Recommend Good Series/Ones to Avoid

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Guest12, Apr 3, 2012.

  1. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    So you say it's pointless and others say its dedication page was politically offensive. But it's worth leaving that one book out, while the earlier "By the Book", "What Price Honor?" and "Surak's Soul" are supposedly essential reading?

    If you're going to recommend the OP reads the entire ENT series, why insist that that one book you didn't care for has to be left out? It relies heavily on knowledge of the Xindi arc but it's not as well integrated as "The Dominion War" TNG duology?

    Still puzzled.
     
  2. tomswift2002

    tomswift2002 Commodore Commodore

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    By The Book was actually the first Enterprise novel I ever read, and it was the "Pilot" for the show from my perspective (since I didn't see even a single episode til about summer/fall 2002 when someone taped six season two episodes off of satellite for me), and that book was a lot better than any Season 1 episode.

    What Price Honor? even though it may not be one of the better Trek books out there, at least I was still able to get through it without being bored with a pointless-story to the point of putting the book down half-way through and not picking it up since.

    Surak's Soul was better than What Price Honor? and was still better than the 6 episodes I had seen by the time it came out

    Last Full Measure---what can I say, it was a pointless book that was even more boring than Shuttlepod One and all the other lame episodes. LFM couldn't even measure up to the worst of the "filler" stories that have been in Trek. It was a poorly thought out book, and poorly plotted that didn't add to the book series. It tells a story that should've been a very tiny "B" plot in an episode. The Dominion War books with the TNG crew are far superior in terms of tying into the Dominion War because they tell a story that needed to be told: what was Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-E doing while Captain Sisko and the crew of DS9 were at the forefront of the War? Last Full Measure was just "Ensign Reed and the MACO's work on their relationship while the Enterprise stops at a planet to look for information on the Xindi."
     
  3. Guest12

    Guest12 Lieutenant Junior Grade Red Shirt

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    Well I have read Last Full Measure and had no problem with the dedication or the fact that it didn't really contribute a whole lot to the overarching S3 plot. I liked getting a little more background on the MACOS, and even the Tatooine-like planet (I'm assuming that was the reference we were supposed to pick out; maybe it was just me?) where the first part of the book took place. And I liked that Travis was used a lot, since (despite his chronic underuse on the show) he was one of my favorite characters on the show.

    For me, By the Book was just okay. I didn't really enjoy the whole RPG mini side-plot, but since it was the first book published for the series, I don't really hold those up to a particularly high standard since the authors don't have a whole lot to go on.
     
  4. zarkon

    zarkon Captain Captain

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    If you're looking for a decent sized series, I'd recommend the six book Errand series by Kevin Ryan. It's made up of two trilogies, Errand of Vengeance and Errand of Fury, which tell the story of the TOS era conflict between the federation and the klingons, split into basically four viewpoints - a starfleet command officer on earth, a security officer aboard the enterprise who is a klingon infiltrator, an officer aboard a klingon warship, and finally kirk.

    One of the best flowing, and most satisfying trek stories I've read.

    Book order if you're interested:

    The Edge of the Sword
    Killing Blow
    River of Blood
    Seeds of Rage
    Demands of Honor
    Sacrifices of War
     
  5. UncleRogi

    UncleRogi Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    My two-cents worth:

    A.C. Crispen's "Yesterday's Son", and "Time for Yesterday".

    Also the Section 31 novels are almost a treat in a candy store.

    No one mentioned the Invasion! series, which was particularly enjoyable; complete with time travel!
     
  6. beamMe

    beamMe Commodore

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    Stay away from that book. It's awful. It's bad. Just forget that it even exists.
     
  7. UncleRogi

    UncleRogi Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    ^^
    I would disagree. You or I might not approve, but all people can not be pleased always.

    Look at the episode TOS "Spocks' Brain".

    Still cannon, and as such must be considered "canon" and is therefore a part of our (Universe, Multiverse, Quantumverse, Opinionverse) Trek reality.

    Picking and choosing just makes you look bad (or a Temporal terrorist)

    :rofl:
     
  8. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    ^Actually it's a myth that canon means "must be accepted as true." Any long-running canon disregards or contradicts earlier parts of itself all the time, as refinements in a work in progress. For instance, "The Alternative Factor"'s assertions about antimatter and the role of dilithium are contradicted by all other canon (including earlier episodes). And even the guy who wrote VGR: "Threshold" has declared that it never happened. In other franchises, you have things like Dallas dismissing an entire season as just a dream, and various comic-book origin reboots like John Byrne's Spider-Man reboot and Superman: Birthright being ignored and forgotten when they weren't well-received.

    So picking and choosing is something the creators of a canon do themselves. It's all made up, after all, so if you're just pretending it happened in the first place, it's just as easy to change your mind and pretend it never happened after all. The idea that canon is some kind of straitjacket imposed on creators, let alone on fans, is just silly.

    And of course it's got nothing to do with tie-in novels, which are non-canonical by definition. We try to keep the books consistent with each other, but some inconsistencies are inevitable, and sometimes continuity glitches get ignored or glossed over by later writers. So if readers want to make their own choices about what bits and pieces to ignore, they're free to do that. There's no "must" here. You're reading these stories for recreation, not under duress.
     
  9. beamMe

    beamMe Commodore

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    Well, regarding The Good that Men do... Gwen DeMarco: "Whoever wrote this [book] should DIE"; it was retconning fan-wank of the worst kind.
     
  10. UncleRogi

    UncleRogi Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    ^^

    I was arguing for equal chance for all authors interpritation (?)

    To agree with you, I was arguing from reading your novel "Watching the Clock"

    The timeline must be preserved!!

    We wont talk about Shelan.

    I dont think ANY Trek-lit should be "good" or "bad"

    Enjoy the story!!
     
  11. beamMe

    beamMe Commodore

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    "And this, kids, is what happens when you post drunk."
     
  12. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    But... for fans of Shran, Jhamel and Ambassador Thoris, it's a must-read. Lots more Aenar goodness with new characters, Jhamel's bondmates, Thera, Shenar and Vishri.

    Not to mention that it's a better (supposedly truer) story than the holodeck simulation Riker played in "These Are the Voyages..." If you don't like retcons, I can understand this novel not being to your tastes, but there's plenty in it for others to enjoy.
     
  13. UncleRogi

    UncleRogi Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    :cool:

    Have you done your research? Or a temporal assasin?
     
  14. Thrawn

    Thrawn Rear Admiral Premium Member

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    No, but I am the color blue. Or is she crying?
     
  15. UncleRogi

    UncleRogi Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Flamer. Children should not argue points with adults. I would bet that you were in diapers when TNG premiered. I hope I get a warning for calling you out.
     
  16. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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  17. beamMe

    beamMe Commodore

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    I have nothing against retcons (Enterprise itself had a few good ones: the Borg and the Klingons).
    This book was just badly written.
     
  18. beamMe

    beamMe Commodore

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    Seven actually.

    Perhaps you should explain how Trek-lit shouldn't be "good" or "bad".
     
  19. Captaindemotion

    Captaindemotion Admiral Admiral

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    TGTMD was one of the few recent-ish Trek novels I've read in the last few years and I really disliked it too.

    I hated the decision to kill Trip off in TATV and was quite happy to indulge in a bit of revisionism (I like the Shatnerverse, FFS!) but this book didn't work for me at all. I especially couldn't make head nor tail of the logic in changing the year of such a significant piece of history and expecting us to believe that subsequent historians had fallen for it too. And the reasons why Trip had to be believed dead were unconvincing too.

    This put me off reading the ENT Romulan War series, a set of books I would otherwise have been curious to read.
     
  20. beamMe

    beamMe Commodore

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    My feelings exactly.
    But I have actually started reading Kobayashi Maru which leads into the Romulan war stories I think, but that one isn't very good either.

    Thank god for Vanguard, though. We need more of that.