Christie Golden Post-Voyager Novels

[DonIago]

I honestly haven't yet gotten to Golden's relaunch Voyager books myself yet, largely because of the quality issues I've heard around them, but I know that's probably not fair to her so I do have them on my list. I am curious, though: are they bad for Christie Golden, or are they just bad in a general sense? Because I did like her Gateways entries and I thought "Seven of Nine" and "Hard Crash" were great (and going outside Trek, I thought her Ravenloft books were the best of that series, and I've always heard she was the best writer among the Warcraft novels) so I was always a little disappointed to hear that her Voyager relaunch stuff was generally considered below par.

Her Ravenloft books were what specifically came to mind when I mentioned that I'd enjoyed reading some of her other fiction. I was fairly excited to hear that she'd be writing the VOY relaunch books (though evidently not excited enough to buy them at the time....then again, "Endgame" left a bad taste in my mouth), so you can imagine how it felt when I started reading what people thought of them. :/

 

[Galekarens]

I don't think they were 'bad'. I believe the problem was addressed earlier in the thread that Voyager does not belong in the Alpha Quadrant doing routine Alpha Quadrant things which would essentially make the ship another version of The Enterprise. Voyager needs to shine in her own space and for her that's the Delta Quadrant.

I agree, IMO wouldn't at all rate Christie Golden's Voyager post-Endgame novels as "bad," of course for every reader there may be a different opinion. But I mostly enjoyed Homecoming/ Farther Shore when they concentrated on the original TV Voyager characters and maybe also other original novel characters the Voyager crew come in contact with. The main complaint I have w/ the Homecoming duology is too much @ original characters and happenings separate from what the Voy. characters were doing (some is ok naturally), like the weird "hand" musings (which I will skip from now on) and the renegade Holograms leader, but ChristieG. isn't the only Trek writer who does that so I tried to take it all in stride. Now w/ Spirit Walk, I rather enjoyed Old Wounds, since I like Chakotay fine, but was never able to really read much of Enemy of my Enemy due to (JMO of course) the violence portrayed (what a difference in tone IMO from SW #1 to #2), but am resolved to try again to read at least most of that particular book at some time.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

Yeah, I think Christie Golden's novels had issues because Voyager in the Alpha Quadrant had no particular hook. Back in the Alpha Quadrant, they were just another Starfleet ship doing Starfleet things, that the things they were experiencing could have had the crew replaced by the Enterprise crew and play out in a similar fashion.

Not a reflection of her writing, just that, with the element of Voyager that made the ship and crew unique taken from them, that they were no longer in the Delta Quadrant, the story of Voyager was pretty much over, and, instead of a chance at finding something that made their new status quo unique, they were just kind of spinning their wheels.

I mean, I kinda look at Homecoming/The Farther Shore as sort of an epilogue to Voyager's TV run, giving us the aftermath of Voyager's return, and then the Spirit Walk books as being sort of the pilot for the 'new' Voyager, so if Christie Golden had had the chance to further those stories, it might have a more favorable view in hindsight, once she'd had the opportunity to establish something new and unique for the Voyager crew, build off of her starting points there and give them an opening that could have established them as having something that made their adventures stand out, why we were focused on this ship and crew instead of another Starfleet vessel, other than just 'they tie in to the show about them.' But she got pulled away and the line went dormant until Full Circle.

 

[Christopher]

Yeah, I think Christie Golden's novels had issues because Voyager in the Alpha Quadrant had no particular hook. Back in the Alpha Quadrant, they were just another Starfleet ship doing Starfleet things, that the things they were experiencing could have had the crew replaced by the Enterprise crew and play out in a similar fashion.

Well, I wouldn't say that. The plotlines in Golden's post-finale novels mostly grew out of the prior plotlines and character arcs that were specific to Voyager. The crew's adjustment to being home; the continuation of the Borg as a threat; the continuation of the "holographic rights" thread involving the Doctor; Chakotay's sister and the return of the Sky Spirits; the business surrounding Miral Paris and the prophecy; and so on. So you certainly couldn't have replaced the characters and had the same stories. That's not the issue. The issue is that, while the individual plot threads tied strongly into the Voyager cast, that cast no longer had any real reason to stay together rather than branching out into their own, at best tenuously connected threads. Which probably gave it a sense of being unfocused or lacking in direction or unity.

But she got pulled away and the line went dormant until Full Circle.

The line never really went dormant, at least not behind the scenes. It's just that, once the decision was made to start over with a new author, it took time to pick the right author and then work with Kirsten to develop the new direction for the series. And then the decision to coordinate it with the Destiny trilogy delayed it still further. So not so much dormant as pupating.

 

[James Cole]

I think the greatest problem with the Golden VGR relaunch wasn't so much the ideas, but the execution. Golden picked up many hanging Alpha Quadrant threads from the series to try and distinguish it from just another TNG story, but it seems many people just gave up midstream on the books. I ended up skipping the B'Elanna/Boreth sections of The Farther Shore. I bought the Spirit Walk duology and made it maybe 1/3 of the way into Old Wounds before I just gave up and set it aside. I had liked Christie Golden's earlier books, so just wasn't sure what had gone wrong.

VGR was a very punishing series to be a fan of (co-dependency anyone?). From season 4 on, continuity just went out the window. Dead crew, shuttlecraft, torpedoes, 20,000 light year jumps with the Malon and the Hirogen still around, Janeway's characterization... Then everyone was hoping for a DS9 style final episode arc, or at the very least getting some time in the Alpha Quadrant to bring closure to the characters. But of course "Endgame" didn't give us this.

I think many people were looking forward to the post-finale novels "fixing" VGR. The DS9 relaunch also raised people's expectations as to what would be possible. So there were almost impossible expectations awaiting Homecoming.

Several bad choices were made in the first duology. Promoting Harry Kim to security and Janeway immediately to admiral? Libby, secret agent? Bringing in Picard and Data? Having many Starfleet officers resenting Voyager missing the Dominion War and constantly bringing it up, despite it being over by 2 years at that point? Turning everything into an emotional psychodrama? Then it went downhill from there.

If you redid these 4 books, keeping 75% of the ideas but altering the execution, you'd probably get a product 10x more enjoyable. At least the re-re-launch is going amazingly well.

 

[Paris]

Since Full Circle came out, I've considered Christie Golden's 4 books to be the rough "first season" of the relaunch, while Kirsten's work has been the season where the Voyager Relaunch found its stride. Golden's work was still decent...just not nearly as good or focused as Kirsten's Voyager has been.