Titan Novels

[NX-01]

I have read a number of the TNG and VOY books and enjoyed them. I particularly liked the 'Slings and Arrows' series of TNG books and the VOY books set after the return to earth (I don't recall the names).

As I enjoyed those I looking forward to reading the Titan books but was disappionted. I don't know if it was just me but they just seemed to confusing.

What did everyone think of them. I thought there where way to many type of aliens. It just seemed to be trying too hard to introduce as many aliens as posible. Am I the only one to think this?

[Relayer1]

I think Titan is the single weakest line in Treklit. There are one or two decent titles (Christopher's Over A Torrent Sea springs to mind), but the series isn't exactly great...

[Markonian]

Besides Vanguard, Titan was my first serious foray into ST novels, back in December 2008. I, too, had trouble picturing all of the aliens but I was instantly delighted by the concept of species diversity cutting down on the Human infestation of Starfleet.

So, I went to Memory Beta, checked all of the aliens and printed a paper with pictures of each new alien and the name of associated crewmembers. Voilá.

I love the renewed theme of exploration (beginning with a journey to another galaxy!) and the Titan's astrometric lab is impressive and easy to picture (mentally). I loved to move further from Nemesis and to see the Star Trek universe didn't end in 2379.

The characters were likeable as well, there's nobody among the crew I didn't like, among them the reinvigorated Trois, the snarky Vale, the Casanovan genius Xin, the emerging Melora Pazlar, the calm Jazem, the awesome dinosaur Ree, and more. Besides the Voyager relaunch, it is my favourite Lit series at the moment.

[bfollowell]

NX-01 wrote:

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I have read a number of the TNG and VOY books and enjoyed them. I particularly liked the 'Slings and Arrows' series of TNG books and the VOY books set after the return to earth (I don't recall the names).

As I enjoyed those I looking forward to reading the Titan books but was disappionted. I don't know if it was just me but they just seemed to confusing.

What did everyone think of them. I thought there where way to many type of aliens. It just seemed to be trying too hard to introduce as many aliens as posible. Am I the only one to think this?

I've seen others comment on this but, personally, I've never had an issue with it. For me it's always been, they're aliens, so what? I think many readers get far too hung up on was he Vulcan or was he Romulan? Was he Nausican or whatever? I've found that, for the most part, it rarely makes much difference to the story. Just keep the names straight and what their position on the ship is and don't worry about what species they are.

I've found all the Titan novels quite enjoyable and very easy to follow. Just don't put so much though into it. Concentrate on what is really important; the story.

That's what works for me and that's my two cents.

- Byron

[vorador33]

I've only read Taking Wing and Orion's Hounds. I thought Taking Wing was enjoyable enough. I really liked the idea of the more diverse alien crew, it seemed like to me this was the way starfleet vessels should always have been portrayed but obviously things like TV budgets got in the way. The situation with the Romulans was interesting and i don't think there were to many new aliens introduced or that the book was in anyway confusing it seemed like a natural continuation of the events of Nemesis. I do think the book suffered from to many characters, I had trouble keeping track of them all at times.

Orion's Hounds was fantastic. Interesting Aliens and an epic scope. I think the book hit exactly the right balance between returning elements and concepts and new ones. it was great to see the Jellyfish aliens again and the way the author tied them and the other space life forms together was great. All the new aliens in the book were very well developed and played an important role in the plot so didn't seem to have been introduced to add more aliens to the book in my opion. i really cant say enough good things about Orion's Hound's.

[TJ Sinclair]

^Yup, Orion's Hounds is overall my favorite Titan novel, although I've still got a couple to read (Over a Torrent Sea, Synthesis and Fallen Gods).

The series is, for me, one of the best things about the modern era of Trek lit. The focus on exploration, discovery and first contact harkens back to the core of Star Trek in ways that no other contemporary novels really do.

As a long-time fan of Diane Duane's depictions of TOS-era multiracial crews, the uber-diversity of Titan is a non-issue to me. I just wish it was a non-issue to the characters, but I understand why it sometimes is, because as much as it's the way Starfleet should have been portrayed all these years, it definitely hasn't been. I'd just rather go with Duane's route of "showing us an integrated crew as if it's perfectly normal" instead of shouting "Hey, look, it's an experiment in interspecies diversity!"

Still, it doesn't detract from my enjoyment of Titan at all. I find the alienness of it all to be one of the most engaging parts of the series, and can't help but feel that the OP and first responder are kind of missing the boat...

[Christopher]

TJ Sinclair wrote:

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I'd just rather go with Duane's route of "showing us an integrated crew as if it's perfectly normal" instead of shouting "Hey, look, it's an experiment in interspecies diversity!"

So would I, but we have to be consistent with what's shown onscreen whether we like it or not. And it's a cinch that if we had gone that route, some readers would complain about the inconsistency and demand an explanation.

Besides, I felt it was worth pointing out that inclusion is something you have to work at, that it's easy for even well-intentioned people to fall back into the habit of sticking with "their own kind" if they aren't careful. I tend to like the approach of stories like "The Drumhead" or much of DS9 which remind us that the Federation's utopia is not an easy thing to achieve or maintain, that it takes hard work and self-discipline to live up to such lofty ideals and it isn't always easy to avoid backsliding.

Still, it doesn't detract from my enjoyment of Titan at all. I find the alienness of it all to be one of the most engaging parts of the series, and can't help but feel that the OP and first responder are kind of missing the boat...

I guess it's a matter of taste. Some readers are more interested in exotic aliens than others, and they're the ones that TTN is geared toward. I think Marco envisioned it as the most science-fictional of the book series, the one that would be most focused on exploring new and exotic concepts.

[TJ Sinclair]

Christopher wrote:

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So would I, but we have to be consistent with what's shown onscreen whether we like it or not. And it's a cinch that if we had gone that route, some readers would complain about the inconsistency and demand an explanation.

Indeed. Like I said, I understand the reasons behind the way Titan handles the diversity aspect. In light of everything we've seen in Trek since the 80s, I even agree with them. I just wish it wasn't necessary.

Besides, I felt it was worth pointing out that inclusion is something you have to work at, that it's easy for even well-intentioned people to fall back into the habit of sticking with "their own kind" if they aren't careful. I tend to like the approach of stories like "The Drumhead" or much of DS9 which remind us that the Federation's utopia is not an easy thing to achieve or maintain, that it takes hard work and self-discipline to live up to such lofty ideals and it isn't always easy to avoid backsliding.

Again, agreed.

I guess it's a matter of taste. Some readers are more interested in exotic aliens than others, and they're the ones that TTN is geared toward. I think Marco envisioned it as the most science-fictional of the book series, the one that would be most focused on exploring new and exotic concepts.

That's why I get into it, for the most part. And I hope the series never loses that. So far, even in the Titan books like Seize the Fire that have been part of crossover events, that sense of exploration has remained.

I'm hoping there's a sense of that in the newer Voyager novels, too, but I haven't read any since Spirit Walk turned me off of the series entirely. Even though the "second relaunch" has a different, I've been afraid to go back and try again.

[Patrick O'Brien]

I read somewhere on the internet that there is an effort to get a pilot episode of a Titian show made? I think it would be very expensive to produce a show with the exotic crew they have now. One would think a TV production of Titian would have a more human crew to keep production cost down. Though I am a fan of characters like Dr. Shenti Yisec Eres Ree, he would sadly be difficult to render on a TV show every week.

[ryan123450]

That was just some fanboys' dream. It will never actually happen.

[Mage]

Orion's Hounds and Synthesis are my favorite installments in the Titan series. Taking Wing was ok, The Red King had some moments but was mostly just a sequel to TLE's The Sundered. The other Titan novels really didn't do it for me, and I was about to completely quit reading new novels if them came out, untill I heard James Swallow will do a Titan novel for 'The Fall'. To me, that's a good thing. Since Michael Martin wrote the last two Titan novels which sucked quite a lot if you ask me, Titan just became boring.

[lvsxy808]

I'm with many others here that the amount of aliens in the Titan series is kind of the whole point. If you don't like it then you don't like it, and that's fair enough, but then the series might not be for you. But it's certainly not a mistake - it's what the whole thing is built on.

And it was one of my favourite series because of the return to exploration - both external and internal. Besides DS9 it was the only series I consistently followed. The Titan sections were my favourite parts of Destiny, and in general I just thoroughly enjoyed the characters and their interactions, which wouldn't have been as interesting if they weren't all different kinds of aliens.

Patrick O'Brien wrote:

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I read somewhere on the internet that there is an effort to get a pilot episode of a Titian show made? I think it would be very expensive to produce a show with the exotic crew they have now. One would think a TV production of Titian would have a more human crew to keep production cost down. Though I am a fan of characters like Dr. Shenti Yisec Eres Ree, he would sadly be difficult to render on a TV show every week.

Which is why it would be better to do it as an animated series, as seen in this thread from 2009, which features drawings of the main characters by Geoffrey Thorne, aka the author of the fourth Titan novel Sword of Damocles. That thread might also help the OP to visualise and remember the characters.

ryan123450 wrote:

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That was just some fanboys' dream. It will never actually happen.

Oh I don't know, the webseries route is big right now. All it takes is someone with the passion and patience and a Kickstarter campaign and nothing better to do...

Mage wrote:

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Since Michael Martin wrote the last two Titan novels which sucked quite a lot if you ask me, Titan just became boring.

Yeah, I gotta admit Seize the Fire and Fallen Gods were where Titan became no longer my favourite series, to the extent that after Fire I wasn't even sure I was going to buy Gods. So I too am thrilled that James Swallow is returning to the series, and it gives me hope that I might not hate it.

.

[Warp Coil]

I think the Titan series has a lot of potential to tell really different kinds of Trek stories. At the moment, the 24th century seems largely focused on the Typhon Pact. VOY is off doing its own thing, of course, but the TNG/DS9 stories seem very much geared towards pushing the conflict with the TP. Titan's most recent entries have also dealt with the TP but the premise of the series should allow it to go off and explore strange new worlds (as the earlier novels did).

I like the Titan's crew. Clearly the most diverse, as it was intended to be. I think the reason I keep reading the series is that I enjoy the characters. The actual novels, themselves, have been of a mixed quality. My favorites are Taking Wing and Sword of Damocles (I also really enjoyed the Titan's participation from the Destiny trilogy). The last several Titan novels (Over a Torrent Sea, Synthesis, Seize the Fire and Fallen Gods) have been less enjoyable.

[Mage]

On a sidenote, I love how many different people name different Titan novels as their favorites. That does show how diverse the novels are, as are the people who read them. I find that very nice.

[Patrick O'Brien]

Thanks for the link to the 2009 post Ivsxy808 Cool to see the authors visualisation of the characters.