There's something terribly earnest and good-natured about this book, which is probably why I enjoyed it as much as I did. I like that Star Trek (some recent outings excepted) is so optimistic, and frequently eschews edginess in favour of the determination to imagine some positive future. It's much braver than dystopia.

Here, Janeway and company come across a doomed people - their sun is dying, and they're victims of war - and while I just can't picture the odd mammalian/reptile race that Golden describes, they're so thoroughly decent and interesting that I can't help but like them. I will say that the twist as to the identity of the attacking aliens is not a remote surprise, but the conclusion - that both parties are willing to work together, and to offer atonement and potential forgiveness - is. If only all conflicts had such reasonable leaders.

Tom Paris had a surprisingly good role here too. I can't blame him for being creeped out by his new reptilian friends, because if I ever met aliens, no matter how gentle, who looked like giant rats I'd want to puke at the sight of them, but his efforts to get past that instinctive bias were really what this franchise is all about.