Customer Reviews

Pathways (Star Trek: Voyager)

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I read the book Pathways by Jeri Taylor and it was absolutely terrific. Pathways does not start out slow like some books, it jumps head first into the action. Chakoty,Tuvoc,Tom,Neelix,Seven,B'elana,Harry,and Kes are seprarated from Voyager, and are imprisoned in a disese ridden internment camp. That is run by a hostile race of aliens. but the true chalenge is to get out of this awful situtation alive. To pass the time while they are in a shaby patched together tent, they each in turn tell the story of their life before comming to Voyager. This book like Imzadi tells the unknown story behind each of the charcter's lives and gives new insite into the dynamics of each of the charcters. And it also explains the reasons behind some of their little personaity quarks, that you just could never figure out watching the show. This book is not only written well it is technicaly accurate in part because it is written by the Co-Creator of the series.I loved it and I STRONGLY recomend it to anybody that is a fan of any of the Star Trek series. But, you(HaHaHa)don't have to take my word for it.

Since this was written by one of VOYAGER's cocreators, and since some material from MOSAIC actually appeared in a few episodes, I expected this to be the authoritative collection of backstories for each of the characters. Unfortunately it isn't; there were a slew of contradictions between what was presented here and what was deemed "official" by what was dropped here and there in episodes, and that's why it lost a star. The book says Harry's Academy roommate was George Mathers, but the episode "The Cloud" says it was James MacAllister. Torres' mother's name is Prabsa here, but was revealed to be Miral in "Barge of the Dead." There's no mention of Paris' desire to join the Federation Naval Patrol instead of Starfleet as he explained in "Thirty Days." However, it did give some interesting looks into possible backstories for them, such as Chakotay and Harry having the same officer shepherd them during their respective plebe summers at Starfleet Academy, Neelix's drug addiction, Tuvok's original plan to be a priest, and Paris being in the same Maquis cell as Chakotay and Torres.

First, forget the plot synopsis, shown in this listing, about Capt. Janeway lying near death. The fact that this isn't the premise (probably an early idea that was later discarded) isn't important, because the plot is simply a device for letting each character tell his or her life story. This is a *good* thing, as opposed to those lifeless Star Trek books that treat the characters as one-dimensional props to keep the "action" moving along. (But there's still plenty of excitement in these stories.) "Pathways" is basically a companion to "Mosaic," which gave us Capt. Janeway's life story. This one tells us the history of each of the other Voyager crew members, with some familiar material along with a lot of surprises. The stories are richly detailed, and crafted with an obvious love for this group of people who were thrown together by fate. However, this kind of book leaves itself wide open to nit-picking by those who have memorized every d! ! etail of the Voyagers' stories from the TV series and the previous books. And, indeed, there are some discrepancies here, even within the book itself--as when Neelix bemoans the fact that he didn't share much of his past with Kes, then during Kes' story we hear how he spent his first weeks with her telling her all about his life, including his drug addiction and agonizing withdrawal. Yes, I noticed some of these slipups, and couldn't help mentally comparing the "Pathways" storylines with what's been established already, even though I'm not a hardcore Trekker. So I wish that the research and continuity had been given more attention. However, this is still a terrific book, one that I enjoyed reading very much. I bought this in hardback and it was worth the extra expense--it's definitely a keeper.

I immensely enjoyed this book. It gave me deeper insight into the lives of the senior officers on board the ill-fated USS Voyager. I don't wish to give away the story however although some information strays from "previously" known information, it was well written and very emotionally written. I'd also like to mention that there are two instances of homosexual couples...I am not gay however, I do know that many gay Star Trek fans have been lobbying for a homosexual charachter and I commend Jeri Taylor for pulling it off nicely.

It also seems that when Taylor first wrote it, it had not been decided between the powers that be, that Kes would depart and Seven would appear. It appears that she delayed release until some backstory was created about Seven and included her and I must say that Taylor very nicely included Kes' backstory too, which I might hint at being one of the best stories....(Tuvok's was really, really good).

I would recommend this book to any! one who absolutely loved Mosaic, about Kathryn Janeway. Although Pathways doesn't go so deeply into their lives, the stories that are told are pretty intense and emotional for only what seems a short story. Captain Janeway does make an appearance with an outcome that may surprise you.

Even though Taylor has departed amiacably from Star Trek Voyager, I hope that she will continue writting more Trek books, especially ones about the Delta Quadrant Starfleet.

This review is not likely to be much use to anyone. Feel free to say so. The other reviews talk about the quality of the stories and the connector story; they (the stories) vary in quality. I won't. I think that another aspect of the book was just plain shoddy.
My grievice is that it was set in the wrong time period. (And yes, the setting for the connection story was lousy. A better idea would have been that they were passing through an unbeleivably boring region of space and told each other their stories to pass time.)
But the real problem is this: Chakotay, Neelix, Tom Paris, B'Elanna Torres, Tuvok and Kes tell stories. But the characters who are in the "now" part of the story are Chakotay, Neelix, Paris, Torres, Tuvok, Seven of Nine, Vorik, and maybe someone else. It's okay that no story was given for Vorik (I like him, but he's a minor character) but Seven tells no story, even though the book is evidantly timed so that she can do that. Kes, who tells her story in a dream to Neelix (possible with her abilities, not likely, and a REALLY awkward plot device) is no longer with Voyager. That is just plain stupid. If the author wanted to tell Kes's story but not Seven's, then the author should've set the story while Kes is on Voyager and Seven isn't. Rant ended.

It also has a great many mediocre points; it doesn't really have any BAD points.

This, like Taylor's previous "Voyager" novel, "Mosaic", is a frame story, in which we have flashbacks to the background lives of the "Voyager" characters framed by a "current" "Voyager" story. In that book, the flashbacks gave us some insight into the life of Captain Janeway; in this one, we get somewhat shorter bios of Harry Kim, Chakotay, Tom Paris, Neelix, Kes, and Tuvok.

The backstories are what make this book worth reading (as was the case in "Mosaic"); the actual "Voyager" story is rather weak, as is the excuse for giving us the backstories; ostensibly, the characters are taking turns telling each other their life stories. (Kes is the exception; only Neelix "hears" hers, and that's either in a dream or a telepathic contact, since this story takes place after she has left the ship.) This concept would have been much more plausible, and have been much more impressive writing (albeit certainly more difficult to write) had the chapters involving the characters' histories been told in their own voices, instead of staying with omniscient (and impersonal) narrator. Granted, had the story been written that way, it would have been hard to convey SOME of the information that was conveyed, but it would also have done a MUCH better job of giving insight into the personality of the characters.

All in all, it was interesting to hear the backstories, but the framework in which those backstories were told was rather weak.

One of my favorite things about the Star Trek universe is the characters that many of us Trekkers grow to know and love. This book is one of the first of its kind: a sort of biography of them, and I hope many others like it will be made. Jeri Taylor does a wonderful job in clearing up some of the misunderstandings in Voyager's crew. "Pathways" is a collection of short stories about most of Voyager's main crew. I say most because Seven of Nine has her book "Seven of Nine" and "Mosaic" belongs to Captain Janeway. (Now is my turn to gripe a bit: the Doctor, who is one of my favorites, is barely mentioned here. His story would be one of the most interesting in my opinion. I think he should have a book to himself, like an autobiography written in his perspective. Perhaps a take on his holonovel in the episode "Author. Author." I digress.) Besides the three mentioned above, the main characters have their own life stories here. My opinion on them is: Chakotay's and Harry's were rather dull, B'Elanna's started out pretty cool but dropped of when Tom saved her, Tom's is average, Tuvok's is a B+, and Neelix's and Kes's were the best (by the way, Kes is included via a dream of Neelix. I think she should get her own book too). Now my ideas may not coincide with everyone else's, but I have freedom of speech. The main plot is pretty boring, with Voyager's crew being held in a concentration camp minus Janeway. To amuse themselves, they tell each other their life stories which are collected in the book. I began to read the book normally but couldn't keep myself from falling asleep, so I just read the biographies, skipping the bits in between. Somehow I doubt I missed much. I liked the book pretty well. The three best stories are Kes's, Neelix's, and Tuvok's in that order. Now, instead of reading the entire book again, I just read those three. If you're a Voyager fan, do yourself a favor and get this book. While you're at it, you might as well pick up "Mosaics" and "Seven of Nine" to complete the series. Give yourself a weekend to read them and you'll be a whole lot smarter. Happy reading!

Before I read this book, I looked at book reviews from different readers. I became wary because at the time, I found that many people disliked the book, but I bought it and read it anyway. It was REALLY good! Mrs. Taylor did a wonderful job with the background stories (Especially Chakotay and Harry's). I thought that the camp situation was really interesting and I wish more would've been said about that, but I understand that the porpose for the book was to explore the characters, the camp just set the reason for telling them. This really is a book worth reading!

Of all the Star Trek books, the most important to read are the ones that do the pre-tv character development. This one combines a story line that is really more of a hindrance to the book than anything else with fascinating and captivating explanations of certain characters' voyage to Voyager. Ignore the main plot and concentrate on the stories.

A big book with a nice cover, a good start. However Patways fails where it counts the most. The book tells the story of the senior officers of Voyager, as told by themselves . The stories are little books by themselves completely dismembered from the main story. There are no interruptions or questions from the other members while the stories are being told. While they are accounts of themselves, stories are told in a third person perspective. The book seems to be stitched together. Important characters don't even say a word after 300 pages! they are just sitting there, like paper characters. The stories are pretty good, the problem is how everything is put up together. There's even a gay character in this book, which seems to complicate the matter. Furthermore some characters stories do not match their TV profile (specially Kim's). Jerry Taylor could have done certainly better. It's readable, and sometimes fun, but expect nothing more.