Question for the board:

[T'Ressa Dax]

Never could get into Well of Souls for some reason. But mostly I'm able to get through the books, even if it is slow going and I'm in no rush to finish.

 

[tomswift2002]

There have been a few that I couldn't finish:

Last Full Measure - the novel was pointless and it added nothing to the characters or the overall Xindi arc. And taking place right after The Xindi episode (Season 3 opener) was an odd place to stick it. It might've worked better had it been placed later in the season.

Pawns And Symbols. I tried to read this when I was like 12 years old and it just did not jive with me, since it felt too much like a TV Western, which I had seen a few, but never grew up with, and even to this day I'm not that much of a Westerner. But I may get back to it one of these days to try it as an adult.

Imbalance: the author's descriptions of the Jarada homeworld were just very hokey and made me think that the crew had beamed, in tiny, onto a tree or something.

The Laertian Gamble: I read this about 2 years ago (and I did finish it), but the author truly didn't know Star Trek or Deep Space Nine (or how to write a proper book), and the book editor must've been asleep at his/her desk since it was like every paragraph was a new chapter, meaning the book had 72 chapters, and some of them were barely half a page long. It was like "Chapter 35" 'While reading the latest crime reports, Odo took the turbolift to ops.' "Chapter 36" 'As soon as he stepped off the turbolift, Kira asked Odo about the missing runabout. Odo told her that the maintenance engineer had been struck on the head with a pipe and that the butler for the Nzleght ambassador had stolen it!' "Chapter 37", etc., etc., etc.,

Need I say more?

 

[Therin of Andor]

DS9's Laertian Gamble is pretty hard to get through

I have often seconded that. "Warped" was also an awful slog in the DS9 novels. And the "Rebels" trilogy. And VOY's "Dark Matters" trilogy.

The historical chapters of the "Vulcan's Soul" trilogy were a bit of a hard slog, too, but overall I liked that series.

I do tend to keep going, in grim determination, but I'm currently stuck about a quarter of the way into Michael A Martin's "Seize the Fire", the Gorn novel of "The Typhon Pact". I was the beta reader for Dayton's Andorian novel in that series, so I had to make a giant leap forward in the (then-current) TNG narrative. Trying to get past the Gorn to fill in the gap is driving me crazy. I put it aside and have read lots of unrelated ST novels since. "Seize the Fire" is in my satchel, I carry it everywhere - and never feel inspired to keep reading, so I'll tend to play on my iPhone instead. I really miss Andy Mangel's contributions to the old M&M partnership!

As for the OP's comment about "Fire Ship": that book was a page-turner for me. Loved it! But it was a "Captain's Table" VOY novel, not a "Day of Honor" VOY novel. Maybe they are misremembering the hideous VOY installment of "Gateways" saga? The one with the alien pet? Ick!

 

[tomswift2002]

Michael Martin's last two Titan novels were major junkers. And I do hope that with the Titan story for the "Fall" series the James Swallow retcons the Fallen Gods story. I still can't figure out exactly happened with the Andorians aside from, apparently the Andorian ship created transporter duplicates for some purpose related to their reproduction crisis. Really, it was a mess of a story; the aliens weren't even interesting.

 

[Avro Arrow]

The only one I recall is the Rebels trilogy. I can't even remember if I quit near the end of book 1 or near the beginning of book 2, but I do know I never finished the trilogy, and I stopped reading during a book, rather than in between two books. And that's saying a lot, because I usually finish a book no matter how little I'm enjoying it.

Or maybe I didn't "quit"... maybe I'm just taking a 14-year (and counting) break!

 

[Timewalker]

In your experience reading Trek lit have you ever hit a point where you put the book down and couldn't finish it because you just were not getting into it? If so which book and what was it you didn't like? I was having this discussion with some friends and I honestly couldn't think of one I stopped before the end. My one friend refuses to finish the Voyager Day of Honor book Fire Ship. I read it when I was on school and from what I could remember it dragged a little in the middle but paid out in the end.

Yes I have, several times, the ones I can clearly remember putting down and deciding not to pick up again are:

Dark Matters: Cloak and Dagger by Christie Golden.
Section 31: Rogue and Last Full Measure by Andy Mangels and Michael A Martin.
Typhon Pact: Seize the Fire by Michael A Martin.

Although I found most of their novels a slog with the exception of the The Lost Era: The Sundered and Mission Gamma: Cathedral, I never refused to read further and just put them down.

I've also found, and I've commented before, so I feel like I am needlessly repeating myself that Christopher's telling and showing with exceptionally heavy handed exposition style of writing can be a very hard read and I almost stopped reading both the second DTI novel and his Birth of the Federation novel because of this.

I never got as far as the second DTI novel. I found the first one too boring, put it down, eventually packed it when I moved, and haven't unpacked it yet (I moved back in February). I'm in no hurry to finish it (would have to start over, since I never made heads nor tails of it anyway). I will try, though, because books are too damn expensive to just let them sit unread.

My prime candidate for this is John Ford's How Much For Just the Planet?. I tried that book, and got so frustrated, I nearly took it back to the store.

A year later, I tried again - this time, trying to imagine the events unfolding as an operetta on a stage, with me in the audience watching a live performance. I used to work backstage in the theatre, so this was actually much easier. Now I love the book.