Essential Star Trek Novels That Even Non-Trekkers Should Read

[JD]

Very cool.
As for the list, there are definitely a lot of more recent books I would have included in there. With the biggest being Serpents Among the Ruins, The Art of The Impossible, Orion's Hounds, and Destiny.

[Sci]

I would say that that list should include at least a few of the following books published since 2001:

The Lost Era: Serpents Among the Ruins by David R. George III
Star Trek: Destiny by David Mack
Star Trek: Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Deep Space Nine: The Never-Ending Sacrifice by Una McCormack
Vanguard: Reap the Whirlwind by David Mack
Voyager: Full Circle by Kirsten Beyer
S.C.E.: Wildfire by David Mack
Titan: Orion's Hounds by Christopher L. Bennett

[Quimby]

How could they have left Crucible: McCoy: Provenance of Shadows off that list? It s basically an Alternate History Novel rather than a Star Trek Novel (and a great read).

[zarkon]

Well I doubt the author's read the entireity of the 600+ trek novels floating about

And even then tastes vary. I personally don't like some of the most feted trek books herebout.

Which is fine, different strokes for different folk

[JoeZhang]

Let's face it - the real point of such polls is to get hits and you do that by publishing a list that will cause a debate, it's a publishing trick as old as the hills.

[TiberiusMaximus]

Spock Must Die is a good read, but I don't see how or why it would be appealing to non-Trek fans.

The Entropy Effect is my favorite Trek novel, I've read it several times and I love it more every time.

Planet of Judgment wasn't all that great, mostly because I found the aliens annoying.

My Enemy, My Ally is great, as is the rest of the Rihannsu series.

The First Adventure was fun too, even though it wasn't quite the crew we're used to.

I haven't read the rest. I tried How Much For Just The Planet but I didn't like it.

[Christopher]

TiberiusMaximus wrote:

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Spock Must Die is a good read, but I don't see how or why it would be appealing to non-Trek fans.

It's by James Blish, a very important and well-regarded science fiction author. There are lots of Blish fans who aren't Trek fans.

Planet of Judgment wasn't all that great, mostly because I found the aliens annoying.

I think it's the second-best of the Bantams, trailing The Galactic Whirlpool.

[Spike730]

"Uhura's Song" should definately be on that list.

[bullethead]

I get the feeling that most of these novels were chosen because they're pretty much standalone works that feature little to no references to other pieces of Trek lit and not too much show continuity stuff. Those kinds of things tend to throw newbies for a loop, so it makes sense to not have them in the books that made it to the list.

[TiberiusMaximus]

It's by James Blish, a very important and well-regarded science fiction author. There are lots of Blish fans who aren't Trek fans.

Oh. That makes sense.

I think it's the second-best of the Bantams, trailing The Galactic Whirlpool.

I didn't hate it, I just...I don't know, I didn't "feel" it like I "feel" the TrekLit I like.

"Uhura's Song" should definately be on that list.

I totally agree.

[King Daniel Into Darkness]

Sky wrote:

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What? No Strangers from the Sky? No Spock's World? And instead Stephen, the laughing Vulcan man of magic?

Ever since I read Enterprise: The First Adventure I've wanted to read a book where Stephen met Sybok.

(and somehow Spock goes through life thinking he's the misfit!)

[Sho]

Dimesdan wrote:

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As I've said in another thread in relation to this, you could always create the review thread. Nothing's stopping you and it's not one posters personal monopoly.

Yeah, that's true of course (and I've always encouraged others to open more retro review threads etc ). Plus it'd be stupid if the ranking site acted as a constraint on the forum; if we e.g. wanted to have the option to rank non-fiction works vs. novels separately or against each other I could just build that into the page at some point.

[Drago-Kazov]

Sci wrote:

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I would say that that list should include at least a few of the following books published since 2001:

The Lost Era: Serpents Among the Ruins by David R. George III
Star Trek: Destiny by David Mack
Star Trek: Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Deep Space Nine: The Never-Ending Sacrifice by Una McCormack
Vanguard: Reap the Whirlwind by David Mack
Voyager: Full Circle by Kirsten Beyer
S.C.E.: Wildfire by David Mack
Titan: Orion's Hounds by Christopher L. Bennett

Articles ha way too much continuity for this list.

[Sci]

Drago-Kazov wrote:

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Articles ha way too much continuity for this list.

Articles is no worse than a typical episode of The West Wing in that regard; all of its continuity is stuff you don't have to have read to read AotF, and most of it is stuff you might not even realize is a reference to other books if you haven't read them.

[Drago-Kazov]

Good point.