^As to your spoiler coded part: I pretty sure you mean DS9's "The Search". ..and as to your query about the next book: Kirsten has said that she is finished the book and that it should be in our hands in less than a year. Most likely mid-2015. She's even working on the one after that already
I've enjoyed this book so far I wouldn't trust the confederacy too far about what information they share with the Starfleet officers and wanting to spy on them about their technologies. I really Like Captain Farkas she's a really interesting character.I like the fact she's question Admiral Janeway's previous time in the Gamma Quadrant. And some of the rash decisions she made coming back to cause The Circle fleet problems. Spoiler: Acts of Contrition spoilers One thing I noticed about Axum and Seven of Nine was how he was constantly trying to force a borg like connection she didn't want at all. The doctors can't be trusted. Icheb has every right to be suspicious and so does Doctor Sharak when it comes to the Canton's plague seems to be getting worse.The Commander can't be trusted he's a liar about how bad the situation really is.
About the plaque... Spoiler: my thoughts I keep wondering what kind of shady, nasty, illegal thing they're trying to achieve in that "medical" centre under the pretext of finding the cure. I even wonder whether they're working on weaponising the catoms.
^ I'm not sure what's going on with the plague plot, which I like. The mystery is an actual mystery - engaging without throwing up anything obvious. I have no idea what to expect, which is great.
Except scheduling is out of her hands. Pocket sets the schedule and so far they haven't gotten around to this one. (Also rare that you get Voyager on a yearly basis)
Bingie! That's it! Thanks! Having read the synopsis on MA, I now realize why it came so readily to mind.
I'd assume that her comment is based on conversations with Pocket Books rather than just a date she pulled out of the ether, though. Especially if she's already working on the book after the next one; no reason to do that before Pocket Books gave her a nod.
I just finished and it was really well worth the wait. I always enjoy reading Kristen's Voyager novels. The one thing I dislike is when she goes too in depth describing a characters inner struggles. But, I guess I can't really fault her for reasoning the motives behind a characters actions. And a second thing is cliffhangers!, now we got to wait months for the next novel? ... Keep up the good work Kristen. You get an A+ from me.
I finished this book and was so distraught that I have to wait an undetermined number of months before the next book comes out. While I fully enjoyed this book, the end is where things really started to pick up. There were several well laid twists and turns in this book and I appreciated how they were hinted at while still being a surprise (at least to me) when the truth came out. I am so anxious to see how these plots are resolved! Anyway, here are my thoughts about the book: Seven/Axum/Sharak/Catom Plague – I fully enjoyed the role Sharak took in this book. Up to this point, he’s very much been a background character for me, but he really shined in the spotlight Kirsten saw fit to give him. I loved seeing Samantha Wildman make a guest appearance. She fit in as if she belonged there and I hope we will see more of her. The development of the catomic plague story is intriguing to me and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here. I never saw the end twist coming, though looking back, I should have known something was up. Very interested to get more details surrounding this apparent conspiracy. I’m not sure why, but of all the characters in this book, Seven and Axum were the ones I connected with the least, which made it difficult for me to care about what was going on in the sections involving them. I don’t understand why Axum felt it necessary to lie to Seven on various occasions. It feels shallow and unnecessary to me and I hope the next book will expand upon that further. Spoiler: Question regarding catomic plague development Question: Where did the ship that brought Riley and her people to the Alpha Quadrant come from? I really only read the Voyager books, so I may have missed something, but I was under the impression that the only ships with Slipstream drives were the ships in the fleet (apart from the Aventine, which I believe has some early form of slipstream drive technology). Was that supposed to be a red flag type of reveal, or is this simply my ignorance regarding the current star trek world? Paris/Custody Battle – I think this was my favorite plot in the book, which surprises me. I thought it would turn out to be a distracting subplot, creating drama for the sake of more drama in the Paris family. I was wrong. Kirsten did a fantastic job exploring this subject. It was neat to see so many familiar faces return to speak in behalf of Tom and B’Elanna. Still not sure what the deal is with Vorik. He’s kind of irritating, though I was glad he had the heart to set his concerns aside in support of his friends. While I understand that Tuvok couldn’t be there, it would have been neat if he’d have been able to submit an official letter of recommendation of some kind. While I never doubted that Tom and B’Elanna were the most fit guardians for their children, it’s a credit to Kirsten’s writing that she was able to make me understand Julia’s perspective and how Julia made some valid points. I especially liked the summary by the judge at the end where he pointed out areas where both Tom and Julia need to focus on improvement. While this storyline would appear to have been resolved, I get the feeling Kirsten still has a bit more planned for them, and I look forward to seeing what I hope will be the journey towards reconciliation between mother and son. Doctor – I’m not quite sure where this is going – I imagine it’s leading to some significant development for the Doctor as a character. I get the feeling that poor Reg is suddenly going to have his hands full between helping the doctor and working on his other main focus/goal. Confederacy – I have mixed feelings about this plot. On the one hand, I felt it was a bit over the top and delivered a bit to extremes. It felt more political and controversial and philosophical than I prefer in my casual reading. But I did like that it made me think and I can appreciate some of the themes Kirsten is highlighting here. How do you interact with people who have fundamental differences in how they approach things but their approach isn’t necessarily wrong, either? How do you find middle ground and learn to work together and appreciate one another and what the other has to offer? I’m quite fond of Presider Cin and General Mattings and I look forward to seeing how they approach dealing with the fleet in the next book. Dreeg is a mystery to me. I was under the impression that Presider Cin was working behind his back in attempting diplomacy, but then why was he on the ship with her? Was he trying to protect Voyager by calling a cease fire when he did, or did he simply take the first opportunity he had to take command and stop the fighting by surrendering to their demands? The reveal about the Devore/Turei/Vaadwaur working together was surprising, but again, in hindsight it makes complete sense. Well played! I enjoyed seeing all the characters I’ve come to know and love in the relaunch books, both original cast members and characters exclusive to the books. I love how Kirsten continues to draw upon the guest characters from the show and feature them in her books. It makes it feel more authentic. Farkas still remains my favorite of the new characters and I hope she will continue to have a strong role in the books and develop as a character. I was kind of surprised that Conlon had a very minimal role in this book, and I kind of missed her. I was glad that, other than the initial confrontation with the Doctor at the beginning, Cambridge wasn’t moping over Seven’s departure too much throughout the book. I’m just not a fan of that relationship, so we’ll see where it goes. One of my favorite lines in the book came when Harry was reflecting on the Confederacy’s tactics when they engaged the Unmarked ships in battle. He observed that “Talking to each other might not get them anywhere, but wasn’t it at least worth the effort?” I thought that this insight largely conveyed one of the strongest themes in the book, that of trying to work out your differences rather than declaring it a hopeless cause and rushing into battle. The Confederacy doesn’t use stun settings on their weapons. They don’t negotiate. They don’t try to ascertain who a species is when they enter their space or what their intentions are. They simply destroy, no questions asked. And what a shame. They never know what they could be missing out on. I loved that Janeway convinced Presider Cin to attempt a diplomatic approach towards the enemy vessels. Despite differences, if a peaceful outcome is at all possible, isn’t it worth a try? And I automatically thought of how this applied to the issue between Paris and his mother. Julia mentioned several times that she’d already made up her mind and nothing anyone said would change that. It would be easy for Tom to take up the defensive position, shun his mother completely, and not even try to interact with her. But he still tried to talk to her, even though it appeared hopeless. And I imagine he will continue to try to reconcile the conflict between them. I think that theme has a lot of value to it and I appreciated the way Kirsten incorporated it into her book. Is it too early to begin a countdown for Atonement to be released?
- quoted for posterity. Great observation! I missed to connect those dots. I'm far to literal a person when it comes to literature. Dreeg is a villain. His name is an anagram of "greed". He is a corporatocratist. The Viminal was the ship Starfleet Medical dispatched to the DQ. It is a Vesta-class multi-mission explorer. All of the first Vesta-class starships, with the exception of the class prototype, are named for the seven Hills of Rome. All Vesta-class starships are equipped with QSD. By now the names of known Vesta-class starships in TrekLit include Vesta (NCC-82601), Aventine (NCC-82602), Capitoline (NCC-82617), Esquiline (NCC-82614), Quirinal (NCC-82610) and Viminal (NCC-826XX). In STO, there's also the Hypatia (NCC-92601), suggesting Starfleet eventually builit more than eight ships of the class and ran out of Roman hills. We have yet to see the Caelian and the Palatine. Also, the Viminal is the only Vesta-class starship whose registry number is unknown.
Spoiler: The ending I would say that Dreeg and the possessed Meegan had common cause: Meegan wanted Janeway, and Dreeg wanted to be rid of Janeway. I wonder: does Dreeg have friends named Hock or Lark Eovr?
And no mention whatsoever of Hugh's group of ex-Borg, eh? Come on, Rebekah Grabowski is ripe for "reactivation" of her Starfleet commission!
Thanks, Markonian, for responding to my question. I had no idea there were so many other Vesta class ships. I had thought they had been used solely for the needs of the Full Circle fleet, and that Kirsten was the one who developed them. Are the other ships you mentioned featured in other Trek novels? Has the Viminal been featured before this mention? I hadn't considered that Starfleet had several other ships with slipstream drive at their disposal, so knowing that they do definitely changes how I view things about the fleet and Starfleet. Still, it seems a bit... suspicious, that they were able to pull one of those ships and send them out to the Delta Quadrant to pick up their new guests. The fact that they didn't simply request one of the ships already in the Delta Quadrant to do that suggests that it was meant to be an off the books type of secret mission that no one else knew about. There aren't other Federation ships currently on missions in the Delta Quadrant, are there?
You're welcome. The Vesta-class was conceived for Star Trek: Destiny. The first ship we've met was Aventine, commanded by Captain Ezri Dax. Except for the Full Circle Vestas, the other ships of the class made guest appearances in various novels; the most notable being USS Capitoline in DTI: Watching the Clock. Acts of Contrition was the first time the Viminal was mentioned. Aside from the Full Circle fleet, we do not know of any ships assigned in the DQ. There aren't any active lost ships out there, only the derelict USS Anticipation from a Strange New Worlds VI story. However, with slipstream drive it's not a major problem to send a ship on a three-month trip into the DQ. Btw, am I the only one who thinks that a Prometheus-class escort would be perfect for operations on that frontier?
Markonian , if you mean the Multi-vector Prometheus from STO then that would make a big difference LOL..imagine the Dreeg's face fell off when she splits in 3 XD
I like it how Kirsten portrayed the Confederacy (in a manner which indicates that they basically never moved away from the outdated socio-economic monetary system - and as a result have practically the same issues we are facing today). Spoiler: text on button Portrayal of Federation is a bit more in line of how Roddenberry envisioned it... but realistically, you don't need replicators or agriculture to generate abundance, especially since there are many other ways of going about it. The Demeter for example when helping the Talaxians could have suggested a use of fully enclosed automated vertical farms which use hydroponics, aquaponics and aeroponics in a system which emulates the Omega garden systems (that can grow food up to 5x faster) as they exist in real life - this is far more feasible to attempt for sustainable food growth on asteroids rather than have try food to grow out of the asteroids themselves - which on a certain level is a good exercise to see if it can be done as an experiment and for further study [maybe even supplement automated farming systems], but not anything you'd probably want to rely on for long term food consumption on its own). Even for planets... the Confederacy could easily use fully automated vertical farms. The Ark Planet was a different story, and I liked how the Demeter was used there. Why the intense focus on agriculture for food cultivation in Trek? For spacefaring races like the Federation, it just doesn't make any sense. I can see the Feds using hydroponics in fully automated vertical farms to supplement replicator uses, but agriculture? No way. Too big of a footprint on a planet and unsustainable in the long run for growing populations. The Confederacy can get away with agriculture though because they aren't about what can be done from a technical efficiency and resources point of view (much more what the Feds do)... they are about cost efficiency and mass profits (monetary system as it exists today). P.S. Kirsten, dunno if you are familiar with The Venus Project and Resource Based Economy, but Roddenberry did get a lot of the ideas about the Federation in the 24th century from there - so I suggest you look into it if you hadn't already. Anyway... setting that aside, I think Kirsten did a pretty good job overall. I like how this story is going, and am looking forward to the conclusion of this trilogy... though it will be a bit difficult to wait for 8 months (I guess I should be grateful that it isn't 12 months). It would be interesting if the Federation extends the Fleet's stay in the DQ past their initial time frame. Though it would be good if the fleet got more reinforcements - such as something to replenish their losses (they can certainly do it over the next 2 years). I'm thinking that New Talax could serve this function.
This novel is certainly full of suprises I certainly didn't expect to see Riley's group being taken to Starfleet medical the Doctor's are certainly untrustworthy when it comes to lying to Doctor Sharak and Seven of Nine's storyline has been intriguing. Spoiler: acts of contrition spoilers I'd like to know why the man who calls himself the Commander is acting like Frankenstein and experimenting on people with the cantoms and wants to use mind control on his subjects This group of doctors need to be stopped.