Recommended Reading Prior to Destiny

[Mysterio]

I was wondering what books I should read prior to starting into the Destiny trilogy in order to get caught up on the background. So far I am up to date with the Titan series, have just finished Death in Winter (TNG) and have read as far as Unity (DS9). I figured I should read Greater than the Sum and Warpath in the TNG and DS9 timelines respectively. Not sure it it is necessary to read the Starfleet Corps of Engineers or New Frontier.
I really want to get into the Destiny books but didn't want to miss any important background info.
Thanks,

 

[ryan123450]

I was wondering what books I should read prior to starting into the Destiny trilogy in order to get caught up on the background.

Everyone always says you don't need to read anything before any other book, as everything you need to know is explained in the book. But if you really want to understand all the details and get the full experience, then yes there are many books you should have read before Destiny.

So far I am up to date with the Titan series, have just finished Death in Winter (TNG) and have read as far as Unity (DS9). I figured I should read Greater than the Sum and Warpath in the TNG and DS9 timelines respectively. Not sure it it is necessary to read the Starfleet Corps of Engineers or New Frontier.
I really want to get into the Destiny books but didn't want to miss any important background info.
Thanks,

For TNG you should read:
Death in Winter
Resistance
Q&A (Not totally necessary)
Before Dishonor
Greater Than the Sum

Skipping Resistance and Before Dishonor and just going to Greater Than the Sum would ruin your plan of not missing any important background info.

For DS9 I don't think reading anything past Unity will be of any immediate help. Only a few more months of time have passed in DS9 lit, whereas about 4 years have passed afterwards until Destiny. I wouldn't ruin all the other DS9 books by skipping ahead to Warpath.

There is an Enterprise element to Destiny, but as far as I know the Enterprise relaunch so far doesn't have anything directly to do with the elements of Enterprise in Destiny. But if you wanted to read those first they would be:

The Good That Men Do
Kobayashi Maru

I'd say you don't need to read any other SCE, New Frontier or any other stories. So basically you just lack Resistance, Before Dishonor, and Greater Than the Sum.

 

[KRAD]

^ So heartwarming to see a post that specifically singles my book out as skippable. Warms the cockles of my heart, it does...

Sorry, got kicked in the head yesterday, so I'm a touch cranky. In any case, Q & A does introduce Miranda Kadohata, the Big E's new second officer.

 

[Dayton Ward]

^ Try being the writer of any of the first six A Time to books, then get back to me about feeling skippable.

 

[MMCL]

It's not essential but I would recommend Articles of The Federation as it's good background for the Nan Bacco bits

 

[Rosalind]

I was going to say Destiny is the new Articles.

 

[nx1701g]

^ Try being the writer of any of the first six A Time to books, then get back to me about feeling skippable.

The WHAT?

 

[DimesDan]

^ Try being the writer of any of the first five A Time to books, then get back to me about feeling skippable.

From my own personal experience and opinion, I highly recommend skipping A Time to Sow and A Time to Harvest, apart from the complete version of The Lord of the Rings I think these two books are the books I've taken the longest to read (especially given their lengths) and they were actually included in a pile of books I took to Oxfam a while back!

As for reading books before Destiny, although KRAD's Q&A dosn't add much to the Borg arc that has developed post Nemesis (even though it's a bloody corker of a read) it might be safe to read Articles of the Federation (also by KRAD) as several charachters including Federation President Nan Bacco have a few scenes in the trilogy.

Damn, in the time I wrote this and made a nice cup of tea someone else suggests Articles and they're in Blighty as well no less!

 

[Dayton Ward]

^ Guards, seize him.

 

[Christopher]

There's no reason to include Warpath or any other DS9 novel on a pre-DES reading list, since DES takes place four years after the current DS9 timeline and doesn't tie in directly to its continuity, aside from featuring Ezri Dax and a few minor characters from the DS9 novels. As long as you're aware that Ezri switched to the command track early in the DS9 Relaunch, that's really all you need to know.

^ So heartwarming to see a post that specifically singles my book out as skippable. Warms the cockles of my heart, it does...

Sorry, got kicked in the head yesterday, so I'm a touch cranky. In any case, Q & A does introduce Miranda Kadohata, the Big E's new second officer.

I would definitely not consider Q&A skippable. The Borg stuff in GTTS is just a backdrop to the real story, which is a character-driven tale about the Enterprise crew. And that story owes more to Q&A than it does to any of the other TNG-R novels. So if GTTS is counted on a pre-DES reading list, Q&A definitely should be too.

And were you kicked in the head in karate class, or just on general principles?

 

[Mysterio]

^ So heartwarming to see a post that specifically singles my book out as skippable. Warms the cockles of my heart, it does...

Sorry, got kicked in the head yesterday, so I'm a touch cranky. In any case, Q & A does introduce Miranda Kadohata, the Big E's new second officer.

Sorry, I originally meant to say "Up to and including Sum of the Parts" for the same reason of not wanting to miss anything in the timeline.

 

[ryan123450]

^ So heartwarming to see a post that specifically singles my book out as skippable. Warms the cockles of my heart, it does...

Sorry, got kicked in the head yesterday, so I'm a touch cranky. In any case, Q & A does introduce Miranda Kadohata, the Big E's new second officer.

Sorry, KRAD. Q&A is actually my favorite of all the post-Nemesis stuff sofar (though I've not read GTTS or Destiny yet). I would have never skipped it, but it seemed like he was wanting to rush into Destiny so in that case I figured if he really wanted to, he could rush past it. But I also forgot that Miranda was introduced in that book, so in hindsight I guess I wouldn't have said that.

Sorry, I originally meant to say "Up to and including Sum of the Parts" for the same reason of not wanting to miss anything in the timeline.

Then you should be good to go then. Although I did forget Articles of the Federation. And if you haven't read that yet, then that opens up another whole can of worms.

Funny that now Articles can now be put on a list of things to read before another novel.

 

[Enterprise1981]

I was a little lost when I read "Gods of the Night", so I went back and read "Greater than the Sum." One part of the narrative kind of rehashes all that had taken place in the previous TNG-relaunch-- Beverly going to Starfleet Medical then coming back to the Enterprise, Worf the new first officer, going through the revolving door of security chiefs (goodbye and good riddance to Leybenzon and T'Lana).

 

[Mysterio]

I was a little lost when I read "Gods of the Night", so I went back and read "Greater than the Sum." One part of the narrative kind of rehashes all that had taken place in the previous TNG-relaunch-- Beverly going to Starfleet Medical then coming back to the Enterprise, Worf the new first officer, going through the revolving door of security chiefs (goodbye and good riddance to Leybenzon and T'Lana).

...............Thanks for the spoilers.............

 

[ryan123450]

That's what I was thinking too.

 

[ClayinCA]

How about the Titan books? I've only read the first two (I own Christopher's book, but haven't read it, and haven't even gotten around to getting the fourth book yet) - is there anything I'll get overly confused about if I haven't read books three and four?

 

[Christopher]

How about the Titan books? I've only read the first two (I own Christopher's book, but haven't read it, and haven't even gotten around to getting the fourth book yet) - is there anything I'll get overly confused about if I haven't read books three and four?

There is an event in TTN Book 4 that has permanent consequences to the crew and mission as seen in Destiny, but anything you need to know in the trilogy is explained in the trilogy.