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Spoilers VOY: To Lose The Earth by Kirsten Beyer Review Thread

Rate VOY: To Lose The Earth

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    51
Kirsten's Voyager novels are some of my favorite novels of all time; her writing speaks to me in a way that even other Trek rarely has. This does seem like it wasn't the easiest to write - I agree with the feeling that the ending moved a bit quickly - but I'm so glad she hung in there and finished off her run. I'm so glad to have this rather than a cliffhanger at the end of Architects of Infinity, and I think she ended the story in the right place.

Her 10 post-Destiny Voyager novels stand up with any novel series I've ever read. What an incredible run she's had.
 
With the exception of the Janeway / Chuckles stuff (never saw it, never will, and Janeway deserves far, far, far better than that boring nonentity of a character), I've enjoyed Kirsten Beyer's take on Voyager a great deal and this book - on first read, anyway - isn't an exception. Shame there won't be more, but many thanks to her for some very entertaining reads. :bolian:
 
It was a bit disappointing. I enjoyed the book but this quantum reality has more story to it. Maybe someone else will pick up the mantle and write more. Breaking the galactic barrier would be a great story.
 
Orac Zen said:
With the exception of the Janeway / Chuckles stuff
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Beyer made almost all of the Voyager characters into far more than they ever were on the show, including Chakotay.
JLP_1984 said:
I certainly feel that Gwyn's storyline should have been reduced and the climax of Conlon's should have been made a lot earlier.
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Oddly, those are the two storylines I found most compelling.
 
Trek.fm has posted it's interview with Kirsten Beyer and how she develops some of the story arcs for certain characters is really interesting and I'm so glad she goes in depth discussing the story arcs for Nancy Conlan and Gwen's in the book.Also Harry Kim too.This is a terrific interview with Kirsten Beyer.
 
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SolarisOne said:
Oddly, those are the two storylines I found most compelling.
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I don't disagree with you. For me I just went into the story knowing (I hope I am wrong) this was going to be the last novel on Voyager post-finale (I did the same for Collateral Damage) and due to that I wished that that level of compelling story telling would be reserved for our series characters. In the last Voyager novel I loved the development of a relationship between Icheb and Bryce (so much so that the end of that novel when the Galen was presumed destroyed I had to go back to ensure neither were on that ship) but that relationship was ignored in To Lose the Earth.

Overall what I think is that while it is a fantastic novel (read on kindle and the paper copy is pre-ordered) I felt that the characters that we cared about from the Series in most instances took a back seat and if this is their final moment that they would have taken more centre stage.
 
SolarisOne said:
Beyer made almost all of the Voyager characters into far more than they ever were on the show, including Chakotay.
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She did. It still doesn't make the Janeway / Chuckles 'ship even remotely credible in my eyes, because it wasn't even remotely credible in the series I watched for seven years. Others clearly see it differently and there's nothing wrong with that, but for mine it simply didn't exist in the series and thus shouldn't exist in the books. To each their own.

JLP_1984 said:
I felt that the characters that we cared about from the Series in most instances took a back seat
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I agree with this. Ms Beyer created some fantastic characters in her vision of Voyager, and I liked a lot of them. But - Chuckles aside (because I genuinely dislike the character) - I'd rather have seen the characters I watched and liked so much back in the day take centre stage in what shapes as the last novel we'll see them in. I honestly don't think that's unreasonable, but again - to each their own.
 
Just finished.
I never thought returning to the Delta Quadrant was a good idea for Voyager. The Chuck and Kate relationship I never got, and thought inappropriate.
Clearly Kirsten knows the Canon characters cold,and is satisfactory in crafting n dimensional people in every story.
It seem that the last two chapters were rushed for completing the series. Might it be that the Galen would have gone into intergalactic space and the rest of the ships continue exploring the DQ?
 
I am not sure how I feel about this book having just finished it. Currently I feel a bit disappointed. It really did feel like a book of two halves. In the first half scenes and events seem to go on for a very long time and in great detail, with very little forward momentum in the story. Then in the second half things felt rushed with large events covered in a sentence or two, when some more time was needed. For me it is the weakest of the Full Circle series, but still very well written.

Will have to wait a day or two before I can vote but currently hovering between Average and Above Average.
 
Ronald Held said:
The Chuck and Kate relationship I never got, and thought inappropriate.
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Glad I'm not the only one. Although I wouldn't say "inappropriate" so much as "godawfully grotesque" or "totally repulsive", but each to their own.

Ronald Held said:
I never thought returning to the Delta Quadrant was a good idea for Voyager.
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That notion didn't really seem credible me, either, but it ended up working reasonably well because Ms Beyer created a pretty interesting "world" in the DQ. Slipstream drive or not, though, I'd have thought all involved wouldn't have wanted to go anywhere near the DQ again.
 
With regard to the Sagittarius Dwarf and the Canis Major Overdensity, boy am I out of date: the last I heard, the Large Magellanic Cloud was the closest. Science marches on.

I found the whole subplot of
Gwyn bonding with Nancy and Harry's embryo before it's sufficiently developed to be sentient
to smell of an anti-choice political statement, and quite frankly, I find Diane Carey's habit of throwing in hard-libertarian political diatribes (and putting them into the mouth of a Vulcan!) to be more comfortable.

Then, too, I think we've already had discussions of how far-fetched the
Galactic Barrier
is, and how various novels have managed to explain it with varying degrees of success.
 
Don't miss our episode of Literary Treks with Kirsten talking in-depth about the book!
lt-311-th-wide.jpg
 
tomswift2002 said:
. . . The Earth wasn’t even a plot point, so there was no Earth to lose. And there was no battle, so there was no “Earth” to lose, so what was the title referring to?
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I, too, was waiting for an existential threat to Earth. Or maybe some Matthew 16:26 riff, like Dickinson's line in 1776, "What is a man profited, if he shall gain Maryland and lose the entire South?"
 
I can't believe that is it. 2020 has been awful.
Pandemic
US politics and bold face lying
Killer bees
Fire tornadoes
California on fire
Food shortages
Racial injustice
The priority of a supreme court justice nomination over funding relief efforts
My partner's heart is acting up and half his teeth fell out (he won't go to a dentist because of the pandemic
My mother has advanced stage IV pancreatic cancer and is dying
Working from home and not seeing my team ever - or just seeing people (with teeth)
I am behind at work due to software issues that are pushing my delivery out

And now, no more Kirsten M-F Beyer. They are even leaving the galaxy, how cool is that? But no more. #sad
 
It was hard reading this knowing it was the end, so I took it very slowly.

Things did seem to resolve really quicky at the end, but I really loved the idea of where voyager is headed and I'm really disappointed with such an exciting new premise that Kirsten (or anyone) won't be telling those stories.

I kind of wish we got more from some of the key characters, but that could have caused plot issues.

Of course Kim
still can't catch a break. Or not entirely, he does have his daughter now, but of course he's get his heart broken.

Also, the
plot with the DTI and the kremin seemed like setup up for another book. In fact, it really went no where and doesn't make sense in the final book. I have to wonder if this is part of the plan that some of the authors have hinted at. Is she setting up and epic kremin novel from another author where the litverse timeline becomes the TV timeline? Otherwise I don't understand why this would have been included unless bit was to give Farkas something to do.

Anyway, I love when Kirsten writes about unique alien life forms. I hope she can bring more of that to TV. I will miss reading new books from her. Even the acknowledgements made me sad, like an old friend is leaving.

Thanks @Kirsten Beyer for the journey. You've done more to make me love Voyager and it's characters than Voyager itself ever did. I look forward to seeing the amazing Trek you will bring us on TV. I'm glad we have you there, it's like we have an insider :)
 
I finished reading this book this is an excellent finale for the Voyager books .Thanks Kirsten for the wonderful journey with your series of Voyager books. I've enjoyed reading your books alot.:bolian::)
 
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