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Star Trek: Voyager #13
The Black Shore
After weeks of lonely journeys through a desolate region fo the Delta Quadrant, the crew of Voyager is badly in need of shore leave, so the planet Ryolanov seems just what the doctor ordered. Full of warm sunlight and gracious, hospitable people, Ryolanov is a veritable oasis amidst the endless reaches of uncharted space. Alerted by his spirit guide, Chakotay is the first to suspect that there may be a serpent lurking in this paradise, but he is not alone. Driven by a psychic call she cannot ignore, Kes must conquer her own fears to discover the terrifying secret lurking beyond the black shore.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
May 16, 2023
Though I liked the show a lot — minus a couple of character caveats, this is the first book I’ve ever tackled in the Star Trek universe dealing with the Voyager crew. This also happens to be one of the most enjoyable reads I’ve ever experienced in the book franchise based on the various shows. Whether it’s the Original Star Trek, Next Generation, or Deep Space Nine, everyone knows the quality of writing and stories for the paperbacks of their continuing adventures in that universe can run from dreadful to really good — but sadly, heavily weighted toward the former. Usually the characterization is off, or the story is lackluster, or the writing is terrible. I’m ecstatic to say that NONE of those things apply here.
Greg Cox has done a marvelous job of capturing the essence of the characters from the show, and he’s wrapped them in an entertaining and enjoyable story that while no new shakes, is like a splendid episode we simply weren’t allowed to see. Sure, if you critically examine it upon finishing, it has some standard similarities to an oft-repeated narrative — a seeming paradise with a dark underbelly — but it’s so well done and so entertaining, while you’re reading you simply don’t care. There’s humor and drama, a few thrills, a few dark moments but not so much it takes away from the good feeling throughout that you’re “watching” a lost episode.
Perhaps Cox’s greatest achievement is the way he chose to criss-cut the story, seamlessly flowing from one portion of the crew to the next to give us, the “viewer,” a cohesive overall picture, just as the film editors did on the show. Other writers in the Star Trek universe often choose to focus on one or two main characters, perhaps to make it easy on themselves, but Cox takes the road less traveled, giving most of the crew a chance to shine, and moments that provide us humor or drama, even a tiny bit of insight. It makes this one feel full and well-rounded, much more like a terrific episode where everyone is involved. That brings me to my next point:
By including Harry, Paris and Chakotay, Tuvok and Kes, Neelix and The Doctor, and especially Kes, this lessens the role the grating Janeway has to play in this. If you’re one of the millions like myself who laments that producers did not cast Erin Gray in the role of Janeway, and went with Kate Mulgrew instead, you don’t have to worry about the character as she was written, or as portrayed by Mulgrew, nearly ruining another great episode with her caustic, Kathryn Hepburn-level grating voice, and condescending personality. To be fair, that was the way Janeway was written, but I truly believe Gray would have brought more to the role, and perhaps found a way to dissuade the six people who wrote her character from turning her into such an infuriating mess. With her “screen time” wisely lessened here, though she does play an important role as Captain, she slides down the literary palate much easier here than in the show.
On the technical side, I did run into a number of typos in the print version — either an actual typo, or a “to” missing in a couple of sentences, for example — but they appear in as many mainstream books as they do self-published, despite what you hear from reviewers trying to pull the wool over your eyes. In this case, as is so often the case, it was ticky-tack stuff not relevant enough, nor frequent enough to ever become a distraction, or even an annoyance. And, this was a pretty big book as well. I only mention it as a preemptive strike because someone else is certain to laser in on it. Trust me, it’s nothing. If it was, I’d tell you.
I won’t go into fine detail about the plot on this rare occasion, since the premise is well explained on the back cover of the book and in the introduction of the listing, but suffice it to say I LOVED this one, and had an enjoyable time flying through it. For those wondering about the time frame on this one, Kes is still with Neelix, and Paris and Torres aren't even beginning to come together yet. A great read; a blast, in fact, and a book I’ll be keeping around so I can read it again at a later date. That says it all.
Greg Cox has done a marvelous job of capturing the essence of the characters from the show, and he’s wrapped them in an entertaining and enjoyable story that while no new shakes, is like a splendid episode we simply weren’t allowed to see. Sure, if you critically examine it upon finishing, it has some standard similarities to an oft-repeated narrative — a seeming paradise with a dark underbelly — but it’s so well done and so entertaining, while you’re reading you simply don’t care. There’s humor and drama, a few thrills, a few dark moments but not so much it takes away from the good feeling throughout that you’re “watching” a lost episode.
Perhaps Cox’s greatest achievement is the way he chose to criss-cut the story, seamlessly flowing from one portion of the crew to the next to give us, the “viewer,” a cohesive overall picture, just as the film editors did on the show. Other writers in the Star Trek universe often choose to focus on one or two main characters, perhaps to make it easy on themselves, but Cox takes the road less traveled, giving most of the crew a chance to shine, and moments that provide us humor or drama, even a tiny bit of insight. It makes this one feel full and well-rounded, much more like a terrific episode where everyone is involved. That brings me to my next point:
By including Harry, Paris and Chakotay, Tuvok and Kes, Neelix and The Doctor, and especially Kes, this lessens the role the grating Janeway has to play in this. If you’re one of the millions like myself who laments that producers did not cast Erin Gray in the role of Janeway, and went with Kate Mulgrew instead, you don’t have to worry about the character as she was written, or as portrayed by Mulgrew, nearly ruining another great episode with her caustic, Kathryn Hepburn-level grating voice, and condescending personality. To be fair, that was the way Janeway was written, but I truly believe Gray would have brought more to the role, and perhaps found a way to dissuade the six people who wrote her character from turning her into such an infuriating mess. With her “screen time” wisely lessened here, though she does play an important role as Captain, she slides down the literary palate much easier here than in the show.
On the technical side, I did run into a number of typos in the print version — either an actual typo, or a “to” missing in a couple of sentences, for example — but they appear in as many mainstream books as they do self-published, despite what you hear from reviewers trying to pull the wool over your eyes. In this case, as is so often the case, it was ticky-tack stuff not relevant enough, nor frequent enough to ever become a distraction, or even an annoyance. And, this was a pretty big book as well. I only mention it as a preemptive strike because someone else is certain to laser in on it. Trust me, it’s nothing. If it was, I’d tell you.
I won’t go into fine detail about the plot on this rare occasion, since the premise is well explained on the back cover of the book and in the introduction of the listing, but suffice it to say I LOVED this one, and had an enjoyable time flying through it. For those wondering about the time frame on this one, Kes is still with Neelix, and Paris and Torres aren't even beginning to come together yet. A great read; a blast, in fact, and a book I’ll be keeping around so I can read it again at a later date. That says it all.
May 20, 2024
Voyagers crew is burnt out in the middle of space (think of the episode Night) and the captain wants to find shore leave annnnd BAM there is a nice planet. This planet has a lot to offer and some interesting aliens or that is how it starts off anyways. I think this is set late season 2 maybe early season 3.
I enjoyed this book but there were certainly some not so great parts. This was classic star trek so nothing too original about the plot except some obvious holes. The story was overwritten at first. They also mention the Prime Directive but don't seem to go by it.
There was also a lot of good to the story. It was fast paced, and overall fun and interesting. I loved that there wasn't really a main character in this one it seems like all the characters had some of the story line. The Author mostly got the characters right, and added in some good humor.
"The first sign of trouble,"..."and I'm beaming you back on to the ship faster than a Cardassian can violate a treaty agreement."
My favorite parts were Chakotays vision quest, Torres introspective moments, Janways logs, and most of the parts with the doctor.
Overall it was a book that was hard to put down I would recommend it to everyone that likes star trek voyager.
I enjoyed this book but there were certainly some not so great parts. This was classic star trek so nothing too original about the plot except some obvious holes. The story was overwritten at first. They also mention the Prime Directive but don't seem to go by it.
There was also a lot of good to the story. It was fast paced, and overall fun and interesting. I loved that there wasn't really a main character in this one it seems like all the characters had some of the story line. The Author mostly got the characters right, and added in some good humor.
"The first sign of trouble,"..."and I'm beaming you back on to the ship faster than a Cardassian can violate a treaty agreement."
My favorite parts were Chakotays vision quest, Torres introspective moments, Janways logs, and most of the parts with the doctor.
Overall it was a book that was hard to put down I would recommend it to everyone that likes star trek voyager.
January 18, 2022
Solid story, with characters written to their early Voyager traits. Really enjoyed this one, from the awkwardness of the party at the beginning to the action scenes at the end. I was engrossed all the way through. Only wish is that reset button at the end of each story - which meant the crew had a heck of a lot of plot armour and the attack at the end felt a little unrealistic with a lack of real danger. Certain members of the crew probably should've sustained worse injuries than what was in the story, and were miraculously fine again in the next scene. But that's Star Trek for you - nothing like a good hypospray!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 7, 2019
The Black Shore is a Voyager book where the premise is that in a barren stretch of space the crew goes to visit the one planet that seems to support intelligent life, and find it to be an idyllic paradise. But of course as all paradise worlds in Star Trek go, there has to be some sort of dark secret below the surface.
I'm going to start with the negatives first. My first negative about this book is that several of the Voyager characters are presented in a one dimensional manner. While the author seems to understand the characters, I felt like some of them were reduced to just a few character traits. The book was published and takes place in early season three, so I'm willing to be lenient in some areas, but the one dimensional caricatures are hard to overlook on some of them. Neelix is literally just written to be annoying, Paris is the playboy, B'Ellanna is irascible, The Doctor is a heady grump. My other major gripe with the book is the ending, which happens ridiculously fast. The crew come up with an incredibly elaborate resolution but we don't learn how they actually are going to carry this out and then the book just ends. Umm, ok?
There are plenty of good things to like about this book as a Trek novel though. I found the writing style to be easy to read and with a good amount of description, the action scenes especially flow nicely. The author seemed to put in the extra effort to make the book read like an episode of the show, which means there are some show-appropriate lengthy inserts of technobabble, conference room scenes, and a balance of time devoted to the different characters in the ensemble. I did like how the book focused a little more on Chakotay and Kes, who are underutilized on the TV series. The alien Ryol species were intriguing and while the idyllic paradise gone bad isn't a new storyline for Star Trek, it is executed well here in a way that kept me wondering just what was going on.
On the whole, The Black Shore is a solid Voyager novel with some minor annoyances that are largely made up for by the writing and feel of the book.
I'm going to start with the negatives first. My first negative about this book is that several of the Voyager characters are presented in a one dimensional manner. While the author seems to understand the characters, I felt like some of them were reduced to just a few character traits. The book was published and takes place in early season three, so I'm willing to be lenient in some areas, but the one dimensional caricatures are hard to overlook on some of them. Neelix is literally just written to be annoying, Paris is the playboy, B'Ellanna is irascible, The Doctor is a heady grump. My other major gripe with the book is the ending, which happens ridiculously fast. The crew come up with an incredibly elaborate resolution but we don't learn how they actually are going to carry this out and then the book just ends. Umm, ok?
There are plenty of good things to like about this book as a Trek novel though. I found the writing style to be easy to read and with a good amount of description, the action scenes especially flow nicely. The author seemed to put in the extra effort to make the book read like an episode of the show, which means there are some show-appropriate lengthy inserts of technobabble, conference room scenes, and a balance of time devoted to the different characters in the ensemble. I did like how the book focused a little more on Chakotay and Kes, who are underutilized on the TV series. The alien Ryol species were intriguing and while the idyllic paradise gone bad isn't a new storyline for Star Trek, it is executed well here in a way that kept me wondering just what was going on.
On the whole, The Black Shore is a solid Voyager novel with some minor annoyances that are largely made up for by the writing and feel of the book.
October 4, 2020
I loved it. Aside from the gory details, there wasn't much that was unexpected in this story, but it was written very well and was a pleasure to read.
September 25, 2025
The running theme with all these Voyager novels is that they appear to be written by people that have either a) never watched the show, b) don't care about the show or c) were given character briefs from before the show was aired so they don't reflect the characters that we all know and love.
Voyager, travelling through a lonely, bleak bit of space is starting to suffer fuel and morale issues. When they stumble upon the idyllic world of Ryolanov, it seems like their dreams have come true. However, the more time they spend on the planet with its over-accomodating inhabitants, the bigger the secrets and the more mysterious things turn out...
As i mentioned above, the characterisation of nearly everyone is catastrophically wrong. Now, i would forgive this slightly if i thought the story was set early in their voyages, but its openly stated it takes place some time in season 3, after the events of Basics Pt 1 and 2. Which means B'Elanna shouldn't be harbouring feelings for Chakotay, Paris shouldn't still be a rogue, Chakotay shouldn't still hate Tuvok. It simply doesn't feel as if the characters have progressed past their Caretaker-selves, implying heavily that the writer was unaware of any of the character development that took place in the first two seasons.
The plot itself is startlingly generic - paradise planet turns out to be the snake of eden, inhabitants turn out to be parasitic invaders, Kes ends up using her psychic abilities to solve the mystery - so it felt so forced and boring.
Even the Doctor, who has by now had the relationship with his holographic girlfriend, is immediately back to being bitchy Doctor from the first episode, or two.
I know i harp on about it, but it really is surprising the difference between what the characters were all pitched as, and how they turned out, and Greg Cox has clearly only knowledge of the former.
And 'the black shore'? Sure, its a decent title, but it feels very much as if he wrote the story, forgot the whole black shore thing, then shoehorned it in for good measure.
Yeah, massively disappointing.
Voyager, travelling through a lonely, bleak bit of space is starting to suffer fuel and morale issues. When they stumble upon the idyllic world of Ryolanov, it seems like their dreams have come true. However, the more time they spend on the planet with its over-accomodating inhabitants, the bigger the secrets and the more mysterious things turn out...
As i mentioned above, the characterisation of nearly everyone is catastrophically wrong. Now, i would forgive this slightly if i thought the story was set early in their voyages, but its openly stated it takes place some time in season 3, after the events of Basics Pt 1 and 2. Which means B'Elanna shouldn't be harbouring feelings for Chakotay, Paris shouldn't still be a rogue, Chakotay shouldn't still hate Tuvok. It simply doesn't feel as if the characters have progressed past their Caretaker-selves, implying heavily that the writer was unaware of any of the character development that took place in the first two seasons.
The plot itself is startlingly generic - paradise planet turns out to be the snake of eden, inhabitants turn out to be parasitic invaders, Kes ends up using her psychic abilities to solve the mystery - so it felt so forced and boring.
Even the Doctor, who has by now had the relationship with his holographic girlfriend, is immediately back to being bitchy Doctor from the first episode, or two.
I know i harp on about it, but it really is surprising the difference between what the characters were all pitched as, and how they turned out, and Greg Cox has clearly only knowledge of the former.
And 'the black shore'? Sure, its a decent title, but it feels very much as if he wrote the story, forgot the whole black shore thing, then shoehorned it in for good measure.
Yeah, massively disappointing.
July 28, 2022
Will Gilligan ever get off the Island? Will Janeway ever find nice people in the Delta Quadrant?
I’ve never seen many episodes of Voyager. But I have a rough idea of the characters and know they’re a rag tag fleet, hoping the next leap will be the leap home.
I loved reading this book. I find Trek books in general offer me the perfect escape. I have so much of the story components in my head, the voices, what everyone looks like—the books have a psychedelic effect.
In The Black Shore, Cox nailed the voices of the characters, managed to tell a story with the whole cast, and kept me turning the pages.
I’ve never seen many episodes of Voyager. But I have a rough idea of the characters and know they’re a rag tag fleet, hoping the next leap will be the leap home.
I loved reading this book. I find Trek books in general offer me the perfect escape. I have so much of the story components in my head, the voices, what everyone looks like—the books have a psychedelic effect.
In The Black Shore, Cox nailed the voices of the characters, managed to tell a story with the whole cast, and kept me turning the pages.
September 6, 2024
Perfectly competent, readable...and unremarkable. It's masquerading as a late season 2/early season 3 story but based on the characters it's clearly showing its season one roots. In fact, you can play spot-the-callbacks to particular episodes where many of the character tics & plot points can be found. I've also notice that, from book five onwards, the covers of these novels (this one in particular) are absolutely awful: dark, dull, and lacking the vibrant electric zip of the first four books.
January 29, 2025
Wenn die Crew mehr auf sich selbst achten würde, und nicht ständig der Meinung wäre, dass alles, auch auf fremden Planeten, sie was angeht, gäbe es hier vielleicht nicht mal einen Plot.
Und ugh, Neelix ist eine wandelnde Red Flag. Das passt zwar zum Charakter, nervt aber.
Und wieso lässt man Leute ein Buch übersetzen, die keine Ahnung von der Serie haben, ohne ihnen auch nur eine Liste der Fachbegriffe zur Hand zu geben? Die Übersetzung ist RICHTIG furchtbar. (Und hätte noch eine Runde im Korrektorat gebrauchen können.)
Und ugh, Neelix ist eine wandelnde Red Flag. Das passt zwar zum Charakter, nervt aber.
Und wieso lässt man Leute ein Buch übersetzen, die keine Ahnung von der Serie haben, ohne ihnen auch nur eine Liste der Fachbegriffe zur Hand zu geben? Die Übersetzung ist RICHTIG furchtbar. (Und hätte noch eine Runde im Korrektorat gebrauchen können.)
January 26, 2022
The crew of Voyager finally get a little shore leave on a friendly planet. The plot does a good job of not revealing too much about the antagonists until near the end of the book. The crew personalities all fall in line with how they behaved on the show. Most of the primary crew members get some plot time in the book, this is not a story that focuses on one primary character. This was a fun read and could have easily been adapted to a TV episode.
April 24, 2018
Some neat ideas in this book however I don't think the execution was very good. I did appreciate how each of their crew had their moment and that Neelix was appropriately annoying. However, the overindulgence into flower-y language and technobabble got to be a little much. The solution was also pretty thin.
November 18, 2018
Overall pretty enjoyable. Not a surprising story, but still fun. The characters were written well. The setting seemed pretty good. Only gripe I really had was a mention of the Prime Directive towards the end that seemed silly. Without spoiling anything, the Prime Directive does not apply here. Good book though. I recommend it for a quick read.
November 12, 2017
Mr Cox delivers another sound novelization. Set in the third years of the series an opportunity for shore leave goes seem to good to be true...(never). With strong characterization and a grip on continuity it was nice to see the relationship with Kes and B`elanna explored.
September 21, 2019
I enjoyed Star Trek, Voyager tv series and this book was written just like the characters from the series. Probably not a book who don't like the tv show should bother with. It is very light reading.
January 14, 2020
I am busy reading the Voyager series of books and I must admit this is the most enjoyable one I have read. It was engaging and kept me wanting to read more. There was quite a lot of techno babble which the story needed and it was used amusingly and well orchestrated.
October 21, 2020
An extra episode during the Kes years
December 18, 2025
Interesting idea making Shore Leave part of the plot.
July 25, 2013
In terms of a Star Trek book, this was very enjoyable. In fact, it read quite like an episode of the show (which I'm currently rewatching).
The premise is that Voyager is traveling through a part of space with few inhabited planets or people. So when they get an automated signal inviting them to come enjoy the lush paradise of a nearby planet, they head there looking for some much needed shore leave. The race inhabiting the planet is warm, friendly, and the crew is living it up on the blissful black beach of their main city. But the longer they stay, the more signs show up that something else is happening on this paradise planet. The servants appear to be more than just simple servitors. The crew on shore leave returns to the ship exhausted. And Kes begins sensing something sinister hidden in the bay of the main city. Soon, the vacation from their return home to the Alpha Quadrant becomes something altogether different . . . and deadly.
As I said, this reads just like an episode in the show, where no shore leave ever turned out to be relaxing. In this case, I loved the main idea behind the plot, which I can't reveal because it would ruin the book. But the situation the Voyager has stumbled into intrigued me and certainly seemed like a plausible setup. However, there was one element of the plot at the very end that struck me as unscientific to the extreme. While it was emotionally powerful, it slipped away from being something even the pseudo-science of Star Trek wouldn't allow and more into the realm of fantasy. I love fantasy, don't get me wrong (I write it after all), but in a Star Trek book . . . I'm looking for something slightly more reasonable. If not for that one little kink in an otherwise great plot/situation, I would have given this book four stars.
The premise is that Voyager is traveling through a part of space with few inhabited planets or people. So when they get an automated signal inviting them to come enjoy the lush paradise of a nearby planet, they head there looking for some much needed shore leave. The race inhabiting the planet is warm, friendly, and the crew is living it up on the blissful black beach of their main city. But the longer they stay, the more signs show up that something else is happening on this paradise planet. The servants appear to be more than just simple servitors. The crew on shore leave returns to the ship exhausted. And Kes begins sensing something sinister hidden in the bay of the main city. Soon, the vacation from their return home to the Alpha Quadrant becomes something altogether different . . . and deadly.
As I said, this reads just like an episode in the show, where no shore leave ever turned out to be relaxing. In this case, I loved the main idea behind the plot, which I can't reveal because it would ruin the book. But the situation the Voyager has stumbled into intrigued me and certainly seemed like a plausible setup. However, there was one element of the plot at the very end that struck me as unscientific to the extreme. While it was emotionally powerful, it slipped away from being something even the pseudo-science of Star Trek wouldn't allow and more into the realm of fantasy. I love fantasy, don't get me wrong (I write it after all), but in a Star Trek book . . . I'm looking for something slightly more reasonable. If not for that one little kink in an otherwise great plot/situation, I would have given this book four stars.
November 9, 2015
First of all let me say that this book is extremely well written. The plot does not drag and there are highs and lows at all the right moments. Cox is probably one of my favorite ST Original Series authors.
I am sure there were reasons for this but I was disappointed to discover that this late in the series the book still had Kes as a part of the Crew. I have nothing against that character, no hate, but there was a dearth of the numbered books that included Seven of Nine. If we were to exclude the Dark Matter and String Theory trilogies I think there might have been a grand total of three.
The story used the much over used 'this practically perfect planet' is not so perfect after all trope. I realize there wouldn't be much of a story if the planet was perfect but at this point I felt it had been overdone in Trek.
There is another overused trope in the Voyager books which was how pre- B'Elanna relationship Tom is smitten or somehow become entangled with some beautiful but dangerous alien woman. We know from the series that happened but several of the authors latched onto that idea. We see it over and over in the books.
However despite that I would encourage those of you who do not have a problem with Kes or Tom's early series woman problems to read it simply because it is well written. I strongly recommend checking out some of Cox's other Star Trek books.
I am sure there were reasons for this but I was disappointed to discover that this late in the series the book still had Kes as a part of the Crew. I have nothing against that character, no hate, but there was a dearth of the numbered books that included Seven of Nine. If we were to exclude the Dark Matter and String Theory trilogies I think there might have been a grand total of three.
The story used the much over used 'this practically perfect planet' is not so perfect after all trope. I realize there wouldn't be much of a story if the planet was perfect but at this point I felt it had been overdone in Trek.
There is another overused trope in the Voyager books which was how pre- B'Elanna relationship Tom is smitten or somehow become entangled with some beautiful but dangerous alien woman. We know from the series that happened but several of the authors latched onto that idea. We see it over and over in the books.
However despite that I would encourage those of you who do not have a problem with Kes or Tom's early series woman problems to read it simply because it is well written. I strongly recommend checking out some of Cox's other Star Trek books.
February 1, 2016
PLOT OR PREMISE:
Janeway and her crew are in desperate need of shoreleave...and they receive an invitation from an uncharted planet to visit and enjoy the paradise nature of the lands. All is not necessarily as it seems, including the citizens' treatment of their pets, the Neffaler, which seem surprisingly intelligent, almost sentient.
.
WHAT I LIKED:
Good descriptive prose, with lots of little sub-stories -- Kes' pre-occupation and disturbing telepathic forces, Paris' involvement with the daughter of the leader, and Torres' desire to find the source of some dilithium signatures.
.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
The sub-stories don't come together as well as they could, so the overall story is long and rather confused at times. Many of the characters seem "off" from their TV version, perhaps reflecting the author's pre-occupation with the characters' lives early in the series' history. Lots of descriptions are heavy on the visual, which would be impressive if it was a TV episode rather than a book, but it doesn't work as well here. The ending is rather fragmented, focusing on three different groups' of actions at the same time.
.
BOTTOM-LINE:
Would have worked better as an episode than a book
.
DISCLOSURE:
I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow him on social media.
Janeway and her crew are in desperate need of shoreleave...and they receive an invitation from an uncharted planet to visit and enjoy the paradise nature of the lands. All is not necessarily as it seems, including the citizens' treatment of their pets, the Neffaler, which seem surprisingly intelligent, almost sentient.
.
WHAT I LIKED:
Good descriptive prose, with lots of little sub-stories -- Kes' pre-occupation and disturbing telepathic forces, Paris' involvement with the daughter of the leader, and Torres' desire to find the source of some dilithium signatures.
.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
The sub-stories don't come together as well as they could, so the overall story is long and rather confused at times. Many of the characters seem "off" from their TV version, perhaps reflecting the author's pre-occupation with the characters' lives early in the series' history. Lots of descriptions are heavy on the visual, which would be impressive if it was a TV episode rather than a book, but it doesn't work as well here. The ending is rather fragmented, focusing on three different groups' of actions at the same time.
.
BOTTOM-LINE:
Would have worked better as an episode than a book
.
DISCLOSURE:
I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow him on social media.
November 14, 2015
The Black Shore takes place about three years into the journey. Kes is still alive and on board and Seven of Nine has not joined the crew yet. The book is well written and fun to read. There is a scene with the doctor that is extremely funny, at least I thought so since I love the show. T
he nice thing about the story is that it really doesn’t focus on just one or two of the characters. All are involved, but a lot of the story revolves around Chakotay, Kes, Tom and B’Elanna. I found it nice to read about Kes again because it has been a few years since she has been on the show. It took me awhile to remember about her psychic talents and little characteristics, but they soon came all back.
I found the story to be believable, as a Voyager story, that is. There are a few really cool surprises about the Ryol that I found to be really entertaining…and unexpected. You know that they are too perfect to be trusted, but you don’t know why. The explanation is fantastic!
If you like Star Trek Voyager, or even if you have never seen the show, The Black Shore is a good read.
I rated this book an 8 out of 10.
he nice thing about the story is that it really doesn’t focus on just one or two of the characters. All are involved, but a lot of the story revolves around Chakotay, Kes, Tom and B’Elanna. I found it nice to read about Kes again because it has been a few years since she has been on the show. It took me awhile to remember about her psychic talents and little characteristics, but they soon came all back.
I found the story to be believable, as a Voyager story, that is. There are a few really cool surprises about the Ryol that I found to be really entertaining…and unexpected. You know that they are too perfect to be trusted, but you don’t know why. The explanation is fantastic!
If you like Star Trek Voyager, or even if you have never seen the show, The Black Shore is a good read.
I rated this book an 8 out of 10.
August 8, 2010
"Captain, these people seem really nice, they're attractive, civilized, and friendly. Given that there is no sign of other conflict, they must be villains planning to dupe us and take over the ship!" No, Tuvok didn't actually say these words, but he should have. To the reader, at least, if not to the characters, it was that transparent.
Still, the story moved reasonably well, the characters were handled competently, and the action, once it actually started, was intense and riveting. So I can't pan the book, even if I did find it rather overly predictable.
Still, the story moved reasonably well, the characters were handled competently, and the action, once it actually started, was intense and riveting. So I can't pan the book, even if I did find it rather overly predictable.
June 10, 2013
I picked this up thinking it was a new entry in the recent arc of Voyager novels, but it's not. It harks back to the terrible days of Star Trek novels around 2000, when they were the worst sort of formulaic pulp.
Cox writes well, that's not the problem at all. But the plot is transparent from the beginning, save for a couple increasingly nonsensical revelations. The story is a shameless mashup of the pilots of two famous SF TV series, with a great big handful of overused SF/F tropes thrown in, for no apparent reason.
It's not *quite* terrible, but not for lack of trying.
Cox writes well, that's not the problem at all. But the plot is transparent from the beginning, save for a couple increasingly nonsensical revelations. The story is a shameless mashup of the pilots of two famous SF TV series, with a great big handful of overused SF/F tropes thrown in, for no apparent reason.
It's not *quite* terrible, but not for lack of trying.
May 31, 2015
Still have this one. I treasured it as a Geekling, largely due to my devotion to the Kim/Kes pairing. I was a rabid shipper, a few years before we could afford the internet, and LONG before I knew how to use it for geekery. My copy is slightly marred as a result. The handful of scenes with Neelix and Kes on the beach have been edited with green gel pen to read "Kim and Kes"
October 7, 2013
Voyager use a planet for shore leave and things are too good to be true. Chakotay isn't in this much, so don't let the cover fool you. It's a bit predictable, but there are some highlights. The Doctor dealing with the aliens is definitely one of them. A good read.
June 20, 2014
It was a decent little Voyager tale. I started Marooned the same night I finished this though, and in just 30 pages it was more interesting and action packed than all 278 pages of this book. Meh, is about the best review I can give it.
May 27, 2012
Some rather obvious plot devices can't ruin a book that has some important points to make and stays close to the characters.
July 22, 2013
Less Chakotay and Kess than I was expecting, more were-psychicvampires than I was expecting as well.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 30, 2015
Pleasant entertainment. All in all, one of the better Star Trek books.
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