Cloak and Dagger (Star Trek Voyager, No 19, Dark Matters Book One of Three) (Paperback)

Among the typically more interesting Star Trek novels are those that are loosely or in whole based upon a character or two that appeared in a single episode. This is the formula that Christie Golden chose for this trilogy in which she takes the story told in Star Trek Voyager's first season episode "Eye of the Needle" and primarily the character of Telek R'Mor and expounds on it in beautiful fashion to create yet another great Star Trek Voyager tale.

The cover art for this novel is typical of Star Trek Voyager novels at the time in which it was published making it a cut above the majority.

The premise:

In Voyager's first season episode "Eye of the Needle" Ensign Harry Kim discovers a wormhole and raises his hopes thinking that it might lead the crew of Voyager home to the Alpha quadrant. Unfortunately, their hopes are dashed when they discover that the wormhole is ancient and way too small for Voyager to fly through. By a stroke of "luck" though, a Romulan scientist is experimenting with the wormhole in the Alpha quadrant and they make contact with him only to have their hopes dashed once again when they find out that this scientist, Telek R'Mor is from twenty years in the past and that the wormhole possesses temporal qualities...

Jump approximately five years in the future and Christie Golden's Dark Matters trilogy begins with "Cloak and Dagger" as the crew of Voyager find themselves running an obstacle course of multiple wormholes opening up in their path as they're making their way home to the Alpha quadrant...

What follows from there is one of the best Star Trek Voyager novels written up to its publishing date in which Christie Golden takes the character and events of "Eye of the Needle" and weaves an extremely well told tale involving Romulan intrigue and subterfuge that rarely falls short in the compelling read category.

I highly recommend this novel and the following two in the trilogy to any and all fans of Star Trek fiction as this Star Trek Voyager novel written by Christie Golden is very typical of her high standard of science fiction in which she writes with excellent pacing and characterizations resulting in a highly compelling read! {ssintrepid}

What I found disturbing was her Coda at the end of the third book. All throughout the book there is the theme of the old Christian/Hebrew/(Zorastrian?) war in heaven where Lucifer falls - it is nearly transparent, but done well enough that it didn't bother me. It wasn't annoying within the story, but when she desided to have Janeway listen Telek R'Mor's final statement that he left behind it was too much--too clear exactly what myth she used to base her story on and it even got a little preachy, especially if you knew what you were reading. Liauh (sp!) the badguy, is so much like the Christian Devil and his aims and powers are so nearly the same that it felt like Golden was trying to make Christianity's beliefs fit into the Star Trek universe by giving it a scientific spin.

That was my only complaint. The rest of the 3 part series was great.

R