Book Review

The Nanotech War (Star Trek: Voyager)

In the world of Star Trek books, this is not one you hear talked about a lot. But I’m here to tell you that that is a mistake. People should be reading this book and talking about it.

Star Trek: Voyager: The Nanotech War
Author: Steven Piziks
Pages: 330
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Published: November 1, 2002
Publisher: Pocket Books
View on Goodreads
Date Completed: October 13 2024
My rating:

Thoughts

I read this one in order to cover it on the Literary Treks podcast (episode 381). We picked it because it was a Star Trek: Voyager book, which we don’t cover a ton of, and it had pretty decent reviews.

Interesting, when discussing this with Jonathan Koan on the podcast, he pointed out that this book was published after the series ended (although it was probably being written as the last season was airing) but before any post-series books were published, while taking place during the series. Once Homecoming and The Farther Shore, both by Christie Golden, came out, I think pretty much all Voyager books take place after the series. Oh, and I didn’t even mention that it was the first and only book to take place during the series after the publisher dropped the numbering scheme from the books. And it wasn’t even a special event book or anything. So it has the distinction of being the only unnumbered, non-event, post-series published, during-the-series set novel in the Star Trek: Voyager franchise.

And all this from a first-and-only-time Star Trek author, Steven Piziks.

I would encourage you to listen to the podcast episode, but I’ll give some of my thoughts here.

A good Star Trek story lets us examine human relationships. And first contact is a good way to help tell that story. In this book, Voyager encounters a race that has just run their first warp flight. And that little warp ship, along with Voyager, are both damaged in an ion storm. So they head back to the planet Chi for repairs and first contact. Because the Prime Directive doesn’t apply, right? Right. But once they’re there, they discover that the world is still pretty divided among its people.

I will say that I didn’t care much for Janeway not doing some more due diligence with these people. She ponders if the people she’s talking and negotiating with are the true leaders and speak for the whole planet. But she assumes so because her ship needs to be repaired before the next ion storm comes through. So of course things aren’t what they seem.

One thing this book did really well for me was to put the science in science fiction. The use of nanotechnology and the Starfleeters’ adverse reaction to it (shut up, Wesley!) are really well done. Also, especially with the ending, this makes for a good what-if story about how too much reliance on technology can make people forget their roots.

The use of Tom Paris and Seven of Nine in this story were so good. Their kidnappings and the reasons behind the kidnappings were really well played. B’Elanna had a story of her own that worked with Tom’s (they’re still pretty much newlyweds here) and it was so, so good! Basically, Tom has nanite-induced amnesia and B’Elanna has an existential crisis because what if Tom doesn’t fall in love with her again? This was handled so well!

And the only way I can describe the ending was that it was something Kirk would have done. Seven is very resentful of these people for kidnapping and torturing her. Rightly so. But she’s willing to let the whole population suffer for the result of their ignorant ways. There’s a bit of poetic justice in the outcome that Kirk would have smiled at.

I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars. It’s probably a little more like 4.5 but I just can’t fathom only giving it 4 stars on Goodreads. If you’re a Star Trek fan, even if not a fan of Voyager, you should give this book a read. It is well worth it. And although it’s longer than your average Star Trek book, it is action-packed and quite the page-turner!

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