DS9 relaunch questions?

[GalaxyClass1701]

1. DO I have to read The Left Hand of Destiny books to understand what is going on in UNity

2. DO the Worlds of DS9 books have any major impact on the main story line or should I proceed to Warpath after reading UNity.

 

[Turtletrekker]

1. No.

2. Yes.

 

[GalaxyClass1701]

1. No.

2. Yes.

Yes to both I should read the Worlds series or I shoud just read Unity and Proceed to Warpath.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

I'm a little confused to be honest (sorry! ) If you like the series, you'll want to read the books, surely? And if you don't really want to read them, I assume you're not enjoying it? Why would you want to read "Unity" and "Warpath" but skip a number of entries in the series that fall between them?

For what it's worth, I'd say every entry is significant, although "The Left Hand of Destiny" is a side story and set before the rest of the relaunch anyway, so that one isn't essential. It can be set aside if you're eager to proceed from "Rising Son" into "Unity". The "Worlds" books though are definitely important- they're not "side" stories.

 

[GalaxyClass1701]

I'm a little confused to be honest (sorry! ) If you like the series, you'll want to read the books, surely? And if you don't really want to read them, I assume you're not enjoying it? Why would you want to read "Unity" and "Warpath" but skip a number of entries in the series that fall between them?

For what it's worth, I'd say every entry is significant, although "The Left Hand of Destiny" is a side story and set before the rest of the relaunch anyway, so that one isn't essential. It can be set aside if you're eager to proceed from "Rising Son" into "Unity". The "Worlds" books though are definitely important- they're not "side" stories.

To be honest the only one so far I have disliked and just eneded up reading the summary was rising son.

 

[TerraUnam]

The Andorian story in Worlds of DS9, vol. 1 is directly related to the upcoming Typhon Pact novel Path of Disharmony.

 

[David Brennon]

I loved Left Hand of Destiny, but it isn't essential to understanding anything else in the DS9-R. I enjoyed it so much that I often finding myself rereading it when I have nothing else to read... of even when I have something I should be reading.

 

[captcalhoun]

i've managed to get away with only reading Avatar I and II, Unity, Warpath, Fearful Symmetry and The Soul Key and i comprehended it all.

 

[ryan123450]

You missed a whole lot in Mission: Gamma though.

 

[Cybersnark]

And the Dominion: Rising story in Worlds leads into Warpath.

The Left Hand of Destiny is pretty self-contained.

 

[David R. George III]

^ Actually, the title of the Dominion tale in Worlds of Deep Space Nine, Volume Three is Olympus Descending.

 

[Marie1]

Technically, you should be able to read individual books- they provide enough back story within themselves to prevent you from being lost.

That being said, the Dominion and Trill stories IIRC do tie in quite a bit with Warpath.

 

[JD]

The Bajor story also ties into the Warpath-The Soul Key storyline.

 

[Marie1]

I'm gonna have to reread those...

 

[JD]

Spoiler: WoDS9 Bajor-The Soul Key

If I remember correctly, it features the beginning of the investigation of the attack that The Intendant used to kidnap Ke Hovath.

 

[DigificWriter]

GalaxyClass, here's a list - based on my knowledge of the Relaunch - of which novels/stories are absolutely critical to understanding the overall narrative:
Avatar I and II
Section 31: Abyss
Gateways: Demons of Air and Darkness (and the short story "Horn and Ivory"* from Gateways: What Lay Beyond)
Mission: Gamma (Twilight, This Gray Spirit, Cathedral, and Lesser Evil)
Rising Son **
Unity
Worlds of DS9 (The Lotus Flower, Paradigm, Unjoined, Fragments and Omens, Olympus Descending, and Satisfaction is Not Guaranteed)
Warpath
Fearful Symmetry
The Soul Key

* Horn and Ivory is only important because it resolves the storyline from Demons of Air and Darkness, and really has very little impact on the overall narrative beyond that purpose

** Rising Son can actually be read either BEFORE the Mission: Gamma novels or AFTER the Mission: Gamma novels (I read it before I read the MG novels, whereas Marco Palmieri's official 'recommended reading order' lists it as coming after the MG novels)

 

[Destructor]

I think the DS9 book series, much like the show, was written so that even in the less consequential stories, there were still elements of the long-running story that were important. It's not a series to be rushed through, skipping those stories that you might prematurely think 'inessential'. Take your time, read each book, go from start to finish with everything in between, as Digific outlines above. Skipping books will confuse and annoy.

 

[Steve Roby]

Yep. You could probably skip a hundred DS9 episodes and think you had a good sense of what the TV series was about, but you would have missed a lot of great stories and a lot of great moments in stories that weren't necessarily entirely great. It's not about the race to the end, it's about spending time in a fascinating setting with a group of fascinating characters. When I finished my DS9 rewatch a while back I didn't want it to be over, and I hadn't skipped any episodes. I wouldn't skip any of the DS9 relaunch books, either.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Steve Roby, it sounds like your experience with a DS9 rewatch really mirrors my friends' recent rewatch. They were saying the same things. They're already talking about going back to the beginning sometime in the next few months, and they only finished the seventh season about six weeks ago.

I'm very close to where DS9 begins in my TNG-era as-they-premiered run, and I cannot wait.

 

[Technobuilder]

The Left Hand of Destiny was a fantastic story and I feel it's essential to understanding Martok's character after the events that transpire within.

Emperor Kahless gains a sort of Merlinesque Mystique and you start to wonder if the Emperor knows more than he's letting on.