Books with Great Character Chemistry?

[marlboro]

I read "The Covenant of the Crown" by Howard Weinstein today. Not a bad book. The main plot wasn't anything special, but there was some great interplay between Spock and Bones. There are some Trek pairings that just really click: Bones and Spock, O'Brien and Bashir, Q and Picard, Quark and Odo and so forth.

So I'm wondering, what are some books that really nail the characterization when it comes to these Trek duos? It doesn't just have to be characters from the shows either. Feel free to mention Treklit characters as well.

 

[marlboro]

I'll get the ball rolling:

"Time's Enemy" by L.A. Graf. Even though there are a lot of cool bits in this book, I'm not sure I ever wrapped my brain around exactly what was going on. The best part, to me, was the relationship between Julian Bashir and Dax. Not Jadzia or Ezri, but the Dax symbiote itself.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I've always loved the character dynamics in Prime Directive by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. They take the crew at the lowest point in their lives, and they show how the crew remain themselves in spite of the adversity.

 

[JD]

I really enjoyed the friendship that developed between Nog and Shar in the first part of the DS9 Relaunch. I think it was probably the closest Trek Lit has gotten to the Data/Geordi and Bashir/O'Brien feel.

 

[Kilana2]

Odo and Quark in Fallen Heroes.
The book felt like an early episode involving Quark and Odo, or one of the later episodes like The Ascent.
Many dialogues between them were quite hilarious in Fallen Heroes.

 

[Jbarney]

I can't remember the name of the guy, but he is part of Starfleet, a character that Peter David created while young Riker was on Betazed during Imazadi. Looking at the character list over on Memory Beta (I don't have my copy of the book readily available) it might be Roger Tang? I loved the characterization of a younger Riker interacting with that particular character. If I recall correctly, his prominent line was "All part of the service...." which provided for a laugh or two based on situations in the book.

 

[Stevil2001]

I've always loved the character dynamics in Prime Directive by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. They take the crew at the lowest point in their lives, and they show how the crew remain themselves in spite of the adversity.

The Reeves-Stevenses are good at this in general; Memory Prime has some top-notch Spock/McCoy banter.

 

[marlboro]

I really enjoyed the friendship that developed between Nog and Shar in the first part of the DS9 Relaunch. I think it was probably the closest Trek Lit has gotten to the Data/Geordi and Bashir/O'Brien feel.

Nog is a character that works well no matter who you pair him with. Jake, Shar, Miles, Vic - he's great with all of them.

Odo and Quark in Fallen Heroes.
The book felt like an early episode involving Quark and Odo, or one of the later episodes like The Ascent.
Many dialogues between them were quite hilarious in Fallen Heroes.

Good pick. They did have some good scenes together in that one. Very exciting book with Kira at her most badass.


Another one I like is "The Left Hand of Destiny" by J.G. Hertzler, Jeffrey Lang . These books aren't talked about enough, imo. They don't feel exactly like a Trek story; they play more like an epic fantasy retelling of a Trek tale. Along with some fun melodrama and adventure you get some nice moments between Martok and his Ferengi sidekick Pharh. Ok, Martok and Pharh may not be an iconic Trek duo but I still wanted to mention them.

 

[Reanok]

The Ds9 Millenium books by the Reeves-Stevens has great Character chemistry in all 3 novels.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

The Ds9 Millenium books by tthe Reeves-Stevens has great Character chemistry in all 3 novels.

I remember getting teary at the scene in book 2 when Old Nog sees the lost Defiant crew and gives Worf a hug. I am not ashamed to admit that.

 

[Reanok]

I liked that scene too.. I also liked Jadzia Dax's scenes with Jake Sisko too. All the books were good solid character story arcs.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I loved the Robert April/George Kirk stuff from Final Frontier.

 

[Tim Thomason]

I can't remember the name of the guy, but he is part of Starfleet, a character that Peter David created while young Riker was on Betazed during Imazadi. Looking at the character list over on Memory Beta (I don't have my copy of the book readily available) it might be Roger Tang? I loved the characterization of a younger Riker interacting with that particular character. If I recall correctly, his prominent line was "All part of the service...." which provided for a laugh or two based on situations in the book.

Yep, Tang. Named after a fan that David met before writing the Imzadi books.

 

[ClayinCA]

The Spock/McCoy stuff in DRGIII's Crucible trilogy is wonderful. And Kirk/McCoy are great in Vonda McIntyre's The Entropy Effect.