Have any of the novels ever just made you mad? (

[F. King Daniel]

^ I suppose they had to do something to make sure that V'Ger didn't approach Earth in the Abramsverse. You really think that the ST XI crew could handle it?

Kirk would have taught the Illia probe emotion by shagging her brains out, and the crew would have cranked up the speed so we don't have to sit through all those fx sequences. Also, instead of morse code, Kirk would have plugged his iPod into Voyager 6 and let V'ger absorb the Beastie Boys

Problem solved.

 

[ronny]

I...think you're confusing me with someone else. But anyhow, my eyes certainly rolled heavenward with those pathetic incidents, and I certainly grumbled internally in disgust--but, never once did I say that Mike didn't have the right to do that.

I don't see how I could be confusing you with someone else when the very next sentence of what you say is you doing what I said you do when authors have opinions. A Diane Carey character stating an opinion is IDIC but an author doing it is a "pathetic incident".

Getting back to the subject at hand though, I think the most I've been annoyed I've been reading a Star Trek book is Ship of the Line. Using a minute of screen time as a jumping off point for a novel and getting just about every detail wrong is just the starting point of what's lame with that book. The portrayal of Picard is just pathetic. I don't think I believed a line of dialogue the character in the book said would have been said by the guy on the show. And having Kirk be such a god like figure that the mere presence of a Kirk hologram convinces Picard he could be a good captain after all.

 

[George]

I was extremely disappointed by the end of the first Titan novel. I mean, the battle is over, you think the book is coming to a close and all's well, but no, the almighty author chose to send the USS Titan right into another damn galaxy. Now usually, I don't have a problem with cliffhangers, but this one was just *so* cheap and cliché that I didn't even bother buying the other novels. I mean, whoop-de-doo, out of the middle of nowhere they're suddenly stranded. First of all, we already went through the whole "starship mysteriously stranded" thing with Voyager, and second of all that's the way I would expect some twelve year old fanboy to end a novel, but not a professional author.

 

[Christopher]

Red Sector really steamed me. It was a TNG novel in which the main crew were barely in it.

Actually that's true of most of the Double Helix series that Red Sector was part of. It's rather strange that it was billed as TNG, when each of its books actually focused on a different set of characters -- Book 1 was first-season TNG, Book 2 was Dr. Pulaski on Terok Nor, Book 3 was old Spock and McCoy, Book 4 was Tom Riker and the Maquis, Book 5 was TNG/NF, Book 6 was Stargazer and Tuvok.

 

[DorkBoy [TM]]

Another vote for the mutiny scenes in "Before Dishonour." The characterization was just so off, particularly after the job KRAD and others had just done integrating the new characters and making them work. After that, I was actually glad that stupid security chief guy ended up dying, and making a complete ass of himself in the process, a few books later. Serves him right.

I didn't care for how he killed off Janeway either, but that didn't really make me mad.

It probably doesn't help that Peter David is one of my favorites, and Vendetta, his earlier Borg book, is one of his finest. I was expecting another Vendetta-quality work.

Oh boy was I disappointed.

 

[DorkBoy [TM]]

And What Lay Beyond pissed me off, just because I'm still convinced it was a gimmick.

Oh yeah, that was completely lame.

A series where the stories are "standalone" except that even if you just read one you have to buy a hardcover to see how it ends.

The really sad part is, almost all of the gateways endings were a letdown. And there really wasn't much cohesion among them. I would have preferred it if the stories actually had a little more to do with each other. Especially since the endings were all contained in a single volume.

I think there were some good stories in there but I can't remember which ones.

 

[kkozoriz1]

I had given up on New Frontier a few books ago because Peter David's writing just wasn't working for me. I couldn't pin it down to any one particular thing, just that I wasn't enjoying it as much as I used to. When I read the reviews of Before Dishonor I felt relieved that it wasn't just me.

 

[captcalhoun]

I was extremely disappointed by the end of the first Titan novel. I mean, the battle is over, you think the book is coming to a close and all's well, but no, the almighty author chose to send the USS Titan right into another damn galaxy. Now usually, I don't have a problem with cliffhangers, but this one was just *so* cheap and cliché that I didn't even bother buying the other novels. I mean, whoop-de-doo, out of the middle of nowhere they're suddenly stranded. First of all, we already went through the whole "starship mysteriously stranded" thing with Voyager, and second of all that's the way I would expect some twelve year old fanboy to end a novel, but not a professional author.

they only stayed there one novel and the novels afterwards are awesome, so, your loss.

 

[JD]

^And it also brought back the Neyel, who I thought where pretty interesting.

 

[Thrawn]

I was extremely disappointed by the end of the first Titan novel. I mean, the battle is over, you think the book is coming to a close and all's well, but no, the almighty author chose to send the USS Titan right into another damn galaxy. Now usually, I don't have a problem with cliffhangers, but this one was just *so* cheap and cliché that I didn't even bother buying the other novels. I mean, whoop-de-doo, out of the middle of nowhere they're suddenly stranded. First of all, we already went through the whole "starship mysteriously stranded" thing with Voyager, and second of all that's the way I would expect some twelve year old fanboy to end a novel, but not a professional author.

If it helps any, they get back at the end of the next book, and all the rest of the books in the series are way better. In fact, you could probably skip the second one completely (it's pretty bad, I think) and start with Orion's Hounds to see what that series should be written like.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

^ I suppose they had to do something to make sure that V'Ger didn't approach Earth in the Abramsverse. You really think that the ST XI crew could handle it?

Mah, all they would really have to do is let Spock do everything and then toss Decker to V'ger.

 

[Sci]

IMO, A Singular Destiny and Losing The Peace both told the same story--the terrible aftermath from Destiny and the emergence of the Typhon Pact--but with the primary difference being that Losing The Peace concentrated on what the crew of the Enterprise-E were doing during that time whereas A Singular Destiny was far more widespread. I could almost have chosen one or the other because they both pretty much take you to the same place in the end.

Not really. LtP is about the Federation's internal issues in the wake of the invasion -- about how they start to recover. ASD is about the Federation's relationships with other societies.

In other words, LtP is about Federation domestic policy (specifically, the triumph of Federation unity over regionalism), and ASD is about Federation foreign policy.

 

[STR]

Resistance. I almost gave up reading TrekLit altogether after that one.
I wasn't a fan of the ending for the Destiny trilogy, but that was more disappointment than anger. Still, I'd say the set was worth it for the first couple books, and the last one was okay until the end.

 

[Rush Limborg]

I...think you're confusing me with someone else. But anyhow, my eyes certainly rolled heavenward with those pathetic incidents, and I certainly grumbled internally in disgust--but, never once did I say that Mike didn't have the right to do that.

I don't see how I could be confusing you with someone else when the very next sentence of what you say is you doing what I said you do when authors have opinions.

I'd hardly call what I described "head explosions".

A Diane Carey character stating an opinion is IDIC but an author doing it is a "pathetic incident".

Look. You want a character to state an opinion? Fine. You enter a world, and encounter an opinion in that world, which does not necessarily limit the reality of perspective in that world.

When an author makes such a remark--consider that, for the duration of the book, the author is the commander of said world. That the all-poweful author would have himself proclaim a controversial view is certainly more cause for concern than having a character, or series of characters, do so--because the author thus implies that the universe he commands submits to this view.

Now--as I had said before, that this comment was in the dedication, not in any afterword or forward (which would link said view more directly to the book), allows me to separate the comment from the book. I despise the dedication, but I think Last Full Measure was excellent. (I have yet to read Need of the Many.)

To the best of my knowledge, Diane has never put any politically controversial remarks in the dedications, forwards, or afterwords of her books.

 

[C.E. Evans]

IMO, A Singular Destiny and Losing The Peace both told the same story--the terrible aftermath from Destiny and the emergence of the Typhon Pact--but with the primary difference being that Losing The Peace concentrated on what the crew of the Enterprise-E were doing during that time whereas A Singular Destiny was far more widespread. I could almost have chosen one or the other because they both pretty much take you to the same place in the end.

Not really. LtP is about the Federation's internal issues in the wake of the invasion -- about how they start to recover. ASD is about the Federation's relationships with other societies.

In other words, LtP is about Federation domestic policy (specifically, the triumph of Federation unity over regionalism), and ASD is about Federation foreign policy.

That's apples and oranges, really. As I said before, both books still dealt with the immediate fallout from Destiny, except from different perspectives, and ended about at the same place with the introduction of the Typhon Pact.

 

[DorkBoy [TM]]

I had given up on New Frontier a few books ago because Peter David's writing just wasn't working for me. I couldn't pin it down to any one particular thing, just that I wasn't enjoying it as much as I used to. When I read the reviews of Before Dishonor I felt relieved that it wasn't just me.

It's not just you.

I still read and enjoy New Frontier, but he is nowhere near as good as he used to be. Cartooney, over-the-top characterizations and situations seem to be the norm, and the humor is less subtle and more corny / ridiculous than ever before.

I used to particularly love his characterizations of the TNG crew. They are kind of a dry bunch, yet he livened them up (while still nailing the characterizations).

That is also probably why I disliked BD. The crew dynamic is so different now and all the characters just seemed so off, especially the new, barely established ones (obviously). He took them in a very different (and very lame) direction compared to the prior novels.

I was so excited to hear he was returning to the TNG universe, and in a Borg novel no less. If I had known how much of a train wreck it would be, I'd have thought twice.

It is possible too (probably likely) that the bar is higher in Trek lit today than it was in Peter David's heyday in the 90s. There are so many other fantastic writers now its just harder to stand out.

 

[Therin of Andor]

And when you think about it, the folks on Belle Terre aren't the greatest-- they can't actually get by without Starfleet, who saves their entire planet from destruction (usually despite its civilian leaders) every other book.

And I guess that's why I don't let Carey's politics rub me up the wrong way. I'm either oblivious to them, or she still shows that Starfleet values have redeeming qualities and can save the day, despite what some of her characters seem to baulk about.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I despise the dedication, but I think Last Full Measure was excellent.

Wasn't the book dedicated to a woman whose son was killed in the so-called War on Terror? Is that really so terrible?

Aren't we supposed to reflect on the stupidity of all war?

 

[kkozoriz1]

I had given up on New Frontier a few books ago because Peter David's writing just wasn't working for me. I couldn't pin it down to any one particular thing, just that I wasn't enjoying it as much as I used to. When I read the reviews of Before Dishonor I felt relieved that it wasn't just me.

It's not just you.

I still read and enjoy New Frontier, but he is nowhere near as good as he used to be. Cartooney, over-the-top characterizations and situations seem to be the norm, and the humor is less subtle and more corny / ridiculous than ever before.

I used to particularly love his characterizations of the TNG crew. They are kind of a dry bunch, yet he livened them up (while still nailing the characterizations).

That is also probably why I disliked BD. The crew dynamic is so different now and all the characters just seemed so off, especially the new, barely established ones (obviously). He took them in a very different (and very lame) direction compared to the prior novels.

I was so excited to hear he was returning to the TNG universe, and in a Borg novel no less. If I had known how much of a train wreck it would be, I'd have thought twice.

It is possible too (probably likely) that the bar is higher in Trek lit today than it was in Peter David's heyday in the 90s. There are so many other fantastic writers now its just harder to stand out.

I know exactly when it jumped the targ for me. It was when the Borg ate Pluto. Toss in the lame "Is Pluto a planet" reference and it fell flat on it's face. I wouldn't have been surprised if the Borg Queen slipped on a banana peel while carrying a cream pie at that point.

 

[Therin of Andor]

It's rather strange that it was billed as TNG, when each of its books actually focused on a different set of characters -- Book 1 was first-season TNG, Book 2 was Dr. Pulaski on Terok Nor, Book 3 was old Spock and McCoy, Book 4 was Tom Riker and the Maquis, Book 5 was TNG/NF, Book 6 was Stargazer and Tuvok.

That's how the mini-series was originally pitched (similar to the "Day of Honor" and the Furies mini-series), but TNG novels were selling so well at the time, they figured the TNG banner would help out all of the instalments, not just the Tasha/Data one.