My thoughts:
As I have said in probably every review of a new
Voyager release since my review of
Unworthy back in 2011, it amazes me how great
Voyager has become under the skilled pen of Kirsten Beyer.
Voyager was always my least favorite of the
Trek television series, and yet the
Voyager novels have, in recent years, become the ones that I anticipate reading the most.
A Pocket Full of Lies is certainly no exception.
While I generally enjoy most of the new releases from month to month, no author is more consistently great than Kirsten Beyer. More than anything else, her name on the cover of a
Trek novel is an indicator of high quality writing and an engaging story. In this particular novel, we get a terrific story that builds on a number of earlier
Voyager adventures from the series while bringing its own sensibilities to the ongoing mission of
Voyager and the Full Circle fleet.
One of my favorite stories from
Voyager's seven year television run was the two-parter "Year of Hell." Featuring great drama and high stakes for the crew of
Voyager, "Year of Hell" was a riveting couple of hours of television. Completely satisfying, that is, until the last ten minutes of the second part.
Voyager is often known for using the "reset button," and "Year of Hell" features the most egregious example. In one fell swoop, the entirety of the two hours of television are wiped out, without even a vague memory remaining in existence for the characters.
A Pocket Full of Lies, however, finds a way to make that story actually matter to the current timeline, and that alone is worth picking up this novel.
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| Kirsten Beyer partially un-does one of the biggest reset button pushes in all of Star Trek! |
Based on the cover design, I was already expecting the tie-in to "Year of Hell." However, what I wasn't expecting was a surprise continuation of story elements from the seventh season episode "Shattered." A very middle-of-the-road-not-great episode of
Voyager (in my opinion), "Shattered" apparently sparked the imagination of Kirsten Beyer in an interesting and unexpected way. She is very good at taking mediocre storytelling from the series and crafting compelling adventures from them. In previous novels, season two's "Twisted" was the basis of creatures encountered by
Voyager, and the use of "Shattered" here makes me wonder if we should just comb
Voyager's catalog of episodes for any past-tense verb titles to discover where Beyer might next take the story!
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| This moment in season seven's "Shattered" fueled Kirsten Beyer's imagination and led her to create the "second Janeway" for A Pocket Full of Lies. |
One of the issues that Beyer explores in this novel is the idea of depression, and the effect this has both on the person suffering from it and on their friends and the people who care about them. Through the character of Nancy Conlon as well as, surprisingly, Tuvok, Beyer explores this issue with a deftness and sensitivity that is amazing to read. Conlon's experiences especially resonated with me. Having known several people who have suffered from severe depression and battle with despair on a daily basis, I found the reactions of Beyer's characters to be grounded very much in reality. Harry Kim's relationship with Conlon in particular felt very real, and I found myself empathizing with everyone involved in the situation. (Harry Kim, a compelling character... I would never have thought this possible before reading a Kirsten Beyer novel!)
There are many more aspects of this novel that I haven't even touched on, such as how our life experiences change who we are, and a great many more character moments that make this novel very much worth a read. For one thing,
A Pocket Full of Lies handles the question of differing experiences making a person who they are in a much better way than, say,
Star Trek Nemesis does. And any novel that makes me really appreciate the character of Icheb is highly worthy of praise! And, as an added bonus, a hanging plot thread from all the way back in
The Eternal Tide is tied up in a very unexpected and pleasant way.
Final thoughts:
With 2016 having just begun,
A Pocket Full of Lies has already set the bar very high for
Star Trek novels this year. A very fun and very compelling read, this novel not only tells its own story very well, but it also serves to expand on and enhance
Voyager stories that have come before. Add to that the fact that Beyer manages to undo the biggest reset button push of all of
Star Trek, and
A Pocket Full of Lies becomes a must-read. There are many big
Trek novels coming out throughout this year, which is
Star Trek's 50th anniversary, and I have to say that they all have their work cut out for them if they hope to be the equal of this stellar novel.
More about A Pocket Full of Lies:
Also by Kirsten Beyer:
Next time on Trek Lit Reviews:
Look for my review of
The Ashes of Eden, the first novel of the "Shatnarrative," coming soon!
