Marooned

Star Trek: Voyager #14

by Christie Golden

When an alien pirate abducts Kes, U.S.S. Voyager takes off in hot pursuit, but the first rescue mission fails disastrously; an ion storm forces the shuttle to crash on an unknown world.

Now Captain Janeway and her Away Team must embark on a hazardous trek through a hostile environment in search of a way off the planet, while Voyager, commanded by Chakotay, confronts an enemy fleet in the depths of space.

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Star Trek Voyager, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Ebooks

276 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1997

About the author

Award-winning author Christie Golden has written over thirty novels and several short stories in the fields of science fiction, fantasy and horror. She has over a million books in print.

2009 will see no fewer than three novels published. First out in late April will be a World of Warcraft novel, Athas: Rise of the Lich King. This is the first Warcraft novel to appear in hardcover. Fans of the young paladin who fell so far from grace will get to read his definitive story.

In June, Golden’s first Star Wars novel, also a hardcover, sees print. Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi—Omen is the second in a nine-book series she is co-authoring with Aaron Allston and Troy Denning. Also in June comes the conclusion of Golden’s StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga with the release of Twlight, the third book in the series. The first two are Firstborn and Shadow Hunters.

2004 saw the launch of an original fantasy series called The Final Dance, from LUNA Books. The first novel in the series, On Fire's Wings, was published in July of that year. The second, In Stone’s Clasp , came out in September of 2005. With In Stone’s Clasp, Golden won the Colorado Author’s League Top Hand Award for Best Genre Novel for the second time. The third book, Under Sea’s Shadow, is available only as an e-book

Golden is also the author of two original fantasy novels from Ace Books, King's Man and Thief and Instrument of Fate, which made the 1996 Nebula Preliminary Ballot. Under the pen name of Jadrien Bell, she wrote a historical fantasy thriller entitled A.D. 999, which won the Colorado Author's League Top Hand Award for Best Genre Novel of 1999.

Golden launched the TSR Ravenloft line in 1991 with her first novel, the highly successful Vampire of the Mists , which introduced elven vampire Jander Sunstar. Golden followed up Vampire with Dance of the Dead and The Enemy Within . In September of 2006, fifteen years to the month, The Ravenloft Covenant: Vampire of the Mists enabled Jander Sunstar to reach a whole new audience.

Other projects include a slew of Star Trek novels, among them The Murdered Sun , Marooned , and Seven of Nine , and "The Dark Matters Trilogy," Cloak and Dagger , Ghost Dance and Shadow of Heaven .

The Voyager novel relaunch, which includes Homecoming and The Farther Shore , were bestsellers and were the fastest-selling Trek novels of 2003. Golden continued writing VOYAGER novels even though the show went off the air, and enjoyed exploring the creative freedom that gave her in the two-parter called Spirit Walk, which includes Old Wounds and Enemy of my Enemy .

Golden has also written the novelization of Steven Spielberg's Invasion America and an original "prequel," On The Run , both of which received high praise from producer Harve Bennett. On The Run, a combination medical thriller and science fiction adventure, even prompted Bennett to invite Golden to assist in crafting the second season of the show, if it was renewed.

Golden lives in Loveland, Colorado, with her artist husband and their two cats.

Reviews

[Bobby Underwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was enjoying this one too much to take any notes, but it’s the second book in the Star Trek universe I’ve read lately that proved to be stellar. Rich and full and engrossing are words you usually don’t associate with Star Trek books, but Christie Golden’s, Marooned, which takes place in the Voyager franchise of Star Trek, is exactly that.

As for the timeline, Kes and Neelix are no longer together, but remain close, and Paris and Torres are not yet a couple. Their oncoming relationship is foreshadowed, however, in this story by the care she gives Tom when he’s bitten by an insect on a strange world in which they’re stranded, and extremely ill.

The story is propelled forward from the onset when a powerful being from a race with a lifespan of centuries becomes enamored of Kes and kidnaps her. In the attempt at rescue, part of the crew is stranded on a desolate planet where they must find allies in order to survive, and find Kes, while another part on Voyager is caught in a booby trap. While it sounds like standard Star Trek fare, it is richly layered with nuances and true-to-character moments by Golden. As readers know, this is not nearly the case with a lot of Star Trek entries. The alien encounters are interesting and well written, whether hostile or allies, and the interactions of the crew stranded on the surface is especially exciting. The crew reads like the crew here, spot-on.

Cutting between Kes and her charismatic captor, as Kes walks the razor’s edge of Stockholm Syndrome, Chakotay and the remaining crew aboard enterprise, Janeway and crew (Paris, Torres, Tuvok, Neelix etc.) stranded on the planet, Harry trying to gain access to an old booby trap to give the actual ship Voyager, with Chakotay left in charge, a fighting chance, and Neelix, who goes off on his own to find Kes and encounters a “friend” native to the planet, all combine to give this Star Trek novel a full-bodied flavor. There’s a lot of story here, and I mean a lot, and it’s marvelous for Star Trek Voyager fans.

There are dangerous battles in the sky and up close and personal, distress, aliens, psychology, fun interactions between crew members, and a whale of a richly layered story here. There’s so much here in fact, that this story definitely would need to have been filmed as a two-part episode in order to do it justice. Between this and the last one I read, Greg Cox’s The Black Shore, I’m 2 for 2 in finding good reads in this universe, which as any fan knows, is unusual. A splendid example of a series-to-book done right, and very highly recommended!

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The books have slowly progressed in time. This takes place sometime in the third season after Blood Fever. If you think its about Tom and B'elanna because of the cover it is not. However they are in that flirtatious friendship phase that took place late in season three so there are some nice moments of that early stage of their relationship for the shippers out there.

A space pirate is smitten with Kes and kidnaps her and the Voyager Crew attempts to rescue her. Kes is of course no damsel in distress and tries to work out an escape from her end.

In a rescue attempt Janeway, Tuvok, Paris and Torres are stranded on the surface of a former prison planet. Artificial storms and remote controlled battle ships hinder Chakotay's rescue attempts. They met some friendly natives but Paris falls ill from a virulent insect bite. This leads to a hurt/comfort scenario thing with B'Elanna if you are into that sort of thing.

Christie Golden is one of the better writers in this series. I enjoyed her earlier book The Murdered Sun. The characters are in sync with what we see on the screen and she has broken free of the same old 'we need food so we must go down on this planet where Paris will become smitten with an alien woman' tropes. I recommend this for Serious Voyager fans and I will certainly re-read it.

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a Voyager book that takes place during Season 3 of the television series, and it really feels like it could have been an episode of the show. That was a positive to me as it feels like you are discovering a lost episode that you get to read. Despite the misleading cover the plot concerns Kes being kidnapped by alien pirates and the crew has to figure out how to rescue her. The characters behave like you would expect and the book is interesting and easy to read. Not an all time classic even by Trek novel standards but a very solid story that ends on a really strong note, worth reading for Voyager fans.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this...and I'm having trouble reconciling this with Christine Golden's other main series "Voyager" novels, which were both far superior in terms of character work and storyline. The characters here feel like cliches and caricatures, overly earnest and almost (dare I say it) fan-fiction-ish, particularly Kes. The villain feels more like a moustache twirler than a serious threat, and the general storyline didn't interest me much at all. Was Ms. Golden having an off-day? I've read so much better from her pen, in both the "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" lines...in every way this feels like an aberration.

[Andrew Beet · Rating 4 out of 5]

"This was a good book to read the scene where kes is abducted by Aren yashar was brilliantly executed there was a few things I didn't like there was too much time spent on the planet with Janeway and Torres and Paris and also there should've been equal time given to the other characters e.g chakotay and Kim and of course kes and also with neelix going off on his own that would never happen in the series"

[Paul Lloyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had an interesting Planet, a bit weak on characters but a surprisingly pleasant read.

[Jonathan Koan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another short yet sweet book. Christie Golden produced a decent, trek book.

Unfortuantely, I have to be honest, of all the 22 Star Trek books I've read, this is probably the weakest. Mostly because I really don't have any suspense for the characters and don't really sympathize with the villian. This book underlines the fundamental problem with media tie-in fiction from the 80s and 90s because you know nothing of importance will happen to the main characters except character growth. I even knew who the "red shirt" would be. The ending had barely any impact on me.

That being said, this book is a textbook case of how you write media tie-in fiction if you're a new author, and this was Golden's second Star Trek book, so I personally will cut her a little slack.

Overall, this is the first Star Trek book that I unfortunately do not give a "passing" rating. 4.7 out of 10(I still love your writing Christie, sorry)

[Amy Tudor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poor Tom, two books in a row he's gotten in a bit of a mess :P

I'm so glad I read some reviews of this before starting it, because as the cover suggests I was expecting more of a Paris/Torres story, so wasn't disappointed that they feature less. I liked the group dynamic of the away team, all the characters were really well written and Kes' storyline was really intriguing. During the second half of this story I was fully engrossed and worried for all the characters on the planet so read most of it in one sitting.
The Paris/Torres moments we got were very sweet and totally in character, and although I was hoping for a bit more it was enough to keep my shipper heart happy! The friendlier aliens were interesting, especially Furball who seemed very cute and fun. I really loved the character interactions, they all seem to genuinely care a lot of each other by this point in the series and that is definitely conveyed in this book.
A different setting definitely helped, as a couple in a row set in a garden had been a bit boring. The story was a little different and the crew seemed in genuine peril. It was a little predictable, and the pirates trope can be a bit repetitive but I didn't find that to be the case with these space pirates.
Looking forward to reading more Voyager books by Christie Golden.

[Jeremiah Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

KES AND NEELIX BROKE UP!???

I guess life happens in between the books. In the previous Voyager paperback, The Black Shore, Kes is specifically confronted about why she loves this annoying man, Neelix, and she gives a really sweet answer. As a reader, I was like, Oh OK, they're a solid couple. But I open the next book and BAM their relationship is over and we don't have all the details, it's just an established fact of life on the starship.

I haven't really seen to much of the TV show, so these big changes probably only happen on screen. But just as a reader these big changes, happening in between pages, doesn't seem choppy, it adds kind of an extra layer of drama. It's suspenseful enough not knowing what's going to happen on the page, but not knowing what happens when the stories done? That's powerful. I think I'm going to continue to read these without watching the show.

As for the actual story, I loved it. It had all sorts of surprises and a fun, fantasy quest vibe.

I really like the characters and I've seen just enough of the show to hear their voices when I read these. I'm looking forward to the next Voyager book.

I like how Tom Paris is often the "damsel in distress"--was that common in the show?

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good story and an above average Star Trek novel so I wish I could give it a 3.5 but I didn't LOVE it. I'm sure this likely didn't become an episode as the imaginative creatures would have been too demanding at the time which is too bad as this episode would have been good. Each character seems to have their moment which is always commendable. I'm always a little bummed out with excessive Neelix and Kes which this one didn't have too much but at least they had broken up at this point so I didn't have to worry about that relationship poking its head up. Overall, I liked it, liked the story, villain and resolution.

[Frank Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent Voyager adventure, with a plot that reminds of the ENT episode 'Exile', Kes playing the role that Hoshi had in that familiar tale.

This story makes a good attempt at demonstrating the Stockholm Syndrome on the reader as well as on Kes.

All of the characters were right on and many of them got a decent part in this quick story. As noted by others the cover is misleading though.

There are at least three new alien species to learn about in this which is always a lot of fun and in the best Trek style there are misconceptions to be overcome in the pursuit of mutual understanding. Furball was quite a cute addition that served to portray this point well.

[DW · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read this because it was on my shelf at home ... not bad for a series book. Maybe I was mostly pleased that even though I remembered the "pirate" line, Kes's kidnapping, and the wings, I didn't remember the rest of the plot. I think that means I stopped re-reading this book after high school.

Anyway, it's nice romp with familiar characters, nothing egregious happens, and there's the interesting idea of very short versus very long life-spans to chew on.

[Lukáš · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an enjoyable read, nothing really breathtaking, but enjoyable nonetheless. Voyager has some strong characters and some really weak ones for me and because of that, I usually swing between enjoying myself and waiting for the current arc to be over. This time it was not the case even with not enjoyed characters. So good job.

[Grace Filetti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book because I really like Star Trek Voyager. The author did a good job of making characters sound just like the tv series. There are minor references to some things that happened on the tv series so it gives you a good idea where in the seven year span this story takes place. You can still read this pretty easily without having seen the tv series.

[Peter Rydén · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interaktionen mellan Kes och besättningen står i fokus, och den är faktiskt riktigt givande. I övrigt blir det en ganska platt bok som inte sätter sig i minnet, trots att Christie Golden, denna Voyager-expert, har skrivit novellen. Intressant läsning ändå, särskilt för dem som gillar Kes eller som gillar Tom/B'Elanna-förhållandet.

[Gary Barrentine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good mix of off planet and on planet excitement.

[Joshua Palmatier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good book in the Star Trek Voyager series. Like the last one, this could have been an episode on the show.

In this book, Kes is kidnapped essentially by space pirates when the leader of the pirates becomes infatuated with her beauty. Captain Janeway, of course, attempts to rescue her. They track the pirates to a planet surrounded by an energy field, but after the failed negotiations with the pirate, the energy field strikes the shuttle as it returns to Voyager, marooning Janeway and a slew of other crewmembers on the harsh, desert-like surface. As they struggle to survive with nearly none of their usual technology to aid them, Chakotay attempts to circumvent the energy field, but discovers even more deadly defenses surrounding the planet. But if he succeeds in bypassing them all, Chakotay may accidentally set off an explosion that will kill everyone he's trying to save.

Again, the situation could have been an episode of the show. This book wasn't as strong in terms of plot/situation as the previous novel though, in that some of the characters made some rather stupid decisions. For example, Nelix abandons the main group to traipse off an rescue Kes himself, which seemed forced and ultimately didn't add a very strong element to the overall plot. The crew's acceptance of the energy field as being a natural occurrence also seemed odd, since all evidence (even without scans) suggested that it was something more. So overall a good read, but not as interesting or as entertaining as the last book in this series.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book isn't what I expected from the cover which features Tom and B'Elanna and the promise (?) that "It's Paris and Torres against the wilderness, with Kes' life at stake!"

While the story does read a bit like an episode of Voyager, I miss an unrelated yet related sub-plot / twist in this book. Yes, the main story had many facets and the book was well-written with characters true to reality (she says about a fictional television show...), however it was still one story instead of several woven into one. Also - Kes' life was never at stake here, she was probably the one least likely to die or be hurt or threatened physically.

The pirate leader was a very interesting and believable character I ended up liking by the end of the book. While his actions were at first simply despicable, he turns out to be more honourable and kind than expected. Once we find out what motivates him, I am left wanting to help him and his people.
Tom's terror ('personal battle against the wilderness' perhaps?) was also very well written; I could almost see what Captain Janeway was doing...

[Sue Lyndon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just read this for the third time the other day, because it was raining and well...it's a great Voyager book. The thing that makes this book so great to me is that Christie Golden actually made me like Kes. Yes, that's right. I'm not really a Kes fan. Most of the episodes with lots of Kes never really appealed to me, but this book managed to do the impossible - for me. And of course, going beyond Kes, all the other characters (especially Janeway) were excellently portrayed throughout this interesting story.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a huge Star Trek fan, but I haven't read a lot of the novels. I picked this one up because Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres are on the cover. I hoped it would be about them. It is not. It is primarily about Kes, not one of my favorite Voyager characters. I enjoyed the book fine, and it was fun spending some time with the Voyager crew, but it didn't convince me to start reading more Star Trek novels. I think I'll go watch some Voyager on DVD.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pirate kidnaps Kes and is determined to keep her. Voyager wants Kes back and has many fights to do so. The marooned bit comes from a failed rescue attempt, and involves the old idea not to judge a book by its cover. In this case, don't, it is a Kes and Janeway book. It does not concentrate on the Paris B'Elenna relationship. It's an easy, fun read and would have made a good episode. A good read.

[Jimyanni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad story; nothing to write home about, but well-written, with good pacing, good handling of the characters (particularly Kes) and few if any typos or other such editing errors. If you need a Voyager fix and haven't read this one, it's a good choice. If you aren't already a fan of the series, this book won't make you one.

[Mikael Kuoppala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Golden has managed to write an insightful story of people and the way time treats them. The characterization is right on and the plot holds some rather nice sci-fi elements. A solid package and a real treat for Kes fans.

[Chris Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not sure what more you could expect from a novel based on a TV show. Great action. Poignant storyline. And Golden...wow...she understands these characters. They ring true and aren't some generic representation of what we've seen on the show. I wished it would have been 1,000 pages.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

GREAT! I love Golden's work. The little blurb on the front is all kinds of misleading, but the story is really just fantastic.

[Martin Jost · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unkreativ und etwas lustlos abgehandelte Mischung aus STC »The Galileo Seven« und TNG »The Most Toys«.

[Kenneth Flusche · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christie did it again a Star Wars Fan read star trek because of author only and enjoyed this stand alone story

[Christina Farr-Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent story, enjoyable.