I recently started reading book 1 of the Titan series and am already drawn into the optimism of Riker, Troi, and co. on beginning their new era of exploration. I just had one question regarding what I believe to be a reference to the "A Time to..." series which I did not read. It mentions that Riker's last year on the Enterprise was a difficult one. It almost implies to me that the Enterprise was not a very welcoming environment to him at this time and this was partly responsible for him leaving for Titan. I wonder if someone could explain the nature of this feeling of Riker's. Thanks!
it's not so much that the E-E was an unwelcoming environment, more that they went through some rather tough times and he decided that he was standing in Data's way of promotion and that he really ought to move on himself and took the captaincy. really, you ought to read the A Time To miniseries for the more complete explanation...
Both Rikers (or is that both Trois?) had some traumatic times between "Insurrection" and "Nemesis", some of which was related to their families. If you only want to get a glimmer of Will Riker anguish, the duology "A Time to Love/Hate", within the "A Time..." series, would be an excellent place to check. There was also the trauma of "The Battle of Betazed", "Nemesis", and the death of Data.
^ Er, they didn't have "a traumatic year" between the two movies, as there was a good four years between Insurrection (2375) and Nemesis (2379).
Which raises a question: What's better? 1 > 36 pleasant months, then 12 traumatic 2 > 18 pleasant months, 12 traumatic, 18 pleasant 3 > 12 traumatic months, 36 pleasant 4 > 3 pleasant months, 1 traumatic (repeating for four years) What would you choose? I'd probably go with #3.
I said year because I believe that's what the book had said - "the last year on the Enterprise..." or something like that. I may be wrong, but yes, I know there was more time in between the movies.