Decent Voyager Books

[PhoenixIreland]

I've discovered a new interest in Voyager but the only VOY book I've read was Caretaker years ago.

Anybody care to reccomend some decent ones (pre-coming home) and give a quick idea of the plot without spoiling anything?

 

[Trent Roman]

My favourite is Echoes (numbered fifteen), which deals with parralel realities and has the crew(s) fighting against a tragedy of massive proportions.

After that, I'd also recommend the two books penned by Jeri Taylor, Mosaic which focuses on Janeway's biography, and Pathways which does more or less the same, if on a smaller scale, for the rest of the crew. Some of it has since been superceeded, but it really shows that Taylor cared for her characters and wanted them as well-rounded as could be.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Arpy]

Haven't read much VOY fiction, but I agree with Trent on the Taylor books - enjoyed them more than anything. Though the beauty of both were in the flashbacks to the characters' histories rather than the immediate crises.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I second the nomination for Pathways and I would also suggest Captain's Table: Fire Ship. For the latter, it should be noted that as someone who doesn't like Janeway, I loved this book despite its first perspective narration for Janeway, separated from the rest of the crew.

 

[KRAD]

A bit self-aggrandizing, but I recommend the tenth-anniversary anthology Distant Shores, which has a dozen excellent short stories that cover all seven years Voyager was in the Delta Quadrant.

The stories are by Heather Jarman, Robert Greenberger, Kim Sheard, Jeffrey Lang, James Swallow, Robert T. Jeschonek, Kirsten Beyer, Christopher L. Bennett, Terri Osborne, Geoffrey Thorne, Ilsa J. Bick, and some hack with four initials....

I also particularly enjoyed the String Theory trilogy, by Jeffrey Lang, Kirsten Beyer, and Heather Jarman.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I second the nomination for Echoes. I also liked The Murdered Sun, though I am not sure it would be to everyone's tastes.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I second the nomination for Pathways and I would also suggest Captain's Table: Fire Ship.

I was annoyed by "Pathways". The framing sequence felt very forced, especially since Taylor had to shoehorn Seven of Nine into the book and have Neelix "channel" the evolved/departed Kes's back story.

"Mosaic" is great and "Fire Ship' is an excellent First Contact story with intriguing alien tech. (Discover why Janeway changed hairstyles from the bun of steel!)

 

[William Leisner]

I'd be more interested in indecent Voyager novels.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I second the nomination for Pathways and I would also suggest Captain's Table: Fire Ship.

I was annoyed by "Pathways". The framing sequence felt very forced, especially since Taylor had to shoehorn Seven of Nine into the book and have Neelix "channel" the evolved/departed Kes's back story.

Yeah, the framing sequence is a bit annoying, but I don't really care. What really matters to me are the background short stories of each character (particularly Paris' and Neelix's).

 

[LightningStorm]

Echoes

Captain's Table: Fire Ship.

Distant Shores

String Theory

I agree with all of the above and also recommend: The Nanotech War by Steven Piziks

 

[BryanSorensen]

i recommend that after you reqad those and if you want to catch up on what happened after they got home in the series finale, Homecoming, The Farther Shore and Spirit Walk parts 1 and 2. all 4 of those are post Voyager. Sevreal of the characters have turned up in various TNG novels as well so it all depends on where ya wanna go from there

 

[Johnhead99]

The Dark Matters Trilogy by Christie Golden is where it is at. Homecoming and The Farther Shore is also worthy of a read.

 

[RandyS]

My favourite is Echoes (numbered fifteen), which deals with parralel realities and has the crew(s) fighting against a tragedy of massive proportions.

I have to second this one. Fine read. But you REALLY have to pay close attention with this one, in order to keep everything straight.

 

[ialfan]

The Dark Matters Trilogy by Christie Golden is where it is at. Homecoming and The Farther Shore is also worthy of a read.

I have to second the Dark Matters trilogy. I found it much more enjoyable than the String Theory trilogy but I may be a little biased towards Romulans.

 

[Steve Roby]

My favourite is Echoes (numbered fifteen), which deals with parralel realities and has the crew(s) fighting against a tragedy of massive proportions.

After that, I'd also recommend the two books penned by Jeri Taylor, Mosaic which focuses on Janeway's biography, and Pathways which does more or less the same, if on a smaller scale, for the rest of the crew.

Really liked Echoes. Wasn't so keen on Mosaic and Pathways, partly because of the framing stories.

I would also suggest Captain's Table: Fire Ship.

I wouldn't. I'd rate this as being in the five worst Star Trek books I've ever read. IMHO, of course.

A bit self-aggrandizing, but I recommend the tenth-anniversary anthology Distant Shores, which has a dozen excellent short stories that cover all seven years Voyager was in the Delta Quadrant.

I also particularly enjoyed the String Theory trilogy, by Jeffrey Lang, Kirsten Beyer, and Heather Jarman.

Distant Shores is a must-read for Voyager fans. There's a lot of really good stuff in there. As for String Theory, there were some big ideas, and some bold attempts at making sense of some odd character development on the TV series, but I found the third book a bit of a shambles, I'm afraid. There were some story elements that I just couldn't buy, and others that didn't seem to be fully thought through. IMHO once again.

The Dark Matters Trilogy by Christie Golden is where it is at. Homecoming and The Farther Shore is also worthy of a read.

I remember quite liking Dark Matters. I wasn't so impressed by Homecoming and The Farther Shore. My opinion once again: Golden picked a couple of the weakest story elements of Voyager and put them front and centre. Not to mention the strange decision to spend a lot of the book on a character we mainly saw in one episode in an alternate universe.

 

[B_L_T]

My favourite is Echoes (numbered fifteen), which deals with parralel realities and has the crew(s) fighting against a tragedy of massive proportions.

After that, I'd also recommend the two books penned by Jeri Taylor, Mosaic which focuses on Janeway's biography, and Pathways which does more or less the same, if on a smaller scale, for the rest of the crew. Some of it has since been superceeded, but it really shows that Taylor cared for her characters and wanted them as well-rounded as could be.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

Echoes is one of my most favorite books!

 

[Therin of Andor]

The Dark Matters Trilogy by Christie Golden is where it is at.

You know, I found them slow and tedious, and now all I can recall is that the Romulan from an early episode was the featured guest. I'd enjoyed all of Golden's earlier stuff.

 

[ronny]

I was excited by the the Dark Matters trilogy because it's a follow up to one of the few Voyager episodes I could remember watching when you give me an outline but it just didn't do anything for me. In fact the last one was one of those few where I just set goals, 40 pages a day or what ever, and just read until I was done. Kind of stupid to do that when there are so many good books out there but I just want to eventually get through them all. Well maybe.

I'm just not a huge Voyager fan but even I found Distant Shores enjoyable. The only other book I've read that takes place during the series is the Invaders book and that one was ok as well but not the best in that series.

 

[donners22]

I think Echoes is terrific. One of the few "numbered" Trek books to really have an epic feel.

Mosaic and Pathways were quite good, though I agree with an earlier comment that the framing stories do take away from them a bit. I wish authors didn't feel the need to contrive a reason to visit the past - just tell us the story you want to tell!

Homecoming and The Further Shore were also quite good, as was the Voyager Invasion book.

I own every numbered Voyager book (from the days when they were widely available in Australia), but few others come to mind as standouts.

 

[donners22]

In fact the last one was one of those few where I just set goals, 40 pages a day or what ever, and just read until I was done. Kind of stupid to do that when there are so many good books out there but I just want to eventually get through them all. Well maybe.

Yeah, I'm doing that with the A Time To... series at the moment. I want to know some of the events which occured in that series should I read a relaunch book and come across a reference, but it's quite a struggle to get through some of them.