Customer Reviews

Homecoming (Star Trek Voyager Book One of Two) (Pt.1)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Star Trek - Voyager Homecoming Book One written by Christie Golden is an excellent read. "Homecoming" begins where "Engame" left off and it is a well-written story as it kept my interest and I finished it in one afternoon.

As we read on in the book, U.S.S. Voyager has come home, but the welcoming mat is not what it is supposed to be. Yes, Golden has put some twist and turns into the story as we get to meet the major character's families. There is good character development as the author fills us in on the details of their respective families.

As the crew gets acquainted with their families things get heated up in Starfleet... Starfleet is more dark in attitude and after the Dominion War things have changed. Now, distrust seems to more of the norm as things begin to fall apart as the crew of the Voyager are gathered up and questioned as to a Borg virus outbreak on planet Earth. The Doctor is kept prisioner for his tangental part in a hologram revolt and is scheduled for reprogramming equivalent to a lobotomy. Seven and Icheb are getting weaker by the day as they no longer have a regeneration chamber.

This book has very descriptive writing and you can picture the characters in your mind as they go through their trials. B'Elanna is on Boreth searching for her long lost mother in the nude with some awful smelling ointment spread all over her body. And there is major posturing by the admirals within Starfleet itself.

Interestingly enough Harry Kim's love life is... well, it's normal for Harry as Libby Webber is an undercover agent with Starfleet Intelligence and is trying to find a mole within Starfleet. There is a lot going on in this book as it does a very good job of setting up the conclusion for book 2 "The Farther Shore."

For telling a really good engrossing story with a well developed plot, mystery, and intrigue I gave it a solid 5 star rating. Others may think it is a weak story but I really don't think they've read the complete book. This book piques my interest to read the next book "The Farther Shore." Time is running out and Captain oops, Admiral Kathryn Janeway and her crew seek the help of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Will they be able to save Earth from complete Borg infestation? The answer to that question is... To Be Continued.

I guess I'm a bit late in the whole Star Trek Voyager realm. Since SpikeTV has been rerunning Voyager, and I have been ill, I indulged myself in seven years worth of Voyager in a matter of months. Having watched all of the other Star Trek series, and shunning this one early in its original showings due to my dislike of Captain Janeway as portrayed by Kate Mulgrew, I admit that I was wrong! I really came to like the series, the characters and even the spunkiness and intelligence as portrayed by Ms. Mulgrew. Watching it all the way through in a matter of months, I was able to see how Captain Janeway grew from what I thought was much overemoting by Mulgrew to a more controlled, intelligent and enjoyable character. I became a fan late in its life.

So, when I found Homecoming (and subsequently The Farther Shore), the sequels and resolution to this series, which I felt definitely was left dangling, I was almost shamefully thrilled (I used to say to such people - "Get a life!").

There is no doubt that Homecoming will never be up there with the greatest fiction in human history, but it does carry on the one reason I loved Voyager - the optimism that humanity can rise above its current state of testeronocity (my new word for too much technology, too little evolution in human emotional control).

During this time of political chaos (which has, for the first time, had me tuning out the world around me), I have loved immersing myself in a television series which tries to transcend politics to a place where we all accept each other without prejudice, no matter that we are matter or photons or whatever.

As for this story being preposterous - come on!! The whole premise of the original story of Voyager (being hurtled 70,000 light years from the Alpha Quadrant by a Caretaker) would be preposterous to many humans today. And photon torpedoes? Does anyone know they really don't exist? Neither do phasers or warp drive or for all we know, any of the many species encountered by the whole Star Trek genre.

Lighten up and enjoy it for what it is. And also - after watching the series and then reading these sequels as written by Christie Golden - I'd say she did an amazing job at not only writing quality fiction, but in keeping the characters true to their original screen personalities. Frankly, if I wanted dark and true-to-life humanity, I'd play one of the many violent games available today. I'd watch one of the many CSI-type shows all over the tube today. It seems we go from one end to the other. Either we are offered death and mayhem on the CSI's or T and A and sex on Las Vegas or Boston Legal or the extreme silliness of the many game shows today.

Star Trek, all of them, tried to embody the philosophy that humanity can rise above all of that and become better. Particularly STNG and Voyager offered us "smart" shows where I always left feeling better about the world. Hope and triumph were always the underlying themes. Not blood, gore and sex. I'd say that Christie Golden manages to capture this, and give us some good entertaining reading in the process.

Christie Golden, in her new Star Trek Voyager novel, Homecoming, has created a story that captures the same spirit and characterization of all of our beloved heroes from the TV series.
Homecoming picks up right where Voyager ended: the crew are now back in the Alpha Quadrant after their seven year journey from the Delta Quadrant.

All of the former crew of the U.S.S. Voyager meet up with the loved ones they left behind, including Captain Janeway, who is soon promoted to Admiral. Her former fiancee Mark makes an appearance with his wife and infant son. Even Ensign Kim (now a lieutenant) reunites with his former lover, Libby, although she now possesses a secret she is forbidden to tell him.

As a special surprise, we also get to see Captain Picard and Counselor Troi in cameos, both of Star Trek The Next Generation fame.

This book is part one of two and chronicles two separate story lines that will be presumably concluded with the second book. One arc entails a hologram revolution sparked by the Doctor's original holonovel, "Photons Be Free." And the other story follows a strange Borg-virus that seems to appear spontaneously in younger children and elderly adults, with no cure in sight.

A Starfleet admiral suspects Admiral Janeway and the Voyager crew (because of the ship's newly acquired technology from the Borg and the future) to be the cause of this new virus. Seven of Nine and Icheb, both former drones, are imprisoned as prime suspects.

Overall it was a very enjoyable book, easy to read, and a quick page turner. This is a must for all Voyager fans who loved the show and want to see their favorite characters' lives continued. Hopefully this book and its counterpart will be but the first in a new series that can chronicle their further adventures.

Only one downpoint--there is never any communication with the one Voyager crewmember who was unable to complete the journey back to the Alpha Quadrant--Neelix. But hopefully we will see him in the next book.

Although I have mixed feelings regarding this author's writing I attempted to read this book since I was a big fan of the television show, Star Trek Voyager. Quite frankly, this was a big disappointment for me. There are too many continuity errors from the television series to the book. I found that certain situations were glossed over too quickly without explanation, and other pertinent details about characters had been changed. It's almost as if the author didn't watch the show and wasn't aware of how the characters had changed and evolved on the show.
In addition, writing style is too much in the typical "romance novel" style for my liking.
Finally, zero points for plot originality. The Borg were used extensively in the television show, indeed many fans claimed overuse. And the holographic rights plots were done to death in the final season. Overall, I would have liked to have seen some originality in a relaunch novel.
I really don't feel this book does the characters justice.

"Homecoming" by Christie Golden is the first post-Star Trek Voyager book to released. This book picks right up after the events in "Endgame." While I enjoyed the begiinging of the book, "Homecoming" quickly turn in the The Doctor/Seven of Nine/Janeway book. I have admit that when this happen that I began to lose interest. Ms. Golden only spent two or three chapters on Voyager's return and then brought up Holograms rights and the Borg. I would have been more interested on the crew was doing on being home for the first time in seven years. Also, Ms. Golden missed a great chance to tie up the storylines on of minor characters that fates were never know to the viewers/readers. Would I read the second book in the series? Most likely, but I may wait it hit the used bookstore.

The most difficult aspect of this duology is separating personal expectations from what actually happens in the book. Whether or not you'll enjoy reading it really depends on whether or not you agree with the direction and attitude that is taken. More specifically, whether you agree with the despicable actions directed against some members of Voyager's crew in the latter half of the book. In the enlightened universe that Gene Roddenberry created, it's always dissapointing to see people's actions ruled by fear and paranoia. The excuse offered is that the Dominion War only recently ended, and the Federation is not the place it once was.

I did enjoy the first half of the book. It was good to revisit these characters. Especially interesting is seeing how Janeway goes from being the Captain we all knew on Voyager, to the Admiral we eventually see in Star Trek: Nemesis. We see Seven of Nine getting to know her new family. And Harry Kim reacquaints himself with an old flame...with a twist. What else did you expect with Harry Kim?

What stops me from giving this book an extra star, is that I totally disagree with the approach taken towards Voyager's return. I believe that the Federation would be absolutely rapturous at their voyage home. After years of war, Voyager's homecoming would be the perfect morale booster. A way of reminding the Federation that there's more to life than just war and conflict.

Fortunately, Marco Palmieri and co. offer an explanation for the actions in homecoming in later novels 'Articles of the Federation' and the 'A Time To...' maxi series. It does put these events into a much better context. Unfortunately, these retcons came far too late.

I should say from the outset that I read the second one ("The Farther Shore") immediately after the first, so that definitely affected my opinion. These are not books in a series so much as one large book released as two, so BUY THEM BOTH. This review is essentially for both of them since it's difficult (and inadvisable) to treat them as independent novels.

To address some of the concerns in other reviews: I found the "continuity errors" to be VERY minor (in fact, the ones that I noticed would only be picked up by very serious nitpicking fans such as myself: I've seen every episode and many more than once). The supposedly major ones listed by other readers were either fully explained (perhaps they missed it) or obviously just poor wording that was foolishly ambiguous. As for the quality of writing, I've read many Star Trek books in my day, and I found it to be on par with most others. Stylistically, I don't think that Golden would be in the cream of the crop, but she's nowhere near the bottom either. The plot did invoke several issues that had been dealt with in the series, but I think that rather than it being due to lack of creativity, it was simply a matter of the author devising a plot that seems plausible. Is the idea that Seven, Icheb, and the Doctor might have problems upon coming home revolutionary? No, of course not. But I think that it's very plausible, and I would have been irritated by any "homecoming" book that didn't address these obvious issues.

Both books kept me absolutely riveted. More so than the vast majority of Star Trek books I've read. I stayed up until 5 am to finish the second one in the very same night that I started the first because I knew I'd get no sleep otherwise. I had some reservations about the new characters, but I think that they contributed nicely to the way the plot was set up. The readers are privy to far more information than the heroes without being told from the very beginning just what's being done by whom in the villain camp. This is no mystery novel, but most other Star Trek books I've read were very uninspiredly (is that a word?) straightforward by comparison.

Now, for why I didn't give it 5 stars: I have mixed feelings about the time spent on characters. I have very set ideas about who each character is and what does and does not make sense for them, so on the one hand I didn't want Golden to bite off more than she could chew in terms of character development. However, as the characters are the primary reason I watched the show and read the books, I wanted her to take on more responsibility than, say, the average Voyager book up to this point has had. Essentially, I want writers to develop them only if they do it MY way: I want to have my cake and eat it too. So I'm hesitant to be overly critical. I did not like Janeway's subplot because I thought that it seemed improbable, bizarre, and arbitrarily chosen. I also disliked the direction she took B'Elanna in the very end for a somewhat less sophisticated reason: It was plausible but just not particularly to my liking. And one other character was radically developed in a way that was a little off the wall but ultimately worked very well with the plot in my opinion. There were a few instances where I thought that her dialogue was a bit off (primarily with Seven), but that may have just been MY interpretations of characters conflicting with hers (and perhaps mainstream viewers) on insignificant word choices. I also noticed in a couple of places that Golden chose not to acknowledge the histories established by Jeri Taylor's books "Mosaic" and "Pathways" (or perhaps she hasn't read them, though I doubt that). This was a fascinating choice in my opinion, since Taylor's books are arguably closer to being considered canon than Golden's.

Conclusion: Highly recommended for people who genuinely liked the show. If you forced yourself to watch because you felt obligated to support Star Trek but never got into the characters or are sick and tired of the Borg, then don't bother. You'll undoubtedly find more to complain about. If you're not sure you want to spend the money (or if you're a poor college student such as myself), see if you can get your local library to order them.

Cristie Golden proves her amaturish writing skills with this Voyager novel. Broken into two books (when in truth the text of both novels was "expanded" over 250+ pages which could have been compiled in one book)the story quickly bogs down with too much going on, yet not enough happening. The story starts out well enough, however, on top of the Voyager crew, Golden adds in a number of other characters, and even focuses far too much on her additional characters, pushing some of the Voyager crew off to the side.

The story not only pushes and pulls the reader into multiple scenarios, there are too many breaks, and the story is so fragmented and chopped that most events become boring and uninspiring.

Don't look for any excitement, as after putting Homecoming down, I felt like I had read my first romance novel. At the very least the book feels like a soap opera with the multiple characters and the constant discription of "handsome men", or "boring men" strewn about. Any of Golden's male creations of consequence just happen to be strikingly gorgeous and compassionate. We spend too much time learning about Libby Webber than seeing what Harry Kim, Tom Paris, or even Tuvok are doing. There is definetly an "Ally McBeal/Sex in the City" attitude with this dull creation of a character.

Forget originality, Golden beats us over the head with more Borg and Holograms, something the series itself ran dry long ago. My personal advice; leave this one on the shelf, and let the series end where it did. This novel lacks creativity, and I'd even dare to say knowledge or understanding of much of the actual series.

Readable and passably well-written, Christie Golden's story picks up where the final Voyager TV episode, "Endgame," leaves off. The crew's reunions with their families and friends are handled in sufficient detail without excessive repetition for different characters: comparing Janeway & Mark with Tuvok & T'Pel is actually quite amusing! Including Picard and Troi was a nice touch. Pity about Seven rejecting Chakotay right after the happy ending they both deserved.
There isn't much real originality to the story, however. The main themes - holographic rights and the Borg threat - are spun out unimaginatively from the TV series, although it thankfully qualifies the apparent total defeat of the Borg in "Endgame," as I didn't want to believe that they could be wiped out so easily! The author might have further developed elements of alienation felt after 7 years away, or how technology and society might have changed as a result of the Dominion War.
The one decent innovation was to make Libby Webber a real character with her own secrets and agenda - not just a welcome-home treat for Harry Kim. And who was Lyssa Campbell? Maybe I missed the TV episode in which she guested, or maybe Golden just invented her: a questionable thing to do, instead of using one of the more interesting guest crewmembers such as Mortimer Harron or Tal Selless.
Overall, the book does cover a lot of decent emotional ground and sets the scene for a potentially fascinating second installment. But seeing that a sizeable excerpt from this story was included in the novelisation of "Endgame" - TWO YEARS ago - one wonders why we have waited so long for the whole thing. Is Golden just a slow writer (like me?), or was there some unsavoury and unnecessary diffculty getting copyright approval for a series follow-up? One hopes that the wait for "Homecoming" Book 2 won't be quite as protracted, since Book 1 has succeeded in in grabbing one's interest. It could have been much better in its own right, though.

This is not a bad story, aside from two large flaws.

The first large flaw is, of course, that it's just the BEGINNING of a story; as anyone who has read a number of my reviews probably knows, I almost always dock a book one star for failing to tell a complete story within its pages. If you like "contuinued next time, same Bat Time, same Bat Channel" stories, feel free to consider this a four-star review, although I'll admit to being even MORE annoyed with the fact that this book failed to be a complete story than I usually am, in that the fact that it was "Book One of One" was not nearly clearly enough marked; the cover said nothing about it, nor did the spine. The rear cover mentions it in very tiny print. I will grant that the current Amazon entry for it clearly labels it such, but I'm not certain that it did when I ordered it. What's more, the conclusion is not "Homecoming, Book 2 of 2". It is "The Farther Shore", which I also didn't realize was not a complete story in its own right when I bought it.

The other problem that I have with this book, other than the lack of a conclusion, is that the plotline once again follows a tried and true Star Trek plotline which has been done to death, and which I've long since grown sick of: Starfleet Admirals who are, at best, idiots with a chip on their shoulders, and at worst traitors. Is it REALLY likely that there would be SO MANY incompetent admirals in an organization that has so many admirable captains? Really? It seems that it's an old failsafe for an author struggling to find sufficient conflict for a Star Trek novel: require the characters to fight their own bureaucracy, as well as whatever outside threat presents itself. Frankly, it's gotten to the point where any such plot automatically loses a star, just as an incomplete story loses a star.