I've been away from Trek Lit (and these boards) for a few years...the last books I read were Unworthy and, away from the Voyager line, A Singular Destiny. I recently decided to pick things back up with the Typhon Pact miniseries, as I'd heard good things about The Fall but didn't want to skip a step. I thought it'd be easier to keep my thoughts to one thread rather than digging up the old, individual threads for each book, so here we are! I finished Zero Sum Game pretty quickly and really enjoyed it. It was fast-paced and action-packed and I found myself speeding through it because there was so much packed in - there wasn't a page wasted. Bashir and Sarina's mission was a great spy-fi story, but I actually found myself enjoying the Aventine thread a bit more...I wish there had been more for the crew to do, because I think there's a great cast sitting there. The only element that didn't really work for me was the romance. The fast-paced nature of the story didn't really suit this element - the Bashir/Ezri dinner seemed to blow up too quickly and the relationship with Sarina was too intense too fast for me to be invested. However, in the overall scheme of things, that's a minor quibble because the rest of the book was great. I'm partway through Seize the Fire at the moment and I'm not enjoying this one quite as much. I'll reserve judgement until the end but right now, it seems quite ponderous and the story doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Hopefully, it will improve as it goes. So what's everyone's thoughts on the series as a whole? Is the best yet to come?
Just based on my opinion alone, Typhon Pact was a little bit of a mixed bag for me. It had some great moments and excellent world building- but at the same time, also introduced some character elements I didn't care as much for. Bashir and Sarina being one of them. That said, I do like the series overall. Brinkmanship was excellent, and I'd gladly read that again. I don't think I liked Plagues of Night and Seize the Dawn as much as other people did, but those two are generally considered the high point in the series. There's a good chance you'll like them. I am really enjoying The Fall though, and I'm glad I took the time to read through all of Typhon Pact beforehand. I say if you are interested in the current series, stick with it! It'll be worth it overall.
It's a bit of a problem what one considers as being part of the Typhon Pact series... Of the original 4 novels (I'm discounting the ebook, as I have not read it), I'd say Zero Sum Game was also my favorite, because of the insights into the Breen. I found Seize the Fire largely forgettable and a bit bland, and Paths of Hisharmony nice if a bit timid given its eventual outcome (and I'd very much looked forward to reading about Shar again, and wished he'd gotten more screen... eh, page time). As for Rough Beasts of Empire... I was originally very critical of it. You'll appreciate it much more when viewed in context with Plagues of Night and Seize the Dawn, so I'd advocate reading them as a trilogy. And Brinkmanship was just pure awesome.
I really didn't like Zero Sum Game or Seize The Fire, but loved Rough Beasts Of Empire and Paths Of Disharmony. Raise The Dawn and Plagues Of Night are excellent. I'd also highly recommend the fantastic Cold Equations trilogy which ties in.
I'd say Brinkmanship was my favourite of the Typhon Pact books, doing the best work with the Tzenkethi and the characterisation on the Enterprise. I'd say Rough Beasts, Plagues of Night and Raise the Dawn are really good too, with a great arc, and the latter two also serving as a capstone for the series (except for Brinkmanship which is the chronological latest part of the series?). Paths of Disharmony was my least favourite of the ones I read (I never read the Titan ones nor the eshort about the Kinshaya).
The Typhon Pact Arc I've found to be a really mixed bag. A lot of times it hasn't lived up to what was setup in "A Singular Destiny", and has really felt more like Starfleet vs. the Breen/Tzenkethi. Sure the Romulans, Gorn, Tholians and Kinshaya were part of the original Pact, but they've really been sidelined (the Kinshaya have only appeared in the ebook, while receiving mention in a few others). I really hated how the two Romulan states were reunified for this arc---I would've preferred to have seen the two states continue. Also, I would recommend avoiding "Seize The Fire" or it's sequel "Fallen Gods". They are both "jump the shark" books for Titan.
Have a look at the following chart to see what to read next. You really should read in order because of the interconnectedness of the books. http://www.thetrekcollective.com/p/trek-lit-reading-order.html
Seize the Fire, featuring the crew of the Titan, is about the Gorn, and Paths of Disharmony involves the Tholians, but is mostly about the Andorians.
Oh boy, based on what you said I think you're going to LOVE The Fall series !! Specially "Ceremony of Losses!" Also from David Mack.
I must be the only one who liked seize the fire. I enjoy the Titan crew, but I think like the exploration of the Gorn even more. I'm just about to star Brinkmanship. I've enjoyed all the books in different ways. I suppose the only one I didn't like too much was the struggle within but that was because it was too short.
Thanks everyone for your replies - looks like the general consensus is that the series is a mixed bag, which I agree with at this point. While I really enjoyed Zero Sum Game, I was quite disappointed with Seize the Fire. I felt it suffered for quite a few reasons, with my main criticisms being: Some weird character beats - for example, when S'syrixx took a hostage in sickbay, rather than forming a strategy to resolve the situation, Keru just sulked and Vale and Troi stood around talking about history. Riker willingly beaming over to the S'alath at the end didn't really make sense and was just a plot device for him to meet S'syrixx's mate. Some of the sections from Vale's perspective were littered with weird little passages as well, such as when she imagined a Gorn soldier making balloon animals...didn't really work for me. There were a few too many instances of the characters praising Riker unnecessarily, and of Riker saving the day with a solution that was hammered home as being ingenious - this is fine because he's one of my favourite characters and the main player, but it was sometimes at the expense of other characters. Also, I was never really convinced that anything he did was that clever or innovative. The Gorn weren't a very compelling enemy. Gog'resssh and Krassrr weren't particularly nuanced characters, especially for the amount of time spent with the former. A lot of plot elements seemed to either come out of nowhere (e.g. Brahma-Shiva being sentient) or simply not matter (e.g. Tuvok's flashback). As such, the ending lacked a bit of punch for me because it depended on factors that were just too vague or had no build-up. There were some parts I enjoyed, though. I liked the fact that we got to see a variety of Titan crew members, not just the senior staff. Vale is a favourite of mine so I was glad that she got a lot of focus, even if some of her characterisation felt off. I also enjoyed S'syrixx's arc, even if the constant recurrence of "he said he had told us everything but it turns out he didn't!" was a bit frustrating. Thevarious battle sequences, such as Titan dropping into Hranrar's atmosphere, were quite good too. Overall, I'd give it two out of five. It wasn't irredeemably terrible, but it could have been a lot better in my opinion. I'm already enjoying Rough Beasts of Empire a lot more though, so things are picking up already. Thanks - Cold Equations is next on my reading list after the Typhon Pact. I haven't - I went straight from A Singular Destiny to Zero Sum Game. Is it worth a read? That's pretty useful, thanks for the tip!
Yeah, Losing The Peace is great, as are the two Titan novels between Destiny and Seize The Fire. (Not that you'd notice they happened if you skip them; Seize The Fire pretty much ignores any character development that happened in them.)
I haven't had a chance to post here for a while, but I finished Rough Beasts of Empire and I thought it was excellent. In many ways, it felt like a prologue but it was still engaging and written well enough for that to not really matter. The political intrigue within the Romulan Empire was really gripping, especially with the Tzenkethi subtly manipulating everything from the background, and although I can see why some may not have liked Sisko's arc, I found it compelling and am looking forward to see where it goes next. What's the general consensus on Rough Beasts of Empire? I'm partway through Paths of Disharmony and I'm finding it a little slow at the moment. Hopefully it will get going soon - the Enterprise has reached Andor now so things should start stepping up.
I would recommend you have Plagues of Night / Raise the Dawn on hand and read Rough Beasts of Empire as Act 1 of an unofficial but epic trilogy.
Those are the two I'm most looking forward to in the series, purely because the covers are awesome and I've read that they follow up on events from Rough Beasts of Empire. Do we get any more focus on Deep Space Nine in those books? I really enjoyed Sisko's talk with Kira, and would like to see more of Ro as Captain.