Novels for a DS9 Rewatch?

[Stevil2001]

I've been rewatching Deep Space Nine for the first time in a decade (!!!), and I though it'd be nice to read a novel at the end of each season, one that takes place during or otherwise co-ordinates with that season. My ideas so far:

1. ???
2. ???
3. Time's Enemy
4. The 34th Rule
5. ???
6. Hollow Men
7. ???

Any other suggestions? Are there even seven good pre-relaunch novels? Are there any Season 7 novels?

 

[Defcon]

Suggestion for S2: Fallen Heroes

 

[chris_masters5]

The Millennium trilogy starts/ends just before S7.

Also - not really a novel but Tales of the Dominion War spans S6-7 so could be read after S7.

 

[Thrawn]

1 - The Siege
2 - Fallen Heroes

 

[Christopher]

1 - The Siege
2 - Fallen Heroes

Yeah, both of these have continuity issues (e.g. The Siege blows up the Rio Grande, the indestructible runabout, while Fallen Heroes gives the station a 28-hour day instead of 26), but they're definitely the best novels in their respective seasons by a wide margin.

Season 5 is trickier, since the pickings are pretty slim. Going by the Voyages of the Imagination timeline, the only novel-length options are the Trials and Tribble-ations novelization, Vengeance, the DS9 half of The Badlands, Book 2, and the Rebels trilogy, plus the young-adult Day of Honor: Honor Bound. Plus a couple of SNW stories and my own Prophecy and Change story "...Loved I Not Honor More."

There don't seem to be any novels set during season 7, the closest one being The Left Hand of Destiny, which begins pretty immediately after season 7. The only in-season options are a few stories in SNW and P&C.

 

[Tarheel]

1 - The Siege
2 - Fallen Heroes

^This ... most definitely

and Millennium between s6 and s7 as well

Actually, I really like this idea and might steal it when I do my planned rewatch!

 

[Christopher]

The thing about Millennium is that it isn't between seasons -- it's set just before the 6th-season finale. So it's a season 6 tale, not an in-between one. (Although its frame is set sometime after the series finale.)

 

[borgboy]

I love the Millennium trilogy. That's the only pre relaunch novels for DS9 I'd bother with.

 

[Stevil2001]

How did I forget Fallen Heroes!?

1. The Siege
2. Fallen Heroes
3. Time's Enemy
4. The 34th Rule
5. ???
6. Hollow Men
7. A Stitch in Time

I love Millennium, but it's too much of a commitment (those are three chunky books). Stitch in Time seems like it would work well after Season 7.

You know, I have fond memories of the DS9 YA Day of Honor tie-in. Maybe I should do it for S5.

ETA: Memory Beta says the main story of The Mist takes place during S5, but I have bad memories of it.

Oh, are there any good "Odo investigates" novels? I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess "no," but halfway through S1 he is definitely the best character, and there ought to be a book where he solves crimes like a badass.

 

[tomswift2002]

One book that I really enjoyed, and it takes place between Seasons 1 & 2 is Warchild. It's a great Julian Bashir book, that gives Bashir a lot more to do on Bajor than he had done during the first season, and the end has a very surprising twist.

Plus "Warchild" is part of a multi-part story that plays out throughout "Valhalla" and "Betrayal" involving the Cardassian Revanche party, and all three books take place between Seasons 1 & 2.

I just checked Memory Beta, and it mentions that the book also follows up on the events of "Progress", especially with Mullibok.

 

[TheAlmanac]

I'll add my support for The Siege and Falllen Heroes as choices, though I wasn't aware the latter was supposed to be set in Season 2...I'd always had the impression it was meant to take place in Season 1.

It is a little weird that there are so few stories set during the latter half of the series--at this point, I feel like we're far enough away from the airing of (any of) the series that some worthy tales could be told between those DS9 episodes.

 

[Christopher]

I'll add my support for The Siege and Falllen Heroes as choices, though I wasn't aware the latter was supposed to be set in Season 2...I'd always had the impression it was meant to take place in Season 1.

According to the Timeline, it references The Big Game (there was an attempt at inter-novel continuity in the early DS9 books) and that book was second-season, apparently.

It is a little weird that there are so few stories set during the latter half of the series--at this point, I feel like we're far enough away from the airing of (any of) the series that some worthy tales could be told between those DS9 episodes.

I figure the storytelling in the show was so tight by then that there wasn't much room for new stories. Things were changing so fast from episode to episode that any book would be rendered obsolete or contradicted long before it came out. It was just safer to stay away from it while it was still going on. And the thrust of the post-finale novels was to move forward.

 

[Stevil2001]

One book that I really enjoyed, and it takes place between Seasons 1 & 2 is Warchild. It's a great Julian Bashir book, that gives Bashir a lot more to do on Bajor than he had done during the first season, and the end has a very surprising twist.

Plus "Warchild" is part of a multi-part story that plays out throughout "Valhalla" and "Betrayal" involving the Cardassian Revanche party, and all three books take place between Seasons 1 & 2.

I haven't read Warchild, but I have middling-to-positive memories of Valhalla and Betrayal.

ETA: What's the order of three? Valhalla is missing from the MB timeline, and I've no idea where my copy of VoI is.

I'll add my support for The Siege and Falllen Heroes as choices, though I wasn't aware the latter was supposed to be set in Season 2...I'd always had the impression it was meant to take place in Season 1.

Memory Beta indicates it references "In the Hands of the Prophets," so at the very least it has to take place in the S1/S2 gap.

 

[borgboy]

I just want to point out there are no novel appearances of Ezri prior to the relaunch. She was explored pretty well in the tv series in season 7, but I still think there is material to explore with Ezri in that era.

 

[Christopher]

Plus "Warchild" is part of a multi-part story that plays out throughout "Valhalla" and "Betrayal" involving the Cardassian Revanche party, and all three books take place between Seasons 1 & 2.

I haven't read Warchild, but I have middling-to-positive memories of Valhalla and Betrayal.

ETA: What's the order of three? Valhalla is missing from the MB timeline, and I've no idea where my copy of VoI is.

I don't recall any references to the Revanche arc in Warchild. But Valhalla comes before Betrayal, despite having a throwaway reference to the Defiant. It was written very early, but was delayed, and for some reason they insisted on inserting an anachronistic third-season reference even though the novel was clearly meant to be in the first season.

 

[Idran]

I just want to point out there are no novel appearances of Ezri prior to the relaunch. She was explored pretty well in the tv series in season 7, but I still think there is material to explore with Ezri in that era.

Didn't Lives of Dax come out pre-relaunch? Barely, I think, but still. Though I guess it doesn't really count as a novel per se, maybe.

 

[Christopher]

Didn't Lives of Dax come out pre-relaunch? Barely, I think, but still.

About a year and a half earlier, in fact. But its frame story is set after the series finale.

 

[Stevil2001]

Hm, The Lives of Dax might be another good one for S7. Though A Stitch in Time is the better book.

 

[DS9forever]

The 34th Rule is the best novel set in season four, obviously, but The Heart of the Warrior is a good read if you liked the Changeling infiltration episodes of the series.

 

[Defcon]

Not exactly what you're asking for, but abook worth reading on the side during your rewatch , as it spans from Season 2 to IIRC the post finale timeframe, is Una's The Never-Ending Sacrifice.