Dark Matters: Cloak and Dagger Bk. 1 (Star Trek: Voyager) [Paperback]

Finally we have a trilogy for Voyager. Due to the nature of the series most books have been relatively action less/predictable in their outcomes. Here however the plot is based on one of the better TV episode where a wormhole was found that could bring the crew home.

With a great twist to the plot, they discover that the finding of the wormhole was not an accident but a Romulan plot. Aided by a sinister ally, Voyager must defend itself from the Romulans and their allay who has his own agenda .....

Great book leaves you hungry for the next ones

As a beginner in the Voyager novel department, I chose Dark Matters, not due to its exciting plot, but due to Goldens exceeding reputation as a brilliant Star Trek novelist. This book ensures that she lives up to her reputation. From the Prologue to the final page, each chapter keeps you enthralled, yearning to turn to the next page. As fans of the series might know, Janeway and her crew are a formidable force in the Delta quadrant. However, rather than focusing soley on the action (like other writers do), Golden explores each character's personalities. The best books are invariably the ones which you imagine as an extended episode and like Equinox, Caretaker and so many 'to be contined....' episodes, so does the book end in a similar manner. However, should you have no knowledge of the plight of Voyager, this book is still for you due to Golden's excellent introduction to each of the main characters. However brilliant, the book does have it's foebles. For instance, at parts of the book, one is not aware where the crew actually are. Nevertheless, who am I to criticise. Simply Stunning. I cannot wait to 'Voyage' to the next book. Cloak and Dagger stuff? No, just transparently brilliant.

Ah Voyager. The premise of the show was somewhat a metaphor of how it turned out. Most of the time it flew around not really knowing where to go. If only Christie Golden had gotten on board as a writer for the series - it may have been so very different. The Dark Matters trilogy is beyond a doubt one of the best Star Trek book series written.

The premise is that Voyager is continuing on its merry way home to earth. However the crew are beginning to experience symptoms that cannot be explained: Janeway has headaches (too much coffee); Chakotay is prone to long monologues (no change there then) and Neelix is annoying (no change there then). Wormholes are opening near the ship and as becomes clear they are related to the Romulan who was encourterd in the season 1 episode "Eye of the Needle". So begins a tale of dark matter, all powerful aliens, and in true Romulan style - huge armadas and political skull-duggery.

The action never lets up for a moment. The crew are either searching for cloaked Romulan warriors aboard the ship, the elusive "Shephards" or fighting off 13 Romulan warbirds. Back in the Alpha Quadrant 20 years earlier - the Romulans are involved with the Shephards who promise them the perfect cloaking device in return for their help (although what the price will be is not yet revealed).

Its difficult to find anything that is wrong with the book. But if im nit picking then I suppose Harry getting his prefuctionary "Im in love with an alien" (by book 3 he is asking the captains permission to engage in "relations" - imagery the reader could do without). Also a bit of random character development - Tom Paris mountain climbing?

I think it says much for the Dark Matters series that I have read it all three times now. Its a complex but easy to follow story that does not fail to deliver. Sure we have to listen to Chakotay with the occasional burst of mumbo jumbo, or Harry bleatering on about his love life - but thats just me splitting hairs.

But the present line of Star Trek books have the problem where they are too complicated to follow and are in danger of collapsing under their own weight. Dark Matters harks back to a day when Pocket Books published Star Trek novels that did not require having a Star Trek historian to explain all the points raised.

So pull up a chair - go back seven years - and marvel at the action that Voyager could pull off so well.