Cohesion

While being a Star Trek fan for many years, I was never that big of a fan of Voyager. While I liked the characters somewhat, many of the stories just fell flat. Then the re-launch came, with stories that would take place after the ship made it home, and those turned out to be abysmal. Would I ever try a Voyager book again? Thankfully, it's still possible to write a book (or series of books) taking place during the series, and make them good. String Theory: Cohesion is one of those books. Part one of three, Jeffrey Lang has captured everything I liked about the television series while ignoring (or sometimes even explaining) what I didn't like about it. While a bit too "hard science" for my taste, Lang never loses himself in technobabble, something I really appreciate. Taking place between the fourth and fifth seasons, the Voyager crew has just been disappointed by the fake promise of the U.S.S. Dauntless, a ship that was supposedly from the Federation in order to get them home sooner, but was instead a ruse. Now, continuing their journey, they stumble on a species that shouldn't exist in an area of space that also shouldn't exist. They almost crash into a Monorhan ship, a refugee from a world that is getting closer and closer to oblivion. Voyager technology and expertise may delay or prevent extinction, so Captain Janeway sends Chief Engineer B'elanna Torres and ex-Borg Seven of Nine to the planet to help. But a strange energy wave catapults Voyager into a place beyond the fabric of space time, where radiation extreme oddities in both mental and physical behaviour. Meanwhile, Seven and Torres continue sniping at each other as they try to figure out what happened to Voyager, and what they can do to help before Monorhan authorities can capture them. I'll get the minor problems out of the way first, as they won't take up much time. First, the editing job is a little rushed. Before (and shortly after) the disaster that takes place at the beginning of the book, each chapter is headed with "disaster minus 6 hours" and the like. However, these don't always match up with the pacing of the book. Janeway makes a comment about it being less than five hours since Harry Kim had mentioned the strange sensor readings, but that doesn't match the chapter heading when that actually happened. A minor annoyance, really, and something that is easily ignored. Secondly, while Neelix is certainly in character, and I can see every thought that Lang gave to him coming from the television character himself, I found that it made him even more annoying than he was on the show. So kudos to Lang for capturing him so perfectly, but I feel even more like he should be shoved out an airlock now. I just found his thinking about his own importance to the crew, as Morale Officer more than as a chef, getting on my nerves. I guess that's a compliment to the author, though it did make me wish Lang hadn't used him. Everything else in Cohesion is great, though. Lan

I haven't read other Voyager novels, so I can't compare Lang's offering to that of others, but this one seems very well done. As other reviewers have said, both the characters and the interaction between them was very true to form (with minor exceptions). The story line wasn't really unique, but interesting enough and it moved along at a good pace. What eventually occurred between B'Elanna and Seven was unique. Having them form a "Borg collective" of two in order to survive, and thus seeing them trading temperaments, speak as the other would normally, share each others thoughts and work perfectly together was interesting, funny and cleverly conceived. Apparently a couple of reviewers totally missed this major development, as they thought B'Elanna and Seven weren't themselves when in fact that was the whole idea! Seven saying "Wow" at one point and B'Elanna replying "Indeed' was just one example of many showing they had "traded" personas. It strikes me that this story could have made an TV Voyager episode better than many others (a two-parter) or could yet make a good Voyager movie for the big screen! Reading Lang's Book 1 makes you want to read Book 2 as soon as it is available. As others have expressed, I just hope that a different author doesn't ruin what is a very good beginning to this trilogy.

I am always reluctant to read the first book in a trilogy if the second and third books aren't being released in quick succession immediately afterwards. Usually if I do, and it's a really good story, I'm left feeling a bit disappointed because I know I have to wait to find out where the story goes from here. That wasn't the case with Cohesion. Not because the story wasn't good, it's great, and Cohesion definitely did leave me wanting to know what happens next. But at the same time, as I digested the final pages, I felt completely satisfied by the story and that's what impressed me most when I had finished reading Cohesion. There is a lot to impress about the story told in Cohesion. The plot is interesting and well paced, the action vividly portrayed and the characterizations of the Voyager characters the best I've read since Jeri Taylor's novel Pathways. The interaction between B'Elanna Torres and Seven of Nine, who are reluctantly forced to work together to survive, is very amusing and one of the highlights of the story. Lang also manages to address some of the inconsistencies in the way the characters were depicted in the television series, an accomplishment that fans of this series should find gratifying but luckily you don't need to be a fan of Voyager to enjoy Cohesion, just a reader who appreciates a really well told story.

I may be a bit biased here because I LOVE Star Trek Voyager. I just finished reading this last night. The conflict between Seven and B'lanna was completely entertaining and sometimes I even laughed outloud. Iron sharpens iron. They work together beautifully even while wishing to choke each other. The aliens turned out to be fascinating. At first, I didn't care for the whole "planet of the apes" type creature, but the author developed their characters very skillfully and eventually won me over. Action Kate was grand as usual. Mr. Lang did a wonderful job. This is my first J. Lang book, but I believe I will look for more from this creative author.

Kathryn Janeway has done it again. She's ordered Voyager off course to investigate an intriguing scientific anomaly, and landed herself and her crew in the middle of an alien species' survival crisis. This time the aliens are called Monorhans, and they're facing extinction because their star system exists in a region of space where the normal laws of physics don't apply. Just the sort of scientific and compassionate puzzle that Janeway - former science officer, explorer, and de facto Federation ambassador to the Delta Quadrant - can't possibly resist. Jeffrey Lang is a new author for me, although he's written novels based on other Trek series. He has the Voyager characters absolutely nailed. As I read, I often burst out laughing because he'd gotten them so right. The plot is well presented, and the Monorhans - like all good Trek species - are alien enough to be interesting, but have enough in common with Humans so we can understand and empathize with them as individuals. A terrific read! I hope the next installment of this series, which has a different author, will keep up to the high standard Mr. Lang sets in this opener.