Best "A Time To..." novels, and why?

[WarsTrek1993]

I have a while to go before reading this series, but I must ask, which of the nine novels is worth reading? (Note: I already own Kill, Heal and War/Peace).

Aside from those which of the others are worth a read?

 

[DonIago]

I think they're all worth reading with the possible exception of the first two...it really depends on what you're looking for. That said, you already own the best ones IMO.

 

[Skywalker]

I've been told by people more familiar with the books that the three you have (Kill, Heal, and War/Peace) are both the best of the series and the only really essential ones.

 

[Sci]

Kill/Heal is an amazing, action-packed adventure full of substantive content and a compelling commentary on the Iraq War.

War/Peace is a great coda to the Picard/Riker era.

I never read the others.

 

[WarsTrek1993]

Thank you, everyone!

 

[zarkon]

Just War/Peace for me. Fun west-wing style novel about the federation presidency. Got some good worf stuff as well.

Didn't particularly like any of the others, though kill/heal are readable at least - just not great.

 

[Mr. Domino]

I've just started the series myself, and am finding Be Born a bit of a slog. By all accounts the series only gains momentum as it progresses, though.

 

[DonIago]

^Yup.

 

[CNash]

Read Be Born/Die just to get the beginning of the miniseries - you'll learn about the Rashanar Incident, and what happens to Data, which is referenced in the rest of the series.

Sow/Harvest and Love/Hate are worth a read, but compared to the others, they're the weakest of the series. As mentioned above, Kill/Heal is almost essential if you want to go on to read War/Peace and its follow-up Articles of the Federation - which you should definitely read, as they introduce and heavily develop President Bacco, who'll make frequent appearances in further novels.

 

[WarsTrek1993]

Read Be Born/Die just to get the beginning of the miniseries - you'll learn about the Rashanar Incident, and what happens to Data, which is referenced in the rest of the series.

Sow/Harvest and Love/Hate are worth a read, but compared to the others, they're the weakest of the series. As mentioned above, Kill/Heal is almost essential if you want to go on to read War/Peace and its follow-up Articles of the Federation - which you should definitely read, as they introduce and heavily develop President Bacco, who'll make frequent appearances in further novels.

Thanks!

Just note, I've read many post-NEM novels, including Destiny. But since I have so many new ST novels, I figure I'd read all of them in order and collect a few more.
After reading these replies, I'm tempted to pick up Be Born/Die.

 

[JD]

I skipped over Born/Die, and started with Sow/Harvest. One of the things I liked most abut Sow/Harvest and Love/Hate was they way they both tied up storylines unresolved storylines left over from TNG. I wasn't a huge fan of Sow/Harvest, but I'd still recommend them. Love/Hate was better, and the last three were IMO amazing.

 

[DS9forever]

I found the earlier novels a little bland, but it picked up towards the end. Does anyone know why these aren't labelled as TNG novels?

 

[Christopher]

Does anyone know why these aren't labelled as TNG novels?

I would imagine it's because the TNG movies weren't being labeled that way either. The novels did use the TNG-film version of the ST logo.

 

[Sho]

Just War/Peace for me. Fun west-wing style novel about the federation presidency. Got some good worf stuff as well.

OTOH, the events of Kill and Heal are heavily referenced in Articles of the Federation, which is the West Wing-style Trek novel, so to get the most of out that one reading them is a good idea.

 

[JD]

The events of Kill/Heal are also referred to in the first couple Titan books.

 

[WarsTrek1993]

Does anyone know why these aren't labelled as TNG novels?

I would imagine it's because the TNG movies weren't being labeled that way either. The novels did use the TNG-film version of the ST logo.

One could also ask why they weren't called "Lost Era" novels. But I can see why they weren't, being that TLE was meant to cover STG-TNG.

 

[zarkon]

OTOH, the events of Kill and Heal are heavily referenced in Articles of the Federation, which is the West Wing-style Trek novel, so to get the most of out that one reading them is a good idea.

I read them the other way round without much problem. Easy enough to grasp that Bad Things Happened™, just like with Rashanar, which cropped up as a heavy undertone of the shakedown.

 

[Sho]

^ I read them the other way around, too. I didn't really want to suggest a dependency as much as point out that they do complement each other.

 

[zarkon]

Oh yeah, I agree that they complement TPTW & AOTF....guess it's just it was cooler in my imagination then when I read what actually happened.

 

[Christopher]

One could also ask why they weren't called "Lost Era" novels. But I can see why they weren't, being that TLE was meant to cover STG-TNG.

What? Why would anyone think they should've been Lost Era novels? That was for stuff between the Generations prologue and "Encounter at Farpoint," 2293-2364. A Time to... was specifically about the year prior to Nemesis, 2378-9.