It really is a fun endeavor. I took it up about 2 years ago. My general strategy is to alternate between a Trek book and a non-Trek book to both draw out the experience and keep some variety in my life. I started with the entire DS9 relaunch, which initially was my only goal, since it was my favorite series. But that hooked me, and from there I read 2 Voyager duologies and the Time To series. I've got through the first two Titan books and liked them a lot. I just finished Articles of the Federation the other day, and despite the author clearly being a hack and never shutting up about baseball, i absolutely loved it. It was such a breath of fresh air, and I am looking forward to the Bacco administration continuing to be a presence in the litverse. I plan to take the same path that you are, although I've heard that Vanguard might have some relevancy to some of the Typhon Pact stuff, so I was thinking of making sure to read that series before TP. Maybe some folks here could give some non-spoilery advisement on that. Also I vaguely remember hearing something about some of the Enterprise relaunch stuff being relevant to Destiny, would it make sense to read any of that before getting to Destiny? Anyway, glad to have you along for the ride. Super pumped for more Titan, new Voyager, Destiny, Typhon Pact, and one day far far in the future things like Cold Equations and The Fall. EDIT - I just realized that I got all of those notions from Thrawn's frickin awesome flow chart. Still would love some advisement on reading order!
Not necessary. Actually Destiny was conceived first and then the ENT post-finale books tried to tie into it, but there's a bit of a continuity error between the two; something that's portrayed as occurring in 2156 in Destiny is implied to happen a year earlier and in a different place in ENT: Kobayashi Maru. The next ENT novel after that retcons things to reconcile the discrepancy. As long as you're familiar with the fourth season of Enterprise, you can follow Destiny just fine. But if you do want to read something before Destiny, may I suggest my TNG novel Greater Than the Sum, which is essentially a prologue to the trilogy?
Oh, I absolutely intend to, as well as all other TNG relaunch stuff before and after Destiny. Also, i don't intend to wait until I'm all caught up in the 24th century before I get to your Rise of the Federation novels, so I was planning on squeezing the Enterprise stuff in there along the way. I figure reading the first two before Destiny is as good a place to start as any. But thanks for the advice, I guess we'll see how anxious I am to get to Destiny.
Thats cool, it sounds like you and I have the same reading goals! Reading the DS9 book Unity now, ugh its so good! In regards to the DS9, did you read them all or stop at Warpath? The last two, Fearful Symmetry and The Soul Key, sound like they take place in the mirror universe and I'd probably prefer to skip those if thats the case. After DS9 is the Titan series and I'm very excited to start that series!
To a certain extent, yes, with respect to the Typhon pact novel Paths of Disharmony. But not so much that you absolutely definitely positively have to read Vanguard first. Paths will give you what you need to know when you need to know it. On the other hand, Vanguard is generally considered one of the best Lit series of the lot, so you may want to just read them anyway for their own sake. They don't take place entirely in the MU, but they do use the MU as a location. You shouldn't skip them as they conclude the 'arc' begun with Fragments and Omens, Olympus Descending and Warpath. They are definitely a necessary part of the DS9-R storyline. Unfortunately it's after them that the DS9-R "break" happens, picking up again only with the Typhon Pact books set several years after. .
that was actually my plan just as yours seems to be, because I didn't have any interest in reading just mirror universe books. But as previously stated, mirror universe is just part of the plot, and it actually continues the story from Warpath, so its something you'll want to read and worthwhile reading. I've read two Titan's book, and Chris' Orion's Hounds is next up on my list. I'm enjoying it so far.
that was actually my plan just as yours seems to be, because I didn't have any interest in reading just mirror universe books. But as previously stated, mirror universe is just part of the plot, and it actually continues the story from Warpath, so its something you'll want to read and worthwhile reading. I've read two Titan's book, and Chris' Orion's Hounds is next up on my list. I'm enjoying it so far.
The role the MU plays in Fearful Symmetry is pretty close to how was handled in some of the episodes. The characters do cross back and forth, but they still continue the DS9 story.