Books to read...

[azzurri08]

A while back I posted a question asking what books I should read more relating to DS9. This time I am wondering what where I should start from reading any star trek books. For example, If I wanted to read NF where would be a good place to start other than the very beginning? or should you read it from the beginning or not at all? Also, was wondering if I would like to read TNG novels where would a good place to start? I read that Worf becomes Picard's #1 in resistance? Is that true, and do any of the following books keep to that story line? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

[Lindley]

New Frontier, may as well start at the beginning. There's only 12 or 13 books so far....I can't imagine why you *wouldn't* start at the beginning for something like that. What's the advantage of starting later?

TNG doesn't really matter, although the A Time To series would do as well as anything.

[Smiley]

Really, you can read the books in almost any order and still enjoy them. I would just pick the book with the earliest publication date that looks interesting and go from there.

[JD]

Lindley said:
New Frontier, may as well start at the beginning. There's only 12 or 13 books so far....I can't imagine why you *wouldn't* start at the beginning for something like that. What's the advantage of starting later?

TNG doesn't really matter, although the A Time To series would do as well as anything.

Not to nitpick, but there are actually 20 NF books including the MU novel. But if you want to start the series, azzurri08, you shouldn't let that scare you away because they are really good.

As for the current TNG book line (which are the ones with Worf as E-E XO) you can pretty much star at any point. But if you want to go through the whole pre/post Nemisis series, then the A Time to... boks would be a good starting point.

[captcalhoun]

there are 19 main universe NF novels.

16 are numbered. 3 that aren't are 'Captain's Table: Once Burned', 'Double Helix: Double or Nothing' (actually labelled as a TNG book on the cover, but it's NF) and 'Gateways: Cold Wars'.

bear in mind that thanks to the shittiest marketing decision since Richard Arnold left, the Gateways books are all concluded in a seperate volume entitled 'What Lay Beyond'...

[azzurri08]

JD said:

Not to nitpick, but there are actually 20 NF books including the MU novel. But if you want to start the series, azzurri08, you shouldn't let that scare you away because they are really good.

As for the current TNG book line (which are the ones with Worf as E-E XO) you can pretty much star at any point. But if you want to go through the whole pre/post Nemisis series, then the A Time to... boks would be a good starting point.

So how are the more current books such as death in winter, before dishonor, resistance, etc..there are more. I'm basically trying to decide if I want to read these books.

Thanks for your input JD

[Therin of Andor]

azzurri08 said:
If I wanted to read NF where would be a good place to start other than the very beginning?

PAD purposely jumped the action forward three years, to give new readers of "New Frontier" a clean start. So you could pick up "After the Fall" and "Missing in Action". And then you'll be ready to read the upcoming IDW comic mini-series.

However, I loved the timeslip arrivals of TAS characters, Arex and M'Ress, in "Gateways, Book 6: Cold Wars" - PAD had some major plots in mind for these characters when he used to write a TOS movie-era comic for DC, but in 1989 he had to remove the TAS characters for licensing reasons. So you could start NF here, with "Cold Wars" (keeping in mind that some people don't like the humour in "Cold Wars" much) and then continue with "Being Human", "Gods Above" and the amazing "Stone and Anvil". Then the arc jumps the three years to the aforementioned "After the Fall" and "Missing in Action".

If you like quirky ST characters, "New Frontier" is where you'll find them.

[ryan123450]

azzurri08 said:
So how are the more current books such as death in winter, before dishonor, resistance, etc..there are more. I'm basically trying to decide if I want to read these books.

Thanks for your input JD

If you wanted to read the Pre/Post-Nemesis TNG novel-line, this is the basic reading order:

A Time to Be Born
A Time to Die
A Time to Sow
A Time to Harvest
A Time to Love
A Time to Hate
A Time to Kill
A Time to Heal
A Time for War, A Time for Peace
Nemesis
Death in Winter
Titan: Taking Wing
Titan: The Red King
Star Trek: Articles of the Federation
Titan: Orion's Hounds
Resistance
Q&A
Before Dishonor
Titan: Sword of Damocles

Greater Than the Sum comes out in August.

I'd read the Titan books, as they pick up the Romulan storyline from Nemesis and follow Riker, Troi, and Vale on their new ship. This series will also crossover with the TNG books in the upcoming Destiny trilogy, which will feature the Enterprise-E and Titan following Sword of Damocles and Greater Than the Sum. Destiny: God's of Night, Destiny: Mere Mortals, and Destiny: Lost Souls will come out in Oct-Dec '08.

I'd also read Articles of the Federation, since it follows a storyline from the A Time To... series and some other tidbits from TNG and Titan. It's also highly regarded around here.

If you want any info like this on other series (TOS, Voyager, Enterprise, SCE, etc.) just ask.

[JD]

I read the third through ninth A Time to books and really thought that each of those books got progressively better as they went along (the last three are outstanding), but after that the only TNG book I read completely was Q&A which I loved. I skipped DIW and Resistance because most of the reviews for them seemed rather mixed, and I quit Before Dishonor after about 80 pages or so (but intend to go back eventually). As for Titan, well I can some up my feelings on that front by saying that the series is one of my favorite Trek series. Oh, and after you finish ATT, and the first two Titan books you pretty much have to read Articles of the Federation since it ties up alot of the unresolved plotlines from those books, and also because it is a terrific book.

[azzurri08]

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions. Feel free to suggest any other "great" ST books that have not already been mentioned. JD what were the sort of things said about DIW, Resistance, and before dishonor? Are they not good at all? Thanks again!

[OmahaStar]

If you decide to start reading the ATT series, it's probably a good idea to keep in mind that the first two are very weak. They set up the rest of the miniseries, but can be easily skipped. Each book has a kind of recap of the important bits that have come before, so you won't miss anything if you skip them.

If you read them, just keep in mind, it DOES get better.

[LightningStorm]

I think it more important to keep in mind that what OmahaStar said is quite subjective. I think the first two were better than Sow and Harvest. And Born specifically was better than both Love and Hate IMO. Also, I very much disagree with the idea that Born and Die could be "easily" skipped. Those two are the two that are constantly mentioned in all of the later books, and without reading them I'd think one would keep wondering what all the fuss was about. Kinda like how I've seen some people complaining that Titan and Articles kept referring to Tezwa and they didn't know what "a Tezwa" is, due to having not read the last A Time To novels.

So I'd recommend you read the synopsis on the back and check our more reviews and gather your own opinion as to whether or not you should read them.

[Smiley]

It's all subjective, just like LightningStorm said. My personal preference from best to worst for the ATT series:

War/Peace
Kill
Sow/Harvest
Be Born/Die
Heal
Love/Hate

[Geoff]

azzurri08 said:
Feel free to suggest any other "great" ST books that have not already been mentioned.

Before Steve Mollmann's Novel Rankings site went kaplooey, these were the top ten all-time best rated Star Trek novels:

1. Uhura's Song by Janet Kagan
2. Dwellers in the Crucible by Margaret W. Bonanno (aka "Garamet")
3. Imzadi by Peter David
4. The Wounded Sky by Diane Duane
5. Strangers from the Sky by Margaret W. Bonanno
6. Q-Squared by Peter David
7. Catalyst of Sorrows by Margaret W. Bonanno
8. A Stitch in Time by Andrew J. Robinson
9. Immortal Coil by Jeff Lang
10. Federation by Gar and Judith Reeves-Stevens

Of course, YMMV.

[JD]

azzurri08 said:
Thanks everyone for all your suggestions. Feel free to suggest any other "great" ST books that have not already been mentioned. JD what were the sort of things said about DIW, Resistance, and before dishonor? Are they not good at all? Thanks again!

I don't remember specifically, I just remember that alot of people didn't like DIW. As for Before Dishonr, here's what I said about it after I quit:

Well, after reading Vixen's review, and the first 155 pages of the book before that, I've decided to put BD down in favor of Forged in Fire. I'm certainly going to back to BD eventually, but I've been dying to find get the stories told in FiF for about 13 years or so.

So far I must admit to not being very impressed with BD, mostly for three reasons so far.
1. Jellico's attitude is really pissing me off. I understand that he's an ass and he's always been an ass (at least when PD), but for some reason this time it's just really bothering me.
2. The whole absorbtion thing is just really weird IMO.
3. All of the stuff I've heard about that comes later (the mutiny, Pluto being absorbed, and the admirals betting on the Borg thing especially).
It's certainly not the worst thing I've ever read, but it is definitely not the best either. From what I've read so far I would give it a 6.5 only because is still a good writer even if the story isn't very good (I hope that makes sense).