So I just started reading New Frontier a few weeks ago, and I have surprisingly made it through the first 4 books in what seems like record time for me. (I rarely finish books in less than a few weeks, so to get through 4 of them in an average of 4-6 days for each is pretty crazy.) The story felt compelling enough, and I found a good number of the characters to be interesting rather quickly. Of course I've always been a big fan of Peter David. Can I expect to enjoy the following New Frontier books as much as I enjoyed the first four?
Well like I said, I've always had a pretty easy time getting into Peter David's writing. Thanks for the reply. And sorry for starting a new thread. I'm sure there are already a bunch about New Frontier, but I wanted to avoid spoilers.
Enjoy the ride! It's a more "fun" series than most but it's also not everyone's cup-o-tea. Peter David created characters and brought others to life in ways that make his New Frontier continuity something special... for a while at least. Eventually the wheels come off and it just gets "bonkers-crazypants" (It really does) but even then... It's a fun ride, and I for one like knowing that a Captain like Mac Calhoun is out there running around with Picard, Sisko, Dax, etc. that can meet/match each of them in more ways than one. My wish is that one day other Trek writers will get the Opportunity to write more novels within Mr. David's sandbox, bringing the New Frontier characters more fully into the larger TrekLit Universe, eclipsing the few morsels we've already seen of them in stories such as Destiny.
I love New Frontier. For a long time it was my absolute favorite novel series. Unfortunately, I don't think it maintains the same quality all the way through. Around the time Nemesis was released in theaters (I think, anyway), Peter David did a bit of a time jump to get New Frontier up to date with current on-screen Trek. It was never quite the same after that happened. It was still an enjoyable read, but it wasn't up to the level that the previous novels had been (kind of like when a show that should have ended in Season 5 kept getting renewed for more and more seasons). That said, it's still a great series. I got way behind on my reading and never even started the last two books, so I need to get on that.
New Frontier is absolutely superb, and the main narrative gets better book by book until "Stone & Anvil"(which is something like book 14, so that's a fantastic run), sadly the books that follow aren't of the same quality but they're still pretty good fun aftwards. Don't forget to read "The Captain's Table #5 - Once Burned" & Double Helix #5 Double or Nothing after book six, and "Gateways #6 - Cold Wars" after book eleven. Double Helix #5 Double or Nothing was part of an ongoing narrative with books from other series, however you don't miss anything by goin straight to this book - most of the other books aren't very good, and the linked narrative is practically non-existant. Both "Once Burned" & "Cold Wars" are totally standalone from the collections they inhabit (Captains table/Gateways), so you don't have to read any of the earlier books. Cold Wars is part of the main New Frontier narrative so is essential to read in order, Once Burned is a totally optional flashback story of Calhoun, but for me it ties with Stone & Anvil for being the best New Frontier book, so is essential in that it's awesome. There's also "Gateways #7: What Lay Beyond" to be read directly after "Gateways #6 - Cold Wars", but be warned that Gateways 7 is a short story collection, with each short story resolving cliffhangers from Gateways 1-6, including the Gateways cliffhanger from "Cold Wars" ("Death After Life"), so it's not really great value given that most of the book will be spoilers for non-new frontier stories you may not have read :/ But anyway, enjoy the ride as you have loads of brilliant books ahead of you.
I'm only as far as Stone and Anvil, but I say YES it very much remains a fun ride. Lots of outrageous comic book-y stuff happens interspersed with some pretty emotional moments. I say if you liked the more insane moments from TOS and the new Trek movies you'll have a great time with NF. And as zarkon said, definitely don't skip the Double Helix (in fact, NF is the only place DH has a lasting impact), Captain's Table and Gateways NF entiries. You don't need to read anything else from those series' to enjoy the NF ones and they're important to the overall plot.
The Gateway short story collection is frustrating since a lot of readers aren't going to want all the stories in it but the NF entfy is excellent and I recommend it. It has one of my favorite moments in the NF series.
I skipped it since I didn't at the time have the last book. I just told myself "It all works out okay" and moved on (it's more of a mini story and not the last chapter, as many other Gateways #7 entries are)
Definitely keep going with NF. I've been reading it since it debuted in 1997, and i've really loved it. For awhile, it was the only treklit i was reading at all. I want to echo the comments made already about not skipping the NF books from those crossovers. Important stuff, and good read's as well. I still have the last book to read...i've only held off because it may be the last one we ever get. Hopefully PAD gets to write some more, or someone else (my choice would be David Mack) picks up the baton at a later point. Happy reading
Okay, thanks for the replies. Good advice on not skipping the crossover books. I wasn't sure about those, but you folks here have made it clear that they're worthwhile. Regarding things getting a little insane/crazy/comic book-y, I'll assume that I should look forward to more stuff like what happened at the end of book 4. I think that's fine with me. Perhaps a few too many of the ST books I've read have had an ending that just sort of reached a conclusion. Not that that's a bad thing of course, but reading something a little crazier than normal every now and then helps keep things good and mixed up.
New Frontier is awesome, well worth sticking with. It's true the last few books aren't quite as good as the early ones, but in my opinion that says less about the quality of the latter books, and more about the early ones. Absolutely, Once Burned is a great read. It's my favourite Star Trek novel.
Overall I enjoyed NF. I thought the quality did dip a bit around the Excalibur trilogy (9-11), but started picking back up again after that. They never reach the quality of the first 5 or 6, but they're still worth reading.
The series kind of went off the rails eventually to me. I do agree "Once Burned" is fantastic. The ending of "Stone and Anvil" put some dust in my eyes. I didn't like the direction things went post-"After the Fall" and the series lost me there.
The series was good up to Stone and Anvil which probably could have been a good series finale. The books after it were enjoyable but just not to the same degree as those before.
New Frontier I've been hop-scotching through over the years without problem. Read Book 1, then jump forward to 4, then forward to Cold Wars, then back to 2, then 12, etc., etc.
There are a lot of character growth and developing storylines thru New Frontier. Even if you can skip around, why would you want to? There's enough continuing story elements that reading in order would enhance the enjoyment.
I !love this series. I think the last 2 books were not up to the standard of the previous books but I still enjoyed them. I still have the anthology to read and Shelby's chapter in tales from the captains table. I'm holding off in case there are no more books or we have to wait a long time for the next book.