Looking for more TOS book recs

[seigezunt]

With the interest of the new movie, I've been hitting my pile of old books, and thinking of reading some new ones. Any recommendations on TOS novels?

No offense to other series fans, I just find I just don't have the interest with the other series characters. I think it dates back to having only three years of episodes to draw from, rather than seven of several shows. I'm sure once I've read all the TOS books, that may change, if I ever have the time for that.

I'm trying to figure out which of the Pocket Books were best, and which to avoid. Seems like the 90s produced some clunkers, and I like the older ones, when there was more willingness to be bold with continuity, and less "canon" to worry about. That said, I've loved some of the recent ones, Janus Gate being a favorite.

I have read (and thanks to Steve Roby's excellent Starfleet Library site for the book list):

Spock's World
The Lost Years
Prime Directive
Best Destiny
Federation
Sarek


All the Shatnerverse novels but Collision Course


Vulcan's Forge
Vulcan's Heart
The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh Volume One
The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh Volume Two
The Janus Gate
Vulcan's Soul Book I: Exodus
Rihannsu: The Bloodwing Voyages:


I liked My Enemy My Ally and the Romulan Way, but lost interest with Swordhunt.

Spock, Messiah! (Cogswell, Theodore R.) (Spano, Charles A., Jr.)
Star Trek: The New Voyages (Culbreath, Myrna) (Marshak, Sondra)
Star Trek: The New Voyages 2 (Culbreath, Myrna) (Marshak, Sondra)
Price of the Phoenix (Culbreath, Myrna) (Marshak, Sondra)
Galactic Whirlpool (Gerrold, David)
Planet of Judgment (Haldeman, Joe)

Web of the Romulans
Yesterday's Son
The Wounded Sky
Enterprise: The First Adventure
Strangers From the Sky
Final Frontier
Time for Yesterday
Vulcan's Glory
The Kobayashi Maru
Faces of Fire
My Brother's Keeper 1: Republic
My Brother's Keeper 2: Constitution
My Brother's Keeper 3: Enterprise
The Janus Gate: Present Tense
The Janus Gate: Future Imperfect
The Janus Gate: Past Prologue
Crucible: Provenance of Shadows
Crucible: Spock: The Fire and the Rose
Crucible: Kirk: The Star to Every Wandering

 

[Claudia]

The Entropy Effect is missing from your list - IMO a "must read".

 

[Stevil2001]

Shadows on the Sun, The Better Man, and Dreams of the Raven are three excellent, McCoy-centric novels.

I'm also a big fan of Barbara Hambly's three entries: Ishmael, Ghost-Walker, and Crossroad. She has Captain Kirk nailed pretty well, and her later books both capture a really strong foreboding atmosphere.

 

[Geoff]

Dayton Ward's In the Name of Honor...

Since you read the two Eugenics Wars books, you may as well follow-up with To Reign In Hell...

If you like the Reeves-Stevens's work, their first novel Memory Prime is pretty good...

And after you read The Entropy Effect, read McIntyre's novelizations of TWOK and TSFS, which are amazing in their own right.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Constellations and Mere Anarchy would be good choices.

 

[Defcon]

Dayton Ward's In the Name of Honor...

Seconded.

 

[MarianLH]

Dayton Ward's In the Name of Honor...

Seconded.

I'd list that as one to avoid, myself. I found the writing so awful I couldn't get past page 6.

Most of my favorites are already on the OP's list, but two that aren't are Crisis On Centaurus and Dwellers In The Crucible. If pre-TOS counts, the Captain Pike stories Burning Dreams and Vulcan's Glory were pretty good.

I thought about suggesting Uhura's Song as another one to avoid, but I've got mixed feelings about that. The book is ruined by a textbook Mary Sue, but the author did a good job with the alien culture-building. Maybe it's worth reading once, to appreciate the good parts.


Marian

 

[Defcon]

Dayton Ward's In the Name of Honor...

Seconded.

I'd list that as one to avoid, myself. I found the writing so awful I couldn't get past page 6.

If I would write off a book after only three pages of actual text, I would never have purchased Full Circle after reading the excerpt, but I did and it was a decent enough book after all. Maybe you should give it another try if you still own the copy.

Most of my favorites are already on the OP's list, but two that aren't are Crisis On Centaurus and Dwellers In The Crucible.

While I agree on Dwellers In The Crucible, Crisis On Centaurus actually is one to avoid in my opinion. I guess our tastes aren't totally compatible.

 

[Ward Fowler]

The Vulcan Academy Murders is enjoyable enough. So is the sequel, the IDIC Epidemic.

 

[Smitty]

I have read (and thanks to Steve Roby's excellent Starfleet Library site for the book list)

Is that site still being maintained?

 

[Steve Roby]

Yep. Around for ten years now and still being updated. I need to update a couple of things from the last month or so, but here's the 2009 page and a forthcoming books schedule page as examples.

 

[Smitty]

Yep. Around for ten years now and still being updated. I need to update a couple of things from the last month or so, but here's the 2009 page and a forthcoming books schedule page as examples.

Oh Cool, It's your site!! Thanks for all the work!

 

[BaloksPuppet]

First Frontier is an often overlooked gem.

 

[Brikar99]

What's that one where Kirk is blamed for destroying a planet and the crew is disbanded? It's totally on the tip of my tongue, but I remember that one being quite good.

 

[Stevil2001]

That's Prime Directive, which was on the OP's list of ones he read. And it is indeed quite good.

 

[donners22]

Mudd in Your Eye, by Jerry Oltion. A very original, humourous and entertaining story.

The Rift by Peter David is also quite amusing and enjoyable.

 

[FatherRob]

Some of my favorite TOS novels:

The Starless World (Bantam)
The Galactic Whirlpool (Bantam)
The Entropy Effect (Pocket from this point on)
The Covenant of the Crown
The Abode of Life
STII Novelization
Corona
STIII Novelization
Tears of the Singers
Uhura's Song (in spite of the Mary Sue)
Killing Time
Dreadnought
Strangers from the Sky
Vulcan's Glory
Double, Double
The Pandora Principle
Sanctuary
The Great Starship Race
Firestorm
Crossroad
Assignment: Eternity
Section 31: Cloak
In the Name of Honor
Ex Machina
Burning Dreams
Crucible: McCoy

 

[ClayinCA]

Dayton Ward's In the Name of Honor...

Seconded.

I'd list that as one to avoid, myself. I found the writing so awful I couldn't get past page 6.

Really?!? I mean, each to his own and all that, but...I thought it was great. I especially liked the way the book dealt with Kirk's changing attitude toward the Klingons between The Final Frontier and The Undiscovered Country. Some of the book has since been contradicted by other Klingon-related books, I think--for example, Kirk would almost certainly recognize the "bumpy-headed" Klingons as being Klingons if the book were written now--but it made the book no less enjoyable for me, and it remains one of my favourite later-era TOS books.

 

[Reanok]

Time for Yesterday the sequel to yesterday's son. is a really nice followup where the last book leaves off and the return of Spock's son Zar and the Guardian of forever and the mystery surrounding it and the problems it's causing other worlds and the Enterprise's mission to solve it and return to the Gateworld.

 

[Dayton Ward]

Some of the book has since been contradicted by other Klingon-related books, I think--for example, Kirk would almost certainly recognize the "bumpy-headed" Klingons as being Klingons if the book were written now--but it made the book no less enjoyable for me, and it remains one of my favourite later-era TOS books.

Nitpickery ahead:

It wasn't that Kirk didn't recognize Koloth as a Klingon; it was that he was caught off guard by Koloth's "appearance change."

Otherwise....glad you liked the book