Re: Anyone Else Unhappy With the Post Nemesis Novels & Direction of ST
A warning: there may be some spoilers depending on what you've read.
I'm not thrilled with most of it.
I grew up on TNG, and have generally liked the fiction for that series. Titan has been mostly enjoyable. However, I had to force myself to get through all the new TNGs. I'm currently through Destiny #2.
I think I did so only because the Destiny epic seemed like such an important event in the Trek universe and I couldn't find a simple book spoiler page. And I felt I had to read everything TNG-R that led up to it or I'd be lost.
I did enjoy Titan more from the beginning; I like the characters and the stories, but they kept killing off characters I really like. Yeah, yeah, I know--that's drama and good storytelling and whatever else, but if they keep removing characters I want to see, then what's the point?
As for TNG, it really was like forcing myself to get through them. After Voyager used the Borg to death, we faced the Collective three more times in TNG-R (3 out of the 5 books, mind you, counting Death in Winter) and then the Destiny trilogy. The Borg get more and more powerful, yet we can still defeat them. Then there's Starfleet Command spouting "The Borg are no longer a threat." Seriously, are they that short-sightted? "Janeway killed the Queen." Ok, yeah...and before that, Janeway killed the Queen...and before that Picard killed the Queen...so what does that tell you? Isn't Starfleet Command made up of former starship officers who have more experience than just optimistic (delusional?) bureaucracy? I know they didn't want him at the Battle of Sector 001 in First Contact, but this was above and beyond.
Then there's the matter of Picard's crew. We meet a new set of people in Resistance...and then a new set of people in Q&A...and still new people in Greater than the Sum. I got tired of trying to get to know the new crew only to have all of them all replaced in the next book. I like where Worf's storyline has gone well enough (aside from that weird T'Lana proto-romance that seemed equal parts attraction and spite), a good thing as he's one of my favorite characters in all of Trekdom. Worf alone, however, isn't enough to keep me going.
No complaints about Janeway's ultimate fate. I wasn't big on Voyager or the captain herself, but I don't need to see the entire crew wiped out to feel good about myself.
Then we come to Destiny and Captain Ezri Dax. I suppose we have precendents for lower-ranking officers quickly advanced to the captaincy, and Dax does have more experience than the next guy. I was just never overly fond of Ezri. And I'm concerned about this 2381 storyline spoiling for the DS9-R line (still back in 2377 or so), which I really enjoy. You take some amount of mystery out of those stories when you jump ahead several years in time, show what's happened to some of those people, and make references back to DS9 stories that haven't happened yet. Now, I already know who to watch for in resolving The Soul Key.
And now, the Borg. They were really scary when they could assimilate you and gain all your knowledge and use that against you while leaving you in a hell inside your own body. Then in Voyager, they sort of gave up trying. Not one member of that crew was assimilated for more than an hour. And I'm not even sure the Borg killed anyone. I feel that a full-out Borg invasion of the Fedreation should have been those thousands of ships moving to assimilate everyone and using our newest tactics and weapons against us. Any adversary can just kill you.
I was really hopeful for all of the relaunches, especially after the success of DS9-R, but have mostly felt half-hearted about them. I suppose I've enjoyed Destiny (so far) enough for what it was, and I will finish that saga... though I have my doubts about continuing down that path afterwards. I may even pick up Titan #5 and give that one more shot, as long as they stop killing people I want to keep seeing.
I'm all for occasionally mixing it up and trying something new, and I salute the writers for taking things in bold new directions. Unfortunately, it's not really doing it for me. All of you who enjoy where this is headed, I genuinely wish you luck. I'll be back in 2377, hanging around the Bajoran Sector.