Customer Reviews

Battle Lines (Star Trek: Voyager)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Brilliant. Sheer Brilliance. This is a great edition to the Voyager collection, one which focuses more on the fighting aspect of the series. It was well written, the characters were portrayed well, and both races were protrayed brilliantly. It did start off rather abruptly though, snapping into action in the first line. This technique can give the book a definite attraction if done correctly, but this time it wasn't done that well. Also, the characters weren't all used. B'Elanna had very little to do with the overall plot, neither did Seven or the doctor. I guess not every book can have every character interacting, but it would have been nice to have more involvement. The twist between Lekket and Bolis was great, who was the real enemy? Like a previous review, I think the Chakotay substory part was dragged out somewhat, and didn't have that much relevance to the whole story. But the twist at the very end involving the shields, sheer brilliance that part was. I mean this, it was absolutely brilliant. Scientifically it made a lot of sense, and treknically it made a lot of sense too. Oh, and the use of the Z+ and Z- terms when describing navigation was good, a real credit to the authors. This book is well worth the money for any Star Trek fan, I adivse you to buy it!

The reviews below that describe this book as "action packed" are accurate without question. It's a wild ride, and can wear a dedicated reader out quickly.

But I LOVED it!

Few stories are intense all the way through, from beginning to end. But this one definitely was. I continually found myself thinking, "How are they going to get out of this one?!"

I usually prefer a story that is more focused on the character interaction and has a lot of heart, but once in a while I enjoy a good suspenseful story that increases my heart rate and gets the blood pumping. If you like whirlwind action, this is the perfect book for you.

One second . . . let me catch my breath . . . okay. Well, as for an action-packed, non-stop plotline, this story delivers sensationally. So, if action and thrills is all you want from a Star Trek novel, this will be one of your favorites of all time. I tend to want a little more. The writing quality of this book is sadly inferior, certain passages reading like a first draft, the entire book filled with repeated words/phrases and "said-bookisms." While most of the *actions* of characters are written correctly, including Janeway's wrestling with the morality of the situation and Chakotay's rising leadership when it really counts (something that is, sadly, all but ignored on the show), the *dialog* just doesn't ring true. This is most glaringly true of Tuvok, but it also definitely applies to Janeway and Chakotay. It's as though Mr.'s Galanter and Brodeur have never really watched the show, but they were given a super-quick crash course in the characters so they could write the novel (I can see it now: "Okay, Tuvok's Vulcan, like really logical ... Chakotay's--well, we kinda forgot *what* Chakotay's like, so whatever you write on him will be fine ..."). Another serious flaw: the Chakotay/Paris storyline. The idea is fine, but the one-liners between them are all too often dragged waaay out to be three- and four-liners, when one would have been much more clever. The skipping back and forth between the two plots got rather frustrating after awhile; I was left thinking, "Okay, just rescue them with the transporters and get on with it, will ya?" To sum up, despite the negative tone of this review, I did enjoy the story. Unfortunately, the Voyager crew are reduced from dynamic characters that toy with my sympathies, to plot pawns that get tossed around and beaten up but come out on top in the end. Not quite enough to make this one memorable.

I have seldom read books like this. I was still at page 60, having read 59 pages of action, and I caught myself wondering, "hey, if this much is happening now, what's on page 240?". Apart from minor nitpicks (misspellings of names, for instance), I loved the book-- it kept my attention all the way through. No wonder I read it all in a day. I highly recommend it.

That's right! Even though the shows is aweful, that's how much I enjoyed this book.

A great mystery is set up from the very start. Who is the real enemy? What's at stake? What's the secret behind the enemy's ship? All of this ties together at the end.

If you're looking for an exciting adventure with interesting characters and some great sci-fi concepts, check this book out.

But you don't have to take my word for it - do-do do!

I couldn't put it down. Voyager hadn't get any clue how to defeat their emeny which was so strong and kept beating Voyager up. I almost thought that they finally found the way to stop the enemy. Trumiph!! But nooo! It seemed endless defeat. I highly recommend that you read it.

The book tried an action based start, but didn't do it wery well, just as I just didn't.:)

The book contains much action and maybe even crosses some borders of good writing, by using action as the only intrique, thus making the novel appear unintelligent, meaningless and commercial.

But in a way this was a good change from the usual trek, although Voyager has been known to use action as a commercial tool on TV also, wich I think has injured the series' integrity and credibility.

This book however goes even further, using the characters only as action heroes, but, also building those same characters in a way rarely seen on books and doing it, in some instancies well, and in some instancies not so well, often making the characters "harder" than they are.

This, however, is easily forgivable and unimportant for the plot, only annoying.

All in all I recomend this book for all Voyager fans. It has decent plot and interesting situations that alow good characterization.

I really enjoyed the action scenes, and the various cliff-hangers and plot twists kept me glued to my seat. It was a fun read, one that I enjoyed immensely.

However, I did notice a few problems with the novel. It seems like half of the crew were not touched upon (Seven-Of-Nine, Neelix, Torres, and the doctor). However, the interaction between the people who were spotlighted (especially Paris and Chatokav) more than made up for the lack of attention to the other characters.

One other problem I saw was the fact that there wasn't much descriptions of the alien races. So it was a bit hard for me to visulaize the aliens in my head.

But on the good side, the style of the text was much better than Dave and Greg's previous work. It was a tremendous improvement, and I liked that. The book read very smoothly. Especially the action scenes. It was very easy to visualize what the text described.

All in all, I enjoyed this book immensely, and I'm not even that big a Voyager fan. I'd recommend it to any Voyager fan.

I'm only reading this book because I'm a completist. Frankly, none of the characters are depicted in character (although it seems that the show can't really seem to decide what's "in character" and "out of character" either), and the only likeable characters get maybe two or three lines of dialogue. Throw in a painfully predictable plot and some boring aliens, and you have A) A typical Voyager episode, and B) A mediocre Voyager novel. Please, Greg, let Diane ghost-write next time.

This amazing book starts with a bang of action and doesn't stop until the last page! The different plot lines are so well woven and the writing is clean and polished. The dynamic of the relationship between Paris and Chakotay is played out extensively. B'Elana and Seven do not get much print (hardly any, actually), but the dynamic nature of the rest of the crew makes up for this. Janeway's character is showcased and well drawn. Overall, I highly recommend this book. I've read it so many times, the spine has many creases. A great novel for the Voyager fan and novice alike!