Spoilers VOY: A Pocket Full Of Lies By Kirsten Beyer Review Thread

[Kirsten Beyer]

It's been a while since I contemplated voting 'Outstanding' on one of these. Last year's batch of novels contained a lot of solid 'Above Average's, but this was one great rollercoaster ride. Definately one of my favorite entries in the Voyager post-finale series so far. Long spoiler-riddled review below:

Spoiler

Let me start by saying two things: 1) "Year of Hell" is one of my favorite stories from the series, and 2) I play Star Trek Online and thus have seen a bit of Krenim and time travel lately. This naturally meant that I went into Pocket Full of Lies hoping it would do justice to the first and not conflict too much with the second - and I was not disappointed.

PFoL is typical of the way how well Kirsten Beyer manages to weave both an action-packed crisis and character development together in one story. As others have noted above, the two flow into eachother very well - most of the character development is a direct result of the ongoing plot. The two arcs that stand apart - Icheb and Nancy Conlon's - are both part of their ongoing development within the series as a whole and are still highlights for me despite having little impact on rest of the story. I very much liked Icheb's friendship with Phinn, having him interact with characters outside of the established Voyager cast helps define him as his own character and I very much appreciated that. As for Nancy Conlon's story, it's a very different animal. This is arguably an even darker road than the origin story for the denzit, combining both what it means to develop a debilitating illness and the concept of unwanted pregnancy as it does. It's one of those tragedies where there is no easy answer, and I applaud Kirsten Beyer for having the guts to have it play out this way. It's such a very personal story, especially as we get to see it all up close. I must admit that it's been too long since I read the SCE stories to remember much about Conlon, but Pocket Full of Lies really lets us get to know her. I also appreciated the link with B'Elanna's plot in "Drive", even though it ultimately has limited impact on what's happening.

As for the main plot - I'll quote Janeway and admit that time travel gives me a headache if I think about it too much. Even with the Zahl intially painted as the enemy, I kept wondering if this was just because the timeline from Year of Hell has changed, or if there was a Krenim ghost hiding behind the curtain. The idea of the Krenim as an enemy is truly frightening if you start thinking about it; people who can predict your actions in detail before you even perform them, how do you counter that? Having said that, we also discover the danger of drawing conclusions from insufficient data (something that, as a data analyst myself, made me smile - it's so recognizable) and how its effects can be devastating. The lesson of leaving well enough alone is obviously one that they didn't learn. Even though Dayne ends up doing the right thing, I couldn't get myself to appreciate him. The real star of this part however, isn't Dayne, or even denzit Janeway - it's Tuvok. No slight on the Titan line, but PFoL did more with his development in the wake of Destiny than any of his previous appearances. Tuvok and Janeway have such great chemistry, both here and onscreen - I don't mind his move to the Titan series, but this is the one casualty of it I've sorely missed. Pocket Full of Lies brings it back in grand form though, so many thanks!

I'll end with saying I really liked the implied reconciliation between Mollah's (rofl, the dog!) caretakers and Janeway, and am worried about the final scene with Obrist (I really should have seen that 'brothers' thing coming). I've always considered him a likeable character in "Year of Hell", but again - this is time travel headache land at its finest. I wouldn't mind exploring that cliffhanger a bit more at some later date.

So thanks to Kirsten for another fine read. Having to carry this whole line as a single author must be a daunting task, but rejoice: it's only getting better as we go!

Many thanks for the detailed review. I'm so glad you enjoyed this one!

Best,
KMFB

 

[Kirsten Beyer]

Well I finished this yesterday, and it basically goes without saying that it was awesome. For about the first quarter of the book, a big revelation about the unfolding plot would occur, and I would think " Wow this is going to be a great story!' only for something even better to happen a few chapters later.

Kirsten it was amazing that not only did you come up with a great sequel to Year of Hell, but you figured out how to erase the reset button on that episode, which was the only flaw in what I consider Voyager's finest hours.

As always I look very much forward to the next chapter.

As always, many thanks, Ryan.

KMFB

 

[Kirsten Beyer]

Dan and I had an incredible time talking to Kirsten on Literary Treks about this one, hope you enjoy the interview.

That was a blast for me, too. I always have so much fun chatting with you guys. Until next time...

KMFB

 

[Kirsten Beyer]

My name is Roy. And I'm a Stoic. As a child I had an emotional life that could at best be called mercurial. I felt everything. All the time. And I felt it so strongly that it would leave me feeling helpless before a raging torrent. Being a child I didn't have the words to express what I felt. How powerfully I felt it, and how terrified I was of it. Then one day I found salvation. His name was Spock. He struggled with the same things I did. And he managed those same things through the rigorous application of discipline and logic. I did my best to emulate his example. In time I found the book that would become in many ways my Bible. Spock's World by Diane Duane. It was thanks to that book that I began to develop tenets of my own personal philosophy of action drawn equally from Stoicism and Zen Buddhism the same way that Duane drew on those to craft the Vulcan philosophy of C'Thia. As I grew older I began to read about the ideas upon which C'Thia is based. I began to use my mind to help me master my emotions. I quickly learned some rock solid basic truths. Such as the emotions never go away. At first I had hoped there would come a day when I would be "normal". Where when I got mad there would not be the potential for blind rage. Or when I got sad there would not be the possibility of sorrow so deep as to feel like drowning. The disciplines do help to mute the intensity of my emotions somewhat but they are still there and without the disciplines they can break through at any moment. Another truth I learned, I didn't so much learn as have confirmed. Because I had already learned it from watching Spock. People far too often do not understand those who choose to live a life as free of emotionalism as possible. They often seem to fear and/or hate such people. I have been called "unfeeling" and a "robot" far more times than I care to think about in my life. To say that such accusations hurt would be an understatement. Then there is the flip side. The people ready, willing, and more than able to condemn me if my control should slip. Should I lose control of sorrow and weep at something that would not so deeply effect most people I run the risk of being called a cry baby. If I lose control of rage and punch a wall are scream in anger and frustration then I am treated as if I were a monster. Often the very same people lighting the torches and pitchforks of condemnation are the very same ones that when I didn't lose my control derided me as unfeeling.

So now I hear you asking, "What the hell does any of this have to do with the book in question?" Trust me I'm getting there.
So now I've spoken of Spock and how important he was in my development. Next we come to Tuvok. At first I ddin't like Tuvok. Some of it was that he was very different in many ways from Spock. But in later years I realized that a big part of the problem had nothing to do with Tuvok and had more to do with the way his crewmates often seemed to treat him. I'm going to digress for a moment. I've been working on reading a biography of Marcus Aurelius for a while now. I get so far and then I have to set it aside. A big part of this is because the author seems to feel the need every few hundred pages to make some comment about Stoicism and how stupid he finds it. I consider Marcus Aurelius a personal hero and while certainly neither he nor Stoicism are without flaws, it just gets kind of tiring and tiresome. Well often it seems like in many Voyager episodes the way Tuvok is, is treated with at best good natured ridicule and at worst open contempt. As if because he does not conduct himself in a way that makes his mostly human crewmates comfortable he is the problem not them. Sometimes honestly if felt as if the writers on Voyager didn't really understand Stoicism or Vulcans.

Now we come to Pocketful of Lies. I cried. A lot. There are moments in my life when my discipline is the only thing I have keeping me going. There are moments when it feels like going hand over hand one foot at a time over a rope line over a raging river and if I lose my focus I will slip and drown. To say that I know what Tuvok is going through would not be inaccurate even though I've never lost a child, I know what it is to deal with feelings that leave you hollowed out to where you only function because you are willing yourself to function. I saw Stoicism, and Vulcans get perhaps the fairest showing they've ever gotten in Trek literature since Spock's World and Deus Ex Machina by C.L. Bennet. Certainly it was the best more nuanced portrayal of Tuvok in any Voyager story I've ever seen. All of these calls for greater diversity in popular entertainment is because we all want to have the experience of seeing ourselves reflected back to us in the things we love. Well I feel that I found that reflection quite clearly in PoL.

Thank you Kirsten.

Now as for the book as a book. Well... I can't review these any more. Because I don't read them. I experience them. For me at this point it really is like Buffy. I'm just right there. I found the usage of two seemingly unconnected episodes brilliant. I loved the un pushing of the reset button. I loved the use of Q. At this point all I can say is write faster, and take care of yourself so you are around for a long time to write more.

Peace and long life to you.

Hi Roy,

Thanks, as always, for your thoughtful and heartfelt words. I'm so glad you came by to share them. First, because you always make me see my words a little differently, in a great way. And second, because I was worried about you. I hadn't seen you around in a while and sincerely hoped all was well.

Peace and long life to you too, my friend.

Best,
KMFB

 

[Kirsten Beyer]

Kirsten keeps raising the bar on herself. This book was incredible! Can her next book be any better?

No pressure, Kirsten.

There's always pressure. And all I can do is ignore it and keep writing. Here's hoping the next one works out as well as this one did. Or even half as well. I'm really flabbergasted at this point with how much people are enjoying this one.

Flabbergasted and so very grateful for all of the kind words.

Best,
KMFB

 

[Kilana2]

German fans are looking forward to the release of The Eternal Tide and following novels, including new covers. It sweetens the waiting time for the next Voyager novel.

I'm still busy with the current one right now. There is only so much time for reading...

 

[trampledamage]

But there will likely be multiple posts from me for a bit, which is know is bad form on the board, so again...apologies.

I think answering multiple comments from a thread directed at you is grounds for dispensation from the rule about multiple posts

 

[Little_kingsfan]

Batiste and Montgomery would have been peers, probably both on the same level. Batiste chose to lead the fleet...he wasn't ordered to by Montgomery. Their early conversations about the choice to return to the DQ in Full Circle were more a matter of professional courtesy than Batiste answering to Montgomery. Both were below Akaar, but that was about it. I never gave him a more specific rank.

KMFB

Once again, thank you for your response. My question, though, is why would Starfleet allow a four-star/pip admiral such as Batiste to command a exploratory fleet in the Delta Quadrant in the wake of the Destiny crisis? I would think that he would be more valuable at Starfleet Headquarters or at least within the borders of the Federation rather than halfway across the galaxy. Now, if Batiste was a one- or two-star admiral (essentially a Commodore/battle group commander, as he commands a fleet of nine starships), it would make more sense to me. Although I guess I could see how a four-star could through enough weight around and personally take command, wouldn't the rest of the Admiralty or even President Bacco and the civilian government object (or at the very least, decrease his rank like R-Adm. Kirk did when he took command of the Enterprise after the V'ger crisis)?

 

[Misco]

I always mean to come on here and tell Kirsten how awesome her latest installment in the Voyager series is, and then I inevitably get distracted by other things and before I know it, too much time has passed, and I remain a lurker. But not this time!

I really loved APFOL. I admit, I wasn't totally jazzed by the idea of an alternate Janeway initally, but I was a fool to doubt KMFB's ability to turn what could have been a cheap plot contrivance into a massively heart-rending, emotional, and yet satisfying experience. When I first read Full Circle, I believed that would be the emotional high point of the Voyager relaunch, and then I changed my mind and decided The Eternal Tide had to be the limit... but now I'm not sure there is a limit. I just think it's so nice (from a Janeway fan's perspective) that the writer of the Voyager series loves the character as much as I do. KB's respect, admiration and affection for Kathryn just bleeds onto the page, and especially so in this book.

Denzit Janeway is an iteration of Kathryn Janeway that I never imagined could exist. She makes sense within the context of the novel sure, but I'm so used to 'our' Janeway, that I actually found the portrayal of the Denzit shocking. I had to keep reminding myself of how Kathryn used to be in the earliest episodes of the show and of how markedly different she became as the series went on, never mind all the character development that has since happened in the novels. And of course, the potential for Denzit Janeway is there, in that earlier Kathryn, it's just I forgot. I'm glad KB reminded me.

I'd almost given up on ever getting a meaningful interaction between Tuvok and Janeway again, that great, quiet, friendship is something I've missed. But now I'm pleased I had to wait until APFOL, because it was so important for Tuvok that he got to speak to the Denzit; it's true that due to their long absence from each other's lives and the trauma both have endured that 'our' Janeway and Tuvok's relationship would be strained, but the Denzit and Tuvok could sort of feel their rage and pain together.

I admit that the moment I read the word 'Quinn' I was practically jumping up and down with excitement. I probably have far too much invested in the Q and Janeway thing, but there it is. Anyway, suffice to say I was saddened by their 'rift' over the the death of Junior and I was very, very happy to see what Q was willing to do for the Denzit and Mollah. So lovely.

As for the non-Janeway aspects of APFOL, I really like what's been done with the Nancy Conlon situation, I imagined it was going to be a retread of the (nicely referenced) B'Elanna breakdown, but obviously it's its own thing. I was really impressed with Harry in his final conversation with Nancy, and I'm looking forward to seeing how Nancy deals with the pregnancy and her medical problems in the next book. It's the sort of story I've always wanted to see explored in Trek, but never expected to get.

I'd also like to say that I'm glad that we got to revisit the Year of Hell in some manner. It was one of the more egregious uses of the reset button in Voyager, and it's about time that somebody got around to fixing that.

Finally, I have a question Kirsten, if you don't mind? I thought it was interesting that Janeway didn't immediately make the intuitive leap that the Denzit's unspecified reason for staying with the conflict until the end was somehow related to a child. I imagine most readers anticipated this? Were you saying something about Janeway's character here? As in she's so divorced from her younger self that she would never have anticipated the Denzit Janeway situation occuring under any circumstances? Or was it simply, that it was important that Janeway stay in the dark for the story to work? I just feel like Kathryn would, on some subconscious level, have at least suspected the possibility of a child?

Anyway, I've gone on way too long. So, thanks for another amazing and thought-provoking book Kirsten, can't wait for the next one, when hopefully my emotional equilbrium will have returned!

 

[Csalem]

Good evening everybody,

I will address some specific questions/comments later but in general, to those who liked Icheb's developing story....yeah! I like having him back. I knew I wanted to see more of him once he returned in Eternal Tide, but I really needed him back in the AQ for the Protectors trilogy. Definitely more to come there and for those who didn't see the potential for romance...go back and read it again. You missed something. A reviewer elsewhere cautioned me not to open that door unless I intended to go through it. Clearly, he or she doesn't know me very well. Consider that door open and falling off its hinges. We're going forward, folks, but in (hopefully) interesting and unexpected ways.


KMFB

Really glad to see this and cannot wait to see how Icheb's storyline will develop, and it can be pretty much guaranteed to be in unexpected ways based on Kirsten's previous books. It is impossible to guess where her stories are going and Icheb may be the character to watch in the novels to come.

 

[OverlordSpock]

I so very much enjoyed this book. This is probably the best Voyager book since Full Circle (not that most of them in between haven't been very good as well). I agree with what many others have said so far about this book. However, here are just a thoughts about a few specific items that stuck out in my reading of the book.

I will confess that I had no memory of the episode "Shattered" (only a very vague glimmering of some sort of recollection of there being a time-displaced Janeway in an episode somewhere), so I had go back and watch the episode after I finished the book so I could fill in a few holes. "Shattered" itself actually seemed to be a bit of a clip show in tone, if not in actual execution and wasn't that great of an episode, but I enjoyed seeing the earlier-era Janeway learn to trust Chakotay. After viewing the episode, I came to enjoy that that earlier era Janeway ended up being the Denzit, even if things did not end up turning out as optimistically as she came to believe in the episode.

I did, of course, remember "Year of Hell", even though I hadn't seen it in many years. Despite the egregious reset at the end of that two-part episode, I do consider it to be one of the best episodes in Voyager's run. One thing that really struck me from A Pocket Full of Lies was Janeway's reaction to the logs found in the buoy. That was one of the most real things in this book to me. I'm not sure why, but re-experiencing that episode through Janeway's investigation of those logs made that episode even better to me.

I will echo what others have said and say that when I saw the name "Quinn" show up toward the end of the book, I giggled a little to myself in anticipation of what I thought surely must be Q. I found that whole scene at the end to be rather beautiful. What Q was wiling to do for the Denzit reinforced that there is so much more to Q and the relationships he forms than what comes out at face value. I'm not 100% sure of what this means with regards to how he feels about "our" Janeway now, but the fact that he has that sort of regard for "a" Janeway says a lot.

Thank you Kirsten for these awesome stories you share with us (and this one in particular). I look forward to the next installment, whenever that ends up arriving!

 

[Kirsten Beyer]

Once again, thank you for your response. My question, though, is why would Starfleet allow a four-star/pip admiral such as Batiste to command a exploratory fleet in the Delta Quadrant in the wake of the Destiny crisis? I would think that he would be more valuable at Starfleet Headquarters or at least within the borders of the Federation rather than halfway across the galaxy. Now, if Batiste was a one- or two-star admiral (essentially a Commodore/battle group commander, as he commands a fleet of nine starships), it would make more sense to me. Although I guess I could see how a four-star could through enough weight around and personally take command, wouldn't the rest of the Admiralty or even President Bacco and the civilian government object (or at the very least, decrease his rank like R-Adm. Kirk did when he took command of the Enterprise after the V'ger crisis)?

For me, the notion of reducing his rank would never have really worked for me. I get why they did it in the films. Everyone wanted to see Kirk back in that chair and it was sort of done with a wink and a nod to satisfy long-time fans. But realistically...I don't know. It's not how things usually work and it requires so much more explanation to even try to make it sound plausible, I'm not sure it's really necessary.

The position I took was that Batiste needed to get back to the Delta Quadrant in order to open that rift to fluidic space and get home so he was going to use every personal relationship and every bit of pull he had as an admiral to make that happen and to lead the fleet. He played a long game of trying to get the rest of the leadership focused on the very real threat the Borg posed prior to the invasion. Then once the invasion happened, his concerns appeared more well-founded than ever before. Yes, there was certainly work to do in the Alpha Quadrant and most of Starfleet was going to be engaged in the rebuilding effort for a long time to come, but equally, if not more important was the notion that somebody needed to make sure that the Caeliar and the Borg were really gone. Batiste had been pushing for the mission for a long time and this was the perfect time to give it to him.

Honestly, I never worried about his rank, just his personal motivations and making sure that he realistically had the power to make it happen as it did, which as an admiral of any rank I was comfortable surmising.

Best,
KMFB

 

[Kirsten Beyer]

Finally, I have a question Kirsten, if you don't mind? I thought it was interesting that Janeway didn't immediately make the intuitive leap that the Denzit's unspecified reason for staying with the conflict until the end was somehow related to a child. I imagine most readers anticipated this? Were you saying something about Janeway's character here? As in she's so divorced from her younger self that she would never have anticipated the Denzit Janeway situation occuring under any circumstances? Or was it simply, that it was important that Janeway stay in the dark for the story to work? I just feel like Kathryn would, on some subconscious level, have at least suspected the possibility of a child?

Anyway, I've gone on way too long. So, thanks for another amazing and thought-provoking book Kirsten, can't wait for the next one, when hopefully my emotional equilbrium will have returned!

Hi Misco,

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on this. I really appreciate you taking the time and am so very pleased that you enjoyed this story. And I never mind questions. I am sad I can't always get back here in a timely fashion to answer them, but I always try.

So as to your question about why the admiral didn't immediately suspect that a child was involved....when I work through these stories at the manuscript stage the development of characters is very much a moment by moment process. When I assume their point of view I really do try to put myself in their heads and experience the moments as they are happening to get the best possible sense of what they would be thinking along the way. Obviously there is an outside the story version of me that is also part of the process...the one who has written the outline and knows exactly what has to happen in each scene, but often as not, as I'm working on any given scene, the outline will become a starting point and if the characters take me in a different direction and it feels organic and appropriate, I will let them have their way. I try never to impose story requirements on characters. At that moment they become pawns and not people living through something. I never want to read about pawns. I only want to read about people and try to find something meaningful in their experiences. Granted, I might not always succeed, but that is always the goal.

So when it comes to the admiral specifically in this one, it honestly never occurred to me that she would assume or even imagine that the issue would be that the denzit had a child. She was absolutely certain early on, because she knows herself well, that there was something more driving the denzit's choices, but I'm not sure why she or anyone else would have immediately assumed there was a child involved in this. The admiral does not seem to be someone that to me is overly preoccupied with the issue of bearing children. Her life is quite full and has taken her to amazing places. When Miral asked her in the first scene when she was going to have a baby, her response came to me immediately...that this was not for her and I didn't feel conflicted in any way about suggesting that. I think the idea of having a child or the denzit having a child would literally have been the last thing she would have considered because in some ways I think she has settled that issue for herself.

This is not to say that at some point in Kathryn's future life that might not change. But in the circumstances in which she currently finds herself, children are not on the agenda and when she considered the denzit's recent life experiences...the capture, torture, and ultimate choice to abandon Starfleet and join the Rilnar, I don't think she or anyone else would have thought adding a child to that equation at any time in the last few years would have been a wise or likely scenario. She's leading one side of a brutal conventional war. Who has time for babies during something like that?

What the admiral failed to weigh heavily enough was the true love the denzit and Dayne found and the reality that sometimes life throws absurd curves at us at the most inconvenient times. The denzit didn't make much of an issue of her relationship to anyone but Tuvok and the admiral was privy to those conversations. And once the admiral met Dayne and realized the many ways he had been manipulating this situation, she likely decided that at best the denzit's affection for Dayne was probably one-sided.

I structured the story in such a way that Janeway didn't come into the knowledge of the child until very late in the game, but I think I developed her realizations in a realistic manner. In short, no, I don't think that would have been obvious to her, even if it occurred to the readers earlier.

Best,
KMFB

 

[Kirsten Beyer]

I so very much enjoyed this book. This is probably the best Voyager book since Full Circle (not that most of them in between haven't been very good as well). I agree with what many others have said so far about this book. However, here are just a thoughts about a few specific items that stuck out in my reading of the book.

I will confess that I had no memory of the episode "Shattered" (only a very vague glimmering of some sort of recollection of there being a time-displaced Janeway in an episode somewhere), so I had go back and watch the episode after I finished the book so I could fill in a few holes. "Shattered" itself actually seemed to be a bit of a clip show in tone, if not in actual execution and wasn't that great of an episode, but I enjoyed seeing the earlier-era Janeway learn to trust Chakotay. After viewing the episode, I came to enjoy that that earlier era Janeway ended up being the Denzit, even if things did not end up turning out as optimistically as she came to believe in the episode.

I did, of course, remember "Year of Hell", even though I hadn't seen it in many years. Despite the egregious reset at the end of that two-part episode, I do consider it to be one of the best episodes in Voyager's run. One thing that really struck me from A Pocket Full of Lies was Janeway's reaction to the logs found in the buoy. That was one of the most real things in this book to me. I'm not sure why, but re-experiencing that episode through Janeway's investigation of those logs made that episode even better to me.

I will echo what others have said and say that when I saw the name "Quinn" show up toward the end of the book, I giggled a little to myself in anticipation of what I thought surely must be Q. I found that whole scene at the end to be rather beautiful. What Q was wiling to do for the Denzit reinforced that there is so much more to Q and the relationships he forms than what comes out at face value. I'm not 100% sure of what this means with regards to how he feels about "our" Janeway now, but the fact that he has that sort of regard for "a" Janeway says a lot.

Thank you Kirsten for these awesome stories you share with us (and this one in particular). I look forward to the next installment, whenever that ends up arriving!

You are always welcome. I'm so glad you found so much to enjoy in this one.

Best,
KMFB

 

[Kilana2]

Who the hell votes poor??????
Anyway, it was outstanding. I hope that Nancy and Harry find a solution for their predicament.

Kirsten, was it difficult do restrict the story you had in mind for this novel to a certain number of words? Did you have to summarize parts to make the story work?

Looking forward to the German version of it.

 

[stardream]

Maybe someone doesn't care for time travel and split characters. Maybe he or she doesn't like Q. That shouldn't take away from the fact that it's well written though. I have read books myself where I absolutely did NOT like the story itself but the writer wrote it well. Greg Cox is normally one of my favorite writers but I could not get into his Voyager numbered book The Black Shore but it had nothing to do with the writing itself.

I personally don't care for episodes that take place in a character's dream or when they live someone else's life. That doesn't mean that it's not well written or well acted simply because I don't care for that kind of story.

I hope all of that makes sense.

 

[Jinn]

Looking forward to the German version of it.

Right here I'll predict that A Pocket Full of Lies will be released in Germany in February 2018.

Who the hell votes poor??????

Maybe someone missed the results button?

 

[Ylime]

I finally finished A Pocket Full of Lies last night! and it was wonderful, as I’ve come to expect from these books. This book is an especially high point in the series for me. It ties together two of my favorite episodes of Voyager in such an unexpected way (I have always wanted the reset button at the end of Year of Hell to be addressed in some way). There are so many characters and storylines happening in this book, yet it’s written in a way where everyone gets their due, and all of the themes get enough time.

Particular highlights:
- Tuvok! I haven’t read any of the Titan books yet, so I have been really missing him, and he really added a lot to the story.
- Icheb’s storyline: his interactions with Bryce were so great, so I am very glad to hear that the “door [is] open and falling off its hinges”.
-The time freeze in the middle of the battle! So interesting, and had me unable to put the book down.
- Nancy Conlon: I honestly consider her one of the main character in my head now with the Voyager crew. It is so hard to see her struggling, yet written in such an honest way. I can’t wait to see where her story goes next.
- I have to mention this quote since it caused me to laugh out loud while reading: “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard in my life, and I’m best friends with Tom Paris. Some artists work in oils, some in clay. Dumb is Tom’s true medium. But right now you’re giving the master a run for his money.”
- The ending. To have the other Janeway’s story end the way it did was perfect. Especially the touch with Q. Tied up everything so wonderfully.

I could go on but this post is long enough. But this book is truly amazing it captures the essence of true Star Trek storytelling in that it encourages me to think beyond the pages to how these characters and stories relate to our world today. Thank you Kirsten Beyer for adding so much more to this rich universe.

 

[Misco]

I structured the story in such a way that Janeway didn't come into the knowledge of the child until very late in the game, but I think I developed her realizations in a realistic manner. In short, no, I don't think that would have been obvious to her, even if it occurred to the readers earlier.

Thanks for taking the time to reply, Kirsten! I see your reasoning and I'm not saying that anything you wrote doesn't make sense from a character perspective, because it does. I just felt at the time that I read it that everybody has personal lines they won't cross and limits to what actions they would or wouldn't take, in this instance the reason for staying that the denzit was keeping secret had to to be pretty desperate or extreme (but also within the bounds of something Janeway would do given a similar situation) and even though the possibility of a child factoring into the mix would have seemed pretty remote to the Admiral, she's also no stranger to thinking outside of the box. While I agree with your assessment that Janeway has 'settled the issue for herself' in regards to personally having children, I'm not entirely sure that would preclude her from making the assumption, or having suspicians, that another version of her would have made a different choice. Although, obviously, I take your point that smack in the middle of a brutal civil war isn't exactly the ideal setting for making such a choice... so there is that.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

I will address some specific questions/comments later but in general, to those who liked Icheb's developing story....yeah! I like having him back. I knew I wanted to see more of him once he returned in Eternal Tide, but I really needed him back in the AQ for the Protectors trilogy. Definitely more to come there and for those who didn't see the potential for romance...go back and read it again. You missed something. A reviewer elsewhere cautioned me not to open that door unless I intended to go through it. Clearly, he or she doesn't know me very well. Consider that door open and falling off its hinges. We're going forward, folks, but in (hopefully) interesting and unexpected ways.

I was definitely picking something up by the time he made his report to B'Elanna. Her response to him using Bryce's first name sounded very much like her picking up on him having a crush and willing to tease him a little about it, especially when she emphasized him going to see and work with Phinn, not 'Lieutenant Bryce.' That was the point I thought it might be more than my bias towards seeing gay in everything. I'm glad to hear that you're actually going through with this.

I loved the revisiting of both Year of Hell and Shattered, but Year of Hell specifically. One of my big frustrations with any time travel episode is the ability to make the entire thing 'un-happen,' where the characters we see warping off have no memory or recollection of the events of the episode. There are exceptions to that, like in Yesterday's Enterprise, where we saw what the difference was, plus the later result of Sela, but Year of Hell's un-happening has always dug under my skin because by the end, nothing of those two hours had any effect or resonance for the characters because the events literally no longer have occurred. The message buoys holding the log entries of the YoH Voyager allowed that effect to ripple down, even if they're not something the characters remember first-hand. It means that those events mattered in some form. From the moment I recognized the Zahl and Nihydron and others mentioned in the blurb, I was hopeful about this happening, and this was a wonderful way to do it.

Denzit Janeway was an interesting 'what if' character, and it was very interesting seeing how she compared and contrasted against Admiral Janeway. Seeing a Janeway who diverged from 'ours' pretty much before the show even started allowed her a very different perspective, and a quickly distinct personality, it wasn't just 'Janeway with a few years missing' or something like that, she was a very different woman, but still recognizable at the same time. And I was pleased by the ending. I may have predicted it from the moment that the elder Keeper identified herself as 'Mollah,' but that didn't make it unwelcome. I was glad to see not just her getting her happy ending but also Q resolving the anger and frustration he had with how events in The Eternal Tide played out.

Tuvok's involvement was something I was surprised by, just because I've gotten so used to the world of Voyager with him being absent, but I was happy to see it all the same. Seeing follow-up on the events of Destiny, plus the effect that Janeway's death in Before Dishonor was great. Anything that can ruffle the Vulcan calm like that is something I enjoy seeing, and it's some development that I think we really needed to see.

I actually really liked Nancy's story, particularly the tie in with B'Elanna's depression - the lack of explicit follow up on that always bothered me in the show, since it's one of the things that's always been so relateable with her character and my life, and seeing Nancy going through something similar, the acceptance of death then having to learn to live again... That's something that means a lot for me. I also liked the ending, where she's refusing to have a baby just to save her own life. So far when it comes to characters becoming pregnant in the Star Trek world, even when it's unexpected, it's always been seen as welcome, and I liked the difference. Not everyone views it as something to celebrate, and I love how respectful everyone was of her decision.

I just really love that there is so much that we're able to say about the evolution of these characters. I've been rewatching the series as of late, and it's been frustrating seeing the characters seem to just spin their wheels for seven seasons. Most of the characters don't get a lot of chance to grow and evolve on the show, and seeing the wealth of growth and development that all of them have had in the course of these books has been a joy. I eagerly await Architects of Infinity, and any future works in this universe from Kirsten Beyer.