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VOY: Protectors by Kirsten Beyer Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Rate Protectors.

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    Votes: 36 40.0%
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    Votes: 46 51.1%
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    Votes: 8 8.9%
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I skipped The Eternal Tide but picked up Protectors because I had some extra time on my hands and was bored.

Overall, a solid effort by Beyer (I didn't expect any less). Though I just didn't buy the Julia Paris plot. Even with friends in high places, it seems more would be required than "my feelings are hurt" to even get to the point of mediation over custody being ordered. To order the family home with no evidence at all of Miral's mistreatment was just too much for me to buy.

I would encourage you to pick The Eternal Tide, personally thought it was brilliant.
 
Finished, early and brief impression.

This book felt, to me, like a distillation of the things I really disliked about Voyager when it was on air. The writing is good, but a lot of it just felt too much like "Voyager crew vs the universe" with the universe consistently being overly wrong-headed.
 
Finished, early and brief impression.

This book felt, to me, like a distillation of the things I really disliked about Voyager when it was on air. The writing is good, but a lot of it just felt too much like "Voyager crew vs the universe" with the universe consistently being overly wrong-headed.

That's really interesting. For me her books have been the thing that actually made me like Voyager. These characters feel real and the situations they face don't seem any more outlandish than the ones the Enterprise, Titan or any other crew has faced.
 
Well, I felt that way about the first couple of books in the series, starting with Full Circle through Children, but The Eternal Tide and Protectors felt like it went the opposite direction. Though I'm admitting here that I guess I wasn't super fond of TET's take on the Q, especially compared to the other Q portrayal ala Q&A.
 
Hey Kirsten thanks for the reply. I was talking about the widely traveled races we saw in the show itself. I have definite faith not only that you have your own plots planned out, but that they will be awesome. Count me as one who doesn't yet know where you are going with that plot element, but I'm excited to find out. Maybe it will even explain some of the widely traveled species I was asking about from the show like the Talaxian, Devore, and Malon.

Ah...I see what you're asking now. The first few times I read the question, I assumed you were asking about why they appeared in the book. We already know my math skills suck...now I'm going to have to start worrying about reading comprehension.

But to answer, this is not a question or hole in the series I've considered trying to fill. In most cases, I just assumed they were an indication of the size of a species' territory or of their propulsion capabilities or knowledge of short-cuts through the DQ. New Talax is a special case, I think, but I also just have to sort of take it as a "given" that they did manage the journey somehow and ended up where they did. Awfully coincidental, I'll grant you, but this is Voyager we're talking about.

That said, some of what I am developing throughout the next two books might still answer some of this, though I won't be drawing direct lines there...more...you could infer if you wished.


Finished, early and brief impression.

This book felt, to me, like a distillation of the things I really disliked about Voyager when it was on air. The writing is good, but a lot of it just felt too much like "Voyager crew vs the universe" with the universe consistently being overly wrong-headed.

Nob, while I'm sorry the newer books don't seem to be quite to your tastes, my first thought on reading this statement was that I, personally, often feel exactly this way about the universe, so if you're seeing it in my stories, that could be the reason why.

Claudia...

Stormy really did a nice job of summing up my sense of some of the issues you raised, particularly with Janeway. I would only add that the last scene between Janeway and Chakotay was intended to make you feel exactly as you did. She has just gone through some pretty massive soul-searching as a result of some equally massive traumas and is coming out on the other side we believe, more centered and more at peace and more prepared to meet her future with the fleet.

That said, she is still human. We may learn something that gives us a better perspective and choose to accept it going forward as a better way to operate, but we are still the same person with the same history and habits. A moment of insight does not guarantee that we will forever, moving forward, in every interaction, live up to our new expectations of ourselves. Particularly in a relationship that is as long and deep as the one she shares with Chakotay, old habits are going to be very hard to break. Her immediate response is to fall back on what she knows. I'm in charge. Period. End of Story. But a few moments of reflection make her regret that position to a degree. We see her soften a bit. We see her apologize to Chakotay. We never saw that in Scorpion, which was in the front of my mind as I was writing this scene.

She's still in charge. But she needs to make room in her thought processes for more than her needs and opinions, and frankly, her old knee-jerk reaction, especially when dealing with someone she believes she trusts as much as she does Chakotay.

This moment was written to allow her to face that exact challenge. To let her realize that all she has learned can be lost if she just returns to business as usual. Moving forward, she's going to have to find new ways of handling these complicated situations and my hope is to keep her walking that path, while still honoring the fact that as a human being, she can't always be her best self. She has been assuring herself all this time that the foundation of her relationship with Chakotay is strong enough to endure anything. This moment shows her that it's going to take more than that to make the relationship what she wants it to be in the future. It is not just a "given" but will require work on her part. As, I believe, it would for anyone in her position.

BillJ....

So glad to have you back. Really. I sincerely hope you find yourself incredibly bored with nothing to do once again in early October.

Best,
Kirsten
 
Just in case anyone is curious, I did an interview with TrekCore and it's up now.

http://trekcore.com/blog/2014/03/kirsten-beyer-interview-protectors/

We're talking Protectors, and a bit about the upcoming books that will complete the trilogy.

Enjoy.

Kirsten

Excellent, thank you, Ms. Beyer. A really interesting overview of this latest Voyager arc :)

A scene written in Tamarian?

The Jabberwock, slain! Mayweather, on "Enterprise": Zinda, his face black, his eyes red. Homer Simpson, his gun. Sebastian, Antonio's kindness. Pascal, un-deified, wandering.
 
Just in case anyone is curious, I did an interview with TrekCore and it's up now.

http://trekcore.com/blog/2014/03/kirsten-beyer-interview-protectors/

We're talking Protectors, and a bit about the upcoming books that will complete the trilogy.

Enjoy.

Kirsten

Thanks for a great interview and for taking your time to talk to us here.

I could write a long, gushing analysis of what I loved about Protectors...but for now all I want to say is this to you Kirsten and only you as a mutual Voyager fan because you'll understand it in that context...

Thanks for bringing us Voyagers home.
 
Any timeline ideas for a blurb on Acts of Contrition?

LOL, guess what, if I may be so bold, Acts of C. is now listed on Amazon.com and, indeed, there is a short summary blurb, (so SPOILERS) fyi: http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Voy...=1-2&keywords=trek+voyager+acts+of+contrition

Hmm...a little birdie on Facebook already told me about this on the greatest Facebook group around...Bring Back Kathryn Janeway. Yeah, we're still around. But I love our little birdie I do. She's the Paul Revere of our troupe and shares every new tidbit about Voyager before I do. I wonder what her name was, if I could only remember. :techman:
 
Just finished this novel last night. Really really enjoyed it! I'm reading all the Star Trek books in chronological order but Beyer's Voyager novels I always read immediately.

My first thought while reading this was "wow the universe feels small." Its not a criticism so much as an observation. Everyone is bopping about the quadrants now without much worry. I can understand it since the Delta quadrant has always been Voyager's home, but the trade off is a loss of appreciation for the vastness of space.

I'm fascinated by Captain O'Donnell. He's a great original character. I would love to see an e-novel or something focused on him.

Everyone has nice little moments here. Its good to see Harry Kim grow into his own, especially since the entire plot line comes from his suggestion. I never did buy him as security chief, so it feels more more comfortable that he would be focusing on the science stuff.

The only character that gets a little shorted is poor B'Elanna Torres. She doesn't seem to have anything to do! Hopefully she'll be given an interesting engineering challenge to solve in future books that'll get her out of their living quarters!

I've always loved these characters. Voyager was the first Star Trek series I watched from start to finish. I often tell people Kirsten Beyer "got the band back together" when she took over the Voyager novel line. These characters have been well served in her hands.

-Chris
 
Has it ever been specified what became of the ex-Borg formerly led by Hugh? Would the Caeliar have done the same thing to them as they did to Riley Frazier's group?
 
Has it ever been specified what became of the ex-Borg formerly led by Hugh? Would the Caeliar have done the same thing to them as they did to Riley Frazier's group?

It hasn't been stated directly. Presumably they made the same experience, i.e. there could still be the Independent Nation of Borg left somewhere.
 
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