Spoilers TNG, DS9, and VOY - Where is a Good Place to Start?

What Thrawn said.
The whole series of books from Avatar Book 1 - The Soul Key, is pretty much one giant arc that really needs to be read in order to get the full impact.

 

And someday maybe we will get the end to that arc.

 

According to the chart, there are a few I can read (Stitch in Time, Left Hand of Destiny, and Lives of Dax) that I can read anytime. Maybe after Twist of Faith I might try to read and finish LHOD this time. Also put Mission Gamma on my wish list, even though I might go to the library and see if they have any of these books too. Might be cheaper.

 

To the OP: Since you've already started the 'DS9 Relaunch', I'd suggest moving forward as follows:
Section 31: Abyss
Gateways: Demons of Air and Darkness
Gateways: Horn and Ivory
Mission Gamma: Twilight
Mission Gamma: This Gray Spirit
Mission Gamma: Cathedral
Mission Gamma: Lesser Evil
Rising Son
Unity
Worlds of Deep Space Nine, Vol. 1
Worlds of Deep Space Nine, Vol. 2
Worlds of Deep Space Nine, Vol. 3
Warpath
Fearful Symmetry
The Soul Key
The Never-Ending Sacrifice
Destiny: Gods of Night
Destiny: Mere Mortals
Destiny: Lost Souls
A Singular Destiny
Typhon Pact: Rough Beasts of Empire
Typhon Pact: Zero Sum Game
Typhon Pact: Paths of Disharmony
Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night
Typhon Pact: Raise the Dawn
Typhon Pact: Brinkmanship
The Fall: Revelation and Dust
The Fall: The Crimson Shadow
The Fall: A Ceremony of Losses

Note: The books in Italicized font are not officially considered part of the 'Relaunch', but feature DS9-related characters in prominent roles

 

^The Fall: The Poisoned Chalice features Nog, Bashir, and Ezri in significant roles.

 

^ Thanks for that note.

As an aside, I've never quite understood why The Left Hand of Destiny and A Stitch in Time are considered an official part of the 'relaunch'. Can somebody help me out on that front?

 

A Stitch in Time is there retroactively because elements of it were adopted and referenced in other post-finale novels. But TLHoD, despite being set earlier than the rest, was written and published as part of the core series, commissioned and edited by Marco Palmieri along with the rest and planned from the start as being integrated into its continuity. In publication order, its two volumes were the releases between Rising Son and Unity. (And they bear the same version of the DS9 logo that was used for all the post-finale books.)

 

Thanks, Christopher.

Based on that line of thought, it seems to me as if there are several novels that ought to be officially considered part of the DS9 Relaunch but aren't:
The Terok Nor Trilogy
TNG's Maxiumum Warp duology
The SCE books Cold Fusion, Aftermath, Malefictorum, Lost Time, and Wounds 1 and 2
The Brave and the Bold: The Final Artifact

The books that I italicized should also be considered official parts of the Relaunch according to that line of thinking as well.

 

I agree with this up until Never Ending Sacrafice. If the OP as stated is looking for TNG as well, I would highly recommend incorporating the Titan novels in as well. Obviously lots of Riker and Troi, plus they are generally just good books and they will help inform the Destiny trilogy a bit more.

 

^ By the line of thought established by including A Stitch in Time and TLHoD, all of the books I mentioned either are or ought to be considered officially part of the DS9 Relaunch (TNES, RBoE, ZSG, PoN, RtD, R&D, and ACoL are, and GoN, MM, LS, ASD, the MW duology, TCS, Brinkmanship, PoD, DotV, NotW, DotE, TFA, the SCE books, and TPC ought to be).

 

The Terok Nor trilogy was edited by Marco, yes, but as part of the Lost Era series. It does connect to the post-finale DS9 novels continuity-wise, but of course it isn't in the same part of the timeline. TLHoD actually is post-finale; it's just immediately post-finale, days to weeks after "What You Leave Behind" rather than months later.

"Relaunch" is, after all, a misnomer for the post-finale series. The term was meant to be used only for the initial promotional push when the post-finale series began; after all, a launch is a beginning, not an ongoing process. When we speak of the "DS9 Relaunch," it's a figurative term for the post-finale DS9 continuity. So something that isn't set post-finale isn't part of that series, although it may tie into it closely.

As for the others you list, none of them were edited by Marco. Maximum Warp was edited by John Ordover. The Brave and the Bold was edited by Ordover and/or Carol Greenburg, going by the acknowledgments. And the SCE books were edited by Keith R.A. DeCandido. They were tied into the DS9 post-finale series, but were not actually installments of it any more than, say, TNG's "Birthright Part I" or VGR's "Caretaker" is an episode of DS9.

And if anything, "The Final Artifact" is more connected to the IKS Gorkon series than the DS9 "Relaunch," isn't it?

 

^ All of the books you just mentioned are listed in most of the places I can find as being directly connected to, but not an official part of, the Relaunch continuity, so what I'm arguing is that, by the logic of including books (ASiT and TLHoD) that really have nothing to do with the overall Relaunch narrative as part of said Relaunch, those other above-mentioned books ought to be considered an official part of said continuity as well, even if they're not set post-WYLB.

 

And I just explained to you why that analogy doesn't work. TLHoD, regardless of its time frame, was conceived, written and edited as part of the post-finale series, under the same editor and as part of his overall master plan for that series. Yes, it's a flashback within that series, but so was the immediately preceding volume, Rising Son -- and the later Worlds of DS9 volumes were published out of chronological order relative to each other. So it makes no sense to claim that a post-finale DS9 duology edited by Marco Palmieri and carrying the post-finale DS9 logo on its cover is somehow not part of that series. Look at the list of previous volumes inside every "Relaunch" installment from Unity through The Soul Key and you will see TLHoD listed as the installment between Rising Son and Unity. (True, the end of Rising Son says the saga will continue in Unity, but I believe that's because Unity was originally meant to come out right after it, but got delayed.) If it lacks a clear connection to the story threads of the post-finale series, that's probably because Marco was laid off before he could fulfill his long-term plans to tie it back in.

As for ASiT, granted, it was published earlier and under a different editor, and only folded in retroactively, but it has one quality the other books you mention do not: It is actually a DS9 novel! The others (except for Terok Nor, which I've already given you) are stories in the TNG, SCE, and GKN series that happen to cross over with characters and elements from DS9. But ASiT is a DS9 book and nothing else. It's already under the DS9 label and its frame is post-finale, so it was logical to adopt it into the sequence.

 

My argument has less to do with ASiT and TLHoD not being considered Relaunch novels and more with considering the other novels from the TNG and SCE lines to be officially part of the Relaunch due to their connections to that continuity.

 

But they're not part of it because they aren't DS9 novels! They're TNG novels and SCE novellas. Within those books themselves, the DS9 elements are secondary. You might as well try to claim that "Trials and Tribble-ations" is a TOS episode. It isn't. It's a DS9 episode that crosses over with TOS. And by the same token, Maximum Warp is a TNG duology that crosses over with DS9, Cold Fusion is an SCE novella that crosses over with DS9, etc. They can't be part of the DS9 series because they're already part of their own series, and that takes precedence.

 

Thanks for the list. With this list and the chart, there is plenty of DS9 reading. And if I get tired of DS9, I can take a break and go over to TNG or VOY. I don't know much about these novels, but I have heard VOY in the novel universe is so much better than VOY as a series, especially with this Kristen Bayer, who seems to be a very popular author around these parts.

 

Yes, her novels are amazing. My favorite current Trek series running, and I didn't like Voyager the show much at all.

 

Actually she's officially known around these parts as Kirsten Mothterf****n' Beyer!

 

That's New York Times Bestselling Author Kirsten Motherfuckin' Beyer!

 

Right. I forgot about the new addition to her name.