Customer Reviews

Bless the Beasts (Star Trek Voyager No 10)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Okay once again into the eye of hurricane I go by liking and enjoying a book that has been panned by so many readers.

Yes, I did really enjoy reading this book, it had a really good and interesting plot and I thought the Voyager characters pretty much matched up with those from the TV series which was a real bonus for me.

The plot is as follows: Captain Janeway and her crew find themselves reluctantly having to ask a pre-warp civilisation for help when they have engine problems. Bang goes the Prime Directive but it is an emergency after all!

The humanoid looking inhabitants of Sardalia are only too eager to help Voyager and are very friendly, too friendly in fact and it soon becomes apparent that there is something going on that is being hidden from the crew.

It turns out that all the inhabitants on Sardalia have a genetic illness called the Gray Plague and the only medicine to keep the symptoms at bay is the blood of a giant sea creature called the Darra but there is a war going on between different factions who want to control this very precious commodity.

But the Darra are sentient beasts, and their distress becomes evident to Harry Kim when he and Tom Paris end up with Marima the daughter of the Sardarlian Leader in a rather sticky situation in the middle of a hostile ocean.

There are a couple of faux pas in the book, but not enough for it to make much difference to the plot and the over all exciting story.

Well worth a read despite what everyone else says!

Star Trek Voyager #10 "Bless the Beasts" is author Karen Haber's one and only Star Trek novel. The end result of this novel may be the primary reason that she only visited this genre this one time. Just as with many of the other early novels, this novel is plagued with some of the same tired plot device; Voyager's on her own and in need of supplies and repairs. While the basic premise of Star Trek Voyager itself demands such plot devices, which were used in the episodes quite frequently and too frequently in many Voyager novels, there were many different avenues that could've been taken without consistently focusing on this one.

While the basic premise of "Bless the Beasts" was a very good one, the execution of the story was not. The characterizations are off and the pacing of the novel unfortunately leaves much to be desired, all resulting in a novel that is fraught with unrealized potential and an unsatisfying read. The one minor saving grace is that at far too late in the novel, it does come together for a respectable ending. Just as with many of the other Star Trek Voyager novels from the time when this one was published, the cover art is fairly decent.

The premise:

Captain Janeway and crew find themselves once again in the position of being in desperate need of repairs and they come across a planet they find to be named Sardalia. The inhabitants at first seem to be friendly and are living on a planet blessed with natural beauty. It's not long before Captain Janeway finds that the hospitality being extended by the Sardalians is a bit too generous and then Lieutenant Tom Paris and Ensign Harry Kim disappear. Captain Janeway soon finds that the situation is untenable as they discover the planet is in the midst of a planetary war and that she must face a moral dilemma...

What follows from there is, as stated above, a story that is fraught with potential that quickly becomes unrealized as the author takes the novel in directions that just do not capture the reader. Overall, I would recommend the novel to only those, like myself, that are collector's/completists, not those looking for a Star Trek "starter" novel as this is most certainly not a novel that represents the quality possessed by a majority of the Star Trek novels. {ssintrepid}

I'm a big Voyager fan, and I've read many of their books. This book doesn't even compare to the other ones. The auther doesn't seem to know the characters, their moral values, or even the Prime Directive! In this book the part of the delimna is thaat this whole Pre-warp clvilization that they've come in contact with is suffering with this sickness, and Janeway won't help them because it's against the Prime Directive. I have at least two things against that: 1: It is not against the Directive, because they've already come into contact with this civilazation, they know that they exist. From that point on, the Prime Directive doen't say anything about curing an entire planet from a horrible deasise that anyone has. and 2. Even if it actully was against the Prime Directive, Janyway would still help them. I'm sure that every Trekkie reading this would know that. And about the character personalties: They make the Captain mean, they make Neelix manipulative, and they make the Doctor stupid. This book has an interesting plot, but for a while it doesn't go anywhere. Plus, near the end, when they're debating wether thay should give the planet the medicine for this plague, the arguemeant is that if the crew doesn't provide the cure, then these slightly sentient animals called the Darra will be hunted more (they provide a postponement of pain for the victoms of the sickness). Not that I'm against not hunting animals, espically if their setinent, but that was practically the only arguement: "what about the Darra?" "If we don't provide the medicine, the darra will become exctinct". What about the millions of people who need the cure? Also, the auther over exagarates in this book and writes immaturely: I noticed at the first line. If you're a big Star Trek fan, you should read this book, but please don't expect Christie Golden material.
P.S.: I'm not really 12, this form was just easier to fill out.

I have always been a big fan of Tom Paris and found this book a very interesting book and have read it 5+ times I highly suggest that all fans of Voyager should read this book

Do some research first. While I'm not a major hardcore trekker, I do at least expect the books I read about the Star Trek universe to be accurate with technical information and charachter accuracy. This book was neither, by far. I also expect at least some realism when it comes to diplomacy. In this, the book also lacked....atrociously.

It seems Janeway is constantly annoyed at something. It's like Janeway's PMS week through the whole book. Then she can't find any coffee...yah, sure.

She's rude to dignitaries sent aboard the ship, makes stupid mistakes throughout the book that just would not be possible.

The technical mistakes are so glaring that anyone who has actually watched the show on a regular basis would notice it. I'd expect an author writing about this ship to consult the technical manuals which are out on the ship to at least be consistent with the show.

The diolouge is choppy, unnatural, and it seems like the the crew members alternate between complete dopy, stupid decision making, and getting annoyed at something or someone. I barely made it through the book....at every chapter I just kept thinking "It can't get any worse"...but it only got worse with each following chapter. I started off thinking this book might get three stars, but it quickly dropped....by chapter eight it was such a rediculous bore I wished I could give it no stars.

This was the first of the Voyager books I've read, I think I need to find some others, they can't be this bad.

When I picked up Bless the Beasts, I have to say I expected a bit more than the book delivered. The plot was all right; rather predictable, but interesting. However, there was little else that was "all right" about this book. The writing was flat and to me, seemed as though the author was trying far too hard to write well, and in the end just managed to write badly. If you like a book that you don't have to think about, then this is for you. However, if you actually like a little content in your books, don't read this.

Karen Haber's "Bless the Beasts" offers once again a Voyager story with a seemingly peacefull planet, with the seemingly friendly inhabitants turning out to be something else than they seem in one way or the other.

No spoilers there I assume...

The book has interesting settings and situations, but as a whole it's lame.

Some information is flawed and inconsistant with the series and it's technology, and in the case of sensors, there's flawed information that affects the plot tramaticaly.

It's a fast read, but nothing special.

When I finished this book I found it very exciting and enjoyable. I recomend it highly.

I was taken by surprise when on the first page of this book, Kathryn Janeway managed to swing her command chair around. If the author had ever seen a Star Trek Voyager episode, she might have noticed that Janeway's chair is attached to Chakotay's, with a small "computer table" (also attached) in the middle. So, if Janeway against all odds, had managed to swing the chair around, Chakotay would have been swung over Tom Paris's head until he bounced back against the viewscreen. Not a bright start.

The storyline in the book was tolerable. But the Voyager crew was not necessary for it to unroll. They could have easily been replaced by some local heroes. The crew's characters weren't explored very deeply eighter.

All in all these three things give the impression that the writer has rewriten an old story to fit as a Voyager book, on the basis of some brief character descriptions.

Three stars nevertheless, because with all this said, it wasn't too bad a plot, and a nicely written story.

The book, is not so bad, but some characters are no so good. Tom and Kim are too childish, they don't even think before to act. A new world, and they eat native food, they don't try it, they eat it right away. They go everywhere, even alone. Well, the plot is ok, it is fast, but their character are naives.