Benjamin Benny Russel needs better tales.
- Thread starter Lon Suder
- Start date
Yeah, there were like 5 pages of Benjmain. Also the Worlds of DS9 Bajor book was pretty bad.
I can't think of any novels that are exclusively about Sisko, although Saratoga is pretty good.
Isn't that book bascially Reunion just search and replaced with DS9 names?
Well for the vast majority of the DS9 novels he's still playing Bajoran Jesus and by the time he does come back he's got another kid and playing family man. Oh he'll pop up in a lot of the novels to help out with the latest problem, but they really don't center upon him.
^ Sisko was more important to the plots of Plagues of Night and Raise the Dawn than Picard was.
Don't forget that there was the novelization of Far Beyond The Stars. While I haven't read the novel (although it is on my shelf and on my "To Read" list), as I recall the episode Sisko and his 1950's counterpart, Benny Russell, were the lead characters.
But with the numbered novels I don't recall any one particular novel centering him out. Sisko did play big roles in the novels, but it was kind of like he was there, but we need to focus on the rest of the ensemble. The Siege had Sisko in it, but it was more an Odo novel, whereas Bloodletter was a Kira novel and both The Big Game and The 34th Rule were novels about Quark. I do recall that in The Long Night, Sisko is presented as being an amateur historian on the long-lost emperor that people are looking to find in that book, but that's a book where all or most of the cast members seemed to get their own scene.
But with the numbered novels I don't recall any one particular novel centering him out. Sisko did play big roles in the novels, but it was kind of like he was there, but we need to focus on the rest of the ensemble. The Siege had Sisko in it, but it was more an Odo novel, whereas Bloodletter was a Kira novel and both The Big Game and The 34th Rule were novels about Quark. I do recall that in The Long Night, Sisko is presented as being an amateur historian on the long-lost emperor that people are looking to find in that book, but that's a book where all or most of the cast members seemed to get their own scene.
Yeah, this is pretty good Sisko stuff.
I also liked Station Rage, which made an old school mythological throwdown out of a fight between Sisko and a reanimated ancient Cardassian. A little over the top, but fun to imagine Sisko as an Epic Hero.
Angry Fanboy
This made me giggle. It's not actually far from the truth if I'm completely honest!
This made me giggle. It's not actually far from the truth if I'm completely honest!
Memory Beta has a quote from the author of Saratoga: "I had so much fun with Reunion I thought I would do it again... I certainly wasn't recycling stuff".
http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Saratoga_(novel)#Information
http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Saratoga_(novel)#Information
Angry Fanboy
Obviously it's oversimplifying the matter to call Saratoga 'Reunion with the DS9 characters' - but I suppose two novels written by the same author a few years apart that feature the captain's former crew coming together aboard his new command and being betrayed by one of their number will elicit that reaction from some readers.
But that said I enjoyed both of them, and since I'm assuming that Reunion was successful it made sense to do another featuring the next cast involving the same basic premise.
It's still not in the same league as Voyager's One and Enterprise's Doctor's Orders!
Obviously it's oversimplifying the matter to call Saratoga 'Reunion with the DS9 characters' - but I suppose two novels written by the same author a few years apart that feature the captain's former crew coming together aboard his new command and being betrayed by one of their number will elicit that reaction from some readers.
But that said I enjoyed both of them, and since I'm assuming that Reunion was successful it made sense to do another featuring the next cast involving the same basic premise.
It's still not in the same league as Voyager's One and Enterprise's Doctor's Orders!
Another similarity between Reunion and Saratoga:
IIRC, the doctor was the killer in both stories.
Yeah, when I read the cover blurb for Saratoga I had the same thought, and sadly after reading it decided I was right. I never cared much for Reunion anyway, I figured out way before the crew did who-dunnit. And when I read Saratoga I thought "Wouldn't it be funny if ... ?" and turned out I was right. Its annoying to read a murder mystery when you figure out the ending long before the characters do, it makes them seem dumb.
The only really good Sisko novel I can think of offhand is the followup to "In the Pale Moonlight" they did a few years back: "Hollow Men"
The real trouble is, the DS9 novels didn't actually start getting good until the DS9 relaunch. Its my favorite TV series, but the tight continuity of the show meant that the novels couldn't really do DS9 justice until they could establish their own continuity free of the confines of the show. And by that time Sisko was "with the prophets." He returned in Unity but then the DS9R kind of fizzled after that.
RBoE is one of the main Sisko-centric stories they've done since then, and yeah, it had mixed reviews. I didn't think it was terrible, but it wasn't great either. Its just a new journey for the character. The Sisko is really not himself right now, he's back in his S1 mindset. I'm confident he'll pull himself out of it eventually.
The only really good Sisko novel I can think of offhand is the followup to "In the Pale Moonlight" they did a few years back: "Hollow Men"
The real trouble is, the DS9 novels didn't actually start getting good until the DS9 relaunch. Its my favorite TV series, but the tight continuity of the show meant that the novels couldn't really do DS9 justice until they could establish their own continuity free of the confines of the show. And by that time Sisko was "with the prophets." He returned in Unity but then the DS9R kind of fizzled after that.
RBoE is one of the main Sisko-centric stories they've done since then, and yeah, it had mixed reviews. I didn't think it was terrible, but it wasn't great either. Its just a new journey for the character. The Sisko is really not himself right now, he's back in his S1 mindset. I'm confident he'll pull himself out of it eventually.
I also hope that he gets a new story where he's more like season 7
Good question by the OP and this is a good observation by Tom Swift. Sort of reminds me a lot of the TV shows, where Sisko is there, either in the mix or prominently in the background, but the episode is about something or someone else.
I'm wracking my brain trying to think of Sisko-centric stories that I've read that haven't already been mentioned and I can't think of many. Granted I only read a handful of DS9 numbered novels though, but the only one I can think of that was mainly about Sisko was Saratoga. Back then I did find it very similar to Reunion but I didn't mind so much since it gave me a glimpse at Sisko's history. From what I recall, I don't think that MJF's Saratoga characters stood out as much as his Reunion characters did.
I didn't see the Lost Era's Catalyst of Sorrows mentioned. I thought it was a decent entry in that series and I liked the idea of Sisko and Tuvok teaming up.
There is the novelization for Emissary too that you might want to check out. I'm guessing the What You Leave Behind novelization probably has a lot of Sisko in it, though I am guessing here since I didn't read it.
There was the book Hollow Men (I haven't read it), but Sisko is on the cover and I thought it was supposed to be a sequel to "The Pale Moonlight".
As for DRGIII's recent Sisko-heavy trilogy, I've got mixed feelings about it, trending toward the negative. I think Raise the Dawn at least mitigated some of the damage of Rough Beasts and Plagues of Night that DRG did to Sisko's character. Why he felt the need to try to return Sisko to a Season 1 mindset is beyond me. (Outside of Emissary and a few spots here and there Season 1 Sisko was too remote a presence. He got much better as a character after he shaved his head.)
As I recall the novelization was basically a bare-bones retelling of the episode. It wasn't like TNG's "All Good Things" or Voyager's "Endgame" novelizations where it added a lot of new material (I recall the book was just a little thicker and longer than Carey's novelization of "Trials And Tribble-ations").
I haven't read too many of the YA Deep Space Nine books, but most of those were about Sisko's son, Jake and Jake's friend, Nog. But of the one's I've read Ben Sisko didn't play that big of a role in those ones either.
But with the adult DS9 novels, aside from the ones already mentioned, the only ones where Sisko is out front (but they are really ensemble books) are #6 "Betrayal" (because Sisko has to be a negotiator) and #8 "Antimatter" where Sisko and team have to track down a stolen shipment of antimatter.
I haven't read too many of the YA Deep Space Nine books, but most of those were about Sisko's son, Jake and Jake's friend, Nog. But of the one's I've read Ben Sisko didn't play that big of a role in those ones either.
But with the adult DS9 novels, aside from the ones already mentioned, the only ones where Sisko is out front (but they are really ensemble books) are #6 "Betrayal" (because Sisko has to be a negotiator) and #8 "Antimatter" where Sisko and team have to track down a stolen shipment of antimatter.
