Spoilers VOY: Children of the Storm by Kirsten Beyer Review Thread

[Tiberius13]

Re: VOY: Children of the Storm by Kirsten Beyer Review Thread (Spoiler

Gosh, I am so far behind in my Trek reading -- but I just finished this novel. I will keep this short but put simply WOW.

I will admit that VOY is not my favorite series by any means despite its merits. Kirsten, you have made it my favorite series currently in Treklit. It is by far the most fully realized and heartfelt series of books going right now.

I love the fleet and all its many captains and personalities. There is so much fertile ground to explore here! I can't wait to see where it goes and I'm rushing out to get The Eternal Tide as soon as I can make the time for it.

Thank you, Kirsten. Please continue your wonderful work.

 

[Edit_XYZ]

Re: VOY: Children of the Storm by Kirsten Beyer Review Thread (Spoiler

I love the fleet and all its many captains and personalities. There is so much fertile ground to explore here! I can't wait to see where it goes and I'm rushing out to get The Eternal Tide as soon as I can make the time for it.

Spoiler: An advice...which could be interpreted as spoiler-ish

Don't get too attached to the fleet.

 

[ronny]

Re: VOY: Children of the Storm by Kirsten Beyer Review Thread (Spoiler

Really, really good book. I gave it an above average only because I try to make sure I don't suffer from grade creep and save outstandings for Destiny type quality but this is pretty damn close.

I liked the fact that we don't just focus on the Voyager crew because, hey, we've got a fleet. Reminded me of the Titan book Sword of Damocles which focused on non TV crew members. The aliens were interesting and the ended didn't seem like it was pulled out of a hat. I really liked the Demeter crew story. This is the best of the Beyer re-launch books so far.

And you couldn't imagine how uninterested I am in posts in a book review thread from people telling us why they aren't reading the books. Didn't care the last 2 books, don't care now.

The comments about Beltran only being in it for the money, blah, blah, blah. At least he spoke out about how vapid his character was. There's not enough of that. Want to guess how long I or most of us here would stay at our jobs if we didn't need the money? And there was a LOT more money involved for any of the Voyager actors then what we're making. Of course they are going to stick around. I'm sure the Denise Crosby experience is on any Star Trek actors mind when they are thinking about leaving the show.

 

[Jedi Ben]

So, finally got around to reading this, after the reread of the fist two books from way back when.

This does a couple of things that are very surprising very well.

The first is that it looks like this is going to be a standard alien possession plot, that's the sense I had for a good amount of pages, then it veers off in a different direction entirely.... It does a very good job of defying expectations.

The second is that it asks the question of how the Federation reverts back to its primary goals after over a decade of very bloody and destructive warfare and then attempts to give an answer. I really liked that the end of The Fall series saw exploration taking centre stage. A recognition perhaps that Trek had gone as far as it could with war stories? Maybe, certainly welcome if so. For all I liked Destiny and even more the follow-through on it, it should not be topped ever in terms of threat magnitude.

So, a new Delta Quadrant mission, a small group of ships, a mix of classes, but what of the people on them? Using the characters of Fife and O'Donnell to frame the question and answer was a very smart move. O'Donnell is, despite what Fife initially thinks, in a position to see things he simply can't because Fife's never been part of an exploratory Starfleet. His outlook has been directed by war in a very military direction.

The development of the Children too was well done. Kids have a tendency towards some quite brutal and very snap judgements. Now arm them with super-nukes... That's a major problem all right. Yet, do you deal with kids by simply shooting them? No. Certainly, over the last few years, there's been this view that says kids are simply mini-adults and should be treated as such. That is to say they know what they are doing as well as an adult, but this isn't so. It's an easy way to be harsh to kids certainly, but the long-term outcome? Not good.

The other dominant theme for the last few years is you don't get to do good by being good. You have to be willing to get your hands dirty, to make the hard decisions and kill many.... For the <hot fuzz ref> 'greater good'. Don't ask why it is, just accept that it's all for the greater good, OK? This is as emphatic a rejection of that outlook you'll find anywhere. It isn't delusion or weakness to want to take the higher road or look up rather than down.

Certainly the finale of the book delivered a surprisingly emotional hit.

Finally, I'm seeing the connections between these three volumes more easily too, some quite neat links.

 

[Mizrach]

Third book by Beyer I read, after "Full Circle" and "Unworthy", and third book I loved by her.
She is the antithesis of tie-in authors: bland plots coupled with incredible characters development.
I like her Chakotay. Seriously, do I need to say anything else? She makes me like Chakotay!

I hope she will be that good also on Discovery

 

[Burning Hearts of Qo'nos]

Beyer has given me the chance to love Voyager the way I always wanted to love Voyager. I never gave Voyager a second thought after it went off the air all those years ago. Yeah, I watched it. It was entertaining. But it wasn't something deep or a series that I would turn to on a rainy day. I was even hesitant to start reading her books because I had heard the previous VOY-relaunch was hit or miss. But picking up Full Circle and working my way nonstop through to Children of the Storm left me with not only loving her books, but looking back and realizing that I had always loved Voyager's characters. While the show was lackluster, what I had always wanted was HER version of the characters. Her portrayal of their thoughts and personalities were absolutely in tune with how they were represented in the TV show, but with a depth and intensity that they were not given originally. Chakotay and Harry were transformed into real, motivated characters, and yet somehow still the same as before.

And not only that, she managed to include NEW characters that were just as engaging. Cambridge, Fife, and O'Donnel felt so seamlessly incorporated into the fold that now, I can't imagine the Voyager family without them. They're right up there with Vaughn in the category of 'litverse-only characters that aren't super bland'. I loved meeting the new captains and their new crews, and they all fit into the "Voyager-style" storytelling that Beyer has perfected. It's still Star Trek, but every book has that Sometimes-Dysfunctional-Family-Drama-Where-They-End-Up-Hugging feel that made Voyager so unique.