Customer Reviews

Star Trek: Voyager: String Theory #3: Evolution (Bk. 3)

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

 

 

This isn't a bad book but in comparison to the first two installments of the "String Theory" saga, this one was average and simply not as satisfying. Heather Jarman is a great writer and I've enjoyed her Star Trek fiction but I felt to some degree, she took on a lot or chose to wrap up the three part series in a rather light, less epic, at times corny manner.

The book was nearly 400 pages and I felt a lot of it was rather unnecessary or executed in a less than successful manner. It felt like a Voyager reunion more so than an end to the "String Theory" series. We have the regular Voyager characters, the "aliens of the week", Q, the Caretaker species and Kes ... all in one book. The plot goes into typical series anniversary mode by spending time attempting to explain something about the show, some aspect that we need to know and once revealed, will blow our minds. The plot here is basically about who the Caretakers are, how they came to the Delta Quadrant and what happened to Kes after the episodesn"The Gift" and "Fury". It sounds good, but there seemed to be a lot to get through just to get to the good parts.

The Q-plot seemed a bit much at times- the comic relief, the plot that completely seemed to be a distraction to the actual interesting stuff. It felt like the characters were kept apart a bit; Janeway is mentioned throughout the book but only appears in the last pages of the book. The Doctor and Kes have their own plot, Tom and Harry have another plot, the rest of the Voyager crew and some lower deck characters appear. It seems like a lot to keep up with.

Other than that, it was an okay book. I appreciated the Kes-plot, though it seems like now she's used or a part of any Voyager three-part series. It was nice getting more info on the Nacene (the Caretakers) and how they came to be so influential in the Delta Quadrant and Voyager history. This book, as you can tell by the cover, did focus in on The Doctor but his plot was competing against many others and didn't truly get interesting until the later half of the book.

In all, it was a good book but in my opinion, the weakest of the "String Theory" series. It was a bit of a let down in comparison to the other two books, and I felt as if the plot or focus wavered from the previous two novels. Perhaps there was too much taken on, or the focus was more on creating a "Tenth-Anniversary Odyssey" as the cover tag line boasts. Still better than the last two books released in the Voyager Relaunch series though and was a nice incorporation of Kes and an explanation of different parts and aspects of the series that we never got with watching the show.

Right off the bat, let me just say I hate it when they switch writers within a trilogy. The style changes, the characterization changes and the focus shifts. It's a bad idea. The most disappointing part of this book was that I actually enjoyed the first two in the series. By the time I got to this turd I was already two books into the story, so I had to suffer through the rest of this book. It couldn't be helped. Anyway, there were too many seperate storylines; too much focus on bland, original characters... just too much. The author tried to throw so many different things in this book that even the interesting plotlines were trimmed down to fit everything in. I picture the brainstorming session going something like this:
The author (unmarried) sits in her study (living room) alone (with her cat). Suddenly in a geyser of creativity, ideas explode into her brain: Q... Kes... The Caretaker... sick Janeway ...missing Doctor ...Harry Kim/Alien romance ...Seven's stuggles to feel human ...original characters that may eventually lead to a spin-off series of their own and ultimately my fame and respect as an author... and so on. It resulted in a crowded, uneven Voyager novel and an unsatisfying, "Well I'm glad everythings okay, guys" conclusion to an otherwise decent series. My Nugget: Skip this series. The first two are fun, but not worth the anticlimactic climax.

This book was rife with misspelled words and other editorial oversights, ruining an otherwise interesting read. Star Trek readers generally have above average intelligence. Pocket Books, please provide them the courtesy of properly editing the manuscript prior to publication.

I thought this was a descent ending to the triogy I think it would have been better If the writing style was different. it was mostly a narritve style format but I like the person to person interaction better and book 3 did not have that as much as the other 2.

I know it is not easy to write novels, so I will try not to be too critical here. As a diehard Voyager fan, I was instantly disappointed that the author left Janeway out of the entire book, and just when things with the Nacene battle started to get good, the author takes out Torres! The 2 biggest heros of the series are MIA. The book was narrated too much. It got boring. I loved the first two in the series. This author needs to watch Voyager a few more times to understand the appeal. (especially the appeal to female trekkies) Other than that, God bless her for trying to write star trek... sci fi is difficult.

And with Evolution, the String Theory trilogy of Star Trek: Voyager books comes to an end. Heather Jarman is given the task of wrapping up the cosmic events that took place in the first two books (Cohesion and Fusion). I have enjoyed Jarman's writing in the past, even as I've criticized some other aspects of the books (the characters, for example), but this time, she gives us the complete package. The only problem is that it's a bit too technical at times for my taste, and the technobabble billows forth now and then. I found that I had trouble getting into the book every so often, but Jarman's characterizations always brought me back. That, and the book does eventually find its footing. It's probably the worst book in the trilogy, but that's only because the other two were so good.

Captain Janeway lies comatose in sickbay, a victim of an alien known as a Nacene, who masqueraded as Janeway's sister, Phoebe. The holographic Doctor has disappeared, and a shuttle carrying Harry Kim and Tom Paris has also disappeared, presumably destroyed. Meanwhile, the strange space that Voyager was trapped in is affecting reality, and things are only getting worse. A war between two branches of Nacene, one faction working to maintain the strings that govern the universe's existence, the other engaging in a long attempt at freedom, may be coming to a head, and Voyager may get caught in the crossfire. And what does Q have to do with all this? Can he really be as benevolent as he seems? Or is it because he's in trouble again and only Tom and Harry can get him out of it? It all comes together in a conflict that bridges time and space, and the dimensions in between. If one side wins, reality as we know it will be fundamentally altered. But perhaps there's a third way?

Jarman does a great job characterizing the Voyager crew, and the book holds together despite the disparate viewpoints we're given. Chakotay is in command now that Janeway's incapacitated, and he has to figure out how to replace the officers who have disappeared. His indecision is palpable, and there's a great scene where he and Neelix talk around the fact that he doesn't really know what to do. The gossip mill can pay off, it seems. Since Janeway's out of the picture, we don't get to see much pining from Chakotay like we saw in the previous books (especially Fusion). Instead, it spans the entire crew as they miss their captain. Still, Chakotay gets to be solid when he needs to be, and the scenes between B'Elanna and Seven (along with everyone else) make the Voyager sequences shine.

Not quite as successful, though still extremely fun, are the scenes in the Q Continuum. Jarman captures Q so perfectly that I could almost hear John DeLancie speaking the lines. The interaction between Q and our intrepid pair (especially Harry) is priceless. However, I've always found the Continuum to be extremely dull, even as authors make it whatever they want to and then say that the characters are seeing it through their perceptions. This time, we get a university setting (along with a female, q, who Kim gets a crush on), as well as an inter-dimensional casino where heavy-hitters can bet star systems and make them blow up at the point of a finger. At times, these things are interesting, but not always. There are some extremely slow parts here. Overall, however, the sequences work.

I can't say that as much with the Doctor and his trip into the past (I won't tell you where, as that would be a spoiler). This started out very slowly, and I found myself not really caring that much. Once we find out where he is, it picks up a little bit, but even then it tends to drag at times. Only when the Nacene get involved, and the Doctor begins forming the relationships that will end up being very important for the book, do these sequences get really interesting. Yes, it started out intriguing to see the Doctor have to deal with being flesh and blood rather than photons, but even that got old after a while. Thankfully, once things start happening, Jarman once again gives us great characterization that make the passages wonderful to read. Even the characters are good!

Jarman ties everything together beautifully at the end, though the timing of some it is only really plausible because Q's involved. Still, Voyager has to fight on its own until this happens, and there are consequences that are not erased, which is good. The climax comes a bit earlier than expected, as she then has to not only tie everything up, but lead directly into the fifth season of the television show (the series takes place between the two seasons). She manages to hit all the points, explaining some of Janeway's erratic behaviour, showing us where the Void that is featured in the first episode of the season came from, and explaining Janeway's sudden introspection. She even touches on the change in B'Elanna's personality that made her an Extreme Sports advocate in one of the episodes, where it's claimed that she's been driving herself to extensive risk out of a sense of obligation to her dead Maquis brethren back in the Alpha Quadrant. Some might say Jarman spends a bit too much time setting this all up to make it perfect, but that can sometimes be the fun of Trek fiction; filling in the holes that the television series.

Given everything she had to work with, I think Jarman did a masterful job finishing off this series. Evolution doesn't always work, but Jarman's writing will always get you through the slower spots, and her deft characterization will make the bright spots even better. This entire trilogy is the masterpiece that the Voyager re-launch could have been. Pick this up instead.

David Roy

The Monorhans, a sapient species spawned as one more accidental consequence of activity by "exploring" Nacene (remember what those explorers unintentionally did to Ocampa?), are down to one vast shipload of survivors. Their star system exists apart from the rest of our universe, and Acting Captain Chakotay needs to get Voyager out of Monorhan space before the forces destroying it finish their work. Of course he wants to save those survivors. He must find a way to recover the ship's holographic Doctor, or do without a competent medic for the rest of Voyager's lifetime-long homeward journey; and he wants - almost above all else - to see Captain Janeway back in her command chair. That's another reason for needing the Doctor returned from whatever Q or Nacene dimension has snatched him, because Janeway lies comatose - to all intents and purposes, already dead - after aiding a Monorhan escape to the Nacenes' Exosia. And that's just part of the plot setup that author Jarman inherits, and resolves, in Evolution's pages...whew.

I applaud Jarman's knowledge of the Voyager characters and their history, and I'm sure many fans will read this tale with delight as she works to make its events provide background for the series' subsequent episodes. Personally I found it less enjoyable than the trilogy's first two installments, though, because I buy a Voyager novel expecting plenty of Janeway. This time I got almost none. Also, I was thoroughly annoyed by what felt to me like a clumsy attempt to explain my favorite Trek captain's behavior later on the Voyager time line.

That's the book's only misstep, though, and other readers may not react to it as I did. Jarman is a fine writer, and - despite my personal disappointment with her handling of Kathryn Janeway - she pulls the trilogy's many plot threads together very competently indeed.

I enjoyed the series; this is last in a set of three. This was good reading but bogged down with to much detail about the charters thoughts or what it was going through. There are several areas where you could skip a couple of paragraphs and not miss a beat. With that said I don't hesitate in recommending it.

I really enjoyed the first two installments of this trilogy and actually this book wasn't bad until about chapter 6. I don't know if there was a writer change, an editor change or what but the book TANKS badly. Poorly written from there out. Characters... well, plain out of character. It does the job of closing the series for sure but I was rather disappointed with the story teller.

I love Star Trek. I read the 1st 2 books of String Theory and had to read the 3rd book to end the story line. The publisher or someone changed the author. This book was tedious to read. I plodded through it because it's STAR TREK.