already said to end the conversation in this thread, Deks; PMing Nasat might be more appropriate.

 

[Deks]

Edited the post in question.