Just finished VOY's "Spirit Walk"

[Elemental]

I found SW to be pretty bad too. The Spirit stuff didn't really bother me much, but there were so many new characters that got a lot of attention that I couldn't warm up to, and the writing was dull. CG seemed much more interested in writing about Libby and the Trill Dr than the VOY cast. CG's earlier VOY novels were enjoyable, so I don't know why things went wrong.

I really didn't see that as too many new characters. Both Kaz and Libby we'd been introduced to as important characters in the prior books. Sekeya seemed to be the only new character we spent any heavy amount of time with (as well as the antagonists). This seems pretty par for the course with most of the "relaunch" series. You probably are right that aside from Chakotay and Janeway to some extent, most of the other series regular characters weren't focused on as heavily as the new ones.

 

[donners22]

Same here. I'm afraid I can't stand that all that mystic shit - I like my SF hard, it's supposed to be science fiction after all - and ever since the first episode about it on Voyager I've thought the Miral storyline painfully stupid. (In fact, one character I would be happy for the books to kill off is Miral, if only to end that particular storyline for good and ever.)

Magic spirit powers and special child fulfilling prophecy? Now all SW needs is a unicorn, yay!

Seriously: together they pretty much torpedo the story by making it impossible for me to take at all seriously.

There was only one Voyager episode about the prophecy IIRC, and even then I got the impression that it was portrayed as something that was being played up by both sides to end the Klingons' search.

 

[Christopher]

^Indeed. The VGR episode never came out and suggested that there really was anything of substance to the prophecy about Miral being the Kuva'magh. It was the books that took that idea and ran with it.

 

[Trent Roman]

^ And, by the same token, decided to vindicate as having actually occured the extended exercise in character assassination that was "Barge of the Dead".

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[brcarthey]

^ And, by the same token, decided to vindicate as having actually occured the extended exercise in character assassination that was "Barge of the Dead".

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

IYO, how was b'elanna's character "assassinated" in "barge of the dead?"

 

[JB2005]

My problem with Spirit Walk was that it just stopped.

I finished book two and then went onto the internet to order book three, only to discover that there wasn't one.

 

[brcarthey]

^yeah i thought that was pretty crappy of CG to do that to the fans. she wrote a massive cliffhanger into the ending, then decided some months later that she wasn't interested in writing about voyager anymore and wanted to concentrate on another series. that caused a big :WTF: reaction with me.

if someone knows of a better reason as to why she did this, i'm open to listening. but, for now she really lost some respect from me, even though i still think she wrote some great voyager stories.

 

[Trent Roman]

IYO, how was b'elanna's character "assassinated" in "barge of the dead?"

Not just Torres - lots of characters came off looking like a gibbering idiots in that episode, acting completely out of character for the sake of an asinine spirit quest that was trite even when it was presented as a journey into Torres' subconscious (rather than, as the VOY-R chose to interpret it, snubbing it's nose at the rational foundation of the Trek universe, as an actual metaphysical experience).

Torres: "Hey, Captain. Remember when I got that bump on the head and had an anxiety dream about my mother? I didn't get to finish it, so I'd like permission to flirt with suicide in the hope that I'll have the same dream."

Janeway: "But B'Elanna, I thought you rejected Klingon culture, never mind being a devotee of a faith system you've always considered unenlightened."

Torres: "Meh. I apparently changed my mind."

Janeway: "As your captain, I'm sworn to your safety, and I cannot risk losing my chief engineer... but since we've got nothing else to do this week, I'll give into your post-traumatic whining about your mommy issues."

The Doctor: "And as your physician sworn to do no harm, I'll be happy to assist a in medically unnecessary but potentially lethal procedure."

"Barge of the Dead" is one of my all-time hate episodes. It reminds of that equally stupid DS9 episode where Sisko goes all Abramic patriarch on his own son. It was something of an annoyance that a lot of characters on VOY insisted to Torres that Klingon culture was 'in her blood', so to speak, pissing on her own ability to choose, as an individual, the lifestyle of her choice and making the terribly racist conflation of biology and culture. At least elsewhere, Torres gets to fight back against this kind of behaviour, affirming her right to chose to live according to the precepts she prefers; in this episode, she's co-opted by the script into playing her own betrayer.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[brcarthey]

^that's an interesting take. gives me something to think about.

 

[Elemental]

IYO, how was b'elanna's character "assassinated" in "barge of the dead?"

Not just Torres - lots of characters came off looking like a gibbering idiots in that episode, acting completely out of character for the sake of an asinine spirit quest that was trite even when it was presented as a journey into Torres' subconscious (rather than, as the VOY-R chose to interpret it, snubbing it's nose at the rational foundation of the Trek universe, as an actual metaphysical experience).

Torres: "Hey, Captain. Remember when I got that bump on the head and had an anxiety dream about my mother? I didn't get to finish it, so I'd like permission to flirt with suicide in the hope that I'll have the same dream."

Janeway: "But B'Elanna, I thought you rejected Klingon culture, never mind being a devotee of a faith system you've always considered unenlightened."

Torres: "Meh. I apparently changed my mind."

Janeway: "As your captain, I'm sworn to your safety, and I cannot risk losing my chief engineer... but since we've got nothing else to do this week, I'll give into your post-traumatic whining about your mommy issues."

The Doctor: "And as your physician sworn to do no harm, I'll be happy to assist a in medically unnecessary but potentially lethal procedure."

"Barge of the Dead" is one of my all-time hate episodes. It reminds of that equally stupid DS9 episode where Sisko goes all Abramic patriarch on his own son. It was something of an annoyance that a lot of characters on VOY insisted to Torres that Klingon culture was 'in her blood', so to speak, pissing on her own ability to choose, as an individual, the lifestyle of her choice and making the terribly racist conflation of biology and culture. At least elsewhere, Torres gets to fight back against this kind of behaviour, affirming her right to chose to live according to the precepts she prefers; in this episode, she's co-opted by the script into playing her own betrayer.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

Well, it's been a while since I saw the eppy but I guess I'd rationalize it as the fact that Torres' mom was important to her and she wanted to become closer to her (in a sense), and since Klingon culture was important to her mom, embracing that side of her own herritage was a means of connecting with her (both in a figurative and more literal sense in this case).

 

[KimMH]

I think it makes all the sense in the world for B'Elanna to explore her Klingon heritage. Children of mixed heritage are often made to feel they have to choose one over the other and that often creates guilt for feeling they have chosen one parent over the other - something no child should ever have to do. That it offers B'Elanna a chance to understand her mother is also quite heartening. I was glad to see one of my favorite Vayagers finding some peace.

I enjoyed the SW books much more than CG's Homecoming. I found Homecoming to be very slow, and even The Farther Shore. I've come to regard Golden like M. N. Shamalynn - slow paced but building toward a conclusion which is satisfying and surprising. I also find Golden's work to be better as time passes and I'm able to process what she's done. Maybe an acquired taste.

I loved FC and very much look forward to Unworthy but think Golden has built a solid foundation for Beyer to jump from.