changed your mind about a book?

[Leandar]

I recently finished reading Ishmael, the old novel that sent Spock back in time to the nineteenth century and he encountered one of Amanda's ancestors. I remember reading a review when it came out that said the book was a waste and so I didn't read it. After having finally read it, I liked it but realized that I wouldn't have liked it as a kid/teenager. What I'm wondering is, has anything like this happened to anyone else, where you changed your opinion of a book years later or you read it years after thinking you wouldn't like it to only find out you did?

 

[donners22]

I thought "I, Q" was awful when I first read it. Really depressing and not at all engaging. On later readings, I've managed to enjoy it a bit more, though I still don't rate it as a top PAD book.

Perhaps my expectations were too high with PAD returning to Q stories, after the brilliant Q-Squared, and John de Lancie's role in the writing.

 

[D Man]

I was a huge Shatnerverse fan through middle school and high school, but lately I've found that when I reread my old favorites some of the extreme over-the-topness doesn't work quite so well as it used to. I still love Spectre, though...that will never change.

 

[HIj'Qa]

I loathed Enterprise: The First Adventure for decades, for its un-canon-ness in so many aspects. A thread on this board a while back revealed the editorial desire to tie the book in with the movies, even though all the characters would not have been involved in the first adventure. Having a little more understanding of why it is the way it is, I don't loath it anymore. Still far from my fav though.

 

[setacourse]

I ignored Starfleet: Year One when it was being serialized, because I glanced through a couple pages and it didn't grab me. I knew the name Captain Bryce Shumar from TNG Power Play but it didn't translate into knowing or liking the character and I didn't really read it. I finally read the story put into one book a few months ago and love it for the alternate version of the origin of Starfleet presented there. I think it's because I didn't get the books with Chapter 1 serialized in it.

On Ishmael, while I've been discussing it in another thread, I still haven't gotten into the novel. I've never watched Here Comes the Brides, and while I sometimes like Dr Quinn Medicine Woman or other sort of drama-western-soap operas, combining it with Star Trek still doesn't grab me. Maybe later.

 

[Therin of Andor]

... where you changed your opinion of a book years later or you read it years after thinking you wouldn't like it to only find out you did?

I was initially terribly disappointed by Carmen Carter's "TNG: The Devil's Heart". It was the first "giant" or hardcover which didn't seem to be a page turner for me - airfreighted ST hardcovers work out to be very expensive Down Under - even though I'd really liked her other stuff. However, I've heard a lot of people praise its epic sweep on the Internet and I eventually came to appreciate what the author had done.

I guess I wasn't surprised that writing the book turned into such a chore for her ("Voyages of Imagination") that she wouldn't come back for more.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I ignored Starfleet: Year One when it was being serialized, because I glanced through a couple pages and it didn't grab me.

I was bored with it, serialized one chapter at a time, and really enjoyed the MMPB omnibus. We didn't come back to characters we knew often enough to work as a serial. Magically, it holds together very well as a complete novel.

Note: the omnibus has a few extra scenes and all-new characters.

 

[setacourse]

^ Do you know which scenes/characters were added? Also, ISTR a mention of unrelated Trek serial proposed after this, but it wasn't made.

http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Starfleet:_Year_One
"He had hoped to develop the concept into a seven-novel series, covering the first seven years of the Federation and following the characters introduced in this novel. Unfortunately, the development of Star Trek: Enterprise put paid to such a series, and Pocket Books assured Paramount that no further Starfleet: books would be published while the series was on the air." Damn. Like succeeding years of the Bacco administration, that would've been cool.

I haven't yet been turned by Devil's Heart. I listened to Gates reading it, but it was only mediocre for me. Granted, it's abridged, but I didn't get the sense of wanting to learn what was removed.

'Course, it could be like SFY1 in that character and cohesiveness is added. I loved McCoy's coping with his memory loss in Dreams of the Raven and enjoyed the grape-popping scene and swimming through the gelatinous clusters in Children of Hamblin.

 

[Therin of Andor]

^ Do you know which scenes/characters were added?

I helped compile the Memory Alpha and Memory Beta entries:
http://startrek.wikia.com/wiki/Starfleet:_Year_One

The 2002 omnibus version has newly-added scenes for T'Pau and extra characters, such as Ducheddet of Andor, a member of an early United Federation of Planets constitutional committee.

ISTR a mention of unrelated Trek serial proposed after this, but it wasn't made.

That would be "TNG: A Hard Rain", featuring Picard in a Dixon Hill adventure, which perhaps would have worked very well as a serial but, based on the lukewarm reception of serialized chapters the first time, it became a rather tedious, repetitive, short novel by Dean Wesley Smith. Great cover, though!

 

[setacourse]

^ D'oh. I checked Memory Alpha but not Beta for a book. That'll learn me. Thanks.

Hm. So you think A Hard Rain, unlike Year One, might've worked better as a serial than the book due to its structure? Reminds me of some short webisodes which betray their 3-minute cliffhanger nature when wrapped together.

I too love the cover and enjoyed the idea of a Dixon Hill novel, but if it's the main story, best in short doses like in Manhunt and Clues. "Computer, freeze program!" Perhaps a book to leave in the bathroom, one you'd come back to occasionally.

 

[Trent Roman]

My first Trek book was Keith Sharee's Gulliver's Fugitives, and I adored it. When I finally re-read it a few years back, it was... well, I still think the concept is awesome, but the writing seemed clunky, with a number of scenes/characters that just don't work.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman