Enterprise Novels

[Drizzt]

Well, for awhile there it just seemed like there were long gaps between DS9 releases. Warpath was published in March 2006, and then Fearful Symmetry didn't come out until June 2008, and the Soul Key in July 2009. With there being a year or longer between releases, I guess it is just difficult to keep the story's continuity in my mind, but then again, that is true of most great book series.
Most books worth reading take awhile to write & publish, so like I said, I'm not complaining at all! I think the DS9 relaunch books have been stellar thus far, and the story is wickedly complicated with all of the Mirror Universe interplay. I can't wait for the next one, and am VERY much looking forward to the Typhon Pact storyline.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Yeah, I guess I should figure that if they are going to tackle as big a topic as the Romulan War, then they are going to have to do more than one book.

It'll depend on decent sales of this one, I'll wager.

I didn't know if it was one of those things where they had already given Martin the go-ahead to write 2 or 3 novels (or how ever many it will take), or if they had just had him write one, and then publish it, and gauge fan interest before deciding whether or not to continue the series.

"The Romuluan War" was originally mentioned by Margaret Clark as a multi-book series of MMPBs, but then it was officially announced as a chunkier trade, so we'd be getting those first instalments in the one volume.

Once the trade got its own subtitle, I assumed there were plans afoot for at least one more trade paperback, and I'm sure Michael Martin has structured his first story appropriately.

 

[Count Zero]

What does everyone think of the rest of the Enterprise novels? I just started reading them and plan to go through them in order...

I read "By the Book" (**/****). I'm currently about half-way through "What Price Honor", which I'm enjoying for the most part despite the wrong dates throughout.

I'm interested to hear everyone's (relatively spoiler-free) thoughts on:
-"Surak's Soul"
-"Daedelus"
-"Daedelus' Children"
-"Rosetta"

What a coincidence. I recently decided to give the ENT book series another try. I originally got into TrekLit because I wanted to read more ENT stories after the show was cancelled. But 'Daedalus/Daedalus' Children' didn't impress me at all, and so I stayed clear from the other ENT books and delved into the other parts of the TrekLit universe.
I'm nearing the end of 'By the Book' and think it's pretty bad, more like mediocre fan fiction, although it has some interesting ideas. I have high hopes for 'Surak's Soul' and 'Rosetta' but there's a chance I won't even make it to the relaunch books. (Especially since I don't like what I've read about the undoing of 'These Are The Voyages'. It seems way too contrived to me, but maybe it reads better.)

 

[ChristopherPike]

^ Ouch. You're not going to make it and that's a shame. I haven't read those early books myself and more or less began with Last Full Measure. That has given me a better taste for how Enterprise might have continued... with only one backwards step to the Xindi arc. Above all else I want to know what happened next, rather than squeeze some story inbetween the worst tales from Season 1 or... *shudders* Season 2. Clearly a book written while the show was on the air, especially those earlier seasons will reflect trends that weren't exactly lavished with praise. While the current books are building on aspects that got me hooked in its last year and a half... bringing in Section 31, digging around the backstory of the Original and TNG series and doing more Federation building.

Going backwards, already within a prequel setting doesn't make much sense to me. Closer to where the show was cut down in its prime is the place to be. The Good That Men Do worked fine for me, and is no more contrived than a John Clancy novel or even Dan Brown. The cover-up seemed to fit within the framework of the show... If changing something so that it no longer fits with what a TNG character knows, I can't honestly say that bothers me. If it does you, then that's fair enough... but undoing These are the Voyages was something that needed to be done or else the story can't really continue.

 

[Count Zero]

Going backwards, already within a prequel setting doesn't make much sense to me. Closer to where the show was cut down in its prime is the place to be.

Well, 'Rosetta' takes place during season 4...

The Good That Men Do worked fine for me, and is no more contrived than a John Clancy novel or even Dan Brown.

Well, I hold neither John Clancy nor Dan Brown in high regard, to put it politely.

If changing something so that it no longer fits with what a TNG character knows, I can't honestly say that bothers me. If it does you, then that's fair enough... but undoing These are the Voyages was something that needed to be done or else the story can't really continue.

I agree, although I question whether everything had to be undone at once. There's plenty of room between 'Demons/Terra Prime' and 2161 for stories with Trip to take place, where only minor details of TATV would have to be corrected (like the implication that nothing of interest happened on the ship in the meantime).
I don't care about what the TNG characters know or might not know.
(I personally would assume that a holodeck simulation would never be able to tell the complete story, anyway, no matter how accurate it's trying to be. Unless everything the ENT crew did and said was recorded, there's no way we'd really know a lot of the things the holoprogram showed us. As a history student, the assumption that the holoprogram represents the historical truth has always bugged me.)
What I've read about how they undid TATV just seemed quite contrived to me. I hope it reads better, I really want to get to the Romulan War novel. I guess I'll see.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Count Zero, I would like to read your thoughts on Surak's Soul. {I actually had a headache while reading it, and I don't know whether it was or wasn't the story}.

It was a J.M. Dillard novel, and I usually can get through her books easily, but something about the story wasn't right.

 

[Count Zero]

I'll post my thoughts but it may be a while, I'm still not done with 'By the Book'. I'm curious myself. I remembered I once picked up 'Surak's Soul' in a book store years ago. I peaked inside and thought it was written really badly. I hope that was just the German translation...

 

[ALF]

I just hope Trip joins the Enterprise soon.

Spoiler: ENT relaunch

Judging from "Last Full Measure," Trip never returns to NX-01, nor he ever reclaims his real identity.

Spoiler: Reply to former spoiler comment

That's the one thing I don't like about Last Full Measure. I wish they didn't jump ahead like that. I want Trip to return to Earth, assume his real idenity, and get back together with T'Pol. Now that doesn't seem like it will happen.

I really think

Spoiler: Trip

he will end up with T'Pol. The writers seem to be up to the task of fixing the points of the end of the series that left a sour taste in the mouths of the fans.

 

[Mach5]

Spoiler: ENT relaunch

Judging from "Last Full Measure," Trip never returns to NX-01, nor he ever reclaims his real identity.

Spoiler: Reply to former spoiler comment

That's the one thing I don't like about Last Full Measure. I wish they didn't jump ahead like that. I want Trip to return to Earth, assume his real idenity, and get back together with T'Pol. Now that doesn't seem like it will happen.

I really think

Spoiler: Trip

he will end up with T'Pol. The writers seem to be up to the task of fixing the points of the end of the series that left a sour taste in the mouths of the fans.

Spoiler: The Romulan War

I doubt they'll break Trip & T'Pol apart after going through all that trouble to establish them as a couple. Hell, by the end of Raptors Wing, they're practically married...

 

[teacherkarl]

Can I assume that "ChristopherPike" meant TOM Clancy?

Anyway, I decided to read the ENT re-launch novels beginning with TGTMD, which I'm a little more than halfway through. I love the fact that it rejects the events of TATV as fiction.

 

[mattburgess]

Don't seem to be able to click on ANY of the "spoiler about..." links. Can we just have a Spoiler thread about Trip, instead of a thread of comments we can't see please?

 

[Dayton Ward]

No problem with the spoiler links here. Got something funky running on your system?

 

[ChristopherPike]

Can I assume that "ChristopherPike" meant TOM Clancy?

Yeah, sorry about that. It's been a while...

Anyway, I decided to read the ENT re-launch novels beginning with TGTMD, which I'm a little more than halfway through. I love the fact that it rejects the events of TATV as fiction.

Something I like too. It leaves certain aspects open. Clearly the changes to the uniforms can still happen, since aspects of the 2161 recreation have to accurate. Just a mix up of recorded events but condensed together with Trip's staged death. I presume Shran will drop off the radar at some point ahead and after having a child... disappearing not through criminal activity but something classified and connected to the war.

 

[Dayton Ward]

Anyway, I decided to read the ENT re-launch novels beginning with TGTMD, which I'm a little more than halfway through. I love the fact that it rejects the events of TATV as fiction.

I think it's worth noting that the TGTMD doesn't "reject the events of TATV." That wouldn't have been greenlit by TPTB. Instead, it adds layers of context to what you saw in the episode, as well as taking advantage of various dangling threads and other loose ends in order to spin the new tale.

 

[David cgc]

No problem with the spoiler links here. Got something funky running on your system?

Safari only opens the first spoiler box on a page under this software. Neither party seems to have been able to fix it. Apple probably doesn't care that much because Safari handle's most forums' spoiler boxes just fine, and vBulletin probably doesn't care that much because Safari isn't the only browser in the world.

When I need to read spoiler tags, I hit the "Quote" button and read them in the posting box that comes up. Yes, it's cumbersome, but it's easier than switching browsers to read one post.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

What does everyone think of the rest of the Enterprise novels? I just started reading them and plan to go through them in order...

I read "By the Book" (**/****). I'm currently about half-way through "What Price Honor", which I'm enjoying for the most part despite the wrong dates throughout.

I'm interested to hear everyone's (relatively spoiler-free) thoughts on:
-"Surak's Soul"
-"Daedelus"
-"Daedelus' Children"
-"Rosetta"

What a coincidence. I recently decided to give the ENT book series another try. I originally got into TrekLit because I wanted to read more ENT stories after the show was cancelled. But 'Daedalus/Daedalus' Children' didn't impress me at all, and so I stayed clear from the other ENT books and delved into the other parts of the TrekLit universe.
I'm nearing the end of 'By the Book' and think it's pretty bad, more like mediocre fan fiction, although it has some interesting ideas. I have high hopes for 'Surak's Soul' and 'Rosetta' but there's a chance I won't even make it to the relaunch books. (Especially since I don't like what I've read about the undoing of 'These Are The Voyages'. It seems way too contrived to me, but maybe it reads better.)

As mentioned in another thread, I finished 'By the Book'....and I thought it was pretty good: Technobabble kept to a very minimum, the story moved at a good pace...and not really any open plot points...

My only nitpick was Archer trying to 'one-up' T'Pol when it seemed that T'Pol is the 'logical' one....

Too, it's interesting that RPG's were still in effect.

I believe the book was published in 2002; at that time, and even today, RPG's are going strong on gaming consoles...not so much the boarded/non-computer type...which, I think, went out of style in the early 90s....

...but, hey, I'm sure there are some people who still played them the old way. Cutler--the ENT crewmember--did play RPG's on computer, according to the novel.

*SPOILERS*

Aside from that, I like that the 'spider-like' aliens were deemed dangerous just on the basis of their looks...but turned out to be very peaceful, and advanced technologically....

 

[Count Zero]

Too, it's interesting that RPG's were still in effect.

I believe the book was published in 2002; at that time, and even today, RPG's are going strong on gaming consoles...not so much the boarded/non-computer type...which, I think, went out of style in the early 90s....

...but, hey, I'm sure there are some people who still played them the old way. Cutler--the ENT crewmember--did play RPG's on computer, according to the novel.

That made me really feel like I was reading fanfic by a teenager. I'm not even 30 and I've only ever played RPGs with pen and paper.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Too, it's interesting that RPG's were still in effect.

I believe the book was published in 2002; at that time, and even today, RPG's are going strong on gaming consoles...not so much the boarded/non-computer type...which, I think, went out of style in the early 90s....

...but, hey, I'm sure there are some people who still played them the old way. Cutler--the ENT crewmember--did play RPG's on computer, according to the novel.

That made me really feel like I was reading fanfic by a teenager. I'm not even 30 and I've only ever played RPGs with pen and paper.

It made it a little too geeky I take it...?

If you don't mind me asking, Count Zero, how would you have changed it?

 

[Count Zero]

Well, it bugged me that the RPG thing didn't really have any significance. I always expected it to somehow tie in with the 'A-plot' but it never really did. All this overly detailed RPG'ing only to show that some of the crew have learned to see beyond appearances - something which they should have learned before they left Earth? I felt it was a letdown.
The idea with the two different races was interesting, but the resolution was a bit too predictable and rushed for my taste. The RPG scenes were much more detailed than the descriptions of the main scenes. A bit more world-building would have been nice.


ETA: I have nothing against 'geeky'. Hell, I just made a gingerbread 10th Doctor, I write fan fiction, I spend a lot of my time on this board. I'm pretty nerdy myself.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

^^

I understand.....

Good thoughts!