Rating: 
Summary: It's about time
Review: The series finale left too many questions, this book starts to answer many of them. For all the JCers out there, the best news is that the mismatched romance between Chakotay and Seven of Nine came to an end early in the book. For those who thought the end of the Borg was too easy, you will love the plot twist.
Some questions about the fate's of our favorites have started to be answered, but the second book is a necessary read to find all the answers. This is a fast paced read and very enjoyable for all those who miss Voyager. A good start to the series follow-up books.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed with First Relaunch Novel
Review: I felt shocked and disappointed when I finished reading this book. First of all there are many inaccuracies from the events that was known from the show including the fact that Golden states that Tom Paris thought that B'Elanna's father was Klingon. Clearly Golden must not have watched episodes such as Lineage, Barge of the Dead and Faces where we witnessed the pain that B'Elanna suffered as a result of being a mixed race child, with a Klingon mother and a Human father.I also didn't like the fact that two main plotlines revolved around the Borg and Holographic rights. Why arrest Seven and Icheb but not Admiral Janeway. As for Holographic rights, I was frankly sick and tired of seeing this issue in episodes such as Author Author. Golden makes it worse when she implies that holograms are sentient when this was NEVER stated on the show. It was also ridiculous to put the EMH into jail when they could have simply just deleted him or reprogrammed him. Why waste resources to jail a hologram?
Rating:
Summary: The Continuing Voyages of the Voyager Crew
Review: After spending seven long years stranded in the Delta Quadrant, Captain Janeway and the crew of the USS Voyager finally return home. What they come back to is a quadrant still suffering the aftereffects of the Dominion War, as well as continued fear against their greatest enemy, the Borg. While their homecoming was not what they expected, this book lays the foundation for the coming conflicts ahead, while still balancing the main crew members and their own personal endeavors. Not once did I have a problem with the different locations the Voyager crew took. Golden was superb in showing that even though Janeway & Co. were apart, they still maintain that solidarity and loyalty to each other that we've come to expect from their years together on Voyager. The author did her homework well, depicting these people and those they had left behind seven years ago. Needless to say, I couldn't put it down and completed the book the very day I bought it! I can't wait for the second book.
Rating:
Summary: A worthy first post-series outing for my favorite Trek crew.
Review: Carrying on the saga of the starship Voyager's crew following their return to Earth is a heavy load to place on any author's shoulders. For the most part, Christie Golden (whose knack for nailing the characters impressed me in her earlier Voyager books) succeeds in bearing up under that load. She needs a plot that will draw the crew back together, after allowing them to disperse and reconnect with those they left behind seven years earlier. What better way to do that than to pit them against a (possible) conspiracy? And what more tried and true villains are there for a Voyager story than the Borg? This book's greatest strengths are the Borg threat's unique twist, which ties in neatly with established Voyager continuity; and that most of its characters are written with Golden's usual deft accuracy. Its glaring weaknesses are ignoring continuity where Icheb is concerned (apparently the author missed the episode in which he gave up his cortical implant?), and the silliness (I can't find a kinder or more accurate word for it) of Janeway's friendship with Mark Johnson and his wife. It's true that human beings function differently when they are relating to other people on a personal rather than a professional level, but this Janeway simply doesn't ring true on any level. If needing her to be close to a small child over a period of weeks was the reason for plotting the book this way, it would have been better to make Phoebe Janeway a mother and show Kathryn interacting with her own small niece or nephew. That would have supplied a stronger and more credible tie to one of the Borg threat's early victims, as well as sparing us from repeated sugary doses of the Johnsons. Producing Chakotay's mother out of nowhere, just as his sister suddenly popped up toward the end of Season 7, strikes another jarring note. However, the equally out of nowhere Chakotay/Seven of Nine romance (introduced even later in the series) gets masterful handling from Golden. So although "Homecoming" isn't without its problems, on balance it is a worthy first post-series outing for my favorite Trek crew. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the tale in "The Farther Shore," due out a month from now.
Rating: 
Summary: Star Trek Voyager Homecoming review
Review: Although I have mixed feelings regarding this author's writing I attempted to read this book since I was a big fan of the television show, Star Trek Voyager. Quite frankly, this was a big disappointment for me. There are too many continuity errors from the television series to the book. I found that certain situations were glossed over too quickly without explanation, and other pertinent details about characters had been changed. It's almost as if the author didn't watch the show and wasn't aware of how the characters had changed and evolved on the show.
In addition, writing style is too much in the typical "romance novel" style for my liking.
Finally, zero points for plot originality. The Borg were used extensively in the television show, indeed many fans claimed overuse. And the holographic rights plots were done to death in the final season. Overall, I would have liked to have seen some originality in a relaunch novel.
I really don't feel this book does the characters justice.
Rating:
Summary: What a disappointment
Review: Sloppy research. Poor characterizations. Regurgitated plotlines. Where should I stop? After 4 long years (post season 3) of being subjected to the Borg and the ever-tiring Holographical rights storylines on the show, I was hoping that at least the Homecoming would have something refreshing and new to treat us with. But I suppose it was too much to ask for. It was the technical details (or lack there of) that irritated me the most. The fact that Tom Paris *knows* B'Elanna's father was human, and the fact that him being human while her mother was Klingon was the most crucial aspect of B'Elanna's emotional turmoil throughout her upbringing..... has been astonishingly forgotten by Golden. What's the excuse? Didn't she watch the show? And the Doctor has been *locked up* by Starfleet in a prison? Why not simply shut down his program? Isn't being forced into that void (as the EMH once compared being shut down to on the show) a bigger punishment for him than wasting power resources on keeping him running in a prison. I guess Golden was trying to create dramatic moments between Seven of Nine and the EMH (who'd spent the entire Voyager finale salivating after the curvacious Borg even though she was dating someone else then) but unfortunately the gambit failed in *this* fan's case. If there was a rating lower than 1 star, I'd have give that to the book. But you guys have sort of tied my hands. A complete disappointment!
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent Star Trek book!
Review: Even though I grew up with Original Star Trek and still love it to this day, I have also come to respect and even love the many spin-offs. "Voyager" is definitely one of them and this book only cements my love for all things Star Trek as well as sci-fi and good space-opera: "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Puppet Masters", "2001", "2010", "Rendezvous with Rama", "Ringworld", all the "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" books, "Advent of the Corps" and others.
Rating:
Summary: A Thrill
Review: People say all the time "I couldn't put it down" and one must wonder is the person saying this an avid fan, an avid reader of books in general, or is this truly someone who generally doesn't like books but loved this one? I am the latter. I like reading Star Trek books, but I often take upwards of a month or two to read one fully, simply because I don't necessairily like the process of reading and I always fall asleep on a book no matter how good it is. Homecoming, was one of three exceptions to that rule for me. I truly could not put that book down and finished it in two sittings. (The other exceptions were Farther Shore [the continuation of this book] and Echoes). As others have stated it picks up immediately after Voyager returns to the Alpha Quadrant. The story does start off a bit slow, but this slowness is necessary to build up their reactions to being back on Earth and seeing all their long lost loved ones, not to mention how they are going to fit back into society. And then there's the Doctor and Seven.... At anyrate it's a funny coincidence that you-know-what hits the fan just as Voyager returns to Earth and it all directly involves the Voyager crew. Christie Golden, however makes the occurrence very believable and even makes the reader question for a minute whether or not Voyager really is the cause of it all. Although I was disappointed by the lack of information about what happened to the Borg Collective after the events of Endgame, I still rate this and Farther Shore 5 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: What I wanted, I found in this book
Review: When Voyager ended, I wondered what would the characters do next? I know television producers wouldn't waste time on showing the character's reunions, but I know I'd have enjoyed seeing them. That said, this books does a great job sharing those reunions with you. Yes, more time was spent with certain characters than others, but I still enjoyed reading.
The plot doesn't wrap up at the end of this book, so I guess you need to think of the ending of this book as a 'to be continued', which was alright with me.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and am eagerly reading the second installment.
Rating:
Summary: Much better than the show that spawned it
Review: Now *that's* more like it. After the battering given to it by A Time to Die, my faith in Star Trek novels is restored. Thank you, Christie Golden! The first book in the Star Trek: Voyager line of books set after the television series is Homecoming, and it is quite good. It does everything that the show should have done. The show ended with Voyager coming home, being greeted by a bunch of starships. What they should have done is to get home and then deal with the aftermath a little bit. Homecoming takes care of that in a really effective way.
After Voyager's return, it's decided that they should take their time making their way to Earth so that the crew can get a bit more adjusted to the fact that they are no longer stuck millions of light years away from home in the Delta Quadrant. There are the expected meetings: Admiral Paris sees his son, Tom, for the first time, along with his new wife and daughter, Tuvok is cured of the disease that struck him in the final episode by a mind meld with his son. Once back on Earth, the welcome is a bit more muted than the crew had expected. Each debriefing is less than an hour, rather than the expected lengthy ones. There are reunions with family and with lost lovers (or ex-lovers), and things actually seem to be going pretty good. But Harry Kim's girlfriend, Libby, has a secret she can't share with him. She's investigating a conspiracy within Starfleet to turn over Borg technology to the Orions, and Voyager's return makes that even more important. Plus, a something strange is happening in various places on Earth. Some humans are sprouting Borg implants. Is Voyager to blame for this? Not to mention the fight for holographic rights by an insane zealot who wants to enlist Voyager's Emergency Medical Hologram!
Homecoming is the first of a two-part book (I seem to be reading a lot of those lately), and it sets up a lot of intriguing situations. Voyager had so much to do with the Borg, whether it is Seven of Nine or Icheb (one of the Borg children who they also brought home with them), that it's not surprising the first story after the series would involve them. However, Golden avoids a lot the usual ways of portraying the Borg, and it may all be a smokescreen anyway. The story also has the "Photonic Rights" angle that began in the series and carries it to a new level. Finally, Golden takes the episode "Barge of the Dead" and takes B'Elanna Torres (chief engineer of Voyager) on a spirit quest to find the mother who she thought was dead. All of these stories, I'm assuming, will tie into each other in some way, though it's not apparent as to how. Golden builds the mystery quite effectively.
The pace of the book is quite slow at first, as we get the reunions and getting used to life back on Earth out of the way, but this is a good thing because Golden does such a great job on the characterization. We see a lot of the meetings that we wanted to see in the show, such as Janeway and her ex-lover and his wife, or Harry with Libby. Most effective is Seven of Nine, who ends the (very silly) romance with Chakotay that came out of nowhere in the last season of the show because she doesn't know how she'll fit in on Earth. She goes to stay with her aunt, but is met by a crowd. She had always been apprehensive about returning to Earth because of the fear reaction she expected by the people of Earth, but instead they treat her like a celebrity. She has no idea how to deal with this, and ends up almost turning the many supporters who just want to see her into an angry mob. It's a very effective scene, illustrated most by the young lieutenant who is assigned to pilot her. He begins by almost being in awe of her, but by the time he fights his way through the crowd he's irritated with her for her manner.
Throughout these sequences, we get little hints of the story coming up. Brief snippets of Libby and her boss in Starfleet Intelligence, of people sprouting Borg implants, and the like. There are also periodic scenes tracing the sexual abuse of an unidentified woman from age three to age fifteen, which seem very out of place in a Star Trek book (I guess that's why Golden was also the author of the Dark Matters series of Voyager books!). However, they seem to be leading to something that will revealed in the next book. Golden keeps the identity of this woman a very close secret, and I didn't guess who it was until the very beginning of that next book. All of these just increase the tension in the story, even among all the happy reunions. There's also the mystery of why the crew debriefings are so short, but that isn't handled quite as well. I'm still not sure exactly why that was, though maybe it will also be revealed. The crew senses something is wrong, but can't quite put their fingers on it.
Along with the atmosphere, Golden does a wonderful job with characterization of virtually everybody. Golden walks the fine line between character interaction and telling an interesting plot. She doesn't allow scenes to drag on too much and the dialogue is actually interesting, making even scenes where a couple of people are talking seem vibrant. Each character is almost perfectly done, the only minor problem being Seven is just a bit too quick to smile on occasion. She even uses Captain Picard to good effect, but doesn't allow him to dominate the book.
This is the way a Star Trek novel should be. I can't wait to read theconclusion.
David Roy
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