As the conclusion to the Gateways saga, What Lay Beyond should have brought everything together with a satisfying, cohesive finale. Instead, it felt like six disconnected short stories — some more engaging than others — cobbled together without a solid narrative through-line. The overarching problem with the Gateways series is even more apparent here: a strong concept poorly executed.
As the fifth installment in the Gateways series, you would expect the Gateways to play a bigger part of the story. While they are present, they really serve as the MacGuffin to a classic Voyager tale.
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.
This book continues the adventures of the U.S.S. Voyager after it returns to the Delta Quadrant on a mission of exploration. And while Tom Paris returns to Earth with Seven of Nine, each to deal with personal matters, Admiral Janeway takes command of the Full Circle Fleet to open diplomatic relations with the Confederacy of the Worlds of the First Quadrant. But the Confederacy has pissed off a lot of other races – many of which Janeway and Voyager have pissed off in the past…
