At least the individual Double Helix books had an ending. Gateways left things hanging to be resolved in a separate novel. The New Frontier one is the only one I read, and I have no idea how it was resolved (I suppose it says a bit that I have never bothered to look it up, but I was annoyed at the time). I recall getting that impression from a line in one of the prior books, "Beg me like the captain of the Grissom begged you"; I don't think the captain ever begged Calhoun at all.
Brilliant! I've heard of people doing that with Game Of Thrones Exact same thing! Perhaps if you guys didn't annoy Peter David so much we'd have more New Frontier? Gateways – Cold Wars The Iconians are certainly a cool concept that would have been nice to have explored more in the series. I did go back and watch Contagion after reading this. Of course, we did get to see more of the Gateways themselves on the spin-off series Iconians SG-1. The only Trek series I’ve not watched all the way through is the animated series. I caught a few episodes on repeat in the 90s and I’ve tried watching it again, my wife bought me the DVDs but it isn’t my thing. So I had an idea of who Arex and M’ress were. It is something of a coincidence that they would both end up in the TNG era and on the same ship, but this is NF after all. The scene with the Holo conference was a neat idea, DS9 flirted with Holo-communications but apparently, execs were worried that viewers wouldn’t understand that characters weren’t really there and got rid of it. I liked seeing how Shelby and Calhoun work together across the Excalibur and Trident adding more scope to the series.
There came a point where that what also how I read Harry Turtledove's Timeline-161 series (How Few Remain, Great War, etc.) But there, I was also skipping the characters and plot threads I didn't like. As for Game of Thrones, there's also a fan-made ebook that combines books four and five into one massive book and resquences the whole thing chronologically. I... umm... might have that ebook at one point. I don't now. I deleted it off my devices at some point. At the time... over a decade ago now... the thought of rereading the series before the release of book six was entertained. At this point, I don't expect the sixth book to be published within GRRM's lifetime, and if by some miracle it is, I'm not sure I care.
I read The Two George's about twenty years ago, I've always meant to check out his World War series. I do like a bit of Alternate history but often novels ignore the big picture changes and just have the characters solve a murder. Should The Winds Of Winter ever get published, I shall not be rereading the series before hand!
Charles Dickens's Bleak House alternates between first-person chapters from the perspective of Esther Summerson and third-person chapters about all the other characters. I've always wanted to split it up into two books, one a first-person novel called Esther Summerson and one a third-person novel called... I dunno Jarndyce and Jarndyce, probably. I think it works fine as a unified whole (unlike some of the other examples in this thread) but I'd be curious to see how it reads this way. The frustrating thing about the eXcalibur trilogy as I recall is that you get about a novella's worth of content for each character distributed across the second novel... but isn't the last scene of each of these "novellas" held back for book 3?
Just the Lefler Risa storyline ends on a cliffhanger to be finished off in the middle of the last novel, I think. The other three (McHenry/Kebron, Soleta, and Burgoyne/Selar) were all concluded within their respective books.
I remember enjoying The Two Georges, though I've not read it since it came out. Not even sure I have it anymore. The GreatWar series -- and I'm including everything from the 1880s to the 1940s under that umbrella -- really gets to be a chore, imho. There are plot lines and characters I hated spending any time with, and I wanted more (or even some) characters in the "halls of power" who could give more of a "top level" view of what was happening. It was all too "ground level" for me. Still, the conclusion feels emotional cathartic, even though you realize that this world is in a far worse place in its 1945 (and far more likely to see nuclear war) than ours was. ETA: I just realized you wrote "World War" and not "Great War," which is a different series. World War is aliens invade Earth during World War II. Great War is a world where Robert E. Lee wins at Antietam and the European powers force an end to the Civil War. World War... I read the original quadrilogy, but not the sequel series. I liked most of it, as I remember, but I also remembering wanting more from the books than I got. Fleetlord Atvar is a pretty sympathetic villain--nothing in his training, or his race's past experience, prepared him for the situation he faced, he's really out of his depth, and he has to adapt to situations never contemplated. A couple of the major human characters I absolutely despised, however.
12 – Being Human We finally find out what Q was talking about during the Excalibur trilogy, McHenry finally gets his backstory filled in. Does every member of the Excalibur crew have superpowers? Yeah, pretty much. This doesn’t annoy me as much as I’d expect. McHenry is a descendant of Apollo from Who Mourns for Adonais? and the rest of the gods have turned up as well. I really enjoyed the pitch of Ambrosia being offered to the Federation just for Calhoun to turn around and call them out as drug dealers. Si Cwan being offered the Thallion Empire on a plate is obviously too good to be true but it feels in character for him to at least look into the possibility. I enjoyed the battle where the Excalibur has the Saucer separate. The ability was played as such as big thing in Encounter At Farpoint and it was hardly ever used due to expensive model shots. I don’t recall the novels making particular use of it aside from Rogue Saucer. If you read through old threads about New Frontier you will find a lot of posts about how the later books are not as strong as the earlier entry with some disagreement over quite when the level of quality dropped. I got worried during the Excalibur trilogy that I had reached that point but having finished this book I am definitely still enjoying the series.
Me neither. And I can think of a couple of other novels -- starting with War Drums -- that would definitely have benefitted from splitting the ship and wouldn't really had any disadvantages.
Looks like I skipped one! 11 – Restoration And just like that, New Frontier is back on form! Everything goes full Western with Calhoun finding himself on a primitive world, not unlike the Old West. I found myself laughing at how he finds himself becoming the town's sheriff, before taking us through all the favourite clichés. Shelby getting her own command and finding everyone else too by the book was hilarious and although rushed the ending with Calhoun and Shelby reunited was a great upbeat ending from a series that usually prefers gut punches and cliffhangers.
I hated Restoration. I didn't like the western pastiche. (I was annoyed that Calhoun was alive, too.) I really didn't like Shelby on the... Exeter? I thought Peter David treated her like shit in this book, though, frankly, he always had. (Except for Vendetta.) And then wasting pages wrapping up Robin Lefler's unconnected story. I hated it. Yet, for all that, had Peter David ended New Frontier here, I'd remember it fondly. Because, after this point, I kinda feel like, "Why are we still doing this?" The problem is, the Deep Space Nine relaunch debuts the next year, and New Frontier begins to feel outdated.
Yeah, I get that. The Western elements did feel quite by the numbers but it also had a much stronger narrative drive after the previous two books in the trilogy felt more "A day in the life." 13 – Gods Above We pick up after the cliffhanger with McHenry apparently dead, it seems a bit of a waste spending all that time setting up his backstory only for him to go out like that. Likewise, Morgan went out at her post. But soon pops up in the computer. If I’m being honest, the Majel Barrett gag never really landed for me. I can see it playing well on screen but it (unusually for Peter David) felt quite subtle in Fire On High. However, I did enjoy where it went with the interactions with Moke towards the end where the boy is new to dealing with starship computers and getting his dead round one suddenly getting sarcastic with him. The beings as the book describes the various god-like entities are brought down in a way that makes sense without undermining their powers as they had been portrayed. If I had read that the ship is saved by a small boy and Father Christmas there is no way I would have read the book. Knowing the involvement of Apollo’s people was actually what put me off picking these books up for so long. I can’t explain it but the more ridiculous Peter David makes it, the more I find myself enjoying these stories. They are great fun and a breeze to read.
I remember the gap between Being Human and Gods Above being absolutely murder, and I'm afraid to look at how long it actually was because it'll make me feel old that that seemed like a long time. 23 months. Okay, that was objectively pretty long, especially in the two-book-a-month era. Also, before podcasts, nonstop streaming television, just overall fewer things to occupy my attention and more time to be wrapped up in my favorites. So, I suppose next up is the No Limits anthology, and then Stone & Anvil, the series finale of New Frontier, after which there were no more books.
I didn't review each story from the anthology but here are my thoughts: No Limits Whilst having a single writer behind the series is certainly one of its strengths, It was fun to experience other authors' take on these characters. Some of the highlights were definitely seeing Mack actually undercover like we had heard so much about. David Mack’s Kebron story was a favourite. He nailed the series' humour, Kebron is a character I haven’t talked about more but I enjoy when he gets little scene-stealing pithy lines. Turning Point gave us another side to Si Cwan, that has been missing, Characters assume he was pampered and got his own way having grown up as a prince of Thallon, and here we see that there was much more to him and his relationship with his sister than we might have assumed. Seeing Shelby at earlier points in her career meant that she was more in keeping with her portrayal in Best Of Both Worlds, While I think of NF almost as a pocket universe and not worry about such things, I did enjoy seeing how she might have gone from her TNG personality to how we know her in these books.
One of my abiding memories of that era is that being in Ireland, we got the books one month or so after the US. So although it also would have been 23 months between releases for us, it did mean though I had to wait another month to join the conversation on the forums and avoid spoilers.
14 - Stone & Anvill This book uses a dual narrative which splits time between Calhoun and Shelby during their Academy days and as captains of the Excalibur and Trident respectively. The main narrative follows the murder investigation into the death of Lt Cmdr Glau. I really enjoyed this one I don't know exactly what makes certain New Frontier novels more enjoyable than others but I suspect it has a direct correlation with how prominent Mackenzie Calhoun features. The series has been quite unique in introducing characters with a lot of mystery and suspense regarding their backstories only to be just as interesting once details are revealed. we get to see the continuation of the scene from the first book where McKenzie meets Picard and the scene where he sees the stargazer in orbit would have worked beautifully on screen I was a bit suspect at the use of Jellicoe in the flashbacks as it made the universe feel smaller but it works and gives us a new side to Calhoun and Jellicoe's dynamics. I was particularly amused by Kebron's enjoyment of hard-boiled detective novels and an uncertain transporter chief being named Heisenberg. My one point of disappointment at the Academy scenes was the lack of Boothby and then there was a cameo by Boothby thankfully one that didn't outstay its welcome he's a great character but less is more the last thing you want is for him to become a hallucinatory boxing coach (or whatever that Voyager episode was) We also have the Kobayashi Maru test which could easily have been a cute bit of fan service but not only showed Calhoun's unique solution but the scene was crucial in the development of his relationship with Shelby if you're going to make references to previous movies this is how it should be done That ending with Janos though, ouch. Poor guy.
15 - After The Fall I had seen a lot of talk about later books in the series not being as high quality and several people saying they recommended people finish the series with Stone And Anvil. To say I had trepidations about this book is something of an understatement. it starts with a note from the management clarifying that the time skip is intentional and not a problem to be fixed. I enjoyed the shakeup it gave the characters certainly some of the events do feel like they would have been better served had we been able to experience them in real time especially Soleta’s move from Starfleet to working for the Romulans. but it is given enough explanation and weight that you buy it as character development and nothing feels too out of place. The biggest surprise was where Robin Leffler finds herself but whilst it seems slightly unexpected from where her relationship was in earlier books it still works. it was good to see Shelby's promotion one of the issues I had with Trek back in the 90s, was how even the movies made it impossible for the characters to progress and one of the things that always appealed about New Frontier was knowing that the cast rise up in ranks and transfer to different ships. I thought the narrative for After The Fall was also very strong Xyon and Kalendar driving things on New Thallon. it felt like NF at its height with lots of mystery and political shenanigans. I also very much enjoyed Calhoun’s new friend Ed which was an absolutely delightful scene if this is the terrible downfall of New Frontier I'm all for it
16 – Missing In Action Another great entry, whilst books such as The Quiet Place and The Excalibur trilogy held my attention but didn’t really grab my interest, Missing in Action had me hooked from the start. Firstly, Soleta kicks arse in this story. She felt a bit underserved with the time jump and we get to see her in command of her own Romulan vessel. I’ve always enjoyed the Romulans but they’ve never had as much screen time as the Klingons or Cardassians. The only time we’ve seen life aboard a Romulan ship was that time they kidnapped Troi. The Excalibur finds itself in the middle of two warring races, and Calhoun has another top opportunity to do all that Star Trek stuff with his unique take on it. I enjoyed how Moke played into the conclusion although the fact Mac had planned for it perhaps took the character to a darker place than he had been before. Speaking of Dark places, New Thallon is feeling the fallout from the Kalindar imposters' actions at the end of After The Fall. I get the impression that how things go with Si Cwan is one of the things people dislike about the last part of the series but I thought it was an exciting and dramatic turn and am looking forward to seeing where things go next. I was surprised by the references to Voyager and Nemesis, I am so used to thinking of NF as being its own thing being written as DS9 and Voyager were still on the air but of course, the books would take over them at some point. Xyon and Moke have a fun dynamic, I’m so glad we’re seeing more of Xyon as his faking his demise was a very large thread that was just left hanging, also his namesake Xy is a fascinating character. The epilogue with Q was a fun moment but felt a bit anticlimactic. Really I want Q to go up against Calhoun but I have a feeling he would not be as much fun for Q as Picard and it probably wouldn’t end well for Calhoun.