I've started reading The Light Fantastic, which is focused pretty heavily on Data, over the last week, and it got me wondering what my fellow Trek Lit readers would say are the best books for each of the main characters from the series, and some of the major recurring characters who've made a lot of appearances in TrekLit. I'm listing the characters that come to mind for me, but feel free to include others. TOS: Kirk: The Autobiography of James T. Kirk (this is the only realy Kirk focused book I've read, but it's great so it would be up there even if I've read others) Spock: Troublesome Minds (I'll admit, I haven't read a lot of TOS) McCoy:? Sulu: The Sundered Checkov:? Urhura:? Chapel:? Rand:? Sarek:? Amanda:? TNG: Picard: The Buried Age Riker:? Data: The Immortal Coil LaForge: Indistinguishable From Magic Troi:? Worf: Diplomatic Implausability Crusher: ? Yar:? Pulaski:? Q: Q-Squared/ Q&A (tie) L. Troi:? DS9: Sisko: Kira: This one is hard, she was a big part of most of the early DS9R books, I don't think I can narrow it down to one J. Dax:? E. Dax: Same problem as Kira O'Brien:? Bashir: Zero Sum Game Quark:? Rom: ? Nog:? Dukat: Day of the Vipers Voy: Janeway: The Eternal Tide Chakotay: Full Circle Paris: Protectors Torres: Full Circle Seven of Nine: Kim: Neelix: Seska: Borg Queen: Destiny N. Wildman: Atonement Icheb: Atonement ENT: Archer: T'Pol: Tucker: The Good That Men Do Sato: Reed: Mayweather: Phlox: I'll leave it at the TV series for now, we can expand to the lit only series later.
This is an interesting and difficult question. TOS novels are pretty ensemble-y but not character-driven, which doesn't help. But I'd say: Kirk: Federation Spock: Vulcan's Forge McCoy: The Better Man Scotty: The Kobayashi Maru - this one was probably the hardest, not a lot of Scotty-focused books I can recall Sulu: The Sundered Uhura: Rough Trails Chekov: Traitor Winds I'll think about the other series later.
Kira, maybe Unity. All the early relaunch are great for her but Unity sums it all up. Ezri, probably Destiny. Crusher, really tricky. Death In Winter isn't that great a book but it's a decent spotlight for her. Reunion has great character stuff. Resistance is another book which isn't great but Crusher gets to be the hero who saves the day for once. Yar, she's not in many! Can't remember the name but the 4th of the early books is a spotlight on her isn't it. Been years since I read it. Pulaski, again not many books. The Missing was good for her though. Troi, Imzadi probably as none of the Titan books really stands out.
The Yar book was Survivors. And yeah, that's pretty much the only real Tasha focused story. I'd also cite the second Double Helix novel (Vectors, I believe) as a Pulaski focused story, involving her going to Terok Nor right after Doctor Crusher returns to the Enterprise.
My picks for the bare ENT entry, keeping in mind I'm way behind on the Rise of the Federation series: Archer: ? T'Pol: ? Tucker: Daedalus Sato: Rosetta Reed: By the Book Mayweather: LOL who? Phlox: ?
For McCoy, the first book in the Crucible focuses on him and is excellent. It's not in continuity with the main TrekLit range, but it's still great. While not a main character, Lwaxana gets a great spotlight in Q in Law (and nice fun characterization in guest spots in Imzadi, Imzadi II and Q Squared, although two out of three of those are alternate timelines. All three written by Peter David who has a strong affinity for the character apparently) Also not a main character, but for Pike I recommend Burning Dreams. It's Pike's life story and I found it a great look at life in Federation outside of Starfleet for his childhood, and then his adulthood is a great story in Starfleet. It's just beautifully written. I've read it twice and anticipate I'll read it again someday.
While Pike is not a main character and my "best book pick" (next to Burning Dreams) is not a book the Early Voyage comic book series was great.
Small correction - Imzadi features an alternate future Lwaxana, but also features a younger "real" Lwaxana.
Enterprise: Archer - By The Book T'Pol - Surak's Soul Sato - Rosetta Trip - Daedalus/Daedaluses's Children Mayweather - Reed - TOS: Kirk - Spectre Spock - Unification McCoy - Doctor's Orders Uhura - Chekov - Sulu - Kobayashi Maru TNG: Picard - Starfall Riker - Crossfire Data - Descent Troi - The Battle Of Betazed Wesley Crusher - Boogeyman Dr. Crusher - The Death Of Princes Yar - Survivors LaForge - Capture The Flag
Reed and Mayweather in Rise of the Federation: Reed: A Choice of Futures Mayweather: Uncertain Logic Imzadi is more about Riker. The Battle of Betazed is very Deanna-centric.
Two books that are "must's" on any list about major characters (and for a while were considered by the Voyager producers to be 'canonical') are "Mosaic" that is a Janeway heavy book and "Pathways" that features individual chapters that detail the backstory of each major character from Seasons 1-3. Both were written by Voyager co-creator and co-producer Jeri Taylor. Special shout-out to "Flashback" as well as it delves into Janeway & Tuvok's past. Chakotay- Battlelines Paris - The Garden Torres -Violations Kes - Marooned The Doctor - Captains Glory Seven - Seven of Nine Tuvok - Chrysalis As for DS9: Sisko- Saratoga Kira - O'Brien - Trial by Terror Jadzia- Antimatter Ezri- A Ceremony of Losses Odo - Fallen Heroes Bash it - Warchild Quark- The 34th Rule Word- Heart of a Warrior
Hate to disagree with you, but that book is a mess and I still can't believe that it made it past editing.