Sometimes it's really hard to find a good novel written for the spin-off Star Trek: Voyager. No doubt that the books published after the return of the vessel to the Alpha Quadrant and its later expedition returning to Delta Quadrant must be really entertaining (and I plan to read them eventually). It's not so easy to find really engaging novels set on its time when the crew was stranded 75,000 light-years away from Federation space. You can find a lot of very good novels of The Original Series and The Next Generation, even there are some quite good of Deep Space Nine, while Enterprise is in a situation quite similar to Voyager. And again, I am not taking in account on these comments the novels of the "Relaunch" era of all these series. I am talking about novels set in the time period when they were airing on TV. While Mosaic hardly reach a level of exceptional. Still, it's a fair option if you wish to read some book of Star Trek: Voyager set in the middle of the years of the TV series, also it's a really insightful book about the life of Captain Kathryn Janeway. The mission set in "the present" of the story is kinda dull, I can't lie to you about it, BUT the events set in "the past" of the life of Kathryn Janeway is the real treat on this book. One of my best memories about the novel was when Kathryn Janeway was a very young kid, I don't know, maybe 5 years old or younger, and she was talking about "your sister" this and "your sister" that, and I wasn't following what you meant with "your sister", since she was using the whole phrase "your sister" like a proper name, and then it hit me, she was a 5 years-old kid and she hears her parents refering to her younger baby sister, only as "your sister" and not using her name, so, it was very logical for this quite young Kathryn to suppose that "your sister", the whole phrase, was the name of her baby sister. Priceless! I was amazed how well the author, Jeri Taylor (co-creator of the spin-off TV series), was able to get into the mind of a 5 years-old kid and reasoning like her. Brilliant. A sweet moment in literature for me. So, maybe this novel isn't a masterpiece but it's competitive option if you want to read a book of this sci-fi spin-off series.
Definitely one of the better Voyager books. The plot of the events happening in real time was fairly disposable, and so were the characters - with one notable exception.. Janeway. Ultimately it is a Janeway biography, and I wasn't expecting miracles from the set up so it didn't bother me too much.Janeway's back story is creative, although at times almost too dramatic. Her characterization in the actual tv series is haphazard at best, but this really solidified her for me. A couple lines thrown here and there about her fear of vulnerability, her frustration at being humiliated and her early disregard for "unnecessary" rules really help sell some of her actions in the show that seemed out of place at the time. I do take issue with the fact that Janeway doesn't seem to confront what she did with her fiance and her father- she acknowledges it happened, and then it switches back to the lacking real time plot. I think that would have been a high point of the novel, and it was sorely missed. The ending was very bland. It was as if Taylor were in a rush to ship the book off and rushed through it like a 3 am college essay compared to the strength of other passages.The Kazon perspective was an necessary intrusion. They were a poorly designed, one dimensional race to begin with so I don't get the appeal of the perspective. Janeway and crew never even met them! I think they would have represented a much more dangerous and respectable threat if we didn't get their insultingly primal inner monologue. The doctor character, besides providing some information for the bridge crew was also mostly useless. All in all, worth a read, even if you were disappointed in Voyager - it gives some perspective that put Janeway in a better light for me, and hopefully for anyone else who gives it a soht.
What do You think about Mosaic (1997)?
My introduction to Voyager sci-fi fiction came when my grandmother passed away and I inherited this book, as mother knew that I shared a love of the television series with my grandmother. Although a prolific reader, my grandmother was a farmer's wife in rural Tennessee, and she never had a chance to finish high school and go to college. Our cultural differences created boundaries more pronounced that I wish they'd been, so this shared bond was all the more meaningful. I realize the sentiment makes my review biased, but I loved the novel, contradicting my own preconceptions about sci-fi fiction. I went on to read all the Voyager fiction, and enjoyed every one.
—Sondra Willhite
Mosaic reads as you would expect an episode of Voyager to progress. It starts off peaceful then the conflict starts and finally the resolution. But intertwined in this story is the narrative of Captain Janeway's past, starting from early childhood all through her first command as a captain. This is where the book shines. The Delta Quadrant plot is wholly disposable and serves as the backdrop for Janeway's thoughts of her past. Jeri Taylor does an excellent job narrating the experiences that would eventually make Captain Janeway the captain that we all saw in the television series. I was anticipating each new insight into Janeway's past. I couldn't wait to read the next portion that would be given to us. If you are a Star Trek fan than those pieces alone make me recommend this book to you. You will not be disappointed.
—Joseph Masiello
Die Rahmenhandlung der Geschichte bildet ein Planet auf den zum Zwecke der Suche nach Nahrungsmitteln ein Außenteam abgesetzt wird. Als dort ein interessanter archäologischer Fund gemacht wird teilt sich die Gruppe. Die Voyager wird in Kämpfe mit den Kazon verwickelt und auch die Außenteams müssen sich mit dieser Bedrohung herumschlagen. Dies ist jedoch bloß die Rahmenhandlung. Viel mehr geht es aber in diesem Buch um die Entwicklung von Kathryn Janeway - immer wieder erlebt sie Flashbacks. In einer Unzahl von Erinnerungen lernt man viele wichtige Episoden aus ihrer Vergangenheit kennen.Der Roman wurde von Jeri Taylor geschaffen, also einer wirklichen Insiderin - war sie doch an der Entwicklung von Voyager direkt beteiligt. Das Buch fügt sich sehr gut in die gesamte Geschichte rund um die Voyager ein und macht wirklich Spaß. Sprachlich ist das Werk gut gefasst und die Sprünge zwischen den Handlungssträngen sind logisch dargestellt.
—Reinhold
