Science Fiction book set in the Star Trek universe. It's a story told by Kathryn Janeway of one of here adventures in the Captains Table pub. She tells a tale of being separated from Voyager and helping an alien race defend themselves and learning more about herself. ( )

This is one of my all-time favorite science-fiction novels. Interestingly, it is published fan-fiction (more on this at a later date) about the television show Star Trek: Voyager. It is my favorite out of all the different Star Trek series and movies.

Originally, I read this book as a young teenager of perhaps twelve or thirteen years of age and it remains to this day the only title that I have ever had to skip to the end just so that I could be reassured of a happy ending.

Fire Ship follows Captain Kathryn Janeway as she recovers from severe injuries and learns to cope with the knowledge that her ship, and friends, have been destroyed. That she failed to bring the home, as she’d so-often promised to do. Alone in the Delta Quadrant, aboard an alien ship, and with no other options available to her, Janeway does what she does best… She survives, takes life by the horns and comes out the other side of things the victor.

I remember crying, smiling, and feeling absolutely heartsick while reading this book and I cannot wait to start it again. It’s not often that a book has such an impact on me that I remember it even years later. ( )

This is an early example of the proliferation of Star Trek books that expanded on the various television series and is a sub series featuring some of the captains from both the TV sderies and the other books. 'Fire Ship', as you may guess from the cover, features Captain Janeway who gets inducted into the secrets of 'The Captain's Table' while still stuck in the Delta Quadrant - finding an Olde Worlde English pub filled with all sorts of aliens and humans from every era was weird even for that strange area of space.

The price of entrance to the 'Table is a tale of interest and Captain Janeway has one of a time when she'd been separated from the Voyager after thinking it destroyed by a sneak attack. Castaway, she finds herself taken aboard a spaceship crewed by a humanoid crew, Kate Janeway finds herself at the bottom of the chain of command - a common deck hand - after finding her new crewmates were underwhelmed by her claims of imminent invasion and technological superiority.

I have to admit that I'm not overfond of the Voyager series and I have bought few of the novels based in that millieu but this, bought because of 'The Captain's Table' connection, is quite enjoyable and doesn't suffer from the prissiness of the Voyager TV shows (IMO of course :-)) ( )

This one's typical Trek fare, really. But I fell in love with the mental picture of a ship covered with video tiles and the idea of a high and mighty Starfleet captain having to prove herself in an alien culture and under different leadership. That's why I decided to grab a copy for my shelf. ( )

My favorite of the first four Captain's Table books (I haven't read 5 or 6).
Janeway is taken away from everything she has - left broken physically and emotionally - and then begins to cope with the circumstance in a truly inspiring way.
I'm afraid that nearly everything I want to say about it is a spoiler of one kind or another - I'll just say that it was a good read, especially for a fan of Voyager that is most interested in Captain Janeway. While this may be borderline spoiler to say: she also finds herself in a situation where she is the only woman, for 95% of her tale, and among the challenges she faces it presents one of the most interesting threads throughout the story.
The Captain's Table 'framing device' that this series utilizes is hardly mentioned in this book, which I actually found to be a relief.
I'd been reading all of them in order and the CT concept wasn't holding my interest very much. ****1/2 ( )