One Book

[Stoek]

Okay gang. Here's the scenario. You have a friend. (I know, I know the amount of imagination required by some of us for this part is staggering but do try) This friend is into Trek on the screens but has Never read one of the books. Finally after you have badgered and badgered them they are going to give one book a try. ONE. They have promised they will read it from start to finish. After that they make no promises of any kind.

So which one do you give them?

And to be exhaustive let's breakdown for...

A: General Trek
B: TOS
C: TNG
D: DS9
E: VOY
F: ENT

I'll come back around downthread and post my reply but I want to give others a chance to post first.

 

[Sci]

A: Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido
B: Spock's World by Diane Duane
C: Star Trek: Destiny by David Mack
D: Typhon Pact: Zero Sum Game by David Mack; Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night/Raise the Dawn by David R. George III (tie)
E: Full Circle by Kirsten Beyer
F: The Good That Men Do by Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels

 

[ryan123450]

A: Star Trek: Destiny
B: DTI: Forgotten History
C: Imzadi
D: Avatar, Book One
E: Full Circle
F: The Good That Men Do

 

[Thrawn]

A: Destiny, book 1. I have a feeling 2 and 3 will soon follow.
B: I'm gonna cheat and pick Vanguard: Harbinger. Close enough.
C: Vendetta.
D: A Stitch In Time.
E: Full Circle. (If anyone answers anything else they're crazy.)
F: not even going to bother.

 

[WarsTrek1993]

A: General Trek
B: TOS
C: TNG
D: DS9
E: VOY
F: ENT

Oh, geez, this is NOT an easy question. lol.

A. I'll have to second Destiny, or Serpents Among The Ruins.
B. Spock's World.
C: The Buried Age-Essentially a prequel to TNG. Dark Mirror comes close.
D: Haven't read the DS9 relaunch...yet.
E: Full Circle! (Again, I second Thrawn!)
F: The Good That Men Do.

 

[captcalhoun]

one book? easy.

Prime Directive.

end of line.

 

[RonG]

Indeed a tricky question... Actually, as my friends like to have several choices, this gives me License to Cheat and pick my favorites

A: No way can this category be reduced to a singe choice (or even 3..): David Mack's Destiny trilogy, KRAD's The Art of the Impossible and Articles of the Federation, Christopher's Watching the Clock, DRGIII's Serpents Among the Ruin and the classic Reeves-Stevens' Federation are all must-reads.

B: Prime Directive and the Crucible trilogy are best for a first-timer, but I'd add the Vanguard series for the sophisticated Trek connoisseur

C: Probably a classic PAD novel like Vendetta, Imzadi or Q-Squared. For a newer option, I'd go with Christopher's The Buried Age.

D: Millennium trilogy. A Stitch in Time and Avatar duology (actually the entire sequence of DS9R until Unity) would be a close second choice.

E: Full Circle is the obvious choice, but for a new (potentially one-time) reader, I'd give Mosaic and Pathways a try, as they're as close to the TV series as can be.

F: don't know - probably The Good that Men Do - not really a fan of ENT (series or novels)

 

[zarkon]

A: General Trek
Federation
B: TOS
The Final Reflection
C: TNG
Q Squared
D: DS9
The 34th Rule
E: VOY
Full Circle

 

[bok2384]

• General Trek: Federation by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
• TOS: Prime Directive by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
• TNG: Q-in-Law by Peter David
• DS9: Avatar, Book One by S.D. Perry or The 34th Rule by Armin Shimmerman and David R. George III
• VOY: Full Circle by Kirsten Beyer (what else as Thrawn said)
• ENT: Daedalus / Daedalus's Children by Dave Stern

 

[Jarvisimo]

D: The Never-Ending Sacrifice. Full stop, the most beautiful book you can give someone from the Trek stable.

 

[ATimson]

a) DTI: Watching the Clock by Christopher L. Bennett
b) My Enemy, My Ally by Diane Duane
c) Q-Squared by Peter David
d) A Stitch in Time by Andrew Robinson
e) Dark Matters, Book 1: Cloak and Dagger by Christie Golden
f) I'd prefer to omit this. But if I *had* to pick one... probably Last Full Measure by Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels.

 

[Thrawn]

C: The Buried Age-Essentially a prequel to TNG. Dark Mirror comes close.

Forgot about this one. That's definitely better than mine.

 

[Stevil2001]

Keeping in mind that if you can only give someone one book, something standalone is better than the first book in a continuing series:

A: General Trek -- Federation
B: TOS -- The Wounded Sky or perhaps Prime Directive if I think they're not cool enough
C: TNG -- this is a tough one for some reason, but probably Immortal Coil
D: DS9 -- A Stitch in Time
E: VOY -- Fire Ship, disagreeing with the general consensus
F: ENT -- What Price Honor?

 

[Mage]

A: Watching The Clock
B: Haven't read any true TOS, so one of the Vanguard novels.
C: Destiny
D: Damn.... Either Avatar, or PoN/RtD
E: Full Circle
F: Don't like ENT.

 

[ATimson]

E: VOY -- Fire Ship, disagreeing with the general consensus

Ooh. Forgot about that. That's a much better choice than mine.

 

[Violet.Phoenix]

A: The Destiny trilogy by David Mack.
B: Haven't really read any TOS, but William Shatner's novels are enjoyable.
C: The Soldiers of Fear by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch; Greater than the Sum by Christoper L. Bennet.
D: Typhon Pact: Zero Sum Game by David Mack
E: Full Circle by Kirsten Beyer; also recommending the String Theory trilogy, Mosaic and Section 31: Shadow.
F: The Good that Men Do or Kobayashi Maru.

 

[Sci]

A: Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido
B: Spock's World by Diane Duane
C: Star Trek: Destiny by David Mack
D: Typhon Pact: Zero Sum Game by David Mack; Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night/Raise the Dawn by David R. George III (tie)
E: Full Circle by Kirsten Beyer
F: The Good That Men Do by Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels

After thinking this over, I think I'm going to swap out Destiny to tie in with Articles as a General Trek/Crossover novel, and then change my TNG answer to The Buried Age by Christopher L. Bennett. And add Crucibe: McCoy - Provenance of Shadows by David R. George III.

So:

A: Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido; Star Trek: Destiny by David Mack (tie)
B: Spock's World by Diane Duane; Crucible: McCoy - Provenance of Shadows by David R. George III (tie)
C: The Buried Age by Christopher L. Bennett
D: Typhon Pact: Zero Sum Game by David Mack; Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night/Raise the Dawn by David R. George III (tie)
E: Full Circle by Kirsten Beyer
F: The Good That Men Do by Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels

Honorable mentions to Mirror Universe: The Sorrows of Empire and Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions by David Mack; to TOS: The Captain's Daughter, TNG: Vendetta, and TNG: Q-Squared, all by Peter David; to Terok Nor: Day of the Vipers by James Swallow; and to DSN: Hollow Men and DSN: The Never-Ending Sacrifice, both by Una McCormack.

 

[WarsTrek1993]

More honorable mentions:

Rise Like Lions, Forged In Fire, The Captain's Daughter, Crossover.

 

[BillJ]

Easy to pick one book I'd give to someone:

Once Burned.

If it doesn't hook someone on Trek Lit, nothing will.

 

[JWolf]

E: Full Circle by Kirsten Beyer

While I did enjoy Full Circle, I feel it is a poor choice as you get a lot more out of it bu having read other books first.