As someone who is only now getting back into reading the novels, I figured I'd throw in my two cents.
As background, Voyager was my favorite series and, despite random flirtations with other series, it continues to be my favorite- if for no other reason than it was what I grew up with. I started watching Star Trek as a wee lad with TNG, but it was not until Voyager came onto the scene that I was old enough to care about more than how space ships were cool, and the drama of Deep Space Nine was too serious for my interest. For six or seven years, the drama of whether or not the 7:00 Saturday showing would be pre-empted by Indians baseball was my life. Consequently, Janeway was my captain, in much the same way people say, "____ was my Doctor".
I quickly latched onto the various Voyager novels being pumped out at the time, back when they were still numbered. I loved them, but after a few years began to sense a pattern to them, and was turned off by something I couldn't quite figure out, which I later realized was the reset button.
I love stories that reference each other, where something that happens in one can affect the other- apparently, I always have, because I remember loving how the first three Starfleet Academy novels shared continuity, and I hated the lack of connections between the two Geordi books. However, at the end of Capture the Flag, Boothby tells Geordi he'll tell him about Cadet Picard one day, which, since I read the Picard book first, I thought of as a connection at the time, and I ate it up. Later, in the aftermath of Generations, all the different stories that began with Veridian III and led to the Enterprise E in different ways bugged the hell out of me (The Return and Ship of the Line, I'm looking at you). In the end, I lost interest in Star Trek novels, although the occasional SCE, Eugenics Wars, or Voyager Relaunch book found its way into my hands, usually through the library. And, while it was rare that I read Star Wars due to a lack of interest, I admired the Expanded Universe's ability to share a continuity, and hearing that they killed Chewie showed anything could happen.
Flash forward to 2008. I'm lurking on the SCN message board and reading about Destiny, where I learn that many storylines had combined into a shared continuity. I'm intrigued. I then hear about Before Dishonor, and that Janeway becomes the Borg Queen. Boo. After those Christie Golden VOY relaunch books, where the only good thing was that at least Chakotay still would be commanding Voyager when Janeway was removed as according to Nemesis, I don't want to hear anything about the damn Borg queen again.
But then I read further: Janeway dies, going out defiantly and headstrong (one of her best traits, IMO) taking out her mortal enemies. She's dead. Dead as a doornail. A memorial with an eternal flame is place in memory of her on Earth and, from now on, she'll be gone, and Voyager (especially Chakotay, who finally got with Janeway at the end of the second relaunch book) will have to deal with the loss.
Wow. Wow. I'm blown away. Suddenly, it seems the Star Trek novel universe is one where anything can happen. And, while saddened that MY captain is gone, I'm satisfied, and looking forward to Destiny.
All of you who are understandably angered at her death are proof of those readers this death may have caused Pocket Books. I'm proof of those they've gained, even among those of us who love and care about Captain Janeway.
You can't please everyone, you can only tell the story you think is best, no matter what others think, because there will always be those who disagree.
in' book before getting your neuro-gel-packs in a bunch?
