Star Trek novels are the closest thing to a guilty pleasure books I have. Because while I don’t actually believe in the concept of guilty pleasure in entertainment they are lighter and less memorable than many other books. So, this week I picked up “Star Trek Voyager: Architects of Infinity”. It’s a well written book that does a lot right and understands most of the characters well, but never rises to the level of some of the best Star Trek novels in part because it takes the risk of creating a new idea rather than just taking what other people have already done and so feeling more like an episode of an ongoing series.

What Happens in “Star Trek: Architects of Infinity”? by Kirsten Beyer

When I picked up this book I didn’t know how far into the “full circle” series this was, so the backstory took some time to fill in. From what I understand after returning to Earth, the Voyager, along with several other ships, were sent back to the Delta Quadrant. Much of the crew has been promoted with Janeway now an Admiral, Chakotay running the Voyager with Tom Paris as first mate. Even Kim has finally been promoted past ensign, and their relationships have advanced as well. Tom and B’elanna have two kids and seem to be doing well, Kim is dealing with a pregnant girlfriend who doesn’t want to keep the baby, and in the one decision I hated—but I know many other people wanted—Janeway and Chakotay are in a relationship. There is also a subplot with Icheb that is meant to be enjoyable but thanks to events that happened in Star Trek: Picard are not.

The plot of the book involves a new element that 7 of 9 has discovered and the strange planet it is on. Well outside the habitable zone of its star parts of the planet where it is quite comfortable and safe though they shouldn’t be. Because of this Chakotay convinces Janeway that it would be a good way for the fleet to take a sort of working vacation, as everyone can relax while investigating the planet. As this is a novel and it needs a plot, the shore leave isn’t as relaxing as Chakotay hoped and several events complicate things.

While this is happening, one of the crew is dying of a genetic disorder. But one doctor thinks he has a solution. Another member of the crew is have Kriosian. You may recognize this if you’re a big enough nerd. It is a race that, so far as I know, appeared in a single episode of The Next Generation. Some members of their race would ‘bond’ with a mate, changing to become the perfect partner for them.

The doctor believes that by using a few cells he can cause the cells in his patent’s body to adapt. But it’s a major political issue as the Kriosians do not want it known that most members of their race can do this. And as you might expect, the medical intervention causes that ability to trigger, and the solution discovered is interesting both as a medical solution to the issue and potentially as a development for future novels.

The second complication is that of a few officers who discover the control mechanism for the odd anomalies on the planet, but get trapped inside as the planet begins to go through the process it was created for. An event that could destroy the entire fleet and will almost certainly kill everyone on the surface.

I won’t go into spoilers at the end except to say that the separate events of this book interconnect in a satisfying way.

Conclusion

I enjoyed the story of “Star Trek Voyager: Architects of Infinity” even though it started with some major handicaps. The biggest of those being that it’s deep in a series of books with multiple characters I don’t really know and character development for characters I do that may have worked better if it had felt more natural. It also felt more like a character driven episode of a TV series, with a lot of the conflict and plot centering on those characters that I didn’t know well enough to care about. So, what I’d say is that if you’re looking to pick up a random Star Trek novel, this probably isn’t the place to start, but if you’re well acquainted with Voyager and have read some of the full circle novels, you’ll likely enjoy this book more than I did.

For me it was a three stars.