Mosaic (Star Trek, Voyager) (ISBN 0671563122)

STV Mosaic - The "tapestry" of Captain Janeway's life!:
This books author, Jeri Taylor, started as a writer on Star Trek The Next Generation in the middle of its run and soon became one of the shows most prominent writers. Near the end of that series, she, along with Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, became the creators, lead writers and executive producers of Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek's newest series. While Voyager was received and perceived quite differently by many Star Trek fans, in my opinion, the series was a very good one despite it not living fully to its potential. The character of Captain Kathryn Janeway is a strong and multi faceted one played to perfection by Kate Mulgrew. The person most directly responsible for Captain Janeway's back story and overall development is Jeri Taylor, the author of this extraordinary novel. "Mosaic" is more than just a novel in the series, it provides what Jeri Taylor described as Janeway's back story and it essentially adds up as the "tapestry" of her life and all of the decisions that brought her to where she was at the time this novel was published. For several years, "Mosaic" and Jeri Taylor's sole other Star Trek Voyager novel, "Pathways" were considered to be the only Star Trek novels to be canon by a majority of the fandom. It has only been recently that that opinion has changed, for whatever reasons I'm not sure. Jeri Taylor's writing style is perfect for this novel; the premise, plot setup and execution, characterizations and overall pacing of this novel makes for an excellent read in the Star Trek Voyager series. The cover art for "Mosaic" is perfect for the title! The premise: "Mosaic" tells the tale of Captain Kathryn Janeway's back story through the current events in her life in which she finds herself in a quagmire where she could lose an away team and one of her best friends or lose the entire ship. Faced with such a dire dilemma, Captain Janeway looks through the events of her life to find the solution to her current problem... What follows from there, as stated above, is one of the most outstanding novels in all of the Star Trek series and most certainly one of the very few, if any, novels that "could" be considered canon in the Star Trek universe considering if you've read this book and watched the entire series you will see that Jeri Taylor did squeeze some of this into the shows. I highly recommend this novel to any and all fans of Star Trek Voyager and Star Trek in general for you will most certainly find that you'll have an even better appreciation for the character of Captain Kathryn Janeway after you've read it. {ssintrepid}

A Must Read for Trekkies:
Attention all Star Trek fans, especially those who love Voyager. Undoubtedly, Star Trek Voyager: Mosaic is a must read, because it is a compelling addition to the Star Trek saga. Telling the story of the first female captain since Star Trek was created in the 1960s, this book brilliantly brings Captain Janeway to life. Mosaic was published in 1996 by Pocket Books, the company that publishes all of the Voyager books. As co-creator and executive producer of Star Trek Voyager, Jeri Taylor, the author of Mosaic, has a good grasp of the essence of Voyager. She eloquently conveys that in her book. Mosaic has 312 pages. Although the Star Trek story line in this book is only mediocre, the memories of Captain Janeway make this book fascinating. Obviously, Kathryn Janeway is the primary character in this book. Taking place during their time in the Delta Quadrant, this book never pinpoints exactly where in the journey this story takes place. After a nearly fatal adventure on a planet which they nicknamed "Sizzle", Captain Janeway begins to have strange dreams. In these dreams she continually tries to get through a locked door, because she thinks she has to clean the room behind it. While Captain Janeway has these dreams and starts experiencing memories of her life, Voyager is attacked by the Kazon. Meanwhile,there is an away team stranded on a nearby planet that is exploring burial monuments and dealing with their own Kazon attack. Voyager is forced to retreat and make repairs. Captain Janeway continues to have flashbacks to all of the most important points in her life. They vary from the first time she solved a math problem to the first time she saved someone's life, and many others. Will she be able to cope with the flashbacks and rescue the away team? You will have to read Mosaic to find out. Because of all the interesting flashbacks, because of its decent story line, and because of the facts you learn about Kathryn Janeway, Mosaic is a very good book. Certainly it tells more than you could ever find out just watching the show, although some of the memories were vaguely mentioned on TV. Mosaic will probably be appreciated most by a Voyager fan. However, if you are just getting interested in the show, you will have no problem understanding Mosaic. How does Janeway become captain? Mosaic and its insightful flashbacks will answer that.

Wonderful Book:
Mosaic is one of my favorite Star Trek books. The author uses a current adventure in conjunction with flashbacks that tells the story of Captain Janeway's life. The story shows the moments in Janeway's past from childhood to the present that created her personality.

I'm not a Janeway fan and I thought this book was great:
I liked Voyager when it first aired but after a couple of seasons I found it to be pretty disappointing. And I stopped reading the Voyager novels years ago. But recently I rewatched the series and enjoyed it far more than I expected to. As a result, I decided to give the novels another try, too. I've been reading them in publication order and I'm surprised that they're not bad either, and so far this is the best of the bunch. The character of Janeway still bugs me. She really makes some awful decisions (both in the series and in this book) which put herself and the people around her in jeopardy. The fact that she manages to survive and pull everybody's embers out of the fire is a miracle, and frankly a little implausible, but it still makes for entertaining storytelling. The background on the character given in this book does soften my attitude towards her a bit. I still don't like her, but I sympathize with her a little more. My only real complaint, and the reason it's only getting 4 stars from me, is that the ending seemed a bit rushed and wasn't entirely satisfying. Also, a little more on her relationship with Tuvok would have been welcome. Perhaps that will happen in another book. Regardless, if a Janeway non-fan like me can enjoy this book, I think Voyager fans should love it.

I loved this book!!:
I'm a Janeway fan so when I read some reviews about this book I just had to get it. I'm glad I did. It filled me in on Janeway's life and why she is the way she is. To her introduction to Data, to her blind date with William Riker, to how she knew Tom paris's father, Her first meeting with Tuvok(she didn't like him much at first), to her relationship with Mark, to her greatest tragedy. This book was a page turner and I didn't want to put it down until I had read it all. Sometimes when I read a book about a series sometimes the characters don't sound like themselves. I have read some Star Wars books like this. In this book though the characters sound just like they are in the series. I wished this could have been a episode. It would have fit right in! I have more appreciation for this character now. Captain Janeway is one strong woman! If you are a Captain Janeway fan there is no doubt about it you will love this book. I don't see how they could have made this book any better!!!