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Post by Janeway Forever on Apr 21, 2007 14:34:28 GMT -5
It is a sore spot among many of my Voyager friends and I that I am not a Christie Golden fan. I feel that she makes huge errors in character traits sometimes and we won't even talk about the Homecoming series..... However, compared to Karen Haber, I would be urged to declare Christie Golden the goddess of all Voyager books. In reading a Voyager book I generally only find one or two errors in character traits, terminology, ship logistics, etc. "Bless the Beast" is full of glaring mistakes. After finding five mistakes in the first chapter, I took the initiative to earmark every page containing a mistake. There were 79 pages with errors on them, several of them with more than one! That is quite a feat in a book with only 274 pages. Some were small errors such as the over abundance of curse words. Four letter words are used more often in this book than probably in all of the seven seasons of Voyager. Others were glaring mistakes such as Janeway spinning her command chair on the bridge around to face the turbolift. I don't feel the need to explain this one since if you've ever seen an episode of Voyager you'd realise the imposibility of that. I also found it highly annoying that Janeway would "give the bridge" to Chakotay when she left her ready room. Clearly if she was in her ready room, Chakotay already had command of the bridge. Ofcourse the best instance of this was when she actually "gave the bridge" to Tuvok when Chakotay was on the bridge. I wonder how the first officer felt about that? The author also failed to realize that Janeway's ready room and the briefing room were two seperate areas. As such, throughout the story, Janeway has a huge conference table in her ready room. I am interested in how this was missed. Janeway is constantly asking someone else to do everything for her. Anyone familiar with Janeway knows that she is a hands on captain and this would never fly. She also seems to be highly irritated every time that she has to meet with the Sardalian dignitaries, even the first time. How often does Janeway pass up a first contact opportunity in that way? And at one point she participates in an act so cruel and completely out of character that I was shocked. The author clearly has no understanding of the Prime Directive either. As she quotes its purpose and intents incorrectly over and over again. Normally I would say that I am simply being too cruel on the author due to my intense like of Janeway, however, that is not true in this instance. If you are looking to read the worst Voyager book ever written, this is the one for you. Otherwise, I'd avoid it like the plague.
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Post by Mel on Apr 21, 2007 14:51:01 GMT -5
You folded the corner of pages....................
I do have to agree with you though. There are alot of authors that make alot of mistakes like that. I dont see how unless they have never watched an episode. Janeways chair cant move...
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Post by lauren05 on Apr 21, 2007 15:00:21 GMT -5
That's preposterous! I suppose anyone can write ST books, even if they haven't adequate knowledge. What a shame...
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Post by KateJaneway on Apr 21, 2007 19:19:24 GMT -5
OMG!!! I could write one better than that!!! In fact I will, just to prove it!! Muhahahahaha!
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Post by Janeway Forever on Apr 21, 2007 22:15:07 GMT -5
You folded the corner of pages.................... The blasphemy!!! Would it help to know that I also underlined the mistakes?!?!?!?! ;D |
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Post by KateJaneway on Apr 22, 2007 1:36:22 GMT -5
LOL!!!!! That is AWESOME!!!
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Lynx
Junior Officer
Posts: 65
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Post by Lynx on Apr 22, 2007 4:36:15 GMT -5
Oh dear! It was a devastating review! To be honest, I didn't find it that bad (I gave it a 4 out of 5 in my review). I found the story rather good, if not that exciting. But I can see your point when it comes to the errors you listed. The first contact situation is obvious. Janeway always is very eager to participate in first contacts with unknown aliens. I suppose that as an ardent fan of Captain Janeway, you probably see more flaws in the book than the casual reader. I'm doing the same with Kes and in that matter I can mention the books "Ghost Of A Chance" (which is otherwise very good) and "Ragnarok" where Kes is a bit out of character. Not to mention some of the early books where she shares the quarters with Neelix.  (Oh dear!) As for Janeway, I remember her being a bit out of character in the book "Mosaic" where I found her a bit wimpy. There must have been a significant change in temper, manners and overall acting between Janeway as a teenager and cadet and later as a captain. But back to "Bless The Beasts". I will actually re-read the book to spot the errors i obviously missed. As for the Voyager books, I'm a fan of those and despite some errors and contradictions here and there, I do find many of the books better than some TV-episodes. My favorites are "The Black Shore" by Greg Cox and "Marooned" by Christie Golden. I will be back with some reviews and comments about the Voyager books. Meanwhile, you can always visit my Voyager books reviwes at: www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Park/1964/bookreviews.html which is a part of my website, The Kes Photo Gallery. |
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Post by KateJaneway on Apr 22, 2007 18:18:32 GMT -5
OMG!! I will have to go and get this. I know they have it at Powles....hu,,. I have to read it just to see what has Jf up in arms! hehehe.
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Lynx
Junior Officer
Posts: 65
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Post by Lynx on May 26, 2007 0:57:17 GMT -5
I've re-read "Bless The Beasts" recently and with the risk of being singled out as the next target when it comes to trowing pies and other stuff in someones face, I must state that the book isn't that bad after all. OK, I've spotted some of the obvous mistakes here and there such as the "spinning of the command chair", Janeway giving the bridge to Tuvok when Chakotay is still on the bridge and the constant mixing up of the ready room and the briefing room which seems to be the reason for some of the errors. There are simply too many errors in this book. Sometimes it looks like as if the author have never seen a Voyager episode. I do agree that Janeway is a bit out of character here and there but I've seen worse examples. In my opinion, Janeway is even more out of character in a book like "Ragnarok", where she acts very irresponsible by first taking the ship into a war zone despite Neelix's warnings, then sending out Chakotay and Kim on a suicide mission (but the book was written before the author had seen any episodes of the series). She's also somewhat out of character in "Mosaic" where I do think that the author Jeri Taylor have made her a bit wimpy, at least in her younger age. There must have been a significant change between her time as cadet and how she became later as a commanding officer. I also hate Jeri Taylor's way to smooth over every possible conflict, like the one between Tom Paris and his father in "Pathways". But back to "Bless The Beasts". The main plot is actually OK. Tom's and Harry's adventures on the planet are exciting even if I do think that the author stretches out some of the events and repeat them, as when Tom and Harry escape from their captors, then almost drown, gets back to the Micaszian boat, saves Marima and then are close to drowning again! Was it just about to fill a certain amount of pages? Still, I can't help liking the story as such. And I must also state that I laughed when I read about Neelix's little sceme with those Gaba animals he bought. Verdict: Some really annoying errors but a good story and still readable. (Lynx runs away and hides behind a big rock, waiting for things to come flying at him!)  |
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