Customer Reviews

Enemy of My Enemy (Star Trek Voyager: Spirit Walk, Book 2) (Bk. 2)

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

 

 

I have read all of the Voyager Relaunch novels so far. I enjoyed "Homecoming" and "Farther Shore" greatly, so much that I couldn't wait to see how Golden was going to work this series. I read "Old Wounds" and was rather disapointed. In 'Spirit Walk,' Chakotay is reunited with his (umentioned, never heard of, never spoken of) sister Sekya who is, believe it or not, more into the whole spirit/nature thing that he is. If you have read other Golden books, you know what to expect; Chakotay will be in the spotlight. You know to expect Chakotay to speak with his animal guides, for there to be lots of emotional moments (many which are displaced) and for some characters to simply get the short in of the stick when it comes to development and material.

The other reviewers, though it seems harsh, have analyzed this book pretty well. Two stars because this book will leave you asking yourself, "What? That's... it?" Not in a good way either. Golden tries to take on so much that by the end, there are multiple ideas and plots running against one another. In trying to make this all thrilling and exciting, she misses the mark here and "Enemy" is a resulting disaster. This is far from a real professional take on this series. In the Deep Space Nine Relaunch, there are arcs, developments, twists and turns, surprises and drama. Golden, the only author (for some odd reason) of this Relaunch has her own convulted idea of what should happen to these characters. "Enemy" doesn't suffer in its general writing but more so in how it was carried out and the contradictions riddled through out the book.

In 'Old Wounds,' Janeway is truly focused on the problem of some Federation worlds wanting to break away. This is, considering how much the Dominion War left the Federation, a big problem. She's bent on keeping these worlds and people in the Federation. Paris, in some heart-to-heart moment with her, asks if she misses being Voyager's captain. She says she doesn't, which is a shocking moment but a great one, and that she values the change in her career and life. Well. In this book, Janeway is a completely different person. The moment there is trouble, her former officers run to her (completely going against standard protocal) for help. She ignores her duties, the results are revealed at the end of the book. Golden makes it all seem okay, as if there was no other option. I find it hard to believe Janeway would let her personal emotions and feelings compltely take her away from what matters the most.

The second problem with "Enemy" is the lack of depth Golden takes with the characters. Tuvok is reduced to perhaps only one or two spoken lines. Everything else is a raised eyebrow or some other "Vulcan" trait. Voyager's crew are left flat and unappealing; Vorik is ignored and just mentioned, has nothing to do with the situation Voyager is facing when it seems like he would have been the best person to stand up and point out the flaws in logic. Kim just seems helpless as chief of security, Campbell ... well, we still know little about her. Tare's beauty is spoken of and yet she has little to do with anything. Tom Paris is the only character that gets some attention but even he is written as if he cares more about his career than he does his wife and child.

A cameo by the Traveler, Wesley Crusher, Sky Spirits, Moset, and a Changelling all make for a pretty darn bad novel. Golden fails to work these elements together and things clash, things go left unexplained and yet she wraps it up as if alls well for our fair crew. What? Why tease with the constant B'Elanna plot? Why use the Cardassian Moset (who was used in the TNG novel 'Battle of Betazed' and appeared in an episode of Voyager) if he wasn't going to do anything worthy of being involved? Why take all the suspense away by revealing the enemies at the end of book one? Yes, if you read that book, you can pretty much guess what's going to happen here. Why even bring up the cession of the planet if Janeway wasn't going to devote any attention to it?

This was right down horrific. Golden, Pocket Books, what's happening with the Voyager Relaunch? This was a major step down. I felt like this was a continuation of the Chakotay and Paris plot from Golden's "Dark Matters" series more than a fresh new start. The entire idea of Chakotay having powers at the end of the book seemed more in line with an X-Men novel than it did a Trek work. A Re-Launch, in theory, is supposed to take the series and the characters somewhere new. This is taking many a step back and simply making for disapointing reads. No, this book doesn't strike me as one worth your money and time. It's confusing, baffling and one big mess of an idea.

Captain Chakotay of Voyager and his sister, shaman-trained Sekaya, begin this duology's second installment where we left them at the first book's end. Imprisoned on the apparently abandoned colony world Loran II's surface, in the hands of the supposedly dead Cardassian scientist Crell Moset. Delivered there by a shapeshifting "Founder" who has spent years trapped in the form of a respected Starfleet officer, who now assumes Chakotay's identity and orders Voyager's immediate departure for Earth. Which will leave the real captain and his sister to die in Moset's laboratory, whether from the Butcher of Bajor's horrific research or afterward - because Moset can't afford to let witnesses live.

Meanwhile, Admiral Kathryn Janeway's mission to persuade several seceding worlds to remain in the United Federation of Planets is not going well. On the Klingon sacred moon Boreth, B'Elanna Torres continues researching her baby daughter's heritage as the fulfillment of ancient prophecy, after her husband Tom Paris joins Janeway's mission; and on Earth, concert musician and Starfleet spy Libby Webber makes a discovery that's connected to both the admiral's diplomatic assignment and the events unfolding aboard Voyager.

This is Golden at her Trek-author best. The story's threads come together in ways that surprise the reader without blindsiding, and the characters we Voyager fans already know so well behave exactly as they should. The new characters Golden introduced in her first Voyager re-launch duology manage to play major parts without making me resent the pages they occupy, although I'm still not sure what she has in mind for Akolo Tare. That's one of several plot threads that aren't tied up neatly. This is fine with me, since I know more books are coming. Although Enemy of My Enemy has a satisfying conclusion, it ends with a twist that has me asking with pleasant anticipation, "But what's going to happen next?"

Let me start off by saying i love voyager, the series and while the homecoming books were okay, i still enjoyed them. These two books were so simply written it almost made me feel dumber while reading them. Yes, I found some pleasure in reading them because I`m hooked on Voyager and wanted to see what everyone was up to but the storyline was stupid. The whole part with Chakotay and his native american powers? The cat coming out into the real world? Where was Christie Golden going with this? It was just ridiculous.

So, I guess I can say that if you want to keep up on Voyager and you`re a fan, read the books. You`ll finish them both in about an hour. But don`t be looking for great writing and a profound storyline, like the Deep Space Nine books. And Christie, if you`re reading this review, step it up a little in your writing. More original ideas and write for adults, not third graders. We`re capable of a little more.

Just to give you my own "back story" with these books, you can read my reviews on Homecoming, Farther Shore, and the first Spirit Walk book to get a general idea about (at least my opinion on) Christie Golden's work in this series.

Now, having said that.... I'm a big Voyager fan, out of the 3 more modern incarnations of Star Trek, Voyager had my favorite premise and characters. (TNG was more fun and DS9 was better written, but) there was something about the idea of being stuck out there in the unknown that was inviting to me, ... like in the original series. I actually became emotionally attached to this crew as I watched them become emotionally attached to each other, and considered themselves (by the end of the series, just like a family) that they WERE home as long as they were together. As Harry Kim said, "It's the journey."

Now let me be clear by saying that I did NOT expect that "family" feeling to carry on when they split up and went their separate ways. I DID expect it to be like the series in the sense that each character grew so tremendously in the process of being literally thrown out to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. The captain went from being a by the book type to being seasoned in the reality of life (although she still kept it close to protocol). The first officer went from Mr. Anguish to liking the idea of protocol more. B'lanna from very angry and uncontrolled to a loving wife and mother. Paris from being a ex-con to looking toward someone like Kim to understand what it is to love family and follow the rules. Everyone became better, or at least, more well-rounded people.

I mean, think about it, one way we all have our greatest "growth experiences" is facing the unknown. The other most significant time we have that growth is when we leave our "familiar" (notice how that word is so close to family)lives and go out into the world on our own without the constant family support. I think my greatest disappointment from the Voyager relaunch books so far is I'm not seeing these characters grow anymore, that is with the exception of B'lanna, who we barely hear about (I get the feeling, or at least I hope, we'll be hearing more about her in the next book.) They seem to be the same people in a different situation without the INTERESTING part. In fact it seems like I'm reading the text version of a "low brow holo-novel" based on the lives of the Voyager crew after they return to the Alpha Quadrant.

I'll keep reading the follow up books to find out what happens to B'lanna and Miral and to see if the Changeling and Moset are captured. I'll keep reading because I am a fan of the series.

I'll keep hoping that the writer will find it in her heart to do these characters, from a very character driven show, justice.

Call me crazy but I LOVE Voyager. I love the characters, Seven of Nine, Janeway, B'Elanna, Tom Paris, the Holo Doctor, Chakotay, Harry Kim and the rest. And I love the ACTION that made Voyager more exciting than DS9 or TNG.

And boy do I MISS Voyager. So I am truly grateful to Christie Golden for continuing the series. This book takes Voyager and her crew back out into space where they belong. Some of it is slow going, especially Book 1 of the series. But the last half of Book 2 is exciting and action packed. If you love Voyager like I do, BUY THIS BOOK!

Thank you Christie Golden! Please write MORE Voyager books!

NOBODY LIKES WORDY REVIEWS; I will be concise.

This will never win an award for being a mastery of literature.
However, for those that are Trek/Voyager fans, this series is a fun continuation of the story.

Those fans* of Voyager fiction will enjoy this fun, fluff, read.

It serves its purpose quite nicely in fan fiction, though was not nearly as great as her Dark Matters series; nor as good as Voyager's second book.

Buy it, enjoy it, and give it to a fellow trek friend.

*This would imply that you are not prone to acting like you are better than everyone else, are a literary know-it-all or are afflicted with rectal-broomstick syndrome.

This is reasonable if light entertainment reading. The characters are good but shallow, as are most of the descriptions. Thankfully, quite a lot happens in this book. The pacing is good and the story moves along quickly. The plot is rather convoluted and not really fleshed out. The main villain is supposed to be a Machiavellian type, but he just does not have the complexity to make it realistic. Also, the inclusion of the Voyager characters no longer on the ship felt fairly gratuitous. The story would have benefited from seeing a less of them and giving depth to the events on the ship. The events leading directly to the climax were too metaphysical to me. I have often felt that this author should have stuck with the fantasy genre and magic, as they do not mix well with Star Trek, at least in my opinion. Finally, the climax was a bit like the ending of The Matrix, with a pseudo-Native American gloss, and not as well done. However, Gradak Kaz's eventual revenge was rather elegant. All in all, the book as a whole was enjoyable, but it is strictly light entertainment. There is nothing to really recommend against it, but there is nothing to really recommend it either.

As I recently decided to give the Voyager relaunch novels a go, I was surprised that they were quite good, that is until we come to Spirit Walk...
Book One was a challenge, it was slowly clunking along and then when we get to book 2 it feels like reading bad fan fiction.
The characters are throwaways, and this is what offended me as I truly love Voyager.
Chakotay is the center of focus, to the point where I wonder is it that the author (Christie Golden) is a Chakotay fan, and has decided to focus on her favorite, by including dream quests, visions, Alien Indian's (from the Voyager episode "Tattoo") his sister, an replacement for Neelix in the form of a new ships counselor and these elements culminate in a rather boring effort. Which make me dislike the character of Chakotay even more, as you realise that he really is as Dull as Harry Kim (Who's girlfriend Libby is a more interesting character).
Janeway, Torres, Seven, The Doctor, Tuvok, Paris and Kim are all diluted to the point that there is no sense of Voyager in this. I ended up hating this book, it is cheap in its quality, and in its lack of substance.

This book is far better than the 3 star rating that I see right now. I was reluctant to purchase Spirit Walk seeing that the Amazon reviews weren't as good as Homecoming. I put off purchasing this for a while. However, I recently purchased Kindle 2 and wanted something easy to read. I picked the first book on my recommended listing which was Spirit Walk. The book is well written and for those who loved Star Trek Voyager.. I know they would all love reading this novel as I did.

This book did not live up to "Homecoming" or the "Farther Shore" as far as action, and involvement with the crew. But I enjoyed the direction of the characters. Although it would have been more nice to see Seven of Nine and the Doctor in in the "Spirit Walk" duology- later on we hear the Doctor taking B-4's stand on non-living lifeforms and holographic rights, and Seven leaving the think tank and becoming a professor at Starfleet Acadmey and helping aide the Federation aganist the Borg in Peter David's "Before Dishonor" which takes place about 3 years after this book. Christie Golden though has taken the series in a postive direction, unlike Peter David killing off Admiral Janeway in a non-relaunch Voyager book.