Architects of Infinity

Star Trek: Voyager - Relaunch #13

by Kirsten Beyer

An original novel set in the universe of Star Trek: Voyager, from the New York Times bestselling author!

As the Federation Starship Voyager continues to lead the Full Circle Fleet in its exploration of the Delta Quadrant, Admiral Kathryn Janeway remains concerned about the Krenim Imperium and its ability to rewrite time to suit its whims. At Captain Chakotay's suggestion, however, she orders the fleet to focus its attention on a unique planet in a binary system, where a new element has been discovered. Several biospheres exist on this otherwise uninhabitable world, each containing different atmospheres and features that argue other sentient beings once resided on the surface. Janeway hopes that digging into an old-fashioned scientific mystery will lift the crews' morale, but she soon realizes that the secrets buried on this world may be part of a much larger puzzle—one that points to the existence of a species whose power to reshape the galaxy might dwarf that of the Krenim.

Meanwhile, Lieutenants Nancy Conlon and Harry Kim continue to struggle with the choices related to Conlon’s degenerative condition. Full Circle’s medical staff discovers a potential solution, but complications will force a fellow officer to confront her people’s troubled past and her own future in ways she never imagined…

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

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 2018

Reviews

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scientifically fascinating and emotionally exhausting. Kirsten Beyer continues to fashion magnificent, epic, soul-shredding stories for "Star Trek Voyager" that I only dreamed about seeing (and yearned to see) during its actual television run. It comes complete with a jaw-dropping cliffhanger that leaves the head & heart spinning at warp speed. In short: wow.

[Kazzie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this book at all. It was so disappointing to me. I had been looking forward to it for the guts of two years. It was such a let-down. I felt that the characters were the most untrue to themselves; some characters were unbelievably childish for Starfleet officers and incredibly reckless in their behaviour. I found it wholly unbelievable. Usually, I live for anything to do with Janeway, (she can do no wrong in my eyes) but Janeway's behaviour/storyline in this book was boring and very out-of-character for her.

I re-read A Pocket Full of Lies before reading Architects of Infinity and the difference between these two books is very visible. For me, nothing really happens in this book. For about 150 pages, I was not entertained or even enjoying it. I disliked the storyline and the sub-plots. There was too much scientific rhetoric that it was too convoluted and headache inducing. Even the ending wasn't enough to excite me. I'm sorry, but this was a bummer and the worst post-series book yet.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another home run from Kirsten Beyer! The Voyager relaunch has consistently been among my favorite Star Trek novels, and Architects of Infinity is no exception. Previously, Children of the Storm was my favorite of her novels, but this one might seriously be giving it a run for its money. Top-notch work by one of the most talented writers working for Trek today, both on-screen and in the novels!

Full review (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG_BI...

[Una · Rating 5 out of 5]

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Did you just do that math in your head?" Farkas asked the admiral.
Janeway nodded. "I've already had my coffee."

Wow. It felt so amazing to be back in the Voyager relaunch novel world that I love so much once again. As usual Kirsten Beyer manages to draw me in right from the very beginning getting me to fall in love with the story and the writing like she has done so many times before. She makes me laugh, makes my heart swell with love for this crew, make me hurt with them and find strength in them. I'm hooked. I hope that she never stops writing Voyager novels.

This story was so great in so many ways. It was intriguing. The planet they found in the binary system was the perfect scientific mystery making me just want to know more. But something just as great was how this mystery also gave the crew a chance to become closer working together in teams, and even getting some well earned shore leave. The character development was over the top amazing and I just loved all of those fantastic moments between crew members. Especially between Janeway and Chakotay, as always.

"The bridge of stars?" Janeway asked.
"Uh-huh," Glenn said, nodding. "I can't remember the whole story. Two galaxies were one but over time, the natural expansion of the universe separated them. Still, they couldn't bear to be torn apart, so each of them sacrificed a few of their stars to leave a bridge between them so that no matter how far apart they drifted, they could never truly be separated."
"That's beautiful," Chakotay said, glancing toward Janeway with a gentle smile.

I also want to mention how interesting it was to dive deeper into Ensign Gwyn being half Kriosian and all that this entailed. That's yet another thing that I love about Star Trek in general; how interesting it is to get to know all of these different species.

This novel involved also one of the very best dilemmas you could possibly have while reading. The one where you love a book so much that you have trouble putting it down at the same time as you absolutely do not want it to end any time soon. It's excruciating. And maybe even especially so for me in this case. I started reading these wonderfully amazing Voyager novels less than four years ago. In that time I've read about 50 of them. Having started almost 20 years after the first one was published I had the privilege to always have a new one waiting for me. As of now I don't. As of now I'm just like the rest of you guys that's been loving and reading about this crew having to actually wait for a new novel to published. I feel your pain. It's worth it, though, because I don't think I could ever let this universe and this crew go.

[Nick Sweet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just wow. For those who do not want spoilers on this do not read any further.

This was a book where a lot of characters grew in immense ways. It saw Harry Kim become a father, Icheb gain a boyfriend, and a dramatic loss at the end of the book.

First, one of the main storylines was that of Devi Patel and the feelings of inadequacy she felt when compared to Seven of Nine and the fact that although she did not have a Starfleet title, her word was taken over Devi's even though Devi is the chief science officer on Voyager. Devi even goes so far as to sacrifice herself over getting credibility for data. This I feel will lead to some development of the crew in future books.

Icheb finally received a romantic interest in the form of Lieutenant Bryce Phinn, and I was very happy to see it. During the years since Voyager ended, I always wondered when Icheb would get a love interest, and I was personally happy to see him get a boyfriend. My only concern is that I hope Breyer will give us a chance to see this relationship develop, and not kill off Icheb or Bryce in the next book. This happens way too often when we are given a gift of an LGBT couple that one of them dies.

Lastly, the final event of the book is that the Galen gets blown up, supposedly with several key characters who received development in this book, including Harry Kim, Nancy Conlon, their baby, the Doctor, Sal ... I have to say I hope this is not true, because if it is there was a lot of story developed in this book that was unnecessary.

[Spencer Bounds · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was so good. These books always go so fast, but that's probably because I'm still mad that Voyager isn't presently in its 24th season. Thanks again to Kirsten Beyer for keeping Voyager and her crew alive and well in our lives.

[Aron · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot if build up & foundation laid here, but I still really liked it. If the first 3/4 or so would've been on the same level as the last 1/4, this would've easily been another 5 star KB book. Considering this is gonna be at least a two part story, plus everything that happens toward the end of this book, and the fact that KB is probably gonna write it, I think it's safe to say the next book will be completely fantastic.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s an interesting story buried under bloated narrative and dialogue needing significant editing to tighten up. I appreciate character driven stories but found these characters stuck in melodrama moving at a snail’s pace. The discoveries of the planet they visit come too little, too late in this book. Too much repetitive and drawn out soap opera, not enough wit and space opera. As someone who hasn’t read the last several Voyager relaunch books, this wasn’t as good a jumping in point as it could have been. Also, the prologue included time travel backstory I kept mistakenly expecting to become relevant to this story, creating a thread of distraction for me throughout the book. ...still interested to see what comes next though.

[Alan · Rating 1 out of 5]

slow slow slow boring boring boring gave up half way through no action at all like a episode of jeremy Kyle. very disappointed.

[Nicolas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm pretty tired of this arc. I keep waiting for the series to have a back-to-basics story and it just doesn't seem to happen. At this point, I think I'll tap out until a new author comes in.

[Cesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

En utomordentligt bra, välskriven, spännande bok, fenomenalt bra uppläst av January LaVoy. Vi får följa med på dom fortsatta uppdragen med besättningen på VOY tillsammans med några andra skepp och dess besättning när dom snubblar på en ny okänd planet som föranleder utforskande och permis. Men i sann Star Trek-anda så är allt inte fullt så lugnt och fridfullt som man till en början ana och det hela utvecklar sig till en riktig nagelbitare. Jag har läst några böcker om VOY tidigare, oftast under tiden som serien fortfarande sändes, men också en och annan bok efter det och som tar vid när serien hade slutat. Vad jag förstår så är dessa böcker fristående men också sammankopplade så man får ut mer av dom om man läser alla i ordning, men det är som sagt inget som helst krav. Den här ljudboken snubblade jag över och tänkte att den kan vara värd en chans att lyssna på under mina dagliga promenader. Och oh boy, vilken tur att jag gav den en chans. Jag har även nästa del liggandes, den tar vid exakt där denna slutar så den ser jag fram emot att få lyssna på framöver. Den här kan varmt rekommenderas om man gillar Star Trek i allmänhet och VOY i synnerhet. Det är en fröjd att få återse gamla vänner i dess besättning samt lära känna nya karaktärer. Dessutom så är handlingen så välskriven och bitvis riktigt spännande.

[Bon Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just realized how hard it must be to write Star Trek novels. You need to be in line with continuity of the series, which is hard to achieve even for hard core trekkies. The chance of messing up is high. Get one single detail in multiple story lines over the years wrong and trekkies will bury your book to the ground. I love the series, but I'm not so hard core to be able to realize such nuances, though I'm able to recognize details long forgotten when they're mentioned. The very fact someone is able to dig them out and incorporate into "current" story line is enough to leave me impressed with monumentality of the task.

[Thomas Chau · Rating 2 out of 5]

Call me a heretic but I love all of the Star Trek series except for the Original.

This is the second Star Trek book I have read, and I am very disappointed. I picked this one up at the library while browsing. There was no preface, no introduction to the series, just jump right into the Prologue. The book is actually in the middle of a long series of books. There is a huge gap of events from the beginning of this book and the end of the TV series Voyager.

Anyway, I thoroughly did not enjoy reading this book.

1.5 out of 3 Penmanship
0.5 out of 3 Storyline
1.0 out of 3 World depth/character depth
0.5 out of 2 Would I read this again
Total score 3.5 out of 11

[James Bowman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid enough adventure in the Voyager continuation series. The scientific mystery doesn't really reach a satisfying resolution - in fact, it seems slightly padded, considering how things end up - but they were clearly setting things up for the next novel. Much more attention is given to the subplots of the crew, particularly the secondary and novel-original characters, which leads to some interesting and unexpected places. (B+)

[Trevor Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plot was a little anticlimactic for me, but overall good work. Great character development, solid science fiction, really captures the wonder and optimism of the Trek universe.

[Michael Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit meandering at the beginning, this installment of the tale of the Voyager Fleet in the post-show time invites deep analysis of relationships and ways curiosity can do good and harm.

[Raita Jauhiainen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed this one. Alongside a good scifi mystery we are given an opportunity to peek to the minds of the minor characters (kind of "lower decks style"), their expectations, fears and thoughts of the senior officers and the purpose of their mission. Four stars, easy.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in the Delta Quadrant, it brings back familiar characters like Kathryn Janeway and Chakotay, focusing on exploration and discovery rather than survival.

The story revolves around a mysterious planet with unique biospheres, which promises both scientific intrigue and ethical challenges. Hints of the Krenim Imperium and the Department of Temporal Investigations adds an interesting layer, deepening the plot without overshadowing the main story.

Initially, the novel introduces many new characters, making it a bit hard to track their importance. However, Beyer skillfully uses the well-known Voyager characters to anchor the story, integrating these new figures seamlessly. This approach leads to a well-rounded and satisfying conclusion.

Particularly noteworthy is the character Icheb, whose storyline explores themes of identity and orientation, offering meaningful insights for the LGBT community. His journey of self-discovery is a highlight of the novel.

Overall, it's a great read for those who enjoy Star Trek, character-driven stories, and a touch of diversity. It’s a fresh take within the Star Trek universe, making it a recommended read for both long-time fans and newcomers.

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very disappointed. As a huge fan of Beyer’s re-launch books, I eagerly read the book upon release and was really disappointed by how narrow-minded and simplistic the legal and political analysis on abortion is. It isn’t even remotely plausible that there wouldn’t be differences on it in an entity as diverse as the Federation- and in a book that later on recognizes diversity with the Kriosians but simply cannot brook diversity on any political point about which the current Trek brain trust personally differs. This is a disheartening extension of the wild way the Confederacy was presented. Institutes and organizations like the Klingon Empire are never treated to the condemnation the Confederacy is, despite the Confederacy being WAY more aligned with our philosophy. Why? Cheap political points.

The reason why such transparent politicking is disappointing is that the rest of the books are so good! Beyer finds awesome ways of making almost all the characters (except for Cambridge, never Cambridge— someone needs to rouse Regina George to try and get Beyer to stop trying to make counselors happen because the more she tries the more destructive and useless Cambridge appears) seem interesting or compelling. Devi Patel shines in this book. Lasren, Bryce, Icheb, Sal all have great stuff. Farkas and O’Donnell remain strong. It takes real skill to keep all these folks going in substantive ways. I may quibble with Gwyn’s haughtiness but even she has become more interesting.

My favorite part of this book, as in Children of the Storm and The Eternal Tide, which are re-readable, is the creative new adventure. There are echoes of V’Ger here and even Armus. I’m completely tuned in to see what where Beyer goes with it, I’m just hoping for more nuance in the politics and law so as to not knock me completely out of the book. And, I pray, as little Hugh Cambridge and as much Kathryn Janeway as possible.

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book reads like the first of a trilogy without telling you it’s going to be one. Nothing happens for well over 250 pages. It’s some character development, but mostly just setting the stage for three parts of the story that center on the new planet. The book finally goes somewhere and does something (post page 300, so you have a long wait), and it seems to be wrapping up well enough to be worth the read, then the epilogue kills everyone off. Essentially, for all we know, the baby, her parents, and many of the other characters you just wasted 370 pages getting to know are dead. It is at best a one star book, but the relationship stories for Paris’s family and Janeway will entertain fans of the ST VOY series.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full review at My Blog or My Twitter

**Spoilers ahead!**

In Architects of Infinity, the Full CIrcle fleet is dying for some down time. When they discover a planet covered with biodomes and a wholly new element, Adm. Janeway decides this would be the perfect spot to give the crews some shore leave. Teams comprised of officers who normally don’t interact very much are assigned to the surface to do various experiments and research and still enjoy the pure and uncontaminated areas within the biodomes. The mystery of who built the biodomes and where they went is irresistible to the crews of the fleet. However, the mystery soon becomes rife with danger, placing every crew member in peril.

This was a fun and exciting story overall. I enjoyed seeing the interaction of the various ships’ crews who normally don’t interact a lot. I think that was a good idea for Chakotay to send them off in neat little groups like that. I think everyone learned a lot, which was the point. It was also cool that they discovered a brand new element and dubbed it Sevenofninonium. LOL.

It was a little disappointing that we never figured out or met the people who created the biodomes were, not really. The whole point of that particular plot seems to have been that there are or were people out there even more advanced than the Federation, Borg, or Krenim, and that the Federation isn’t ready for this kind of tech. OK. That was a long book to read for just that.

I did not like that a major plot point, the evolution of Starfleet officers as individuals and as units within the fleet, were really glossed over. A big component was that the lower decks crew often feel overlooked or devalued because they were not part of Voyager’s original crew that was stuck in the Delta Quadrant for seven years. I can see how that might happen, or how it might at least seem like it happens, but other than some grumbling amongst themselves, and one conversation about it to a command officer at the end, nothing at all is done to address this topic. Did Devi learn from her actions? Did the command staff figure out they need to let the junior officers learn and do things and receive the same respect as original Voyager crew? We didn’t get to find out.

Also? I still hate, possibly even more so in this book than in the previous one A Pocketful of Lies, the whole Conlon/Kim pregnancy thing. As I said in the review for that book, it's the 24th century. Can they not turn off their balls/ ovaries until they are ready to have babies on purpose? In this book, the pregnancy ends up being irrelevant anyway, except to add teenage kinds of angst to the story. Before, the pregnancy was needed to give a potential source of a cure for Conlon's degenerative condition through fetal stem cells. But then they didn't get enough and the stem cell harvest was irrelevant in the end. What purpose is there for this? Just a means to have some bizarre pro-life discussion since the fetus, after it gets transported to an incubator, is now a separate being with full rights? Why wasn't it considered such before, if that's the route the story's going to take? Why isn't it viewed scientifically as a thing with the potential for life but no separate life of its own yet? If it just needed to be swapped into an incubator instead of its mother's uterus, why was it not a problem then that Conlon wanted to terminate her pregnancy? I find the entire logic behind that flawed in the extreme and badly written. This is not what I've come to expect from Beyer's normally airtight writing at all.

And then the whole pregnancy/baby/Kim/Conlon issue blows up in the end. Literally. It’s Star Trek, so I’m sure they aren’t really all dead. Maybe. They do kill off major characters aplenty, but I can’t tell if this is just a catalyst for future plot development or if the entire crew of the Vesta really did just flame out. In either event, it really doesn’t sit well with me, given all the drama surrounding Conlon and her illness and the rights of a fetus and whatnot.

I DID appreciate the medical ethics involved in treating Conlon. I am always down for a good discussion on medical ethics and it was interesting to see how Dr Sal convinced Rhys to give blood, a taboo in her culture, to help find a cure for Conlon using the metaphasic cells in her body. Sal was apparently engaged somehow in ethically questionable practices when it came to Conlon’s actual treatment and based on a previous trauma Sal had experienced with a similar disease 30 years prior. She crossed a line, according to Farkas, the captain of Vesta. I am not so sure she did. She did not coerce Gwyn into donating blood, she didn’t force a treatment upon Conlon, and she told the truth to Gwyn as much as she could have while preserving doctor/patient confidentiality. The harvesting of the embryo’s stem cells also seemed fine. Sal got permission from the child’s father to do it, which is his right to grant since the mother was out of commission. Sal didn’t use the cells on Conlon and was going to wait for her to wake up to broach the subject. There is no real issue, I don’t think, in getting ready just in case Conlon changed her mind. It doesn’t mean it was a line crossed, and yet Farkas raked her over the coals for it. It’s like Star Trek: Snowflake, and I didn’t care for that at all. We can be enlightened and progressive and democratic without going around the twist about every little thing.

Overall, I liked the exploration portion of this but did not like the actual character studies or commentary. It had potential but fell flat in a big way for me, and as I’ve said before, it is not what I expected from Beyer. Maybe she was stretched a little too thin because of her work on Discovery, which is so fucking cool. I’d prefer her to focus on that (and on bringing back/finding Prime Lorca, please) than on writing more novels if this is the way they’re going to go from here on out.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not at all my favorite Beyers book. The relaunch Voyager novels have for the most part been incredible especially the installment right before this one Pocket full of lies. I couldn't put that one down. But now coming right out of that success and having waited 2 years to read this one, it just felt blah.

There were definitely wonderful scenes in it and I liked getting to know Buyers original characters, but they took over the book. I felt like the characters we loved from the show took a back seat to her new creations. On that same note there was far too little Janeway in this book. I understand that other characters are going to need time to develop but she is the main character and anchor of Voyager. She needs to at least have some part especially as the Admiral of the fleet in the story lines.

I'm still all in for more Beyer's relaunch books but this being the first book to disappoint, it was hard to swallow.

[Fate's Lady · Rating 1 out of 5]

I spent 3/4 of this book feeling like I barely knew what was going on, not because it was too technical but because it felt too hand-wavey, as if the author also had only a vague idea of what was going on. The drama surrounding Kim and Conlon continued to feel contrived and honestly kinda squicky to me the longer it went on, and increasingly out of character. Also what is with this 'every woman needs a baby to be complete' theme I'm seeing creep in?! First the Janeway alternate reality storyline and then hints all along the edges of this story... Finally the ending was more obnoxious than dramatic and at this point I'm not even sure I want to finish the relaunch series.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A planet with a series of artificial biodomes appears to offer the Full Circle Fleet an ideal opportunity to return to a mission of scientific exploration, as well as a site for much needed shore leave.

When the Away Teams discover that the biodomes are almost too perfect, the full mystery of planet D1115 provides more opportunity for scientific advancement than anyone expected.

Beyer's writing is clear and shows a fine understanding of the 'Voyager' characters. An absorbing read.

[Kristina Deluise · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG this book was so good,

why do i have to wait a year??? for the next one?

cliffhanger ending.......... i want to know now!

what else do they find on the planet, who are the other species

what happens with harry?
what happens with janeway

who died

please dont make me wait a year,i'm going to have to sign up for alerts from this author.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Curiosity & Parallels with Dumb Co-Eds: ARCHITECTS OF INFINITY a Star Trek Voyager Novel
http://fangswandsandfairydust.com/201...
Members of the Full Circle fleet all take shore leave on a new planet with a new element — what could go wrong?




I will start out saying that January LaVoy narrates this book really well and does an amazing job creating an impression of Janeway as played by Kate Mulgrew without trying to mimic her; I often felt this Janeway was the Janeway I spent many years watching on TV.

My first issue, though, with the story is that it starts out with a prologue that does not have anything, really, to d with this story but is an obvious play to tie up loose ends from a prior tale. But I cannot seem to identify the prior tale in the collection of STAR TREK VOYAGER books, nor are they numbered. In the prologue we hear about a certain officer being assigned to her fleet to keep tabs, but never see him or her in the book. The scary enemy, the Krenim, we hear a few times but they are not intrinsic to the story line.

The book plays on the fleet locating a planet with a new element. There’s some tension evidenced between the crew which spent nigh seven seasons getting themselves back to the alpha quadrant from the barely explored delta quadrant where they were stranded years before after a cataclysmic event. They were instrumental in destroying the threat of the “You will be assimilated” Borg collective. Captain Janeway’s crew, which included a bunch of also-trapped rebels, and one former Star Fleet cadet released from prison, and a rescued Borg of human descent. There were a variety of other species, and a holographic AI acting as the medical officer.

After so much time separated from the rest of Starfleet this crew was totally dependent on each other and became extremely close. After their return, I guess Star Fleet continued to explore the Delta quadrant with a fleet of ships known as “Full Circle.” Janeway is the admiral of this fleet, and the several ships are staffed by old Voyager crew and many others. But, of course the Voyager crew is closer and more trusting of each other; even a little preferential, maybe.

This preference and personal relationships is a big part of the characters’ motivations and actions to succeed. Sometimes this leads them to behave in ways they believe will advance their careers or legacy but which are less than brilliant nd endanger their teams.

So this starts out with the fleet discovering a weird planet with binary sols and a toxic environment. But, there are a bunch of seemingly benign biodomes. Let’s all go down and both investigate and have shore leavefor the entire fleet.

From the beginning this struck me as the way a dumb co-ed would behave in a slasher film. What could go wrong?

Plenty. And, therein lies the story.

We learn a bunch of other stuff that advances the characters with whom I have not kept up since this branch of the Star Trek franchise ended around 2002. Strangely, the powers that be did not offer any movies in this branch. Seven of Nine is still not Star Fleet, Chakotay and Janeway are more than chummy, Tom Paris and Belana Tores are married with children, Harry Kim has a girlfriend with complications.

So, anyone who’s ever seen a horror movie knows hanging out on a new planet, which a strange newly discovered element, is a totally stupid idea — curiosity almost kills the cat. Some of the captains of the fleet ships share my understanding of stupid ideas. Others are so excited to get some shore leave they maybe ignore common sense.

Another interesting plot point involves patient rights, including those of a fetus. Medical, and Star Fleet laws and morals, religious and cultural taboos are explored. To me the way the laws were applied seemed transparent but to others on the crews, not so much.

I thought there were a lot of ideas, events and “science” that were a little unformed and unanswered.

After the plot in this book is solved, another event occurs that I think ties back to the storylines introduced in the prologue. Otherwise that part of the book is totally irrelevant.

As is present in most parts of this franchise, looking at societal, moral, and political issues was a vital part of this series. This was part of Roddenberry’s vision.

Of course it was a total cliff-hanger that is going to make the next book in the series an automatic read for me.

[Victor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was so close to giving this 4 stars. Which I was really not expecting when I jumped into this thing. This is one of the more recent Star Trek books, and one of the Voyager novels set after the events of the series.

This was a bit of a tricky prospect. Kirsten Beyer has written five novels in the Voyager relaunch so far, with their own chronology. So there was a decent amount of backstory I missed. Bear that in mind as I continue my review.

Janeway is the admiral of a fleet of four ships sent back out to the Delta Quadrant, I guess to explore it more. The book starts with something that I assume is a bit of a nod to whatever happened in the prior books. I got the gist of it, but pretty soon I was learning new things.

This book had a pretty rocky beginning. Not only was it a bit slow to get going, some really questionable things happen. Prior to the events of this book, a character was diagnosed with some horrible and terminal space disease. This character also becomes pregnant. The decision about what to do about the pregnancy and the disease was up for debate. The character intended to terminate the pregnancy. But before that can happen, the character has a stroke and the fetus starts to die.

So, this being Star Trek, the fetus is transportered out of the character into a fancy incubator that will keep the baby cooking. At which point the fetus is considered a person and is protected under Starfleet law. Wild!

I didn't really know what to think of this while I was reading it. Now, with some hindsight, it doesn't bother me as much as it did. It's still pretty weird, but supposedly it is not difficult or stigmatized to give children up for adoption or whatever. I'm assuming that, anyways. The whole thing just struck a weird chord for me.

That aside, this was a pretty solid Trek story. Characters find weird puzzle planet and land on it to try to solve it. Not too different from a lot of other Trek stories, but it was done better than most. The ending of the main plot is tense, at least for some of the minor characters.

And then this leads me to why I couldn't go up to four stars. Since it is a Star Trek: Voyager story, I know that Chakotay, Janeway, Kim, Paris, Seven, and Torres aren't going to die. This takes the suspense away. So that bit about "at least for some of the minor characters" becomes important. They're the characters for whom the stakes of the story might have any impact. And they do. However, some of the characters I just didn't care about.

There were a lot of jumps from character to character. Some characters get a small section and nothing else. I'm sure there are some larger character arcs I've missed out on by reading this most recent book, but still.

There was a really sweet little side plot about Icheb, one of the Borg children, falling in love with one of his engineering pals. But, as nice as it was, it really had no thematic tie to the rest of the book. It was just kind of a cool thing that happened. I'm glad it did, but yeah.

So I guess I am pleasantly surprised. I wanted something easy I could read on my phone when things are slow at work. And I picked this one up because it was recent and it was written by a woman, so the chances of there being overt sexism were less. Beyer let me down a bit by reinforcing the gender binary, but you can't win 'em all. Even though humans would have definitely torn the whole binary thing down long before the year 2382.

[Paul Lunger · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been very, very rare for anything Kirsten Beyer has done w/in the Voyager re-launch to find a book that this reader has had trouble finding a way to like & enjoy; however, her latest entry "Architects of Infinity" is a miss that saves itself only because of an ending that sets up a lot of interesting opportunities for things in the future. The book opens w/ the exploration of a world which contains a newly found element that might in fact finally give the Full Circle fleet a chance to get some overdue R&R as well as hinting at the Department of Temporal Investigations sending Agent Lucsly to deal w/ the fleet along w/ the issues involving the Krenim. With the decision made to try to explore what appears to be a relatively harmless world in DK-1116, the crews of the various ships are split apart & sent down on separate away missions to try to explore this world & find out a little more of its origins. What the crew eventually discovers (although it takes nearly 2/3's of the way to get there) is that what is there is far more than what meets the eye w/ not only the planet, but also the entire binary star system as well.

Interspersed in this is the continued drama involving Harry Kim & Nancy Conlon who is now unable to carry their child to term. This segment brings about more details on the Kriosian people via Ensign Aytar Gwyn who via a hidden history of her own people ends up being part of a solution to keep Harry & Nancy's daughter alive. There are also some very nice family moments with Tom, B'Elanna, Michael & Miral something that has been missing at times from this series as that family tries to determine just really what they want for the future. There's a beginning thought process of the romance between Kathryn Janeway & Chakotay who could end up as much more than friends & colleagues. Additionally, we the reader witness Icheb & Bryce Phinn start what could be the beginnings of Voyager's first ever same sex relationship.

Throughout all of this across nearly 400 pages, Beyer plods through a plot that is at times dull & uninteresting. The majority of the blurb on the back of the book only holds true for the last 50 pages or so as well. Granted, there is an ending that will stun anyone who reads this book & also has this reader extremely curious just where a lot of this is going to end up in the continuing adventures of Full Circle & her remaining ships. Only time will tell to see if this series can regain it's momentum w/ Beyer's 10th straight installment planned for later this year.

[Jonathan Koan · Rating 3 out of 5]

While most of Kirsten's books have been fantastic, this one fell short of that mark. I mean, there are some things that Kirsten is fantastic at, and some things that sometimes she just can't write. This book had both.

I'll start off with the good. Kirsten is a great writer of relationships and characters. Her writing of Janeway, Chakotay, Tom, B'Elanna, and Seven of Nine is all really good. You can tell she watched the show(over and over and over again) in order to really get the characters voices. What I'm not as big a fan of is that over the last several books, the minor characters who are original characters have started to become more and more important, and have taken over the story. The story is roughly 50% original characters, 50% series characters, and I think it should be a little bit more focused on the series characters, but that's just me.

My main gripe about this book is it's plot, Kirsten just doesn't write plot well. Her books just feel like a really long episode of Voyager, and they rarely(with the exceptions of Full Circle, The Eternal Tide, and Atonement) feel epic and huge and movie like(which is the kind of Star Trek books that I like). This plot really seemed like a plot from the cutting room of the television set floor and repurposed for the books. Maybe I'll feel different after reading "To Lose the Earth", which finishes up Kirsten's Trek books, but right now I'm not too enthralled with where the story is going. I hope that whoever comes in next will plot the future and make it truly epic. It definitely has the potential.

Side note, it just seems really odd that so far 8 of the 9 Voyager books by Kirsten Beyer have been roughly 380 pages, give or take 5. I both like the consistency and feel like Kirsten feels like she needs to hit the mark. If the story needs 380 pages, that's good. But I'm starting to think that she simply is aiming at a word count and not a plot finish.

Overall, I think this book is ok, but it's not great. I definitely think Kirsten's first series(Full Circle, Unworthy, Children of the Storm, and The Eternal Tide) was amazing, her second series/trilogy(Protectors, Acts of Contrition, and Atonement) were great, and this series is so far, just ok. Unless she wows me in the end, it's definitely a continual decline for Kirsten. But this book gets a 5 out of 10.