Does the TNG relaunch improve after Resistance?

[Christopher]

Hmm. I just started 'Resistance' last night after finishing Q&A. I know this has been asking a zillion times before, but it's a bit confusing... is there a correct 'chronological order' I should be reading the relaunch series in?

Like, should I be reading the first TTN book before I read Resistance, or does it not make much odds?

Aside from crossing over in Destiny, TNG and TTN are totally independent of each other. It doesn't matter what order you read them in relative to each other. Despite the occasional crossover, these are meant to be several parallel, independent series, not one big series. The only order that matters is the internal order of each individual series.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Therin - seems like you and others didn't like Resistance. I'm content to leave my pre-Destiny pile as it is.

I was fine with it. I entered with some trepidation, about a year late, and having read some scathing online reviews of it (and Dillard's ENT book, which I also hadn't read).

I usually enjoy Dillard stuff, although I can certainly see why people reacted badly to "Resistance". It's a little lightweight for a supposedly epic Borg story.

 

[rafterman1701]

I find the TNG series to be pretty disjointed overall, but it has certainly improved. At first, there were too many new characters who just showed up for one book and left. Compare that to Titan or DS9 and how they were able to really introduce new characters that were fleshed out and interesting additions. I think Resistance and Before Dishonor are especially awful books. Part of that is because they both wanted to cover the Borg again, but in different, and I think idiotic ways. The series picks up with Christopher's book and then Destiny and on really pick up steam. I like where it's at now after Typhon Pact. The series is different, but still TNG and I really like the new crew. I was actually hoping for Shar to join the crew.

 

[Christopher]

At first, there were too many new characters who just showed up for one book and left.

Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration. Basically only Nave and Battaglia were one-book wonders. T'Lana was a "regular" for three books and had cameos in two more. Leybenzon was part of the crew for two books and appeared in portions of a third.

 

[Destructor]

Here's a question: throughout 'Death and Winter' and now 'Resistance', the writers seem to take great delight in recapping episodes which, surely, anyone reading the books will have seen. Like, just now in Resistance, there's a paragraph saying something like: "Picard thought back to the time he'd been captured by the Borg. What happened, you see, was that they took him on board the cube and turned him into Locutus." and so on. And this is immediately after a novel in which Beverly recalls, at length (to the degree that entire scenes from the show are quoted at length), the exact same situation.

So, I guess I sort of understand the impulse to catch people up on current events they may not be familiar with from the show. But then when the books make references to things that the readers are almost certainly NOT familiar with from the show because they occurred in previous novels (the crew of the Stargazer from Reunion, Worf melding with Spock in some other novel), the writers inexplicably choose NOT to recap these events- in the same books in which we are getting multiple recaps of events from the show!

Haven't they all got their priorities backwards? I need recaps on the stuff I haven't seen, not the stuff I have! (a references section at the end wouldn't go amiss, either- I appreciate that KRAD and Christopher both do this on their webpages, so I am grateful for that, at least)

 

[Therin of Andor]

Haven't they all got their priorities backwards? I need recaps on the stuff I haven't seen, not the stuff I have!

Huh? How do the writers know what their readers have seen and not seen?

Every ST novel is somebody's first ST novel. Not every person picking up a ST novel is a completist, with a full set of DVDs to check, or a photographic memory of a TV viewing perhaps decades ago.

Many of the recent novels have been adding a dramatis personae to the back of the book. But if you add too many recap items to the front or back, people worry they need to know too much ahead of time to enjoy the book.

"the writers inexplicably choose NOT to recap these" (other novel) "events"

Maybe to tempt you to buy other books?

 

[Christopher]

But then when the books make references to things that the readers are almost certainly NOT familiar with from the show because they occurred in previous novels (the crew of the Stargazer from Reunion, Worf melding with Spock in some other novel), the writers inexplicably choose NOT to recap these events- in the same books in which we are getting multiple recaps of events from the show!

You're making that a blanket criticism of all of us, and that's not true. I know that I, for one, gave an extensive recap of the relevant events of the prior three TNG novels toward the beginning of Greater Than the Sum; indeed, I've always felt I recapped too much there. And I do recall Paths of Disharmony recapping relevant stuff from earlier Andorian-related books and Rough Beasts of Empire recapping the gist of the Romulan-schism story arc from prior books. (On the other hand, I'm still annoyed with myself for a recap oversight in Over a Torrent Sea: I mentioned the Caeliar and I mentioned the defeat of the Borg, but I never specifically mentioned the connection between the two.)

As a rule, the goal is to explain any backstory that is relevant to the story being told, regardless of whether it happened in a prior episode, a prior novel, or some unchronicled event that's being established for the first time. As Therin said, any book may be a reader's first book, and there's no way of knowing which prior books or episodes the reader may remember. It's just good sense to approach any tale the way you'd approach an original tale, to structure it to stand on its own and explain any relevant information rather than being dependent on familiarity with external works.

But one has to draw a balance between explaining too little and explaining too much. If that backstory isn't relevant to the tale being told, there's no need to mention it. Okay, so there's a book that mentioned Worf melding with Spock but didn't specify when or why. Was it important for that particular story to know when and why? There was a DS9 episode where Worf mentioned having battled Kelvans sometime in the past. The episode never explained that rather startling revelation, because the details weren't relevant to the story being told then and there. All we needed to know was that it was a great challenge he'd surmounted.

 

[Therin of Andor]

There was a DS9 episode where Worf mentioned having battled Kelvans sometime in the past.

Good example. A great hook that some future project may end up telling. Or not.

Memory Alpha says: In 2374, a frustrated Lieutenant Commander Worf told Jadzia Dax that he had once fought Kelvans twice his size, yet he was unable to put young Kirayoshi O'Brien to sleep. (DS9: "Time's Orphan") The following year, Ezri Dax would recall that conversation between Worf and Jadzia when she visited his quarters, after learning of his possible death, following the destruction of his ship, the IKS Koraga, near the Badlands. (DS9: "Penumbra").

 

[ToddCam]

From the above, I now understand Krad's A Time for War, A Time for Peace is where Worf becomes #1, and it is your own Greater than the Sum that the bulk of the Enterprise's new crew is introduced. If that is the case, I have the books I need already that introduce key members of the crew. Cheers & thanks.

This is incorrect. Worf's transition from Federation Ambassador to Qo'noS was established in ATFW,ATFP, and at the end of the book he was offered the first officer position on Titan. There was a small epilogue at the end which takes place after Nemesis, and in it Riker asks Vale to be his XO after Worf had decided to stay on Enterprise. However, his position is not established. It's hinted at in Death in Winter, but not actually spelled out until Resistance.

 

[Janos]

From the above, I now understand Krad's A Time for War, A Time for Peace is where Worf becomes #1, and it is your own Greater than the Sum that the bulk of the Enterprise's new crew is introduced. If that is the case, I have the books I need already that introduce key members of the crew. Cheers & thanks.

This is incorrect. Worf's transition from Federation Ambassador to Qo'noS was established in ATFW,ATFP, and at the end of the book he was offered the first officer position on Titan. There was a small epilogue at the end which takes place after Nemesis, and in it Riker asks Vale to be his XO after Worf had decided to stay on Enterprise. However, his position is not established. It's hinted at in Death in Winter, but not actually spelled out until Resistance.

Thanks. Basically Worf's decision to stay and be Picard's XO is mentioned in ATFW,ATFP, but we don't see him in the role until Resistance?

 

[Dancing Doctor]

From the above, I now understand Krad's A Time for War, A Time for Peace is where Worf becomes #1, and it is your own Greater than the Sum that the bulk of the Enterprise's new crew is introduced. If that is the case, I have the books I need already that introduce key members of the crew. Cheers & thanks.

This is incorrect. Worf's transition from Federation Ambassador to Qo'noS was established in ATFW,ATFP, and at the end of the book he was offered the first officer position on Titan. There was a small epilogue at the end which takes place after Nemesis, and in it Riker asks Vale to be his XO after Worf had decided to stay on Enterprise. However, his position is not established. It's hinted at in Death in Winter, but not actually spelled out until Resistance.

Thanks. Basically Worf's decision to stay and be Picard's XO is mentioned in ATFW,ATFP, but we don't see him in the role until Resistance?

No.

Worf decides to stay at the end of ATFW, ATFP

Picard asks him to be XO in DiW (I think)

He is actually shown as XO in RES.

 

[ToddCam]

Close. Death in Winter has him acting as if he is first officer, with some line saying Picard would get used to saying, "Picard to Commander Worf," or some such, even though that doesn't mean anything other than Worf would be serving on Enterprise and have the rank of at least Lieutenant Commander. In Resistance Worf is mulling over whether to remain XO due to his past mistakes, and finally decides to stay. This is where it is first firmly established his new rank and position.

 

[Janos]

Ok, but if don't read DIW (as a primarily Picard/Crusher story doesn't interest me) or Resistance (reviews here are not great), I imagine if I read ATFW, ATFP and Greater than the Sum, I assume I'll "get it". Does Greater than the Sum recap how Worf became XO or does it just present him as XO and we just accept it and move on?

 

[Dancing Doctor]

Ok, but if don't read DIW (as a primarily Picard/Crusher story doesn't interest me) or Resistance (reviews here are not great), I imagine if I read ATFW, ATFP and Greater than the Sum, I assume I'll "get it". Does Greater than the Sum recap how Worf became XO or does it just present him as XO and we just accept it and move on?

I think GTTS, for the most part, just presents Worf as XO and moves on, which is understandable.

As for not reading DiW (which I recommend, not because of the Picard/Crusher story, which I enjoyed because I'm a P/C shipper, but also because of the Romulan side, specifically Tal'Aura and how she deals with the early threats to her reign) and RES, you're pretty much on the ball with sticking to the stories you mentioned.

 

[JD]

Ok, but if don't read DIW (as a primarily Picard/Crusher story doesn't interest me) or Resistance (reviews here are not great), I imagine if I read ATFW, ATFP and Greater than the Sum, I assume I'll "get it". Does Greater than the Sum recap how Worf became XO or does it just present him as XO and we just accept it and move on?

You're not gonna read Q&A?

 

[Janos]

Ok, but if don't read DIW (as a primarily Picard/Crusher story doesn't interest me) or Resistance (reviews here are not great), I imagine if I read ATFW, ATFP and Greater than the Sum, I assume I'll "get it". Does Greater than the Sum recap how Worf became XO or does it just present him as XO and we just accept it and move on?

You're not gonna read Q&A?

Yup. Its KRAD. Its Q. So, I have it and will read it. In terms of Worf, does Q&A just present him as XO and we just accept it and move on?

 

[Dancing Doctor]

Pretty much.

Q&A is really, boiled down, a Picard and Q story. That doesn't mean that the other characters don't get time or focus, but that's the gist of the story.

 

[Christopher]

In terms of Worf, does Q&A just present him as XO and we just accept it and move on?

Yes, because that question is resolved in the immediately previous novel, Resistance. Essentially, Worf is acting first officer from the end of ATFW,ATFP until Resistance, in which he finally gets the job on a permanent basis.

 

[Janos]

Thanks Valeris & Christopher.

 

[Dancing Doctor]

No problem. I enjoy seeing fellow posters asking questions, especially if I've read the books in question.

In all seriousness, you're sort of inspiring me to go back and reread a lot of these books (after I'm done with Katharine Hepburn's autobiography, of course).