Which book comes first?

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Freman, Jan 12, 2013.

  1. Freman

    Freman Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I just finished reading Resistance, and at the back of the book is a preview for Before Dishonour. Is this the next book in the series, or does Q & A come next?

    Memory Beta says Q & A is next, but the preview at the end of the book I just finished is making me wonder.
     
  2. DarkHorizon

    DarkHorizon Captain Captain

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    Q&A is next. Before Dishonor just continues the Borg plotline, which is presumably why it's previewed (although it's a bit odd to preview the next-but-one novel...).
     
  3. Freman

    Freman Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Okay thanks a lot! :)
     
  4. Defcon

    Defcon Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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  5. Freman

    Freman Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Cool, I will check that out.

    And I got home and cracked open Q & A and there's a historian's note that tells me it comes after Resistance. So I guess I didn't even need to ask the question. :rofl: That's what I get for being impatient.
     
  6. Patrick O'Brien

    Patrick O'Brien Captain Captain

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    ^I read them in the wrong order myself:alienblush: I should have thought to ask here first:D
     
  7. zarkon

    zarkon Captain Captain

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    The funny thing is that Peter David never got sent a copy of Q&A, so none of the character development or what have you makes it into Before Dishonour anyway
     
  8. Freman

    Freman Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Really? Are there continuity mistakes? I hate those.
     
  9. zarkon

    zarkon Captain Captain

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    not so much cast iron continuity problems, but characters act rather differently then they did the book before.
     
  10. Thrawn

    Thrawn Rear Admiral Premium Member

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    Yeah, it's more sloppy than it is contradictory. Christopher makes a solid attempt to clean it all up in the first third of Greater Than The Sum, the next book after Before Dishonor, but it's still just a bit awkward.
     
  11. ryan123450

    ryan123450 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Yep it was sad that Christopher had to do that. Things really should have been handled better somehow.
     
  12. Ben

    Ben Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    I never had much problem with it. We didn't really know those characters well at that point, so anything was really possible. And the PAD's book was so fantastic that, even if there were mistakes, it doesn't bother me.
     
  13. vorador33

    vorador33 Lieutenant Junior Grade Red Shirt

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    ^ I agree, I just read through these books recently and didn’t really feel like the new characters were portrayed very inconsistently at all. They were so new and broadly defined in Q & A that i hand no problem with the way they acted in the next book. I fact i really liked the mutiny plot, it was really refreshing to have characters questioning a captains rouge action. To be honest though i realize my opinion is probably the minority because i loved Before Dishonour and most people seem to have hated it.
     
  14. Spocky8492

    Spocky8492 Lieutenant Junior Grade Red Shirt

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    I have the same kind of question for Sword of Damocles and Greater Than The Sum.
    I started to read the TNG relaunch a few years ago in the goal to read the Destiny trilogie. So now I'm at the point in both series TNG and Titan to read either Sword of Damocles or Greater Than The Sum. I believe I read somewhere that it's better to read Sword of Damocles before Greater Than The Sum, but I don't remember where I read that and why it was better in this order. Is it true or it doesn't matter? I checked on 'The Reading Order Flowchart from Thrawn and 8of5 and the two books are at the same level. So what is your advise?
     
  15. zarkon

    zarkon Captain Captain

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    Perhaps the minority here, but I doubt the dislike is that widespread - a good amount of it is due to issues that don't actually have anything to do with the quality of the writing.

    That said, you may want to spoiler tag the part of your post that I haven't quoted. The OP hasn't read this book yet.
     
  16. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    It doesn't matter that much. They're in separate series and there aren't any direct continuity elements between them. There are only two reasons I can think of for reading Sword of Damocles first. One reason, a trivial one, is simply that it takes place earlier -- in fact, by my estimate it happens around the same time as Before Dishonor. The other is that it makes sense to get the pre-Destiny TTN novels out of the way before reading GTTS, because GTTS is the direct prologue to Destiny.
     
  17. Thrawn

    Thrawn Rear Admiral Premium Member

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    ^ Exactly what I was about to post :)
     
  18. Spocky8492

    Spocky8492 Lieutenant Junior Grade Red Shirt

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    Thank you. It's exactly the kind of information I was looking for and the fact that Greater Than The Sum is the direct prologue to Destiny is for me an excelent reason to read Sword of Damocles first. I'm currently reading The good that men do, but after it I will jump to Sword of Damocles.
     
  19. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    I don't believe there are any instances where reading ST novels in order of their publication spoils anything. That's the order that avid readers-who-are-caught-up-on-everything read them, after all. Using the publication dates (behind the title page) only gets tricky if you're reading a MMPB reprint of a hardcover or trade, or a hardcopy version of one of the debut-in-eBook tales.
     
  20. DS9Continuing

    DS9Continuing Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    It's not so bad - it's only a scene where Picard tries Beverly's makeup on, after all.

    .