This is the best of the post "Star Trek VI" books and promises one last great adventure for Captain Kirk and his crew. This book delivers and we find Kirk, Checkov and Scotty as the main characters in a story involving Kirk's nephews and a far flung world they wish to colonise. We see the early efforts that would lead to the Federation/Klingon alliance. Even Captain Sulu and the Excelsior make an appearance in time for a confrontation that reveals betrayal and old enemies alike. Without giving too much away this novel is truly a worthy epilogue to the classic era of films. And it is with great pride that I recommend it to you all.

This episode involves the crew of the original series, and occurs after the events of "The Undiscovered Country." The crew members have scattered to various tasks, some to command and others to do their part to cement the peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Admiral Kirk is back teaching at the Star Fleet Academy and there is of course not enough action to satisfy his ravenous appetite for adventure. Therefore, when his nephews ask him to accompany them in an attempt to colonize a planet, he eventually accepts. At first, Kirk is very out of place among the scientists and engineers who are trying to conduct scientific and technical research.
Of course, things are not as they seem and Kirk, Scotty and Chekov are soon in the middle of a crisis that could damage or destroy the Federation. In this case, the primary enemy is the Orion syndicate, a rapacious pirate organization, whose sole motive is to profit at the expense of others. While the Orions were introduced in the original series, we know little about them, and do not learn much more in this story. Nevertheless, we do learn about a new species that apparently wants to join the Federation, but is in fact seeking to undermine it.
The action moves along very well and we also get to follow the exploits of Sulu, as his ship is terribly outgunned when it intervenes in a major interstellar war. His solution to the problem is one that reveals that he too has a bit of the pirate in him. Spock and Uhuru also come to the rescue in a Klingon ship, dispatched by Klingon Chancellor Azebur in repayment of a blood debt. After a battle that is waged more with wits than with phasers and photon torpedoes, Kirk and his group emerge victorious, and the Federation gains two new valuable members.
Well written and involving many different characters, this is one of the better Star Trek novels, and would have made a very good movie.

I like this book because it's very adventurous. I like how David Kaye reads the book. I also finnished the book this morning. It's absolutely fun. I know because I've been a loyal trekkie for nine years now, and I intend to stay that way. I highly recommend this book to future trekkies.

I'm not a huge Voyager fan and I'll admit that I've not picked up a lot of the Voyager books that are out there. (Usually the only time I go out of my way to buy a Voyager book is when it's part of an on-going series such as the Captain's Table). But when I saw the description of this book and heard some good on-line buzz about this series and Ms. Golden in particular, I was interested enough to give the series a try.

And to be honest, after reading the first third of this trilogy, I'm not too eager to tackle the rest. Part of the problem stems from the fact that while there is some decently done plot points covered in the book, they are too few and far between. I like seeing the Romulans and seeing their shadowy conspiracy and plots within plots. Those scenes, in the beginning work. That is, until we find out what their real plot is, it's far too full of holes to be very convincing. (I find it hard to believe the Romulans would devote so much energy to a plan that is so inherintly doomed to fail as finding Voyager and bringing it back through time).

But sometimes holes in logic can be forgiven if the characters are done well. Unfortunately, they aren't. None of the characters gets a very accurate, intelligent look at them. Indeed, if you watch Voyager regularily, you may find yourself wondering just who these people are in the book. There is an attempt to explain this via a force called dark matter, but it's not convincing enough. Also, once the characters are no longer affected by the dark matter, they act in the same ways, thus making the characterizations that much more disconcerting.

I can honestly say this was a dissapointing read for me. I've got the other two books in the series, but they have slid down my reading list and it may be a while before I get back to them. If you haven't bought them, I'd recommend you try another Trek book. If you're looking for Romulan intrigue, try Vulcan's Heart or the Rhinansu books by Diane Duane. Those are great reads and make Dark Matters 1 pale in comparison.

Cloak and Dagger is yet another great Voyager book written by one of the best authors in the Star Trek genre, Christie Golden. This first book in the Dark Matters series begins slowly and in the past. Remember Telek R'Mor, the Romulan doctor who traveled across a micro-wormhole that spanned not just light years but also time (from the television episode 'Eye of the Needle')? When he returned to Romulus, his government was very interested to hear of his encounter with Voyager and her crew. With the assistance of a sinister new race called the Shepherds, they set out to capture Voyager in its own timeframe by using Telek's wormhole technology and the Shepherds' ability to manipulate dark matter. If successful, the Romulans would have a great advantage over the Federation and its Starfleet of the past. But does the Shepherd's help come at too great a price?

Dark matter can mutate, becoming highly lethal and able to infect anything it comes into contact with. After the Voyager crew becomes deathly ill and the ship's systems begin to fail, Captain Janeway sets out to find the Shepherds of her time. And then an even greater mystery surfaces when a planet flips in and out of existence, crew members go missing and a 'magical' orb in the hands of a determined Voyager crew holds the fate of the entire Universe. I hope I didn't give too much away! ;-)

Author Christie Golden is excellent at creating fascinating stories with intriguing plots. The suspense in this novel is palpable, and it reads as smoothly as watching a television episode. I can't wait to get to the final two books in the Dark Matters series!

Voyager: Cloak and Dagger was one of the best Voyager books I have ever read.(and I have read plenty)The whole plot makes this a book you will not want to put down. Of all the Voyager books, Cloak and Dagger (as well as the other two in the trilogy) was the fastest read. I really enjoyed Golden bringing back Telek R'Mor, and the way it was done was magnificient! Christie Golden has gone beyond expectations.Again. If you are a Voyager fan or a fan of other Star Trek; you must read this trilogy.

as soon as you start reading this book, you'll find out that the auther has very limited knowledge about astro-science, as well as basic startrek-science concepts, not to mention the characterization and the plotline. I am a loyal fan of Voyager, however, I found this book difficult to accept for the reason that both the characterization and the concept of science are illogical. My conclusion is, this book is not worth reading, in fact, it will make you more confused about everything in ST Voyager.

Certainly not the best Voyager book I've ever read, but very good none the less... Really great story that follows Gene Roddenberrys visions of human tollerance. Give it a read, it is certainly worth you while, I really enjoyed it...

I'm amazed to see some negative reviews of this book. It's by far the best of the Voyager series. I'm not a big Voyager fan, but I would be if the characters on TV were as interesting as they are in this book. Golden shows you how good the TV show might have been. If you like Voyager at all, get this book.

This book is easily the weakest of the Gateways series so far. Part of it can be blamed on the fact that the Voyager is simply too far away from the events that are taking place in the Alpha Quadrant to get the reader to care much (whereas the TNG, DS9 and NF appear to share a common linking thread of seeing the various crews work toward the same goal and getting three different perspectives on that, the Voyager book finds the crew outside the loop and thus, clueless as to what is going on, which is frustrating. Had this book been the first of the series, it might have been better). Another problem with the book is that the characters are too one-dimensional--including the new aliens we meet. It's obvious who the good and the bad guys are from the beginning. Finally, the ending of the novel is far too forced to be believed. I found myself wanting to throw the book aside in frustration several times in the final 50 or so pages.

The book is very loosely linked to the Gateways saga. There are times when the Gateways concept seems forced upon the book--almost as if the author had a good idea for a story but was forced to make it fit into the current series. Overall this leads to a lot of my dissatisfaction with this book.

This book stands alone as much as any of the 5 Gateways I've read, except that like the others, it says "to be continued" in book 7. However, the story to this point does have some partial conclusion. It is a good Voyager story and involves all the crew, but a lot of focus is on Janeway's dilemas leading the caravan. I must say it isn't totally clear why ships from all over the galaxy would want to follow Voyager the direction they are going, especially since danger lies that way. But once you get past that, OK.

Deep in the Delta Quadrant, the U.S.S. Voyager is caught in the center of a Gateways controversy, as Captain Janeway must make a difficult decision that will impact the safety of her entire crew...and that of a fleet of lost ships.

A collection of 15 short stories, none of which feature any of Christie's recurring characters, not even the small fry like Ariadne Oliver. Although the code of ettiquette that she and her fellow writers such as Dorothy L. Sayers followed for mysteries forbade any supernatural elements, Christie could and did occasionally dabble in such stories outside the mystery format. Several of the stories here have such elements; specifically, those from _The Hound of Death and Other Stories_. Others are more conventional; several of these feature men who 'seize the golden ball of opportunity' and get something out of their adventures, if only some self-respect. They are sorted by the original publication dates in magazines or story collections.

"The Hound of Death", "The Gipsy", "The Lamp", "The Strange Case of Sir Andrew Carmichael", and "The Call of Wings" are all taken from an earlier collection, _The Hound of Death and Other Stories_ (see my review). Properly speaking, by the way, "The Strange Case of Sir Andrew Carmichael" is really "The Strange Case of Sir Arthur Carmichael" - it isn't often that the *title* of a story is the subject of a widespread printer's error.

"The Girl in the Train", "Jane in Search of a Job", "The Manhood of Edward Robinson", "The Listerdale Mystery", "The Rajah's Emerald", "Swan Song", "A Fruitful Sunday" - taken from an earlier collection, _The Listerdale Mystery_ (see my review for details of each). "The Girl on the Train" is essentially similar to "The Golden Ball", although the settings differ. "Jane in Search of a Job" and "The Listerdale Mystery" each involve a woman - one young, one middle-aged - in desperate financial straits answering an advertisement that's too good to be true. "The Manhood of Edward Robinson" and "The Rajah's Emerald" each involve a young man with a girlfriend who's tiresome about money (one is bossy and prudent, the other likes to live higher than her boyfriend can afford) who accidentally gets hold of stolen gemstones and must think quickly to avoid wrongful arrest. "A Fruitful Sunday" starts out on a similar tack, but with a sympathetic girlfriend who *isn't* keen on giving the stones back. "Swan Song", the only story not featuring someone who's struggling, concerns a soprano with a fiendish 'temperament' and her final, definitive performance of _Tosca_.

"Magnolia Blossom" (March 1926) Theodora Darrell and Vincent Easton had fallen in love under the branches of the magnolia tree at her home in London, and now, 2 weeks later, she's prepared to run away with him to his home in the Transvaal - until she sees a newspaper account of the collapse of her husband's firm. She can't leave, today of all days. Then Richard Darrell (who hasn't got a clue) asks her to persuade a man into giving her the evidence of his own criminal conduct: Vincent Easton.

"The Golden Ball" (1934) Nothing to do with the fairy tale of the same name. George Dundas, like George Rowland (see above) has just been fired by his uncle, for taking an unscheduled day off in the middle of the week, and been read a lecture about 'seizing the golden ball of opportunity'. When he encounters society beauty Mary Montressor on the street outside the office, he's in a mood to take whatever adventure comes to him...

"Next to a Dog" - Joyce, left widowed by a beloved husband whose only flaw was that he gambled, is too proud to sponge, but can't take just any kind of job, because she's still got someone to care for: her beloved, half-blind old terrier, Terry, a gift from her late husband. Governesses and companions can't have such dogs; what can she do to keep their heads above water?

This is early Christie and definitely a product of its time. Much more personal than her regular mystery stories, these exude '20s style and mysticism. The first half of the book seems devoted to young people and adventure, with a great deal of attention to the recurring motif of the car representing freedom and the jewels imbuing their wearers with special traits.

In the second half, Christie delves deeper and deeper into the occult, going from Atlantis theories to reincarnation to "the gift" to metamorphosis to the ghostly sobbing of dead children. Even as I reject the pushiness of the occult aspects of these stories, I am thoroughly entertained by Christie's writing style. Her dialogue is simply enchanting, and even though I recognize the flaws in this collection, I find myself often drawn to re-reading it to escape into a whole different world.

Some of Agatha's most insightful, penetrating writing. The varying tales run the gamut from hilarious, playful, romantic to downright spooky in places. Plus two of them in particular are heart breaking. (I won't reveal which ones.) A really nice addition to her heavy collection, these pieces will stick with you long after you put them down. And yes: one of them even brought me to tears. Here's strong evidence Christie was more than just a one note author. The stories could very well be classified as literary gems.

This is the final in the series of six books dealing with an assault with biological weapons on the Federation. In the fifth book, we found out that it is a result of Picard being responsible for the death of someone, and that it is all about vengeance. A little tired but workable as a plot point.

This book takes the reader back to the time of Picard as Captain of the Stargazer and adds Tuvok and Jack Crusher to the series. Picard is assigned diplomatic duties for a system on the verge of war. Working together with Tuvok and Crusher, they quickly realize that the war is being primed by someone, but they're just not sure who. Tuvok and Crusher go undercover and they form the majority of the story. Their undercover antics are interesting reading, and represent a solid addition to Tuvok's background. However, Crusher's character is only superficially developed, as is the character of the man who eventually becomes the assailant for the other five books. A little disappointing, but still interesting reading.

This story is another wonderful tale in the Star Trek: The Next Generation tradition. It is based in the same wonderful universe as all other star trek books where faster than light travel and communications make galactic journeys possible. Unlike most other Next Generation books, this story does not take place aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise. Instead it is based a few years before the Next Generation series began on the U.S.S. Stargazer, Captain Picard's former ship. There are a few familiar characters though, obviously Captain Picard, and the often spoken of but seldom seen husband of Dr. Beverly Crusher, Lieutenant Commander Jack Crusher. Also joining these two characters is one Vulcan, Ensign Tuvok. If the name sounds familiar to Star Trek: Voyager fans, it is the same as your Lieutenant Tuvok but a few years before his Voyager years. The story is of a mission to the Kellasian sector to try and help defuse the war cries of two races on different worlds brought on by old hatred and recent terrorist attacks. While Picard tries to solve the problem diplomatically, he assigns Crusher and Tuvok to investigate the attacks because he believes they are coming from an outside source. This is the final tale in the series of the plot of a mad man to destroy the entire Federation. Interestingly, this last story is the first chronologically and answers the questions posed by the first five novels about why this mad man has been sending virtually incurable diseases to seemingly random places in the galaxy over a period of nearly a decade. Some of the most interesting parts of the story come when a carefree and impulsive Jack Crusher teams up with the completely logical and reserved Vulcan, Ensign Tuvok. The clash of their personalities is nearly audible to the reader in the early stages of the book.

"The ease with which they found a place to land and hide their small craft, all within a few kilometers of a main city, was actually rather unsettling. 'Any disreputable type can sneak onto this planet,' Crusher said. 'But then,' Tuvok told him as they concealed their ship with loose foliage, 'so can a team of Starfleet officers.' The commander looked at him. 'In other words, I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.' The Vulcan appeared perplexed--and maybe a little annoyed as well. 'The reference escapes me,' he said. 'What it means,' Crusher explained, 'is that you shouldn't question good luck. You should just run with it.' Tuvok sighed a little. 'I see.' 'Don't you have any colorful Vulcan expressions?' asked the human. The ensign glanced at him. 'No,' he said flatly. And he dragged a few last branches full of leaves up against their vessel. Crusher brushed off his hands. 'Looks like we're done.' 'Indeed,' said Tuvok. he gestured. 'The city is that way.' and he began to walk toward it. The human had no trouble catching up with him. 'Impatient, aren't we?' he asked his companion. Tuvok stopped and turned to him, obviously a little surprised. 'Not really. I simply saw no reason to delay.' Crusher smiled at the ensign's expression. 'My fault. You're absolutely right-- there isn't.' And as he started walking again, he reminded himself that he couldn't joke with the Vulcan as he might [with other people he knew]."

However, as they work together, they realize that their differences do not need to stand in the way of forming a friendship, not that Tuvok would ever admit to needing friendship. Friedman and Golden use dialogue very well to show what is happening, not only around the characters but also to show how the characters are feeling. When Tuvok is explaining how he talked an adversary out of killing Crusher and himself.

"'When he attempted to sense my emotions, our minds were linked. it was not difficult to examine his thoughts and extract something useful for them. and the rest--' He hesitated. 'The rest . . . ?' Crusher prodded. Again, Tuvok's dark eyes seemed to glimmer with the faintest hint of mischief. 'The rest,' said the Vulcan, 'I made up.' Crusher grinned at him. 'Tuvok, you son of a mugato. I didn't know you had it in you.' The ensign's brow wrinkled ever so slightly. 'There is much you do not know about me, Commander. Perhaps we will have the chance to rectify that at a later time.'"

Although he remains constantly icy to Crusher, Tuvok does change and begin to show a bit of affection for his illogical and slightly annoying partner. Friedman & Golden do a wonderful job of tying together a series of six novels into one chronologically spaced out story. This book is not for everyone. I will be the first to admit that Star Trek or Science-Fiction in general really turn some people off. But if you are a Trekkie, or are someone who is willing to open his mind to a tale based in the far distant future but not far enough that you can not relate to the story. And if you've got a lot of extra time on your hands, read the whole series, it's worth your time.

The First Virtue is an excellent conclusion. It pretty much wraps up the reasoning to everything we learned in "Double or Nothing." In the First Virtue, we learn why Gerrid Thul wanted to create the Double Helix virus and why he wanted so much revenge for the loss of his only child. Both authors did a great job with their portions. The plot is well thought out, especially the portions of the book with Commander Jack Crusher and Lieutenant Tuvok. I felt that they captured Tuvok's personality quite well and gave a precursor to some of the decisions and general personality we saw on screen in Voyager. Overall, I would recommend the whole series, or the Omnibus that's due out in November to any and all Star Trek fans. Thank you to the author's for their excellent work.

Sad to say, this book was disappointing. I thought Homecoming got the Voyager Realunch off to a good start, but this book kind of lets you down. The focus shifts from the characters interacting with familiar friends and relatives on Earth, to an attempt to unearth a coverup at Starfleet regarding the Borg. The B'Elanna "B"-story was predictable and dull, although it was refreshing because it had nothing to do with the main plot line.

The main plot was, however, completely unbelievable. The reason given for "why" a Borg virus is spreading on Earth makes no sense.

I'm looking forward to more stories in the relaunch, but I'd like to see a return to the style of "Homecoming" where there are lots of things happening with different characters all at once.

After the first book of this two-part "mini-series," I did not have high expectations for Part 2. While there are still many areas that could have been improved upon, I am impressed that Pocket gave the author permission to have important things happen to a few of the characters, particularly B'Elanna. In addition, the Borg situation turned out to be much more clever and interesting than I expected.

The hologram rights' storyline was still kind of silly, and implies that every holographic waiter and every holographic Orion slave girl can and will develop self-awareness and sentience. Previously, we've been led to believe that the Doctor's unique situation in developing self-awareness was due to his being left "on" all the time and having to exceed his original program by being the Chief Medical Officer when he was was meant to be a supplement. I don't buy the holographic rights advocates' view that if you coalesce a bunch of photons into a projected 3-D image carrying a tray of food, the hologram is instantly going to feel unsatisified with its menial job. The Doctor is special. Minuet from Next Gen was also special, with a particular reason. Moriarty was special, with a particular reason. That Irish village on Voyager sort of became special, although I never bought that and thought it was silly.

Anyhow, this book was better than expected and definitely better than Part I. Also, the very last page (don't want to give it away) sets things up nicely for further adventures.

voyager has finally returned home after being stranded in the delta quadrant for 7 years. but their celebrations are cut short when they discover that a borg virus has broken out on earth and they may be responsible for it. this novel cleverly brings old friends and enemies together to hunt down the cause and also addresses the rights of holograms in a funny and interesting way. i hope ms. golden writes more voyager books and keeps the story alive. of all the star trek shows i think this one has the most potential for good books long after the tv show has left the air.

Most of this author's media books are fun, but maybe she's best when someone else invents the world. This story had every single fantasy cliche, but the worst was thieves raising a child to be a thief. Ugh! Even the writing was full of cliches.

I found this book to be just a tad to cliche for my tastes. The main characters were decently developed, although there is room for improvement. One of the things that I found more interesting was the pantheon of gods the author created and the resulting magical nature of the world.

All in all a moderately entertaining and quick read, but nothing that will knock your socks off.

this is a book about a man who looses his wife and daughter in a blotched robbery.he,derveren becomes a thief over the next seven years.he saves a kingdom helps control a plague and does it all in less than 340 pages.a good book not a great book.

Instead of one big novel involving characters from all six current Star Trek book series, this is a collection of six short stories, each one picking up from the cliffhanger ending of each of the Gateways novels from the individual series (if that makes sense). While this sounded like a cynical marketing ploy, I had hoped that the six stories would build on each other to present some sort of unified whole, bringing the whole adventure to one grand conclusion. How wrong I was!

The Star Trek (original series), Challenger, and Voyager stories could--and probably should--have easily been included as concluding chapters in their respective books. Each one is nothing more than an epilogue to the main story. The Deep Space Nine and New Frontier stories present somewhat separate adventures, but that doesn't make them much better. In both, characters get transported to significant locations (an important historical moment for Colonel Kira, a mythical afterlife for Calhoun and Shelby) where nothing of any real consequence seems to happen. Of course, since both series present ongoing adventures, it's possible that these tales plant seeds for upcoming stories. Even if that were the case, it doesn't make these stories any less inconsequential or any more satisfying.

The Next Generation tale, longer than the other five, does, indeed, wrap up the Gateways story. But, like the other five, there's no real reason (besides financial) that this story couldn't have been included at the end of Doors Into Chaos.

Because four of the stories are completely dependent upon what came before, there is a complete lack of tension or suspense. All the big events happened in the parent novels, and all the authors have left to do in What Lay Beyond is tie up the loose ends (even when there aren't really any loose ends that need tying up). Any opportunites for suspense that could have been sustained through the other two stories are completely ignored by their authors. Frustratingly, those two authors, Peter David and Keith RA DeCandidio, have done particularly good Star Trek work in the past, which makes their lackluster contributions here even more disappointing.

So, if you followed the Gateways saga so far and need to see what happens next, I recommend waiting for the paperback. Nothing of enough consequence happens to make this an immediate must-read.

The series Book 1-6 was promising, if annoying for having a cliffhanger ending that forced you to buy the next book, or specificially the Book 7 which contains all the endings.

Well after being built-up by books 1-6, wondering if the inconsistencies between those books would be tied together in ST Gateways Book 7, wondering if Book 7 "the grand conclusion of what lay beyond" would put forth a good explanation for the Iconian mystery, tie all the loose ends together and provide good conclusions for the cliffhanger endings of books 1-6...............it was most most most disappointing to see that this was not the case.

Book 7 creates more inconsistencies and the endings are [bad]. Oh some of the endings were ok, but the final ending...for the TNG book in the series...which was SUPPOSED to tie everything together, totally messed it up and failed, completely failed to deliver! I mean...first in books 1-6 they established that once activated a gateway cannot be destroyed no matter what they threw at it because it will simply absorb the energy. THEN in Book 7...suddenly Gateways CAN be destroyed by explosive force...no explanation given!!! Just a lazy author who didn't even read the previous book he wrote and ignored all stuff he established in the previous book! Once again, this is a MAJOR LETDOWN!

I'm not too fond of the Trek editors' current penchant for crossovers, but so far, they've managed to keep things from getting too irritating. This book ends the six stories started in the previous volumes of the series, but doesn't connect them; each adventure is a separate novella.
All of the stories were interesting enough to keep my attention, but the Kirk story dragged on for a while, and provided absolutely no backstory beyond the jacket type. Since this story opens the volume, it may cause readers who didn't pick up all the previous books (like myself; I only bought the TNG and New Frontier volumes) to turn away.
The other stories lacked both these faults, so the enjoyment you take from them is pretty much proportionate to your preference for each series. I knew nothing about Voyager, DS9, or Challenger but the basic concepts, but since each story followed only the captain (or Kira, in the DS9 case), it worked out. In fact, the Challenger story was interesting enough to convince me to pick up the original volume. A warning: the Voyager story involves a somewhat gratuitous cameo from a famous guest star, and the ending is irritating, as we watch Janeway say goodbye to every friggin' ship in the caravan. And, of course, there's the unconvincing explanation to why they didn't use the gateways to get home.
I worship Peter David as a god, so I'll leave the New Frontier review to someone less biased.
The TNG story comes last, and serves as an ending. I won't give away any details, but suffice it to say we do get a definite resolution to the crisis, as well as an explanation to just where the Iconians went, along with a really neat Picard story. One problem: there is a painful TMI moment between Troi and Riker in the last chapter; thankfully, it's brief.
I gave the book 4 stars because all the stories but one were above average, and Burgoyne's one-liner justified the hardback price (you'll now it when you see it).