Mosaic

[Smiley]

This is the second time I've read Mosaic and the first since I've seen the whole series. I enjoyed the background on Janeway and the people in her life. Those chapters were almost like reading a Lost Era book or other recent character-oriented novel.

However, there are two choices which really torpedo the book's effectiveness. First, the framing story with the Kazon, Trabe doctor, and Tokath takes up far too much space. Did anybody really care about the adventures down on the planet? If there had been interaction between the past and present stories in more than one chapter, then I would be more forgiving. As it stands, I have a book in which only the even chapters are interesting (kind of like the majority of the sixth season of the show).

The second drawback is disguising the identity of Mark in the flashbacks. Rather than make me smile at the cleverness, it annoyed me that Taylor didn't just call him Mark the whole time. That relationship is one of the things I was looking forward to in the book. The story is still good, but the name substitution taints it.

For the Janeway past and a few decent moments in the Delta Quadrant, I give the book a 6/10.

What are the thoughts of the other Trek Lit posters on the book?

 

[Arpy]

It's one of my favorites actually.

I didn't mind the Kazon here (given when the book was written) and, frankly, thought they were more interesting here than what we got on screen.

As for Mark, I too was annoyed, but more because I felt it did a disservice to...crap, drawing a blank on his name-in-youth, but to the kid. For that reason I thought it was too clever for its own good. I would have preferred Mark be a man she met later - as with Justin.

And, man I really felt for the Trabe doctor's patient. I remember him whenever I see Galaxy Quest and the torture sequence of the Thermian captain.

I enjoyed the books so much that not only did I read Jeri Taylor's Pathways (also a fave), but her adaptation of TNG's "Unification", and I can never get into adaptations. It also made me want to go swimming in underground Martian caves.