Enemy of my Enemy (Spoiler)

S P O I L E R

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The more I read about the book before I actually started it, the more my
motivation suffered to read the second part of "Spirit Walk".
Nevertheless, I was determined to read the book as open minded as
possible but after reading one third of it, I put the book aside. It
just wasn`t any fun to continue reading. Only after I finished the new
"Worlds of Deep Space Nine" books as well as the new Gorkon book, "Enemy
Territory", I continued reading without much enthusiasm.

Already at the end of "Old Wounds" I thought, come on, Christie Golden
wouldn`t tell us that the new first officer Ellis has been a changeling
all the time! Unfortunately that was confirmed very quickly and I
groaned. I should have seen this but I simply refused to do so. One
reason is, I liked Ellis and I think it would have been MUCH better to
have kept him the way he was. Second, I am not fond of "evil Changelings
and their twisted games" stories.

The first book was actually not too bad in spite of some reservations I
have but the second one is really a confusing maze of twisted games. All
right, strictly speaking everything makes sense somehow but this whole
house of cards is built on some individual elements that feel very
constructed to me. For example, we have a Changeling who acts very
atypical compared to the others of its kind and Moset is conveniently
narrow minded and even stupid. A lot of the actions and motivations feel
forced or exaggerated. I am really not in the mood to start picking
apart more details and justify my impression. For that I would have to
go through the whole book again and I am definitely not feeling the
motivation to do so.

As I said in my previous review: Chakotay becoming Voyager`s captain is
fine with me. I can also accept Libby as secret agent. I think that
aspect was introduced well and although it might look silly to many
readers, to me it actually makes a lot of sense. I definitely have
problems with Kim as chief of security but generous as I am, I can see
that this twist might be opening some interesting storytelling
possibilities for Christie Golden - IF she will be able to convince us
readers that Kim is indeed suitable for that position.

But in "Enemy of my Enemy" she definitely pushed even me too far by
promoting Paris to first officer. WHY!? All the time on Voyager, one
aspect was very consistent: Paris is the born pilot who loves to fly. It
was shown in this book as well. On top of that, he is most definitely
not the kind of person I would find suitable for being on the command
level. I can see that Christie Golden wants him on the Voyager, but why
not giving him the pilot seat again? My feeling is, the author didn`t
want to push it too much at the beginning of Voyager Relaunch. But now
that readers had the time to digest the fact that Chakotay is Voyager`s
captain, maybe she thought, now let`s put Paris on board, too. Everybody
seems to be getting promotions one way or the other and Paris shouldn`t
be excluded here. Me personally, I don`t like this attitude, if that was
indeed her motivation. I don`t see anything wrong allowing a character
to stay with a job he or she is really good at, something the person
loves doing. No, I am not happy with that decision.

There is still very little about Tuvok and although the idea of putting
Seven and the Doctor into this think tank makes some sense, I am hoping
they won`t be stuck there forever. Also, this is minor but irritating to
me, is it really necessary to label Seven as "lovely" and "brilliant"
all the time? Also other women tend to be labelled as "lovely". I can`t
remember that any male character got a similar treatment.

The hyper emotional counsellor Astall continues to get very much on my
nerves and unfortunately, I also got a bit fed up with Kaz. This problem
he has is dragging on and on. That his previous host and memory in
question is so difficult to drag to the surface and be spelled out is
another of these annoying coincidences and elements building this
twisted story.

What also annoyed me is the repeatedly voiced fear of Kim and Kaz that
should they be caught, they will be in trouble - and in this connection
I am not talking about the Changeling. They even thought what they do
could be seen as mutiny! I was hoping to get some clues that Kim is the
right person for the job as chief of security, but this is more the
annoying Kim of "Nightingale"! What Kim did was what he had the duty to
do. He had to be careful not to be caught by the false Chakotay but
worrying that fast forwarding his suspicions and the facts he gathered
to Janeway and the think tank could get him into trouble is really
ridiculous. Anyway, it was good to read that later in the book, he made
a quick, decisive decision that gives me hope that, maybe, in time I
will get more comfortable with the idea to see Kim as Voyager`s security
chief.

I dreaded the part about the actual spirit walk towards the end of the
book. I read it with very mixed feelings. On the one hand, it was quite
fascinating to enter this world, on the other, I think Christie Golden
went much too far because she didn`t keep the spirit world and the
corporal world separate. It would have been all right with me if the
spirit walk would have followed similar rules as in the Matrix movies or
maybe also in the Marvel comics that involve Dr. Strange`s mystical
powers, the so-called astral plane. It should have been the same pattern
that if you die or get hurt in the spiritual realm, this is reflected in
the real world. The idea of an anchor is fine with me, too. But when you
cross the line by for example taking beings from the spirit world into
the corporal world and even hold mortal wounds together from beyond,
then you enter the realm of a being like Q. Wesley is no Q and neither
is Chakotay. I am not certain what powers the Sky Spirits really have
but at best, Chakotay is a hybrid. Giving him Q-like powers is
unconvincing to me - well, at least he can`t access them easily. But
having said that, who knows what Christie Golden has in mind for the
future? I am definitely very uncomfortable with this development. And of
course there are very good reasons why "normal" characters who develop
this kind of power either disappear or die pretty soon.

To me, "Enemy of my Enemy" was a big disappointment and I am worried
about the direction Voyager Relaunch is taking. Nevertheless, I refuse
to give up on the series yet.


Baerbel Haddrell