Trapped within the Delta Quadrant the crew of the Voyager are forced to supplement their food and fuel supplies whenever they get the opportunity so when their sensors detect abundant plant life on a nearby planet Captain Janeway leads an Away Team down to the surface I search of food.

On their arrival they discover beautiful lush gardens inhabited by an alien race who consider their gardens sacred. Some of the flowers have a particularly enticing scent that seems to be hiding something a little more sinister - for shortly after encountering this beautiful fragrance crew members fall into a deep coma-like sleep and cannot be roused.

In order to observe quarantine regulations the teams cannot return to the ship so they are forced to stay on the planet until the doctor can develop a cure but will this be in time to rescue the crew from the attentions of the aliens who consider the effects of the scent to be sacred.

Chrysalis is a very typical Star Trek: Voyager story - crew go to new planet, meet aliens, somehow upset the locals and have to escape before they are killed. However, the idea that the scent of the flowers cause the crew to fall into a deep coma that the local inhabitants consider to be a sacred state usually experienced just before someone goes to meet the ancestors is quite unusual.

The story features all the usual characters that we have grown to know and love and they are all written reasonably faithfully to the original TV series. However it does have one aspect that I find a little disappointing. As I have said in previous reviews, when I read a TV tie-in novel I like the author to have tried something different that couldn't really have been done within the restrictions of a TV or film studio.

With Chrysalis I feel that the author has played a little safe. The story could easily have been made into an episode and would have fitted will into the series but there is nothing ground-breaking. No situations or "effects" that couldn't easily have been reproduced by a decent CGI expert.

Still, it is a good story, thoroughly enjoyable and a faithful addition to the Star Trek world.

Synopsis
A team lead by Captain Janeway goes down to the surface of a planet with abundant water and food supplies. But just as they make contact with the planet's inhabitants, two crew members slip into comas - the remaining crew must reverse the effects of the substance before they become victims too.