• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Top Ten of your all-time favorite Star Trek novels

Kilana2

Kilana2

Vice Admiral
Admiral
I racked my brain when I tried to come up with a Top Ten of my all-time favorite novels. I finally made up my mind, fully aware that many great novels are not involved. And I hope that Greg Cox will be in my Top Ten one day with the Khan - Eugenic War novels. As I haven´t read them yet, this is my Top Ten so far, in no specific order.

1. TOS – Sarek by A.C. Crispin
2. DS9 - Fallen Heroes by Dafydd ab Hugh
3. TNG - Q-in-Law by Peter David
4. MU - Rise like Lions by David Mack
5. DS9 - The Neverending Sacrifice by Una McCormack
6. VOY - Full Circle by Kirsten Beyer
7. Titan - Orion´s Hounds by Christopher L. Bennett
8. DTI - Watching the Clock by Christopher L. Bennett
9. TOS - Ishmael by Barbara Hambly
10. DS9 - A Stitch in Time by Andrew J. Robinson

What is yours?
 
Hmmm, let's see. Keeping in mind that some continuous series, e.g. early DS9 relaunch, are difficult to break down into specific novels, I'd say this is a good attempt:

A Stitch In Time
Day of the Vipers
Well of Souls
The Buried Age
The Never-Ending Sacrifice
A Ceremony of Losses
Orion's Hounds
Destiny (which I can't justify as one novel, it's three).
 
As I said, so many great novels are not in my list. It is alright for me to count Destiny (three novels) as one, except you just want to include one of the Destiny novels. The same goes for the Terok Nor saga. Three month later (or so I hope) the Khan novels might replace Ishmael in my list. I would count them as one. It is a Top Ten and not a Top 50 after all :lol:.
 
Impossible to do only ten.

"Strangers From the Sky"
"Final Frontier"
"Dreadnought!"
"Uhura's Song"
"Ex Machina"
"TNG: Metamorphosis"
"TNG: A Rock and a Hard Place"
"TNG: Immortal Coil"
"Destiny" trilogy
"DS9: Fallen Heroes"
"DS9: Avatar" duology
"Andor: Paradigm" in "Worlds of DS9, Book 1"
"NF: Stone and Anvil"
"NF: Gateways: Cold Wars".
 
Therin of Andor said:
Impossible to do only ten.
Click to expand...

That´s why I racked my brain. And your personal Top Ten may change over time.

As I said before, Greg Cox Khan novels may well shoot into my list like the Zefram Cochrane´s Phoenix rockets upwards into the sky :lol:.

Nice list, by the way.
 
Crucible: McCoy
Once Burned
Chainmail
Time for Yesterday
MYR: A less perfect union
Vulcan's Forge
Harbinger
The Art of the Impossible
Reunion
The Entropy Effect
 
As to my list: some of the novels will remain in my list. Two or three of them might be replaced one day....:)
 
1) Children of the Storm. And The Eternal Tide. And Acts of Contrition. And actually Beyer's whole Voyager relaunch. (Rules, what rules?)
2) Destiny trilogy
3) SCE: Wildfire
4) Captain's Table: Once Burned
5) New Frontier: Stone & Anvil
6) Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night / Raise the Dawn
7) DS9: Avatar
8) The Fall: The Crimson Shadow
9) The Lost Era: The Buried Age
10) Articles of the Federation

And I really want to break the rules again and put the whole Vanguard series, too. Seems weird to just pick one of those.
 
In no particular order:
1. Invasion! saga
2. Destiny trilogy
3. Typhon Pact series
4. S31: Disavowed
5. DTI trilogy (I hope it becomes a series)
 
@ Nasat: Wells of Soul in your Top Ten? How´s that? Well I usually like the Lost Era novels. Wells of Soul is the only one I haven´t read yet. And it is not the best rated.

@ Thrawn: I´m currently reading Vanguard and you´re right of course. In my list I focused mainly on stand-alone novels. New Frontier is good, but no single NF novel sticks out to enter my list. The Gateways NF novel is definitely in my Top 50, though :)
 
Books that spring to mind that stand out, although I'm sure if I was asked the same question in 4 weeks time I'd have a different opinion.

Destiny (3): David Mack
Watching the Clock: Christopher L. Bennett
Full Circle: Kirsten Beyer
The Left Hand of Destiny (2): J. G. Hertzler & Jeffrey Lang
A Ceremony of Losses: David Mack
Forgotten History: Christopher L. Bennett
The Sundered: Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels

But honourable mention must go to
The Final Fury: Dafydd ab Hugh, because even though it's been nearly 20 years I still remember the scene where Neelix has a spare communicator hidden in his boot.
 
Both Left Hand of Destiny novels are in my Top 50. :)

One might as well count them as one story, though.
 
Paul Weaver said:
Kilana2 said:
Both Left Hand of Destiny novels are in my Top 50. :)

One might as well count them as one story, though.
Click to expand...

How many books are there? A quick scan of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Trek_novels#Star_Trek_.28The_Original_Series.29 shows somewhere in the 600-650 region, so even top-50 would be an impressive result (assuming one had read all the books).
Click to expand...

My collection includes about 450 novels. I read them mosty in German, but also in English. Some of them I have both in German and English because of different covers and I want to re-read them.
 
Kilana2 said:
@ Nasat: Wells of Soul in your Top Ten? How´s that? Well I usually like the Lost Era novels. Wells of Soul is the only one I haven´t read yet. And it is not the best rated.
Click to expand...

It's certainly not everyone's cup of tea. I can understand why many might find it a slog to get through. But I enjoyed the characters and the stark humanity of it, even if the crew of Enterprise-C are the most dysfunctional in Starfleet. :lol: It's a bit over the top in its tone, perhaps, but there's a point to it, a genuine catharsis of sorts that I appreciate. There's an emotional intensity and a raw familiarity to the writing and the characters that would become draining if it was standard for Trek novels, but made - and still makes, in my experience - for a very engrossing read. It made me care for Garrett and her crew, and I know there are readers who had an opposite response, but it worked for me.

The philosophical extrapolations from A Stitch in Time are the icing on the cake. There's a scene in that novel that you really should reread after finishing Well of Souls.

I'm not sure that I've actually explained that well - it's late here and I have empty tequila bottles beside me on top of that, but there it is. :)

Fun fact: I lent Well of Souls to my English teacher back in the day, who is only the most casual of Trek viewers, and she loved it.
 
I enjoyed Rachel Garrett in Vulcan´s Heart, but her fate is known. Who knows? I don´t rely on recommendations only. I will acquire WOS some time anyway, to complete the TLE series.

As to the Tequila: bottoms up! (I had my lemon beer already). I hope you´re in a better condition than Troi in First Contact. :beer:
 
Kilana2 said:
I enjoyed Rachel Garrett in Vulcan´s Heart, but her fate is known. Who knows? I don´t rely on recommendations only. I will acquire WOS some time anyway, to complete the TLE series.
Click to expand...

An interesting point is that since Vulcan's Heart takes place eight years after Well of Souls, the ship's command crew is nearly entirely different. Which means most of the Well of Souls characters survive and presumably move on to other things. Indeed, one of them showed up in late SCE, alive and well in 2377. I really liked that. I hope we see and learn more of them.

Kilana2 said:
As to the Tequila: bottoms up! (I had my lemon beer already). I hope you´re in a better condition than Troi in First Contact. :beer:
Click to expand...
I can't have too much; work in the morning ;).
 
Somewhat in order, the numbers between 3 and 12 keep changing order depending in which I re-read last:

10. The Buried Age, by Christopher L. Bennett
9. A Stitch in Time, by Andrew J. Robinson
8. Wildfire, by David Mack
7. Section 31: Abyss, by David Weddle and Jeffrey Lang
6. A Time For War, A Time For Peace, by Keith R.A. DeCandido
5. Challenger, by Diane Carey
4. Reap the Whirlwind, by David Mack
3. Avatar, by S.D. Perry (technically a duology, but hey...)
2. Orion's Hounds, by Christopher L. Bennett
1. Articles of the Federation, by Keith R.A. DeCandido
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

hbquikcomjamesl
Common author name abbreviations
Replies
11
Views
480
JonnyQuest037
JonnyQuest037
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top