Star Trek Gateways : What Lay Beyond [ABRIDGED] [AUDIOBOOK] (Audio Cassette)

by Peter David (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Created by the incalculably ancient Iconians, whose transcendent technology is quantum levels beyond that of the Federation and its allies, the Gateways offer instantaneous transport across unimaginable distances. Throughout the known galaxy the sudden reactivation of the Gateways has destabilized interstellar relations between planets and cultures previously separated by countless light-years. Starfleet's finest have coped with the crisis as best they can, but circumstances have forced several valiant commanders to leap through separate Gateways into the unknown.

Captain James T Kirk of the original Starship Enterprise™
Captain Jean-Luc Picard of Star Trek: The Next Generation®
Colonel Kira Nerys of Deep Space Nine
Captain Kathryn Janeway of the U.S.S. Voyager™
Captains Calhoun and Shelby of Star Trek®: New Frontier
Commander Nick Keller of the U.S.S. Challenger

All of these heroes have taken the ultimate gamble: hurling themselves through a Gateway without any knowledge of what lay beyond. Each faces a personally unique challenge, struggling to find a way back to the ships and homes they left behind.

And waiting behind at least one of the Gateways are the ageless Iconians, the primordial architects of the mysterious portals causing chaos throughout the Milky Way galaxy. Where did they disappear to, many long eons ago, and what do they want now? The answer lies on the other side...

About the Author
What Lay Beyond brings the Gateways saga to a spectacular finish, in all-star collaboration by six popular, bestselling Star Trek® authors. Among them, Diane Carey, Peter David, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Cristie Golden, Robert Greenberger, and Susan Wright have written dozens of Star Trek® novels. This is their first mega-collaboration.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio; Abridged edition (November 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743509447
• ISBN-13: 978-0743509442
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,166,457 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing and pointless, November 21, 2001

By	A. KAPLAN "Penelopecat" (Las Vegas, NV United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Gateways #7: What Lay Beyond (Star Trek) (Hardcover)

Instead of one big novel involving characters from all six current Star Trek book series, this is a collection of six short stories, each one picking up from the cliffhanger ending of each of the Gateways novels from the individual series (if that makes sense). While this sounded like a cynical marketing ploy, I had hoped that the six stories would build on each other to present some sort of unified whole, bringing the whole adventure to one grand conclusion. How wrong I was!

The Star Trek (original series), Challenger, and Voyager stories could--and probably should--have easily been included as concluding chapters in their respective books. Each one is nothing more than an epilogue to the main story. The Deep Space Nine and New Frontier stories present somewhat separate adventures, but that doesn't make them much better. In both, characters get transported to significant locations (an important historical moment for Colonel Kira, a mythical afterlife for Calhoun and Shelby) where nothing of any real consequence seems to happen. Of course, since both series present ongoing adventures, it's possible that these tales plant seeds for upcoming stories. Even if that were the case, it doesn't make these stories any less inconsequential or any more satisfying.

The Next Generation tale, longer than the other five, does, indeed, wrap up the Gateways story. But, like the other five, there's no real reason (besides financial) that this story couldn't have been included at the end of Doors Into Chaos.

Because four of the stories are completely dependent upon what came before, there is a complete lack of tension or suspense. All the big events happened in the parent novels, and all the authors have left to do in What Lay Beyond is tie up the loose ends (even when there aren't really any loose ends that need tying up). Any opportunites for suspense that could have been sustained through the other two stories are completely ignored by their authors. Frustratingly, those two authors, Peter David and Keith RA DeCandidio, have done particularly good Star Trek work in the past, which makes their lackluster contributions here even more disappointing.

So, if you followed the Gateways saga so far and need to see what happens next, I recommend waiting for the paperback. Nothing of enough consequence happens to make this an immediate must-read.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Loud sucking noise, April 22, 2002

By	P. Wales "pamw23" (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Gateways #7: What Lay Beyond (Star Trek) (Hardcover)

The loud sucking noise is the $$ being sucked out of your wallet.

Once upon a time, Star Trek hardcovers were saved for truly excellent ST stories (e.g., Spock's World, Sarek, Prime Directive, Pathways). Then they slipped a notch, but were still *decent* reads (e.g., Best Destiny, Imzadi, Shadows on the Sun, Kahless). Then the quality slipped another notch, but the books were still worth buying used ... or borrowing from the public library (e.g., Genesis Wave (Books I and II), Imzadi II, I,Q., Warped).

And once upon a time, even the "series" books were pretty decent reads (e.g., Invasion, Millennium, Section 31).

But, now...a whole new low!

The editors really missed the mark with this finale to a rather interesting premise. They should have just added a few more pages to each of the other six books in the series (especially considering how much paperbacks cost these days!) and saved the hardcover (and my $$) for a really GOOD book, instead of engaging in this marketing ploy to part us from our hard-earned cash.

Borrow this one from the library (just to read the TNG part)...don't even waste money on it from the used book store, unless you can find it for less than a buck.

I used to just be disappointed in the way the novels are "slipping" in quality - but now, I'm really angry. Listen up, ST editors at PocketBooks: Here's one Star Trek fan who will be very wary of all of those "Book X of Y" series that seem to be all that you can publish lately. In fact, I will no longer buy a single one until after the whole "set" is released, so I can see what I'm getting first!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars could have been something more, January 18, 2002

By	"ja1864" (Miami, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gateways #7: What Lay Beyond (Star Trek) (Hardcover)

The book was a disappointment like many of the reviewers have stated here. I did enjoy the NF and DS9 stories. The DS9 in particular for me was excellent. I thought the weakest was the Challenger story and it seemed to be the one that had the least connection with the whole Gateway story. The other stories refer to each other a little but the Challenger one nothing at all. It's a separate universe bascially. I also felt that the ending really was lacking. Basically the book like the series had it's high point and low points.