In this one Gordon and Ben go camping together while Barina and Lydia help at a clinc.When the boys run into trouble(or rather trouble slams into Gordon)Ben deals with it like a pro.

This book had a powerful message of friendship. It is as good if not better than the other books in this series. The character Barina portrayed was really special. I liked this and all the other books in this series because I love medical stories, fictional and non-fictional.

This four-part story that spans the entire "Star Trek" universe (until the fifth show arrives, that is) begins spectacularly, continues well, and almost peters out before returning with a bang. The first segment, "First Strike," takes place in the 23rd Century and depicts Kirk as a hero in both his accomplishments as a warrior (impressing even the Klingons) and in his determined efforts as a diplomat who wants to avoid the war in the first place. "First Strike" could easily stand on its own. But "Soldiers of Fear" fortunately avoids the danger of becoming just a remake/sequel to "First Strike." The added element of new technology for the villainous Furies -- a weapon that strikes at the very minds of the Enterprise crew -- creates an interesting element that maintains our fascination with the story. Then the whole thing goes south in "Time's Enemy." The initial premise -- involving time travel and the mysterious appearance of a centuries-old Defiant -- is certainly intriguing, but the story itself is rather dull and turns out to have very little to do with the Furies story as a whole. In my opinion, it is completely unnecessary, especially considering that the fourth segment, "The Final Fury," picks up exactly where the second segment left off. I wasn't much of a "Voyager" viewer at the time, but I became interested in the series when "Invasion" so fluidly continued the same story from the original characters to the Next Generation to Voyager. I would definitely recommend "Invasion." But skip the DS9 segment, which is as boring and pointless as the other three segments are exciting and epic. Well, three out of four ain't bad.

This was an immensely spellbinding and interesting read... The concept of having such a wonderfully continuous storyline is great, and extremely well thought-out. The stories blend nicely, and tell different parts of the complete story in each book. The characters, especially in the last two books, are portrayed very lifelike and true to their roles in the TV series -- they had me laughing at quite a few occasions! I had to put down everything else to finish this book first!

If you're like Trek then you will like this book. The 4 novel saga spans the centuries and does so with the greatest of fluidity. The basic premise is simple, an epic war took place in our little piece of universe before we got here. The loser of the war wants the universe back and the winners are nowhere to be found. The first novel introduces the losers and reveals that their presence has actually been well documented in the history of our quadrants aliens through mythology, from the Vulcan mythology to Human mythology and so on. The second novel finds Picard and the NG crew fight the FURIES off again in a true epic. The third novel gets a little more technical but finds us finally introduced to the victors in that epic war fought so long ago. These creatures are just plain cool... If not a bit gory... LoL. The 4th brings us back to the FURIES as they attempt to simply transport their entire planet into the alpha quadrant! This is by far the best of the 4 and completes the saga perfectly. I read this installment in a day. All and all it took me 10 days to read the 958 pages and that's saying a lot for me... You'll enjoy this..

you're prepared to see a side of Janeway you've never seen before! The show didn't come close to capturing her obsession with hunting Ransom, her absolute determination to see justice served--even at the expense of her first officer's respect and trust. I enjoyed the episode's portrayal of Janeway as maybe a little less than right (usually the show makes her adherence to Starfleet regulations look like "the only correct way to live in the Delta Quadrant," no matter what the circumstance), but after reading the novel, Janeway actually appears *wrong.* The added scenes between her and Chakotay are excellent, but the true jewel of the novel is Janeway's fallibility. This storyline is shaded in mostly grays, with very little in black and white. It's almost natural to sympathize with Ransom and his crew, while in the episode they seemed entirely heartless. The character development in this book is fantastic. True, if you haven't seen the episode, you'll be looking for more scenes, but it's the same with the "Caretaker" novelization. The extra scenes flow so smoothly that I've seen the episode more than once and I sometimes found myself thinking, "Was this in the episode or not?" Diane Carey has done a commendable job adding depth and "gray" to a well-scripted episode.

I never saw the episode, but I've read the script to it. I was thrilled. But reading the book was so much fun. I believe this book is the second best after "Mosaic", and Diane Carey's best - IMHO. The Janeway/Chakotay scenes were breathtaking, and extermelly well writen. Loved it all the way!

Equinox is an excellent novelization of the series season ending and season openers, Equinox Parts I & II. Diane Carey once again, shows why she is one of the primary authors that John Ordover and Pocket Books goes to for these novels.

The premise: The starship USS Voyager is cruising along on its merry way back to the Alpha Quadrant when they receive, to their great surprise, a Federation distress call. This, in and of itself, plays out a huge portion of the emotional intrigue for the crew of Voyager. When Captain Janeway and crew arrive on the scene, they find the USS Equinox, a Nova class science vessel under attack. What the starship is being attacked by is not immediately clear though. They rush in and extend their shields around the smaller vessel and begin to make their introductions. As one would expect, there is a lot of excitement between the two small crews, considering that both thought they were the only Federation personnel in the quadrant. What Captain Janeway and the crew of Voyager are soon to find out though is the Captain Ransom and his crew have had a lot rougher go of trying to get home than they have. I don't wish to spoil this for those that haven't read it or by chance not scene the two part episode.

Diane Carey's work on this novelization does deserve a lot of extra credit though. In many ways, this novel, in my opinion, is more intriguing and exciting than the two aired episodes. She perfectly captured the inner struggles that the primary characters, Captain Janeway, Captain Ransom and Commander Chakotay are going through. She truly captures Captain Janeways almost crazed, desire to stop Captain Ransom. This, by itself, almost costs her the relationship between her and her first officer. I've read a lot of the Star Trek novelizations and some, unlike this one, are mostly regurgitations of what was seen on the screen. There's no flair or added scenes to them. That is not the case with this wonderfully well written book. I would definitely recommend this one to any Star Trek fan or somebody just getting started with reading Star Trek.

As in "The Search" and "Descent" (novelizations of a DS9 episode and a Next Generation episode respectively) Diane Carey does an excellent job of faithfully telling the story presented her. Unlike in both of those books, to say nothing of many of her other original Star Trek novels, in this book she (mostly) contains her tendancy to get carried away in her attempts to use the language in "original" (read "WRONG") ways. There are a few places where her word choice is questionable (referring to Neelix as a "thermometer" of the crew's morale, rather than the more standard "barometer", for example, and in at least two places using the phrase "s/he bridged" to convey the concept "s/he said to bridge the gap") but none that are just clearly wrong and ridiculous, as has been the case in so much of her other writing. Which allows the reader to enjoy her writing without distraction, and to see just what she's capable of when she doesn't try to invent new words or find new uses for old words. And the answer is, "quite a bit".

I never really got into the Voyager series so I had no idea that the Sulu cross over episode had aired.
I saw the novel and being a great "Captain Sulu of the Exelcior" fan I had to read it.
Before I read a page I discovered the VHS tape of the episode.
I watched the episode, read the book and wow!
The book is far more fleshed out!
If you are a fan of such cross over book/episode fun as "Unification", "Relics" or "Trial & Tribble-ations", you will love this book.

I SUGGEST READING THE NOVEL 'FLASHBACK' *BEFORE* WATCHING THE VOYAGER TELEVISION EPISODE VERSION. THE NOVEL VERSION IS MUCH MORE RICH IN CHARACTER DEVELOPEMENT AND DETAIL. ALSO, IN THE IN THE NOVEL VERSION, YOU GET TO ENCOUNTER CHARACTERS AND MATERIAL THAT WERE NOT INCLUDED IN THE TELEVISION EPISODE (SPOCK, UHURA, JANEWAY BEING SHOWED WHY IT WAS WISE THAT AMELIA EARHART [FROM THE VOYAGER EPISODE 'THE 37'S'] CHOSE NOT TO STAY ON BOARD VOYAGER WHEN SHE WAS RESCUED BY JANEWAY FROM THE BRIORI CRYOGENICS TANK, ETC.). A GREAT READ FOR ANY STAR TREK FAN!

The book was a great adventure which takes us back to where it all began. Three raw cadets attempting to work out their differences and triumph in the best traditon of Star Trek lore.

The first adventrue of Kirk, Spock and McCoy. This book was made for kids, but it does apeal to adults too. To see the beginnings of friendship and leadership by Kirk was good. Kirk was by book, and it was surprising. McCoy was witty and Spock was somewhat solid. The three of them trapped on a planet trying to thrawt a plan to kidnap a popular doctor. This book resembles novel Trek books quite well. I liked this book and I'm sure other adults will too.

It was a great charcter ddevelopment book. Not many people could imagine that Kirk used to be so by - the - book. After all he has broke every rule in Starfleet and has been demoted. Still, the story turned out nicely. And the way Kirk tricked Spock, that was genius. There was only one thing, if McCoy is an ensign now it would have been a year or more between books but Kirk is still a first year cadet. Did he flunk? Another five star job by Todd C. Hamilton.

In "The City on the Edge of Forever", onee of the best-loved original Star Trek episodes, Spock and Capt. Kirk have to prevent a drug-crazed Dr. McCoy from saving a woman from being struck by a car in 1930's Earth---a woman Kirk ends up falling in love with. This novel begins by picking up where that episode leaves off.

Kirk, now seriously debating whether or not he should resign his Starfleet commission, takes shore leave on Earth where he manages to take comfort in letters from his father, Commander George Samuel Kirk Sr.

But these letters are more than just conversations between father and son. They contain clues to the mystery of one of Starfleet's most highly classified first contact missions that went horribly wrong...and at the same time made the Enterprise truly worthy of her name, twenty-five years before Kirk would assume command.

I gave this book four stars because it isn't the easiest Star Trek read in the world, since you have to wade through a lot of "background" or "historical" information to get to some of its most important points, but it is very well written; I enjoy it mostly for the great amount lot of insight given to the character of Jim's father, and what the Enterprise might have been like as an unmarked, unregistered, completely brand new Starfleet prototype. I have only one negative: George Kirk's befriending of the Romulan Field Primus t'Cael adds good drama, but it doesn't quite gel with the idea that eventually the Romulans and the Federation would go to war, which would lead to the creation of the Neutral Zone (see classic episode "Balance of Terror"), but it's still a good book.

Diane Carey's "Final Frontier" has to be a must read for any fan of the original series. It tells the first story of the Enterprise before it acquired it's legendary name. Under the captaincy of Robert April; George Kirk (Jim's father) embarks on the test run of the infamous ship. The adversary in this one is the Romulans. We get a glimpse of their uncompromising world of political treachery within their own ranks. This one is everything the new prequel series should be. Alive with interesting characters that act like real humans; unlike some of the Starfleet members we've seen on TV in the show Voyager. If there is any book that needs a reprinting it's this one.

This book was very well written. It kept me on the edge of my seat. I couldn't put it down till I read the whole thing. It was interesting to go back and forth from the past and future. I liked 'Final Frontier' alot.

"Fire Ship" is a particularly intriguing and well written book by one of "Trek's" best authors. In "Fire Ship" Captain Janeway tells the story of how she was once separated from Voyager. Believing Voyager was destroyed when she escaped from an alien spacestation aboard an extremely small escape pod. She's picked up by a less technologically advanced race in the middle of a war. From there she attempts to warn them that a more viscious species is coming, to no avail. In order to do something about it, she is forced to basically start off on this ship as a deckhand and work her way up to captain.
A great concept carried out extremely well by the author. Clearly one of the best Voyager books as a stand alone and a fine addition to "The Captain's Table" series. Thank you to Diane Carey for a great read.

Forget all the standard-fare Voyager-in-trouble cliche books (i.e., Voyagers #1-18), if you only get one Voyager book, this has to be the one you get. Right off the bat, this has NOTHING to do with Voyager (the ship) itself. Bottom line is, if you like Janeway and feel that she's been sorely underused, and needs some fleshing out both in the written form and on TV, then please pick this one up. I expected it to be a run-of-the-mill story, but Carey gives this such an edge that it actually was very emotional for me to read the last two or three chapters. Well, read it for yourself, I don't want to give away the story.

Quite possibly, this is also the best of the Captain's Table series, and deserves a place on my list of favorite books. Pick this one up; I guarantee you it's worth it.

In the one-liner above, I mentioned this as being 'Mosaic 2' only because this is also something which focuses almost as intensely on Janeway as did Jeri Taylor's novel 'Mosaic'. That one was also extremely good, I recommend both of them. Consider this more of an action Janeway and the other one simply a biography of her life, although still extremely interesting.

Forget all the standard-fare Voyager-in-trouble cliche books (i.e., Voyagers #1-18), if you only get one Voyager book, this has to be the one you get. Right off the bat, this has NOTHING to do with Voyager (the ship) itself. Bottom line is, if you like Janeway and feel that she's been sorely underused, and needs some fleshing out both in the written form and on TV, then please pick this one up. I expected it to be a run-of-the-mill story, but Carey gives this such an edge that it actually was very emotional for me to read the last two or three chapters. Well, read it for yourself, I don't want to give away the story.

Quite possibly, this is also the best of the Captain's Table series, and deserves a place on my list of favorite books. Pick this one up; I guarantee you it's worth it.

In my reviews of Classic Star Trek novels, it must be understood that I adhere to the original canon as invisioned by Gene Roddenberry, and not the "Star Trek" universe accepted by Rick Berman and company.

I generally rate a classic novel thus:

Adherence to Canon -- does this novel adhere to the vision of the original Star Trek?

In this case, pretty much so.

Believability (within the confines of 23rd century Star Trek viability) -- is this novel well-plotted and well written? Can I picture this novel or imagine myself in it?

Yes. Definitely.

Coherence and Consistency -- does this novel internally consistent? Is it consistent with other Star Trek
novels by the same author? Is it consistent with what is known of the CLASSIC Star Trek universe?

Yes, as well as with a sequel.

Mitigating Factors -- pluses or minuses which dramatically affect the enjoyment of this book

The book is fun. Not particularly brilliant, but fun. Certainly one to bring to the beach or to the pool for an afternoon diversion.

I read this book and Battlestations for the first time when I was in Junior High. They were my favorite two star trek books for a long time and still rank right up there. Before Voyager, Piper was the epitome of Star Trek Women. I wanted to be her. I think these two books are great and really let female readers get into the star trek universe in a way we can't reading about captain kirk chasing skirts.

I really loved this novel. Lt. Piper is a wonderful character, and like many reviewers have said, I wanted to be her, too. The characterization is excellent, and her friends Merete, Scanner, and especially Sarda, are fascinating and fun. Piper gets thrown into a serious situation before she can even report to her station aboard the Enterprise, and she deals with it very well. She is not shown as a perfect heroine, but as a young woman who makes mistakes but does her best. The plot was well done, and the book was exciting, suspenseful and had lots of action with great character development, too!

I found this a great book. It had a ceative idea, and it was transferred from the TV episode to the book very well. I also like how it shows that there is more to the story. (In the next book, homecoming)But I found the relationship between Seven of Nine and Chakotay dissappointing, since throughout the series, he's seemed to have chemestrey with Janeway. But that didn't nearly ruin the book. It's a great finale that any Star Trek: Voyager fan should read!

In a word fascinating, a great adaptation on the script. We get more details of what's going on with the characters, something lacking with the time restraints of TV.

Tom Paris, his father and new born child and wife B'Elanna for instance. Janeway and Chakotay together. Capt. Janeway and Admiral Janeway, the Janeways vs. the Borg Queen and Tuvak with a disease.

Fighting the Borg and their Queen and out foxing the Borg yet again. Using technology from the future to give the Borg something to assimilate if they can. And yet another way home via the Borg all for good fast reading.

This book moves fast and is a good wrap up, but there is a hint of the final wrap up in "Homecoming" that is sure to answer the rest of the questions concerning the Voyager crew.

A very fast read with a few typos, but nonetheless very fascinating, enjoy it. Then we hope "Homecoming" will give us the final answers, but with all good Sci-fi, there never is and end.

I believe Diane Carey did a good adapting what was an ok script. She added details which were not shown in the final episode (Chakotay's conversation with Seven about similarities between Seven and his mother; Paris's thoughts while his wife is giving birth and worrying about the Borg: etc.)I believe this book would have been better as a regular size paperback but I enjoyed it alot. I also can't wait for Christie Golden's Voyager Homecoming Novel. The sneak peek we were given was excellent. I hope it comes out soon and that Miss Golden comes up with a new and improved version of Voyager..."Voyager A" for the crew to reunite on and find a way to save the baby that was assimilated