Reading order - any pitfalls to avoid

[Smiley]

The SGZ books do work as a set, but MJF does a great job with recapping important past events, so it shouldn't be hard to take a break between them if you need or want to.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Hi again. Sorry to revive this thread, but I'm up to Genesis Wave Book 1 now. Without giving anything away, might it be best to read all three Genesis Wave books AND Genesis Force back to back or is there any reason I should wait to catch up on the books published in between those?

I try to read everything in publication order, but I see no problem with reading GW I and II back to back. They are quite independent of everything else. Reading them together has the advantage of no agonizing 12-month wait between instalments.

GW 3 deals with the aftermath of the disaster and I found disappointing - although the cover is fantastic! "Genesis Force" starts out like it's a pilot for another book-only series but I didn't find it engaging or exciting until Worf and Alexander show up a third of the way through. This book's timeline parallels the trilogy.

Also, what's the correct order for the Section 31 series?

Deliberately, there is no "correct" reading order for these. "TNG: Rogue" (a prequel to "First Contact", featuring Hawk) and "VOY: Shadow" (following up the nameless blonde crewmember who dies on the bridge in "Scientific Method") both came out in June 2001, and "TOS: Cloak" and "DS9: Abyss" followed in the July.

If you're reading the DS9 Relaunch novels, then "Abyss" is also part of that set of story arcs, between the "Avatar" duology and "Gateways".

 

[Christopher]

Hi again. Sorry to revive this thread, but I'm up to Genesis Wave Book 1 now. Without giving anything away, might it be best to read all three Genesis Wave books AND Genesis Force back to back or is there any reason I should wait to catch up on the books published in between those?

No reason to wait. TGW Book 3 takes place immediately after Books 1 and 2, and Genesis Force actually takes place during the events of the TGW trilogy. Also, the books don't have any major continuity ties to any other books published in between them.

Also, what's the correct order for the Section 31 series?

There isn't one. Each book in the series is a completely standalone story; the only connection among them is that they all involve Section 31. For what it's worth, the chronological order is Cloak, Rogue, Shadow, Abyss (TOS, TNG, VGR, DS9), but it doesn't matter what order you read them in, and you can read as many or as few as you wish.

 

[Geoff]

For what it's worth, the chronological order is Cloak, Rogue, Shadow, Abyss (TOS, TNG, VGR, DS9), but it doesn't matter what order you read them in, and you can read as many or as few as you wish.

Yep. Although it's probably worth mentioning that Abyss is also part of the DS9 "relaunch" series, and as such should be read between the Avatar duology and Gateways: Demons of Air and Darkness.

(EDIT: And I see now that Therin already said that upthread. Pffftthhhtt!)

 

[BaloksPuppet]

Thanks everyone, that clears it up for me. So I'll work on the Genesis Wave/Force books, move on to the two Avatar books, then the four Section 31 books, then on to the Gateway series. And from there I'll probably work straight through the remaining New Frontier books just because I'm anxious to get to those.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I would read the Genesis Wave series straight through. GW3 is a little strange, but G4ce makes up for it. (IMHO, of course. YMMV.)

 

[Christopher]

Thanks everyone, that clears it up for me. So I'll work on the Genesis Wave/Force books, move on to the two Avatar books, then the four Section 31 books, then on to the Gateway series. And from there I'll probably work straight through the remaining New Frontier books just because I'm anxious to get to those.

Really, there's no reason to read the Section 31 books as a block. They don't have a continuity running through them, no common characters, anything; they're just four completely separate books that happen to involve the same agency. Despite the cover treatment, Abyss is far more closely linked with the rest of the DS9 novel series than it is with any of the other S31 books. So if you're concerned with reading books in a logical order, you'd be better off reading just Abyss between the other DS9 books, rather than interrupting the DS9 sequence with three unrelated S31 books that all take place before Avatar (in 2270, 2373, and 2375, respectively).

 

[BaloksPuppet]

Okay then, I'll read the other three Section 31 books before moving on to Avatar and then Abyss. Thanks!

 

[BaloksPuppet]

Okay, Gateways has me a little confused. I just finished One Small Step and then realized I had to read "One Giant Leap" from book seven in order to resolve it. No problem, I figure, I'll just read each novel and then the corresponding novella. Then I noticed that the TNG novella is the last one in book seven. Without giving me any spoilers, would it be more appropriate for me to leave Doors into Chaos for last among the novels? In other words, even though they're numbered should I read book two, Chainmail, the novella Exodus, then skip book 3 Doors into Chaos and go straight to book 4 Demons of Air and Darkness? Or should I read "The Other Side" out of order? Or does it not really matter? I really don't want to read all the novels first and then each resolution a few days from now (yes, I realize that's better than having to wait months as many of you were forced to do, but still).

I'm sorry to ask for help again but this is all a bit more confusing than I expected and since I really hate spoilers I'm hesitant to research this too closely at Memory Beta or through user reviews, etc.

Thanks!

 

[Rosalind]

no, just read it in publication order, you'll be fine.

 

[JD]

When I read Doors Into Chaos, Demons of Air and Darkness, and Cold Wars I just read the novel and then the novella and I had no problems whatsoever. If I remember correctly (and there is a good chance I don't) the reason that the TNG novella is last is because it is he conclusion to the whole miniseries.

 

[BaloksPuppet]

Yeah, I was wondering if the TNG novella was in fact meant to be some kind of coda for the series which is why it was placed last.

 

[KRAD]

^ It is, yeah. The whole thing comes to a head in "The Other Side."

 

[Smiley]

If you want to go the "novel, then novella" path, then you should save Doors into Chaos for your last novel of the miniseries. Nothing in the fourth, fifth, or sixth book gives major spoilers for the third book, and you will then conclude the miniseries as intended.

 

[BaloksPuppet]

Okay, thanks for the advice. I already started following through with my novel-then-novella plan leaving Doors into Chaos for last. I just finished Demons of Air and Darkness + "Horn and Ivory" (literally finished five minutes ago - I really enjoyed H&I) and I was a little nervous when Picard made an appearance, but I had no cause to be, and I appreciate the reassurance.

I think I've made a minor mistake in my overall reading list in that I've got the SCE books listed by the publication date of the paper collections rather than the publication date of the original eBooks, so I'm already ahead of where I should be I think in my overall reading. Hopefully that won't be too big a problem though it's now unavoidable that there will be a gap before I get to the Gateways story from that series which I hadn't realized existed. Oh, well.

And I've got to say that each time I finish one of the DS9 relaunch books (that's technically four now), I'm tempted to abandon my reading list and just push on with the rest of DS9. I'm finding them very engaging. I do intend to read all the books from all the series, but I kind of feel like I lose focus by jumping back and forth between series. I suppose that's just my own limitation and not really a criticism or anything.

 

[KRAD]

The holoconference scene in Demons of Air and Darkness is actually a scene that is in the TNG, DS9, and New Frontier volumes of the Gateways crossover, and that scene was jam-written by me, Bob Greenberger, and Peter David, with each scene tweaked as appropriate to the particular book.

Glad you enjoyed "Horn and Ivory"! It's one I'm still particularly proud of.

In terms of SCE, here's how it intertwines with the DS9 fiction:

Prior to Avatar:
The Belly of the Beast
Fatal Error
Hard Crash
Interphase

Between Avatar and Abyss:
Cold Fusion
Invincible

Between Abyss and Demons of Air and Darkness:
The Riddled Post

After "Horn and Ivory," simultaneous with Twilight, This Gray Spirit, and Cathedral:
Here There Be Monsters
Ambush
Some Assembly Required
No Surrender
Caveat Emptor
Past Life
Oaths
Foundations (framing sequence)
Enigma Ship
War Stories (framing sequence)
Wildfire
Home Fires
Age of Unreason
Balance of Nature
Breakdowns

Between Cathedral and Lesser Evil:
Aftermath
Ishtar Rising

Simultaneous with Lesser Evil, Unity, and the first five parts of Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
Buying Time
Collective Hindsight
The Demon
Ring Around the Sky
Orphans
Grand Designs
Failsafe
Bitter Medicine
Sargasso Sector
Paradise Interrupted
Where Time Stands Still (framing sequence)
The Art of the Deal
Spin
Creative Couplings
Small World

Between Satisfaction is Not Guaranteed and Olympus Descending:
Malefictorum
Lost Time
Identity Crisis
Fables of the Prime Directive
Security
Wounds
Out of the Cocoon

And everything else is after Warpath.

 

[Lynx]

The Memory Beta timeline is very good. There is also a book caled "Voyages Of Imagination" by Jeff Ayers, an excellent book with all possible information about the Star Trek books, including a Timeline. I guess that the Memory Beta Timeline is based on the information there.

However, the timelines in Memory Beta and in "Voyages Of Imagination" have some errors when it comes to the Voyager season 1-3 novels. The main events in the book "Mosaic" is placed between "Tattoo" and "Cold Fire". But the events in the book must take place after "Meld" because Tuvok's mind-meld with Suder is discussed by Kes and The Doctor in the first chapter of the book. The Trabe also appears in the book and Voyager had already had first contact with the Trabe in the episode "Alliances". So I took the liberty to place the events in the book shortly after "Meld" in my Voyager season 1-3 timeline.

The mention of a newborn baby in "Chrysalis" means that the episode must take place some time after "Deadlock", not between "Lifesigns" and "Investigations" as suggested in "Voyages Of Imagination". I took the liberty to place it between "Resolutions" and "Basics" where there's a four month long period where nothing is happening.

There are some other glitches as well which has been corrected in my Voyager season 1-3 timeline which may be of interest if you're gonna read the Voyager novels.
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Park/1964/timeline.html

 

[Stevil2001]

And everything else is after Warpath.

Except for the framing sequence of The Future Begins, which occurs simultaneous with Here There Be Monsters, because I like to be difficult.

Lynx, the thing about Memory Beta is that if you notice a mistake, you can fix it yourself! Just put an explanation for your change in the notes field.

 

[BaloksPuppet]

Okay, so it looks like I'm going to be reading a lot of SCE next week.

Thanks, I do appreciate that breakdown, sir.

 

[KRAD]

And everything else is after Warpath.

Except for the framing sequence of The Future Begins, which occurs simultaneous with Here There Be Monsters, because I like to be difficult.

Er, well, actually, with the exception of the frames around Progress and Echoes of Coventry, none of the What's Past stories take place after Warpath, ranging in time frame from the 23rd century to the height of the Dominion War, with other stops along the way (and beyond, in the case of TFB).

But I didn't want to get into that.