What are you least favorite Star Trek novels?

[Myasishchev]

Both Paradigm and Lotus Flower in one of the Worlds of Deep Space 9 book were literally the most boring things I've ever read in my life, and I read some 3-4000 pages of law books last year.

How do you make four sexes boring? Just how? Granted, Paradigm is still preferable to the sheer oblivion of McCormack's Lotus Flower, which I only finished in the sense that I skipped to the end, vindicating my choice to avoid fifty or so pages because by the last page nothing still has happened. I'm highly wary of pretty much all the DS9-R stuff now, and haven't read any of it, because of the horrible introduction.

Also, I didn't really like Destiny. Mack only shined when he was writing Hernandez and Inyx, and to a much lesser degree the other NX-02 and Caeliar people. Every other character is pointless and flaccid, and the Borg suck (that's not Mack's fault, and at least he got rid of them). However, I am glad I got to read the Captain Proton fan fiction joke, which is pretty much the funniest thing I've ever seen in a Trek novel.

 

[William Leisner]

My least favorite books are the ones written by Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels. Those books are way too politically correct for me, clearly have been written with an "agenda" in mind, and on top of it all and extremely poorly written.

And then....

If it's done subtly, it's OK. Mostly, though, I just didn't think "The Sundered", for example, was well written. I tried to stick with it but couldn't. It had nothing at all to do with the gay character(s). I just didn't care for the story. Honestly, that's it.

Careful you don't fall and break your ass, madly backpedaling that way...

 

[ronny]

Red Sector and Ship of the Line by a freaking mile. Sure, there are things like Triangle, but I just consider those a product of the times and blow through them and forget but those two I just find shocking. I know we're just talking fiction here and to each his own as far as taste goes but when I see people defending those two picks in any way I seriously start to question everything those people like.

Other recent and semi-recent stuff I have issues with:

The third Millennium book. I loved the first one, thought the second one was ok but the third one was one of those books I needed to set up goals for number of pages to read in a day in order to finish.

This Grey Spirit. I'm a HUGE DS9r fan but this was another book I needed to set page reading goals for. The whole thing with the depressed Andorian just killed me.

A Time to Be Born/A Time to Die. When your hero is a traveler who can think him self around it's a pretty unsatisfying way to save the day.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Both Paradigm and Lotus Flower in one of the Worlds of Deep Space 9 book were literally the most boring things I've ever read in my life, and I read some 3-4000 pages of law books last year... I'm highly wary of pretty much all the DS9-R stuff now, and haven't read any of it, because of the horrible introduction.

You mean "Paradigm" was your first introduction to Shar and his bondmates? Then it would seem you did miss a lot of set-up.

I'm biased, of course, but I hung on every word of "Paradigm". Loved it, loved it, loved it! I was a blubbering mess during the funeral scene.

Paradigm is still preferable to the sheer oblivion of McCormack's Lotus Flower, which I only finished in the sense that I skipped to the end, vindicating my choice to avoid fifty or so pages because by the last page nothing still has happened.

I chose to read "Paradigm" first, of course, being set on Andor and all, but "The Lotus Flower" did leave me rather underwhelmed. But I've seen reviews where "Paradigm" was slammed and TLF was given high praise.

I guess if people liked at least one story in each chunky WoDS9 book they were still getting good value. A shame you didn't like either story.

Red Sector and Ship of the Line by a freaking mile.... when I see people defending those two picks in any way I seriously start to question everything those people like.

*Bows*

"Red Sector" had me page-turning like crazy. Loved it! "Ship of the Line" was okay, but I had some quibbles. I was rather stunned to find the original Psi Phi discussion board not long after "Red Sector" came out, and I couldn't believe the angry anti-Carey brigade which was out there! I was oblivious to Carey's politics, and these two books really seemed to hit a raw nerve with many ST readers.

The third Millennium book.

Nope. Loved it. The fourth one was bitsy, and very short for the conclusion of a mini-series with three previous, chunky volumes.

This Grey Spirit. I'm a HUGE DS9r fan but this was another book I needed to set page reading goals for. The whole thing with the depressed Andorian just killed me.

I actually found Shar's mission to be the tedious bit. The DS9 scenes, with the anguished bondmates, was great!

 

[Myasishchev]

I dunno, there were parts I liked. The sex ed lesson that what's her name, Vaughn's daughter or maybe the other one, stumbled onto was weird and actually alien. A damn sight moreso than the Andorians-live-in-14th-century-Wales atmosphere that Jarman established for the rest of the novella.

I kind of liked the characters--Shar himself was cool, his surviving bondmates were okay but lightly-drawn, and Vaughn's daughter was alright despite the fact that she was at turns annoying. The other one, who'd just had a kid and for some reason, despite medical science being so advanced sex reassignment surgery takes an afternoon, has to deal with postpartum body issues... she was okay. Then again, I must not have liked them too much, other than Shar, because I can't remember their names.

I think it was just written pretty blandly. I dunno. It was just boring. I don't think extra setup would've made it less boring, because I wasn't confused, just meh. The action climax is a shootout in a cave. The sociopolitical climax is finding a flower or something that happens to have four genders. Which I guess means that the ancient Andorian astronauts brought along a plant, because that's the only way that makes any sense.

Four genders is one of those things you have to make much more of an effort to explain than "we have no idea how it came to be, and we're not going to spell out in detail how it mechanically works." I mean, I'm not asking for Andorian porn, but give me a flowchart or something. Right now I'm reading a book on sperm competition, I'm not going to snicker at the dirty words. The big questions are iirc not addressed--"How do you arrange a three body collision between chan, thaan and shen gametes? How does the shen put a zygote into the zhen? Does "she" do it like a seahorse?" And the biggest one, "How the heck would a zhen possibly be selected for if her genes don't make it to the next generation?" (If I'm misremembering something, let me know. The zhen-as-carrier-for-the-child-only is so biologically off-putting, that I could well be remembering it wrong. If I am remembering it right, the answer could be some kind of sister-relatedness between one of the gamete-producers and zhens, like with eusocial insect species on Earth, but I'm pretty sure that's not posited anywhere.)

Social impact, equally interesting, is touched on but drowned out in favor of what'shername getting wasted on Andorian weed.

Seriously, the core idea Jarman (afaik) had for Andorians is a great sci-fi concept, but the execution in Paradigm seemed so... perfunctory.

 

[Aubergine]

I'm biased, of course, but I hung on every word of "Paradigm". Loved it, loved it, loved it! I was a blubbering mess during the funeral scene.

I agree ^1000. Jarman's contributions to the DS9 relaunch were quite possibly my favourites, and Paradigm ranks easily in my top 5 DS9-R stories. I love her style, plain and simple.

Four genders is one of those things you have to make much more of an effort to explain than "we have no idea how it came to be, and we're not going to spell out in detail how it mechanically works." I mean, I'm not asking for Andorian porn, but give me a flowchart or something. Right now I'm reading a book on sperm competition, I'm not going to snicker at the dirty words.

My love of the Andorian stories wasn't hampered by this, but I do agree on this point. Sci-fi concepts that are not sexual get better treatment in the novels. We get lots of technobabble explanations of things relating to ships, planets, and star-systems. But sex scenes in Trek, onscreen or in lit, are some variation of pan to billowing curtains.

It's not surprising, then, that when it came to the Andorians, the bioscience got the same treatment. (And keep in mind that had there been explicit explanations, there'd be people in threads complaining that the books were now pornographic and gross.)

 

[Warp Coil]

I would say that the majority of the Trek novels published in the 90s were mediocre or average, at best. Most were pretty forgettable... I have, in fact, forgotten the plots of most of the old books I read back in the day. Other than a few gems such as TNG's Imzadi or Vendetta, or DS9's Fallen Heroes, there are very few that I would consider worth reading.

As for the new era of Trek novels over the last few years, which has really shattered the status quo and raised the bar for quality, there are some that I found underwhelming or disappointing:

Well of Souls - the only Trek novel that I didn't want to finish because I was so irritated with it; I struggled to get through this one and was glad to reach the end

Deny Thy Father - I remember not being terribly impressed with this installment of The Lost Era, either.

Homecoming - pretty much ruined the relaunch from the beginning with the ridiculous Borg and holorevolution plot; not a fan of Golden's work

Mission:Gamma - This Grey Spirit - found this one a bit tedious to read and a little slow

Greater Than the Sum - seemed like an awkward step between Before Dishonor and Destiny; didn't find it particularly interesting or compelling except for the introduction of a few new characters

 

[Star Treks]

A Hard Rain was utterly painful. I'm surprised it made it to print; and it's not just that it was dull, trite, repetitive, and juvenile - it was also full of grammatical errors that glared like the heat of a thousand furious suns.

 

[Myasishchev]

I'm biased, of course, but I hung on every word of "Paradigm". Loved it, loved it, loved it! I was a blubbering mess during the funeral scene.

I agree ^1000. Jarman's contributions to the DS9 relaunch were quite possibly my favourites, and Paradigm ranks easily in my top 5 DS9-R stories. I love her style, plain and simple.

Diff'rent strokes.

Four genders is one of those things you have to make much more of an effort to explain than "we have no idea how it came to be, and we're not going to spell out in detail how it mechanically works." I mean, I'm not asking for Andorian porn, but give me a flowchart or something. Right now I'm reading a book on sperm competition, I'm not going to snicker at the dirty words.

My love of the Andorian stories wasn't hampered by this, but I do agree on this point. Sci-fi concepts that are not sexual get better treatment in the novels. We get lots of technobabble explanations of things relating to ships, planets, and star-systems. But sex scenes in Trek, onscreen or in lit, are some variation of pan to billowing curtains.

It's not surprising, then, that when it came to the Andorians, the bioscience got the same treatment. (And keep in mind that had there been explicit explanations, there'd be people in threads complaining that the books were now pornographic and gross.)

We need to bring Roddenberry back. He didn't mind writing about boners, at least once he got old and crazy. Now the presumably species-specific pheromones of Deltans affecting humans is even more biologically suspect than a four-gendered species, but at least he explained it. The weirdo hippie Roddenberry unleashed is why The Human Adventure is Just Beginning (technically the subtitle to TMP's novelization, which imo is a lot more flattering title than Star Trek: The Motion Picture: The Book) is amongst my favorites.

I'd bet it's also a lot of people's un-favorite, now that I've reminded them of it.

 

[seigezunt]

I was disappointed by the Bother's Keeper trilogy. I wanted that back story to be good, and it was quite movie-of-the-week, IMO.

I've only read TOS novels, so note that.

I did't like Vulcan's Heart at all, after quite enjoying Vulcan's Forge. I also thought the last three Shatnerverse books were a stretch.

I'm in the minority in this, but the Mary Sue in Uhura's Song kept me from enjoying what might have otherwise been a good read.

I'm currently reading Killing Time. It's a terrible, terrible book, but I'm having fun reading it, for all its slashy ickiness.

 

[nx1701g]

I couldn't stand Ship of the Line and had to force myself to finish it.

 

[Christopher]

The weirdo hippie Roddenberry unleashed is why The Human Adventure is Just Beginning (technically the subtitle to TMP's novelization, which imo is a lot more flattering title than Star Trek: The Motion Picture: The Book) is amongst my favorites.

That's not the subtitle to the novelization, just a tagline. It's the movie's slogan and it was printed on the cover above the title (making it, if anything, a supertitle). It isn't the subtitle of the TMP novelization any more than "A Major Motion Picture from Paramount Pictures" is the subtitle of Foster's novelization of the new ST movie.

 

[KetracelWhite]

My least favorite books are the ones written by Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels. Those books are way too politically correct for me, clearly have been written with an "agenda" in mind, and on top of it all and extremely poorly written.

And then....

If it's done subtly, it's OK. Mostly, though, I just didn't think "The Sundered", for example, was well written. I tried to stick with it but couldn't. It had nothing at all to do with the gay character(s). I just didn't care for the story. Honestly, that's it.

Careful you don't fall and break your ass, madly backpedaling that way...

Oops...I made a typo! Good catch. I meant to say that "The Sundered" was NOT well written (in my opinion). Sorry! <embarrassing>

 

[Myasishchev]

The weirdo hippie Roddenberry unleashed is why The Human Adventure is Just Beginning (technically the subtitle to TMP's novelization, which imo is a lot more flattering title than Star Trek: The Motion Picture: The Book) is amongst my favorites.

That's not the subtitle to the novelization, just a tagline. It's the movie's slogan and it was printed on the cover above the title (making it, if anything, a supertitle). It isn't the subtitle of the TMP novelization any more than "A Major Motion Picture from Paramount Pictures" is the subtitle of Foster's novelization of the new ST movie.

You're probably technically correct, the best kind of correct, but calling a novel "The Motion Picture" is lame.

 

[JD]

Well, generally whenever you do a novelization of a movie the book has the same name, so that had to be the title.

 

[iguana_tonante]

-Ship of the Line (surprised it hasn't been mentioned in this thread)

Ship of the Line was really bad. And by bad, I mean bad.

I also disliked The First Adventure by Vonda McIntyre. The story was silly, the writing awkward, and every character was depicted as an idiot, a jerk, or both. Not that I think of it, I dislike most books by Vonda. Entropy Effect is another offender.

 

[Geoff Thorne]

OMG.

I totally love Vonda's writing. This is amazing to me.

 

[Christopher]

Well, generally whenever you do a novelization of a movie the book has the same name, so that had to be the title.

Actually, I believe the full title of the TMP novelization is Star Trek: The Motion Picture: A Novel. That's what it says on the cover page over Roddenberry's name, and it's how the title is listed in my city's public library catalog.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

"Red Sector" had me page-turning like crazy. Loved it! "Ship of the Line" was okay, but I had some quibbles. I was rather stunned to find the original Psi Phi discussion board not long after "Red Sector" came out, and I couldn't believe the angry anti-Carey brigade which was out there! I was oblivious to Carey's politics, and these two books really seemed to hit a raw nerve with many ST readers.

In Ship of the Line's defense, it reads like a rush job. There are a lot of interesting pieces that are put on the table, and some get dealt with better than others. The narrative balance isn't quite there, and there are some sloppy mistakes in the book that Carey and Ordover should have caught. Hence, I'm willing to cut Ship some slack for its flaws.

 

[flandry84]

Going back a bit but two books stick out for me,"The Peacekeepers"-an early TNG novel which was just death to read and an old TOS book "Windows on a lost world".Jeeezus!