Finally Starting "New Frontier" - 10 years later!

[David cgc]

I also thought Lorca reminded me of Calhoun. Well, with Lorca's story about the Buran, maybe he was more Quintin Stone than Mackenzie Calhoun.

I'll give my stock recommendation, which I apparently hadn't been convinced of yet when this thread was originally active, that "Stone and Anvil" is a good place to leave off the series. It has a sense of finality, plus there's a bit of a retooling after that book, and I don't think the series ever found its groove again working with the rebooted premise.

 

[Stevil2001]

Honestly, I think I'd stop at Dark Allies if I were doing a reread; I can't think of anything I'd regret missing (other than No Limits). Barring that, yeah, Stone and Anvil.

 

[Sisko_is_my_captain]

I felt like the series sort of lost its direction towards the end, but the first books entertained me back in high school. I don't know how well they'd stand up today for a reread.

One of the hardback novels came with a cd-rom containing all the previous books as txt files or pdfs (I forget which but they had no DRM, which was sweet).

Edit: Stone and Anvil first edition had the CD-ROM.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Honestly, I think I'd stop at Dark Allies if I were doing a reread; I can't think of anything I'd regret missing (other than No Limits). Barring that, yeah, Stone and Anvil.

Deep sigh, but yes, I agree with this.

Ending with Dark Allies leaves you at a cliffhanger, but the Excalibur trilogy that resolves it isn't particularly good and is the point where Peter David's character assassinations of certain characters becomes impossible to ignore.

After that, the next point to leave is Stone and Anvil or After the Fall.

 

[Daddy Todd]

Ending with Dark Allies leaves you at a cliffhanger, but the Excalibur trilogy that resolves it isn't particularly good and is the point where Peter David's character assassinations of certain characters becomes impossible to ignore.

That’s interesting, because I never read any New Frontier after the Excalibur trilogy. Getting through that was a chore, and I bounced hard off everything that came after.

It’s not just me, I guess I’m trying to say.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Damn this thread is more than a decade old...

No kidding. When I started reading, I hadn't started high school and now I'm a year out of college.

Okay, now I feel old.

Honestly, I think I'd stop at Dark Allies if I were doing a reread; I can't think of anything I'd regret missing (other than No Limits). Barring that, yeah, Stone and Anvil.

I can understand that sentiment and I agree that The Quiet Place and Dark Allies marked the height of the series. I still enjoyed most of the entries after that cliffhanger but I alsoagree the series wasn't quite as strong since then, except No Limits, Stone and Anvil, and Turnaround. I also really enjoyed Cutting Ties but that was a Mirror Universe story.

 

[GaryH]

The series definitely lost its way but I loved all the Morgan stuff

 

[Kilana2]

There is something unique to New Frontier: some characters are dead or gone but somehow still alive and present....

 

[SolarisOne]

I like the captain. He reminds of Lorca.

I think of Lorca (before he became Space Trump at the end) as the closest thing we'll ever get to a canon Mackenzie Calhoun.

 

[David cgc]

One of the hardback novels came with a cd-rom containing all the previous books as txt files or pdfs (I forget which but they had no DRM, which was sweet).

Edit: Stone and Anvil first edition had the CD-ROM.

Unfortunately, the PDFs were made using some primitive OCR scanning of the printed novels (between that and the way the Trek PoD reprints just drop MMPB-sized pages in the middle of TPB-sized leafs, I'd be very interested in some in-depth nerdery about the last twenty years of digital typesetting), so trying to read them is an exercise in frustration. There are a lot of missing lines.

 

[Christopher]

There are a lot of missing lines.

I think the problem there was one of compatibility between editions of Adobe Reader. The lines were all there -- they just didn't display in every edition. I just glanced over a few of the NF PDFs in my current Reader, and as far as I can tell, all the text is there.

 

[David cgc]

I think the problem there was one of compatibility between editions of Adobe Reader. The lines were all there -- they just didn't display in every edition. I just glanced over a few of the NF PDFs in my current Reader, and as far as I can tell, all the text is there.

Thanks for the heads-up! I just opened on in Preview (the built-in image and PDF-reading app on Mac) and Adobe Acrobat, and Acrobat shows all the "missing" lines. Now, the only problem is figuring out how to correct the issue and re-export the files so they're readable in the programs I typically use.

 

[thribs]

Managed to buy them all pretty cheaply, except for the last three which are digital only. God I hate those ones.

 

[RonG]

Managed to buy them all pretty cheaply, except for the last three which are digital only. God I hate those ones.

About those (The Returned) - is there a way to get a print version? as (effectively) the end of the series, my OCD demands that I have the "last volume" in the same print size as the rest of the series...

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

That would depend on if it’s ever decided to release any of the ebooks in printed release, which doesn’t seem to be high on the priority list - it’s been almost ten years since the last time any ebooks were collected and released in paper format, to fill the gap of the abrupt cancellation of the AOS Trek novels.

I’d love to see a slot or two filled for this year with printed versions of like Slings and Arrows, or see the Corps of Engineers get even two or three of their stories told in a format I can shelve with their fellows, on top of getting the for-now conclusion of New Frontier. But I’m not exactly holding my breath, either.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Which is a shame because I can't stand eBooks and it breaks my heart that I still haven't read the final entry in New Frontier.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I got the first book free with a magazine (many years ago now) and loved it, so had to get the rest. Unfortunately, when they jumped forward in time they weren't as good as the dynamics between the characters was gone.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I'm one of those people who liked New Frontier right to the end of their paperback run. I've just purchased the ebook exclusive trilogy, too

 

[veritech]

You can always count on Peter David for a fun, quick, entertaining read. It's almost like the McDonald's of Trek . . . but I've never had to slog through to finish any of his Trek books. I do, however feel like they kind of lost their way after the crew was scattered off of the Excalibur. I guess that added to the realism because things change and people go their separate ways but I loved the characters interacting with each other on the Excalibur.

 

[GaryH]

Not Trek related, but Peter David just wrote a battlestar galactic tradepaperback where the two tv shows meet, which is great.