Poll VOY #12: Chrysalis by David Niall Wilson Review Thread

[tomswift2002]

#12 Chrysalis
Written By: David Niall Wilson
Other Trek Books by Author: None
Published: March 1997

Plot:
When the sensors of the USS ]Voyager detect abundant plant life on an unexplored planet, Captain Janeway leads an in search of fresh food supplies. They find lavish gardens inhabited by an enigmatic alien race that holds the gardens sacred. The fragrent blossoms are beautiful, enticing – and far more dangerous than they appear. One by one, the away team begins to fall into deep comas from which they cannot be revived.
Unwilling to spread the affliction to Voyager, the away team is trapped on the planet until a cure can be found, but their investigation is perceived as desecration by the devout worshipers of the gardens. Pursued by a fanatical mob, slowly succumbing to the insidious effect of the blossoms, Janeway faces either a violent death – or an endless sleep.


Review: I'm just starting this review. I last read it in the late-90's, and while I don't remember much, I do remember that the plot dealt with religion and how in the end, Tuvok, through a mind-meld, allows one of the aliens to see the religious event that they always wanted to see, before they died. It's a similar plot to the Season 3 episode Sacred Ground.

Of course, with this re-read, I'm finding that a lot of authors were re-using the same starting plot for the books, and Wilson uses the same plot device here: Voyager is low on supplies and needs to find a planet to restock.

 

[tomswift2002]

“Chrysalis” is also one of a few books (#’s 2, 8, 10-12) where the North American cover art was modified to include more photo realistic versions of the actor’s or change the character’s look. Of course, just like “Bless The Beasts” (Tom Paris) & “The Garden” only the character in the foreground was changed (Janeway).

 

[tomswift2002]

One thing I’m finding with this book is that Wilson didn’t seem to have the best knowledge of how the characters spoke. The characters all speak in a very clipped manner.

 

[historypeats]

Yeah, it's a weird book. I picked it up at a discount for the Kindle a few months ago, and it didn't grab me at all. Put it aside around 20% of the way in. It felt very much like a story that had been written for something else, then grafted imperfectly onto the Voyager characters.

 

[tomswift2002]

According to “Voyages of Imagination”, the book was written on the USS Bainbridge (CGN-25), which might be the reason for the clipped language.

 

[Greg Cox]

Of course, with this re-read, I'm finding that a lot of authors were re-using the same starting plot for the books, and Wilson uses the same plot device here: Voyager is low on supplies and needs to find a planet to restock.

Remember, when we started writing those early VOYAGER books, the show hadn't even debuted yet, so all we had to go on was the series bible, the script for the pilot. and the basic premise: a Federation starship lost in space. So, no surprise, we all seized on that premise and based our plots on it.

I remember being urged by our editor to avoid "Gilligan's Island" plots, in which it looked like VOYAGER might find a way out of the Delta Quadrant, and to think in terms of Homer's "The Odyssey" instead . . . .

Hence, sci-fi variations on Circe's island, the Lotus Eaters, etc.

 

[historypeats]

^ Now that is interesting. That went over my head on my initial reading, but I can totally see how that would apply to some of those early books. Who was editing the line at the time?

 

[Greg Cox]

^ Now that is interesting. That went over my head on my initial reading, but I can totally see how that would apply to some of those early books. Who was editing the line at the time?

John Ordover.

 

[tomswift2002]

Wasn’t “The Black Shore” the last of the first wave of Voyager novels written? After your novel and Michael Jan Friedman’s 2 “Day of Honor” books, the authors start repeating with Christie Golden writing #14 & #16, and Dean Wesley Smith & Kristine Kathryn Rusch on #15 and Jeri Taylor even returns with “Pathways”.

 

[Greg Cox]

Wasn’t “The Black Shore” the last of the first wave of Voyager novels written? After your novel and Michael Jan Friedman’s 2 “Day of Honor” books, the authors start repeating with Christie Golden writing #14 & #16, and Dean Wesley Smith & Kristine Kathryn Rusch on #15 and Jeri Taylor even returns with “Pathways”.

Possibly. I know I was among the first batch of authors recruited to submit VOYAGER outlines, before the show even debuted.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

I'm finding that a lot of authors were re-using the same starting plot for the books, and Wilson uses the same plot device here: Voyager is low on supplies and needs to find a planet to restock.

Episodes, too.

 

[Damian]

Remember, when we started writing those early VOYAGER books, the show hadn't even debuted yet, so all we had to go on was the series bible, the script for the pilot. and the basic premise: a Federation starship lost in space. So, no surprise, we all seized on that premise and based our plots on it.

I remember being urged by our editor to avoid "Gilligan's Island" plots, in which it looked like VOYAGER might find a way out of the Delta Quadrant, and to think in terms of Homer's "The Odyssey" instead . . . .

Hence, sci-fi variations on Circe's island, the Lotus Eaters, etc.

Good to know. Over the last few years I've been reading some of the numbered Voyager novels for the first time and I too had noticed a lot of the early novels were variations on a theme. Voyager needed some crucial supply, visit a planet with what they needed, weird stuff happens, etc.

Later on the stories got more varied, I guess as the show developed. Though in Voyager's case the numbered novel era didn't seem to last long. It seemed the later seasons got the short stick when it came to books. But I recall the same thing happened to DS9.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

But I recall the same thing [later seasons getting the short stick] happened to DS9.

Well, there's only so much you can do with the Dominion War, and episodes were already beating it into the ground.

 

[Markonian]

Does anyone have an idea how the word "chrysalis" relates to the plot of the book?

 

[Damian]

Well, there's only so much you can do with the Dominion War, and episodes were already beating it into the ground.

Maybe, but there were plenty of episodes of DS9 during the war that didn't have anything to do with the war. They could have done the same with some of the novels as well.

 

[tomswift2002]

Does anyone have an idea how the word "chrysalis" relates to the plot of the book?

Well a chrysalis is a usually used to define the cocoon that a caterpillar makes before it turns into a butterfly. So in the book, the chrysalis is the “Long Sleep” before the Great Awakening happens.