I wish for this night-time to last for a lifetime; the darkness around me, shores of a solar sea. Oh how I wish to go down with the sun, sleeping, weeping, with you. Let’s bask in the light of The Murdered Sun, by Christie Golden.
Synopsis:
When sensors indicate a possible wormhole nearby, Captain Janeway is eager to investigate – hoping to find a shortcut back to the Federation. Instead, she discovers a solar system being systematically pillaged by the warlike Akerians.
The last thing Janeway wants is to get caught up in someone else’s war, but to check out the wormhole – and to protect the innocent inhabitants of Veruna Four – she has no choice but to take on the Akerians.
But who knows what unexpected dangers lurk beneath the crimson glow of the murdered sun?
Source: Goodreads
SPOILERS BELOW
With my review of Ragnarok, I looked at a not-so-good Voyager novel. Now, let’s take a look at a somewhat better Voyager novel.
The Murdered Sun begins with Voyager detecting what they think may be a wormhole back to the Alpha Quadrant. Of course, it just turns out to be the universe taunting them, as usual. Charlie Brown is never going to kick that football, Gilligan is never going to get off that island, and Voyager is never going to make it home – not until the end of the show, at any rate. So, what the crew discovers is not a wormhole, but the Sun-Eater: a spatial anomaly which is killing the star of the Veruna system and threatening the peaceful Verunan people with extinction. Furthermore, the Sun-Eater appears connected to a hostile and highly militaristic race, the Akerians, who are exploiting the Verunans for slave labor and waste no time in declaring war against Voyager as well. So we’ve got our conflict for the book.
The Murdered Sun is not devoid of the bullshit which frequently plagues Voyager stories, but the bullshit is generally toned down a bit. For instance, Voyager often brings up Chakotay’s Native American heritage, but is vague on what that heritage actually is – having him interchangeably reference stories and traditions from different tribes like they’re one big unified culture. While this book also has Chakotay referencing various different Native American story traditions, he actually cites which specific tribe each of them comes from – almost as if some sort of research or effort had gone into the writing! And while Voyager often portrays Tom Paris as an omnidisciplinary savant capable of excelling in any field, this story only focuses on his outstanding abilities as a pilot and commando, rather than having him step on the other crew members’ toes by handling the field medicine and engineering as well. Plus, Neelix is barely in it; and when he does barge in to be a shithead like usual, Tom gives him a well-deserved verbal thrashing. Most surprising of all, always-overlooked Ensign Harry Kim gets a commendation for exceptional performance under trying circumstances. Of course, Harry will still be stuck as an Ensign for the next seven years; but at least he got recognized for once.
(Fun Harry Kim fact: Before embarking on Voyager, Harry was served a drink by Nog at Quark’s café. During Voyager’s seven years in the Delta Quadrant, Nog entered Starfleet, graduated Starfleet Academy, and was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade. By the time Harry returned home, still an Ensign, his former waiter outranked him. Poor dumb Harry).
In my opinion, the biggest problem with this book is the muddled inconsistency with which it refers to the Prime Directive. In one scene, Janeway tells her crew that the Prime Directive requires them to stand by and do nothing as the Verunans die and it is their duty as Starfleet officers to adhere to it; in another, she tells Tom that of course he can lead a strike-team of Verunan warriors into battle in a commando raid against the Akerians, nothing wrong with that. Now, a cynic who buys into the portrayal of Parody Janeway on SF Debris would say that Janeway always insists on upholding the Prime Directive when doing so allows her to sit back and watch others suffering, but insists on breaking it when doing so allows her to opportunity to inflict the suffering herself (Janeway’s inconsistent adherence to the Prime Directive is discussed in the reviews of “Caretaker”, “Prototype”, and “The Omega Directive”, among others).
If you’re willing to take away the last hope of a dying people despite the Prime Directive, maybe you could save dying people despite the Prime Directive. It gives the impression that desperate refugees are climbing a cliff, with many falling to their deaths; and not only is Janeway up top saying it would be wrong to help them because she can’t get involved, but when no one is looking, she starts stepping on their fingers.
– Chuck Sonnenburg, SF Debris, “The Omega Directive” review
Personally, though, I wouldn’t go that far. I attribute this more to a general decay of what the Prime Directive is supposed to be and how it has been used in Star Trek stories across the series from The Original Series through Enterprise… something I’ll talk about when I review an actually quite good Voyager book with Shadow. So, look forwards to that!
As for The Murdered Sun, I’d call it a solid but not exceptional Star Trek novel.
Final Rating: 3/5
profmorbius 