Best books to read first?

[Tribblesonmars]

Over the years there have been loads of star trek books and for someone who hasn't read any before it's hard to know where to start reading. What do you think would be the best books to start what I'm sure will be a growing collection with?
I'm thinking mainly TOS but if there's a staple from another show please suggest it.
Thanks!

 

[Smiley]

All of these books are ones that I would give five stars to:

Vulcan's Glory
Inception
Federation
Sarek
The Latter Fire

These series are not all five stars but are of generally high quality with some five star entries:

The Vanguard series (starting with Harbinger)
The Lost Era, particularly Serpents Among the Ruins, The Art of the Impossible, and Day of the Vipers

If you provide any more details on elements you like from Trek or TOS, then that helps people give more targeted recommendations. For example, if Romulans are your thing, then the Rihannsu books by Diane Duane are an easy choice.

For DS9, I would consider A Stitch in Time and the Millennium trilogy to be staples. If you want to read stories set after the end of the series, then the Avatar duology is the place to start.

 

[Miami Vice Admiral]

For TOS most are fairly standalone so there’s not necessarily a lot of starting and stopping places. The ones I see the most praise for are:

Anything by Diane Duane - has a good series on the Romulans.

Anything by A.C. Crispin - wrote two great follow ups to all our yesterdays.

Anything by Judith and Garfield Reeves Stevens - particularly Federation and Prime Directive

Strangers from the Sky - a look at first contact with Vulcans before the movie First Contact established the official version.

Vulcan Academy Murders - Star Trek murder mysteries.

The Final Reflection - an exploration of the Klingons made before any of the other shows.

Ex Machina - A follow up to “For the World is Hollow and I have Touched the Sky” taking place after TMP.

I’m sure others will chime in with more but these are the ones I usually see come up first.

In regards to book series that take place during TOS or during the movies there is:

New Earth (6 books) - The Enterprise helps to establish a new colony and is its only line of defense against new aliens.

The Lost Years (4 books) - Takes place between TOS and TMP. Each one is fairly standalone though.

Legacies Trilogy - an experimental technology has been hidden in the Enterprise and Una (Pike’s number one) steals it which leads the Klingons and Romulans to also get involved.

As far as books I think you’d enjoy from other series that I’d recommend:

TNG Immortal Coil - kind of THE Data book but there’s cameos from tons of TOS AI/Androids.

TNG Vendetta - It’s a Borg story but is connected to “The Doomsday Machine”

Destiny Trilogy - This is basically the final battle between the Borg and the Alpha quadrant. This is a great jump on point to the series that takes place after Star Trek Nemesis which features characters from all 90s Trek. So if you like these, there’s a whole series that came after with its own continuity.

Any Star Trek Titan book: these are part of the post-Nemesis timeline and focus on Will Riker’s command. It’s basically TOS style stories in the TNG era. Plus Riker’s crew is super diverse with lots of cool aliens. I’ve never liked Riker all that much but I do enjoy these.

 

[Tribblesonmars]

If you provide any more details on elements you like from Trek or TOS, then that helps people give more targeted recommendations. For example, if Romulans are your thing, then the Rihannsu books by Diane Duane are an easy choice.

I'll look up Duane, romulans are cool! I like the crew dynamics in TOS and in more general trek, exploration and aliens, technology, moral questions, the Borg, tribbles, time travel episodes for some reason... I'm really not that picky.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Miami Vice Admiral]

I'll look up Duane, romulans are cool! I like the crew dynamics in TOS and in more general trek, exploration and aliens, technology, moral questions, the Borg, tribbles, time travel episodes for some reason... I'm really not that picky.

Thanks for the suggestions!

You’ll probably want to read the “Department of Temporal Investigations” series as it’s THE time travel series and features characters from Trials and Tribble-ations.

The writing wasn’t great but you might like “The Prometheus Design” because I found it to have a compelling moral/philosophical core. The key idea is “Why can’t civilization/technology progress without increasing violence, crime etc.”

 

[Miami Vice Admiral]

TOS is also my favorite btw

 

[Miami Vice Admiral]

Shatner also wrote a ton of books about Kirk and you might enjoy the first three (which are all I’ve read)

The first, The Ashes of Eden, is about pre-generations Kirk having basically an end of life crisis and goes on one last adventure.

The second, The Return, has Captain Kirk get brought back to life by the Borg to wreak havoc un the TNG federation.

The Third, Avenger, is the one I think you’d like most as it ties into Conscience of the King, has Vulcans being evilly logical, and shows TNG era McCoy and Spock spending time with the returned Kirk and I found the dynamic to be solid.

They’re not amazing but they’re co-written by Judith and Garfield Reeves Stevens which at least guarantees some quality.

 

[Greg Cox]

Just want to emphasize the fact that (except for a few designated trilogies and such) the TOS books are largely standalones and can be read in any order. They're episodic, not serialized, just like the original tv series.

 

[Miami Vice Admiral]

Also read anything that guy has written

 

[JD]

If you're also a Voyager fan I'd highly recommend No Time Like the Past by the guy with the Spock avatar two posts up. It's a TOS/Voyager crossover with Seven of Nine getting sent to the 23rd Century Alpha Quadrant, where she teams up with the Enterprise crew. I just read it a few months ago, and it's fantastic.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Prime Directive by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. Solid gold epic.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Start with some vintage Bantam releases: Spock: Messiah! and Marshak & Culbreath's two "Phoenix" books.

That was a line of pure, unadulterated, Bovine Scat.

Seriously, those three should probably be avoided, along with anything else by their Marshak & Culbreath.

Instead, go for anything by Diane Duane, Christopher L. Bennett, Greg Cox, Janet Kagan, Dayton Ward, Keith R. A. DeCandido, David Mack, Alan Dean Foster, or John M. Ford. Or almost anything (with one notable exception that's very well-written, but is an unmitigated tragedy with an utterly hopeless ending) by Una McCormack.

 

[I am not Herbert]

Just want to emphasize the fact that (except for a few designated trilogies and such) the TOS books are largely standalones and can be read in any order. They're episodic, not serialized, just like the original tv series.

You should probably read the Diane Duane Romulan books in publication order. (Only later were they retroactively designated a series, so depending on your copy this might not be obvious). Also, I think I am safe in saying that the earlier ones are more well-regarded.

 

[Christopher]

You should probably read the Diane Duane Romulan books in publication order. (Only later were they retroactively designated a series, so depending on your copy this might not be obvious). Also, I think I am safe in saying that the earlier ones are more well-regarded.

Not just the Romulan books, but The Wounded Sky and Spock's World, which are part of the same continuity, respectively first and fourth in the series, but often get overlooked because they don't fit under the Romulan label.

 

[Miami Vice Admiral]

Or almost anything (with one notable exception that's very well-written, but is an unmitigated tragedy with an utterly hopeless ending) by Una McCormack.

Which book is that?

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Which book is that?

The Last Best Hope. And she was contractually obligated to have it end in a totally hopeless situation, in order to set up the first season of PIC.

Reviews were generally "Above Average" to "Outstanding." I recused myself from reviewing it, because I have little experience with (or interest in) unmitigated tragedy.

 

[Avro Arrow]

you might like “The Prometheus Design”

And if you do, please post about it here, because I think it would be a first!

I should probably mention that if being consistent with modern continuity is important to you, you might want to start with more recent books, and then work back to earlier ones. The early numbered ones were written before a lot of the modern continuity was created, so they will not necessarily be in synch with the current views on the Star Trek universe.

That said, you shouldn't let that stop you from reading them. A lot of the older books are wonderful. A lot of the early TOS greats have already been mentioned, but The Wounded Sky, Strangers From the Sky, Prime Directive, The Final Reflection, Uhura's Song, and the Rihannsu (aka Romulans) series are all personal favourites of mine from that era. Just remember that it was a different time, and a lot of the worldbuilding we're familiar with now didn't exist, so the authors in those days were more free to run with their own individual ideas/interpretations. As long as you're aware of that going in, then you can roll with it and enjoy some amazing stories!