Dude, seriously, you are missing out. I hated Voyager too, but Kirsten Beyer's Voyager novels are *EXACTLY* what you have been looking for. Children of the Storm is the best optimistic, exploration-centered, ideals-of-the-Federation YAY! novel published in years.
Full Circle is dark and astropolitical, but that gets them launched back into the Delta Quadrant, and starting at Unworthy you will find what you want.
Give them a shot, I'm serious. You'll be blown away.
In case no one's told you, for example, Janeway is dead. They look pretty different from the TV show.
Funny thing, I picked up Children of the Storm this afternoon, having not read a voyager book since "The Garden", as the tv series failed to show any signs of improving, and in fact began going the other way. But seeing that every time I've seen this book being alluded to here the praise was effusive, I figured I'd give it a shot.
I loved everything on the Demeter & the Quirinal, and all the characters aboard both, and connected more with them then anyone who has been manning the enterprise-e hotseats for the past ten years.
The Voyager regulars still seem pretty bland, but a lot better then most of the tv series eps. Kim & Paris seemed to be stewing over some old storyline that sounded really terrible.
Gwyn & Drafar both seem pretty fun, and as I'm always a fan of blunt charcters, Cambridge was great. His line about patel's flame not igniting cracked me up.
Eden's the only new character a lot of time was spent on who I didn't particularly like, though her mystery seems fairly interesting ( digged the whole stick->brain warning ).
All in all, good stuff, may well track back to full circle and read through. Would recommend to other voyager haters just on the basis that this is well written exploratory trek. And if you're thinking that you hate voyager more then I do, that'd be a tall order.
