The opening prologue may read like a confusing maze of dialogue if you are unfamiliar with the Q Continuum and its impact on the Star Trek timelines.
Unfortunately, I can’t bring myself to finish the book as confusion sets in with the many diversions in the storyline. It also gets boring when you introduce omnipotent species into the mix. Unlike other Star Trek novels that have a healthy combination of good story-telling and thought-provoking messages, both are sorely lacking in The Eternal Tide.
That’s probably because the author went through too great a length to resurrect Kathryn Janeway, so much so that the development of other characters seems neglected.
There’s so much hero-worshipping of Janeway as a character that the storyline in this book is forced to conform to her life and deaths. In the end, the weird paradox created may make sense, but it is too convoluted to be satisfying.
She wanted to spare her crew sixteen extra years in the Delta Quadrant. She put the need of a few of those closest to her ahead of the many. In doing so, she brought the Alpha Quadrant to the brink of annihilation.
~ Q, or was it Q’s father? Never mind.
