String Theory: Cohesion Questions

[marlboro]

Probably a dumb question to ask about a book that's part of a trilogy, but I'll ask anyway: can the first book, Cohesion, be read as a standalone? Some of the reviews of the latter parts of the trilogy are a bit mixed so I'm a little wary.

I'm looking for a Seven of Nine heavy novel. I've read The Nanotech War and Christie Golden's Seven of Nine. Cohesion was mentioned over in the Voyager forum as a book with some good Seven and B'Elanna scenes. Since they are my two favorite Voyager characters, I'm thinking of checking it out. I'm also kind of curious to see what Jeffrey Lang can do with Tom Paris.

 

[Stevil2001]

I haven't read it since it came out, but I think it can, actually. It was my favorite of the trilogy, and specifically because of the Seven/B'Elanna focus.

 

[marlboro]

That's all I needed to know. Thanks a bunch!

 

[Stevil2001]

That's all I needed to know. Thanks a bunch!

From rereading MA and MB, it looks like there is a cliffhanger at the end of Cohesion, but the main plot of the book is resolved-- there's just an unresolved bit to set you up for the next adventure.

 

[JD]

Each of the books does have it's own more or less independent storyline that all tie together to form a bigger whole.
The Cohesion is probably the best of the three, but I thought Fusion was also very good. The third one isn't as good, but I'd say it's still worth a read.

 

[marlboro]

The third one isn't as good, but I'd say it's still worth a read.

One of the reasons that I was hesitant about buying the series is that in her Voyages of Imagination interview, Heather Jarman seemed to imply that she struggled with the last book. Batting cleanup in a multi-author series is a thankless task, imo.


What the heck ever happened to Heather Jarman? She wrote several stories that I liked, but seemed to drop off the face of the Earth.

 

[JD]

It definitely was the weakest of the three, but it was still readable, and if you finish up the first two there's a pretty good chance you're going to want to finish the trilogy.