NF question

[ryan123450]

I'm going through NF but don't have the Captain's Table book or the Double Helix book. Should I get them or would I miss much by skipping them? I'm sure anything big would be recapped in the next book but if it's something big, I like to read the whole thing. Opinions, anyone?

 

[James Cole]

I'm going through NF but don't have the Captain's Table book or the Double Helix book. Should I get them or would I miss much by skipping them? I'm sure anything big would be recapped in the next book but if it's something big, I like to read the whole thing. Opinions, anyone?

Many would argue that the Captain's Table book is the best NF novel. I certainly wouldn't skip that one. The Double Helix one is a cool James Bond parody and the "major thing" from that book is recapped later, but it's one of the better NF books though. Both can be had for as cheap as possible on Amazon. Quality wise I'd skip Treason or Blind Man's Bluff before either book you listed.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

The Captain's Table entry (Once Burned) fills in some of the backstory for Captain Calhoun (answering a few questions raised in the first few NF books), but it doesn't need to be read to understand the series. That said, I echo cal888 that it's a great book and definitely should be read even though it doesn't need to be.

 

[vegaslover62]

http://www.abebooks.com is a great place to shop for out-of-print books.

 

[MatthiasRussell]

Those 2 provide important back story and elements, I wouldn't skip them. One of the hardcover books came with a disk which had the previous books on pdf.

I have that disk. If you pm me your email address I can send you the pdf for those books.

 

[borgboy]

I defintely recommend all the related NF books by Peter David. They're all well written, and are all pieces to the bigger story.

 

[MatthiasRussell]

The NF comics are valuable too as they are referenced. The IDW comic is referenced in BMB.

 

[captcalhoun]

i'd also recommend you read all of them, not only do events get referenced later, but Once Burned also introduces 3 new characters, one of whom has a large role later on.

 

[ryan123450]

Seems the concensus is to read them all. So that's what I'll do. Now to decide this: can I just read the NF part of Double Helix? It seems like it's the final book where they catch the bad guy and then the Stargazer book details why he did what he did. Is that right? If I just go into it knowing this isn't the first time this plague has been seen shouldn't I be ok? And will I really be left wondering about the villian's motivation?

 

[ryan123450]

Hey MatthiasRussell, I don't think you have enough posts to get pms, and I don't have facebook. Would love to get in touch with you though.

 

[David cgc]

I only read the New Frontier Double Helix book, and I don't feel like I missed much. Of course, I didn't particularly care about the villain.

 

[James Cole]

Seems the concensus is to read them all. So that's what I'll do. Now to decide this: can I just read the NF part of Double Helix? It seems like it's the final book where they catch the bad guy and then the Stargazer book details why he did what he did. Is that right? If I just go into it knowing this isn't the first time this plague has been seen shouldn't I be ok? And will I really be left wondering about the villian's motivation?

Double or Nothing pretty much covers everything, with The First Virtue serving as a prequel. I'd only get that one if you're interested in Stargazer.

The first four Double Helix books can be described with a sentence each and are easily skipped. Infection feels meh with like a third of the story content seemingly missing and not doing anything with Tasha Yar (re-read that one a couple weeks ago), Vectors is somewhat interesting and worth reading sometime if you like Pulaski, Red Sector is an extremely controversial book, and Quarantine is unremarkable in a neutral way.

 

[ryan123450]

What makes Red Sector so controversial? Sounds like I'll be skipping all the others and just getting the whole point of the six books by reading Double or Nothing. Thanks everybody!

 

[JD]

Other than the fact that they all feature the big bad and his disease, all of the DH books are pretty much standalone.

 

[James Cole]

This is the extent the first four books impact Double or Nothing:

Spoiler

“Dealt with? You mean it’s surfaced before?” asked
Riker.
“Apparently it has, yes,” said Soleta. “The Enterprise
first encountered it several years ago on Archaria III.
It then resurfaced on Terok Nor a few years later. A
variation was used to attack the Romulan royal family,
and finally, just before his defection, Tom Riker reported
dealing with the virus on a planet in what was
then the demilitarised zone between the Federation
and Cardassia.”

There is also a line about Picard and Jack Crusher meeting the antagonist before referencing The First Virtue.

 

[Therin of Andor]

What makes Red Sector so controversial?

I thoroughly enjoyed it, but many people found the young protagonist totally unlikable. He was a descendant of Stiles from "Balance of Terror" (TOS), and both were descendants of humans killed in the Romulan Wars. Some readers also felt that Spock was out of character, that Spock and McCoy weren't featured enough, that the story seemed to be more about Stiles and his Romulan colleague than the "Double Helix" virus problem (but that's mainly why I liked it), and that Diane Carey's personal politics showed through too strongly.

 

[MatthiasRussell]

Yeah, Double or Nothing can be read alone. I didn't read the others and didn't feel at a loss.

 

[Stevil2001]

That said I'd recommend The First Virtue-- it was a nice followup/prequel, and it's interesting to see someone other than David tackled the Thallonians.

 

[James Cole]

That said I'd recommend The First Virtue-- it was a nice followup/prequel, and it's interesting to see someone other than David tackled the Thallonians.

Did PAD's later NF work end up contradicting The First Virtue? I'm trying to remember but it's been 10 years since I read it...

 

[Thrawn]

First Virtue is fun enough to warrant the read, and it's a pretty quick one, but it's definitely not necessary at all.