Customer Reviews

The Final Fury (Star Trek: Voyager, No 9: Invasion Book No 4)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The final volume of the Invasion series is a pleasant surprise and makes for a fitting conclusion to the self-proclaimed "ultimate Star Trek saga." In Book One, Jim Kirk stops the advance guard of the Furies while Jean-Luc Picard prevents the next attempt at invading the Alpha Quadrant. Book Three, the best of the series and one of the best Star Trek novels I have ever read, has Benjamin Sisko and his crew dealing with the creatures that cast out the Furies from the universe five thousand years earlier. With Book Four we come to Kathryn (I think that spelling was used the most) Janeway discovering the next threat from the Furies. What makes "The Final Fury" so fascinating is that Dafydd ab Hugh provides not only some interesting Star Trek science problems but also give Janeway the biggest moral dilemma in Star Trek history.

There are 27 billion Furies living on a planet-like starship, having prepared for centuries to reconquer the Alpha Quadrant. They are going to make their sun go nova, harness the energy, and use it to transport themselves to the heart of the Federation when they will use their fear weapon to re-enslave everyone everywhere. While Voyager's crew grapples with the technical question of how to stop this from happening, Janeway has to deal with the responsibility that if they succeed they will kill every being on the planet. The trite philosophical chestnut, "If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?" is transformed into a very real question for Janeway. The debate among the characters is very interesting, and quite surprising in several regards.

The main sub-plot has to do with B'Elanna Torres having a severe crisis of confidence. Although you have to remember this is early on in the Voyager storyline (Book 9), this is a bit contrived, but you have to respect the effort to develop the character a bit more in terms of being Human/Klingon, which the series failed to do until the last couple of seasons. Of course, the technical aspects of the storyline will ultimately depend on her. I also liked the way a minor but pivotal character from an earlier Invasion series makes surprise reappearance.

Overall, this is a more than adequate payoff for the Invasion series, which is pretty impressive because usually the endings are never quite up to the set up, a complaint I have been making ever since I first saw "Apocalypse Now." This volume ends with a series of words from the authors that are fairly interesting and provide more insights into what they were up to with each of their novels than you usually find in Star Trek books. Of course, if you have gotten this far you have already made up your mind on whether the entire series was worthwhile, but for me three out of four sure ain't bad.

It wasn't bad. If, however, you were happily, blissfully working your way through the Star Trek novels from a particular series (ST, TNG, DS9, or Voyager) and you came across the next book in the series, you were suddenly surprised. "Hey," you say, "This is the 9th book of the Voyager series, but it's the FOURTH book of this other series -- Invasion!" Shortly thereafter you'd say, "ARGH!!" because you'd have realized that in order to do this "right" you really have to buy all four books of the series. UGLY! While it was kind of neat to be reading a series that crossed all four ST's, I felt a bit cheated by having to spend over $20 to read the next book in a $5/book series...

This is the first book I read in the Fury series, but Hugh did a good job getting me caught up. The plot was intricate and pretty well-written (though I find the idea of our species being enslaved long ago a bit unbelievable) and the genocide dilemma was handled maturely and in character for Janeway. I was somewhat disappointed by the characterization of others though. Torres' low self-esteem had no real importance to the plot and simply was forgotten by the end. I did like the scene in the Fury prison where Neelix proved better prepared than the Starfleet crew (he made some good points too!). As usual I had some trouble with the technobabble but was able to follow the general idea. What troubled me was Hugh's note in the back of the book. He seemed very rude to other authors and acted like a jerk. I'm sorry we can't all have Engineering degrees, but that's no reason to banish us from sci-fi! Despite the aforementioned shortcomings, Final Fury was an interesting book which offered food for thought, exciting moments, and a new point of view into the characters' lives.

Yes, this is definite one of the best Voyager books up untill now. It has adventure, sharp tension, drama, and a society to explore. But on top of that it has humor. I laughed out loud when Neelix, Tuvok and Janeway conferred as to how to escape from the dungeons of the Furies; and when the doctor ....

No I won't tell you. Read it. It's worth your money.

I agree witt Kamala222. The characters are out of place, and some of the things that the crew does and some of the thing that happen to the ship just would not happen. B'Elanna Torres was not used to the equipment on the ship. If she was not used to the equipment then why was she made Chief Engineer!!! This guy needs to understand Star Trek before he begins to write about it. Especially the final book in the Invasion series. If you are a TRUE Star Trek fan you will not get this book. It stincks!!!!!!!!

I really did enjoy this lastest Star Trek Voyager book in the ST:INVASION series. I had humor, Neelix was a little annoy, but to think that we keeps an extra combadge and phaser in his boot(I always wondered why his waddled like a duck). and the Doctor was hilarious! "Ah, I see you are about to engage in some dangerously theatrical maneuvers in the middle of a supernova. Do you, by any chance, expect any casualities?" p252 I would suggest anyone to read this book for a good laugh...

I have not watched much Voyager, but I liked this book a great deal. The story was well plotted, the characters real and the tie-ins to the other books very well done. I won't spoil things, but the crew of the Voyager are worthy of being the ones to put an end to the Furies, if anyone can. Janeway is a good captain and the crew gives it their all. Enjoy the book. I did

Final Fury was pretty intresting. Since it takes place during 1st season, it falls under the first season syndrome. All the characters were not fully developed. There was some humor in it (look for the prison scene, the best in the whole book). I liked the reversal in the story at the end. If you have the time and want to read about Janeway and the crew, read this book.

This is part of a well-written series, and I think that I liked this one the best. The Furies are a great set of villains that would be good to see on the TV show. Mr. Ab Hugh has a great sense of humor, what with Neelix saying, "Oh, no you don't! You are NOT going to get me to stick my fingers in a light socket just to see what happens!" I also never would've thought to use a commbadge like the Captain does in this one (you have to read it, I won't tell you what happens). Also, a good "Trek" novel to me is one that makes me think, as this one did. Mostly it was the us-or-them principle: either save millions of lives by stopping the Furies and winding up killing them all, or leave them alone and let millions die when the Furies arrive in the Alpha Quad. Of course, I would root for the "us", but it still made me think. I agree with Dmdjaqy, and disagree with Kamala222 (sorry, but I enjoyed this one, Kamala). Read it for yourself and you be the judge.

I like most Star Trek novels. They get talky and slow sometimes, but I try to plow through them. This one was almost more than I could take. Usually I can write long reviews about the books, but this would give me a headache. The bottom line: too many character mistakes, too much description and technological dribble, and only a few memorable scenes. First of all, Hugh obviously did not backround read on the Voyager series since most of the dialogue or interaction between the characters was out of place. B'Elanna's emotional insecurity would have gone well in an early Season One novel but not Season Three. The Doctor pretty much openly admits his crush on Kes, Tom NEVER called Harry by "Kim", and Neelix would be the first one to panic in the event of a capture not the one to get them out of it (hey, I like Neelix, but it isn't him). On top of those inconsistencies, the parts with the "fear beam" and the whole B'Elanna and Redbay mission was just Blah. I'll be the first to admit that I skipped that entire part. And just one nitpick thing: did anyone else who read "Soldiers of Fear" find it odd that Kes was uneffected by the furys as Troi was? Kes had powerful telepathic abilities in the series, but didn't even use them here. Never mind, I'll be quiet now. I have to say, the only scene really worth reading the book for was when Tuvok, Janeway, and Neelix were trying to escape from the Fury's jail. Although Neelix was out of character, it was pretty funny and had the best dialogue in the book. But, I did think it was stupid they used a h--- p-- to get out (I can't give it away!). That's all. The book was, to me, a total flop. I hope Hugh gets it right the next time (I hope there never is a next time!). After all, how hard is it to read a copy of Jeri Taylor's "Pathways" or "Mosaics" (two excellent books) so that you understand the characters? I mean, jeez, you're supposed to write about what you know. Unless you are intent on completing the Fury series or have a mission to read every Star Trek book, skip this one. Period.