Scan barcode
madisonreadsbooks's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
This story revolves around the Prime Directive, bit I don't think the author really understands how that works. The crew let's members of a pre-warp society come on board the ship, hang out in engineering, and use the transporters, but then refuses to give them medical information which would save the entire population because that would break the Prime Directive, and then to finish off they do some casual meddling in a political rivalry.
amyz001's review
4.0
An interesting adventure, exploring the farming of sentient species and the limitations of the prime directive. I enjoyed this one, as I usually do when it's Paris, Kim and Torres leading the story. I enjoyed the setting on the ocean, and the interactions - particularly at the end with the three characters (B'elanna was clearly happy to have the guys back though she'd never admit it). I thought the story was engaging although wasn't always easy to follow the politics of the aliens on the surface. Kept my attention and was different to some of the previous ones which I appreciated.
errrick's review
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
dreamwanderer's review
3.0
This story takes place during the second year of Voyager's Journey. I would place it sometime before Parturition because Tom still has a bit of a crush on Kes.
This is a classic early Voyager plot concerning shortages. They find a planet called Sardalia whose inhabitants apparently evolved from birds. They have food and they have the materials Voyager needs to keep the engines going and the people seem friendly enough. What could go wrong?
Of course things are not as they seem. The inhabitants are keeping secrets. Of course Tom and Harry get waylaid by a pretty alien woman (a trope used too often in the books). The pretty alien woman turns out to be the daughter of the leader of the society and she takes them on what in the real world would be the equivalent of a whale hunt. They are harvesting sea creatures because the contain an enzyme necessary to combat a plague that has been afflicting their society. Tom and Harry are disgusted but they soon have a run in with the people who protect the sea creatures. They have a miserable adventure and lose contact with Voyager. Meanwhile Janeway struggles to get answers and tries to uncover exactly what is going on with these people. Neelix gets involved in something he shouldn't.
I found it amusing that in this story B'Elanna is most concerned with the fact that Harry is missing. She cares about Tom but its all "We must rescue Harry!" As we know later in the series her concerns would be reversed.
Its a good story and fairly well written. My problem and the problem of a lot of readers is some of the characters don't mesh up with what we saw on the TV show, Janeway especially. Normally she conducts diplomatic trade missions with a bit of dignity but in this one she is in a snippy mood the whole time. True the Sadalians are difficult to deal with but to me TV Janeway always seemed to execute a lot more patience with the locals that that. The Prime Directive issue is also murky in this book.
Not a bad read but keep in mind its early Voyager. If you like Tom and Harry adventures you'll like this but keep in mind its early Tom before he got his act together and before Harry learns to stand on his own and not follow Tom into misadventure.
This is a classic early Voyager plot concerning shortages. They find a planet called Sardalia whose inhabitants apparently evolved from birds. They have food and they have the materials Voyager needs to keep the engines going and the people seem friendly enough. What could go wrong?
Of course things are not as they seem. The inhabitants are keeping secrets. Of course Tom and Harry get waylaid by a pretty alien woman (a trope used too often in the books). The pretty alien woman turns out to be the daughter of the leader of the society and she takes them on what in the real world would be the equivalent of a whale hunt. They are harvesting sea creatures because the contain an enzyme necessary to combat a plague that has been afflicting their society. Tom and Harry are disgusted but they soon have a run in with the people who protect the sea creatures. They have a miserable adventure and lose contact with Voyager. Meanwhile Janeway struggles to get answers and tries to uncover exactly what is going on with these people. Neelix gets involved in something he shouldn't.
I found it amusing that in this story B'Elanna is most concerned with the fact that Harry is missing. She cares about Tom but its all "We must rescue Harry!" As we know later in the series her concerns would be reversed.
Its a good story and fairly well written. My problem and the problem of a lot of readers is some of the characters don't mesh up with what we saw on the TV show, Janeway especially. Normally she conducts diplomatic trade missions with a bit of dignity but in this one she is in a snippy mood the whole time. True the Sadalians are difficult to deal with but to me TV Janeway always seemed to execute a lot more patience with the locals that that. The Prime Directive issue is also murky in this book.
Not a bad read but keep in mind its early Voyager. If you like Tom and Harry adventures you'll like this but keep in mind its early Tom before he got his act together and before Harry learns to stand on his own and not follow Tom into misadventure.
More...