Does the TNG relaunch improve after Resistance?

[Kelso]

I've (finally) decided to start reading the Titan series and post-NEM TNG books, before (finally) reading the Destiny trilogy, but Resistance has kind of taken the wind out of my sails. Do the TNG books get any better after this, or should I skip ahead to Destiny?

Thankfully, I thoroughly enjoyed Taking Wing. At the very least, I'm still planning to read the Titan books that take place before Destiny. Those are worth reading, right? I'm not about to get sucker punched, am I?

 

[Thrawn]

Q&A is great, if very light.

Before Dishonor is... um... interesting. Some people love; most don't. Controversial. Certainly different. It contradicts a bunch of stuff established about some new characters in Q&A, unfortunately.

Greater Than The Sum does an able job of cleaning up the mess of the previous three, but in my opinion didn't do much more than that. Other people really like it though. I think it's probably the most positively received of the bunch. AND, if you want to skip the intervening novels, it does a nice job of summarizing the prior adventures.


If you really love Q, read the next one. If you really love Peter David, read the one after that. Otherwise, just skip to GTTS.

 

[DS9Continuing]

The Titan series is most definitely worth your investment. Of the TNG-R, I've only read Resistance, and my response was much the same as yours. I picked up and enjoyed Destiny without reading the intervening TNG books, and didn't feel lost at all.

 

[Thrawn]

^ Oh, and yes, Titan is awesome. Read them all.

 

[Bishop76]

I mildly enjoyed the first two Titan novels - I'm pretty sure M&M just aren't the authors for me. Their stories just seemed juvenile and the characters a bit shallow. Again, they aren't the worst books I've ever read, but I wouldn't recommend them to anyone but the most hard core Trek fan.

I'm on the 3rd Titan novel now (Orion's Hounds) and am enjoying it SO much more than the previous two. Seems like there's some honest to goodness moral ambiguity going on and the characters seem much more real. There's definitely a depth that wasn't there in Taking Wing or Red King.

 

[Thrawn]

I can definitely understand not digging M&M. I think The Red King is pretty weak, myself. But Orion's Hounds is pretty inarguably great.

 

[JD]

I only read (all) of Q&A and GTTS and I really enjoyed both of them. Titan has been one of my favorite Trek series since Taking Wing came, out and IMO they are all at least good. I'd say Orion's Hounds is my favorite, with Sword of Damocles and Synthesis tied for second.

 

[captcalhoun]

The Red King is certainly my least favourite TTN novels, but i've enjoyed all the others, particularly CLB's pair.

personally, i loved Q&A, Before Dishonour and Greater Than the Sum.

 

[Dancing Doctor]

All of the TNG-R books are pretty good, barring Resistance (one of the weakest) and Before Dishonor (*the* weakest, and just )

 

[21Spike65]

I mildly enjoyed the first two Titan novels - I'm pretty sure M&M just aren't the authors for me. Their stories just seemed juvenile and the characters a bit shallow. Again, they aren't the worst books I've ever read, but I wouldn't recommend them to anyone but the most hard core Trek fan.

I'm on the 3rd Titan novel now (Orion's Hounds) and am enjoying it SO much more than the previous two. Seems like there's some honest to goodness moral ambiguity going on and the characters seem much more real. There's definitely a depth that wasn't there in Taking Wing or Red King.

That's funny, I had the opposite reaction. I enjoyed Orion's Hounds well enough, but Taking Wing remains my favorite TTN novel, and The Red King is up there, though I haven't decided which of TRK, Over a Torrent Sea, and Synthesis I liked better.

 

[Trek Survivor]

I gave up on Titan after 1 and a 1/2 books.

The TNG relaunch is okay - I'm one of the few who enjoyed both "Death In Winter" and "Resistance"; "Before Dishonour" was dreadful,. "Q & A" was all right. Haven't got the motivation to read much more. Peter David's butchering of the potential in BD basically means I'm now wanting more in-series stuff instead!

 

[Thrawn]

^ I highly recommend that you at least skip to Destiny and read that. It's really so much better than you think it's going to be.

 

[Warp Coil]

The Titan series is very ambitious and overall enjoyable to read. However, I've been disappointed with the last two novels (Over A Torrent Sea and Synthesis). The TNG relaunch has been a very bumpy ride so far. I thought Resistance was a fun read, if a little thin and not terribly complex. Q & A is better. Before Dishonor is another fun read (if you just turn your brain off and enjoy the ride), but it's massively controversial and has some issues. Greater Than the Sum tries to set things right, and it introduces some good new characters, but I wasn't particularly interested in the plot of the book. The Destiny follow-up Losing the Peace was pretty solid, though.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I say skip right to Destiny.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

I actually felt that Resistance was unfairly hijacked by its own story. I was really interested in the mock set-up, the cultural dispute T'Lana was intended to settle between the Trexatians and the Repoki. Obviously I had no illusion we were actually going to get to see it- it's a Borg story after all- but the description really intrigued me. I would have been more interested in an in-depth "alien-cultures-in-conflict" story than a Borg tale, and that feeling stayed with me as I read. Not that Resistance was bad; it was just depressingly under-average for a jumping-off point in the "relaunch".

Q and A was good, but rather short. It's not a favourite of mine, but as usual with a KRAD book I have no complaints; a perfectly enjoyable and competent Trek novel. The many continuity references and cameos pleased me (inevitably). The humour was also pretty good.

Before Dishonor shall not be described further here. (*shudder*) .

Greater Than the Sum was very good, and redeemed the Borg arc considerably. In particular, it helped that the Borg were used as the backdrop to character work and world-building rather than being the focus in their own right. Of course, I'm a very big fan of Christopher Bennett's writing, so that helped. The theme of family and reproduction is also one I have an intense appreciation for, and it was handled very well here.

The Destiny trilogy is brilliant.

The post-Destiny TNG entry, Losing the Peace, was also very good. It was a solid follow-up to the events of Destiny, and continued the character work from Greater Than the Sum effectively. It managed to achieve both a fair amount of scope, and detailed focus on individual characters, so I'd rate it quite highly. Not as high as GTTS, but probably second, with Q and A third, Resistance fourth and that other book last.

 

[kkozoriz1]

Destiny leaves the 24th century in a very dark place. Billions dead, many planets stripped of life. Discord averywhere. Good set-up for rising up from the ashes sort of storytelling.

 

[Stevil2001]

Q & A is still my fave of the new tNG books.

 

[TiberiusMaximus]

I haven't read many TNG relaunch other than Titan so I can only say I really enjoyed the ones I did read, but I haven't read the latest two or three.
Destiny is great, at least Book 1 and 2...Book 3 isn't bad but it wasn't quite as good in my humble opinion.

 

[DarKush]

The OP will probably discount my views after I reveal that I liked Resistance. I thought it was a fast-paced read and did a good job presenting a newer, more aggressive variety of Borg.

I didn't care for Q & A all that much. I thought KRAD nailed Q's characterization though. I just didn't feel that the story matched its ambitious premise.

I thought Before Dishonor was a miscue, however PAD definitely knows how to take things to the extreme. So, you might like it or not. It wasn't my cup of tea.

I liked Greater than the Sum, which was refreshing for me after BD. The Destiny trilogy was pretty awesome. I liked a Singular Destiny better than I thought I would, and I haven't read Losing the Peace yet.

 

[garoo1980]

The OP will probably discount my views after I reveal that I liked Resistance. I thought it was a fast-paced read and did a good job presenting a newer, more aggressive variety of Borg.

I didn't care for Q & A all that much. I thought KRAD nailed Q's characterization though. I just didn't feel that the story matched its ambitious premise.

I thought Before Dishonor was a miscue, however PAD definitely knows how to take things to the extreme. So, you might like it or not. It wasn't my cup of tea.

I liked Greater than the Sum, which was refreshing for me after BD. The Destiny trilogy was pretty awesome. I liked a Singular Destiny better than I thought I would, and I haven't read Losing the Peace yet.

Wow I feel exactly the same! I thought I was weird for liking Resistance. Maybe it was because I hadn't read a ST book in a long time when I came to Resistance, I'm not sure, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Q+A was pretty forgettbile for me, although most people disagree so I guess your milage might vary there. GTTS is probably the most popular and again, I really liked it. I think you could probably start there and go on to Destiny pretty easily