Shatnerverse

[KHAAAN!]

I am new here, so forgive me if this is covered in another post.

I'm currently re-reading all of the "shatnerverse" novels and I'm wondering if anyone else has any comments on the series.

I read them a long time ago and listening to them now (I have them on audiobook as well), I'm finding the writing just a tad corny, even though past books by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens have been great. (I'm thinking of Federation to specific) Maybe it's just the one I'm on (Avenger). I really loved them when they first came out and devoured them as quick as they came out.

I also really enjoyed the new book Collision Course, even though the new movie sort of made it moot. (But as a the shatnerverse goes that doesn't really matter) I'm really excited for follow up books.

Anyway, I just wanted to discuss this somewhere, so dish it out good or bad.

 

[T'Ressa Dax]

I gave up on the series after Spectre. Actually I'm not even sure I finished that, but anyway I only read them once and haven't felt motivated to finish the series. Just got tired of what seemed to be a Shatner ego trip.
Ashes of Eden wasn't too bad, but I don't remember enough right now to comment much on it.

 

[Lindley]

I think my favorite of the lot was Specter. Both Dark Victory and Preserver felt a bit empty in comparison, and the "Captain's" trilogy just didn't click all that well.

 

[KHAAAN!]

I gave up on the series after Spectre. Actually I'm not even sure I finished that, but anyway I only read them once and haven't felt motivated to finish the series. Just got tired of what seemed to be a Shatner ego trip.
Ashes of Eden wasn't too bad, but I don't remember enough right now to comment much on it.

That's what I felt like too. It really started to seem like a big ego trip. I really always like The Return, which was after Ashes of Eden because I always craved more Borg plotlines back then, but reading it now kind of feels like a let down considering all the territory covered by Voyager and First Contact.

Although I would like to point out that IDW's Nero series has connected V'Ger to the Narada (which had Borg technology).

The whole V'Ger story ended up being a major part of the endgame in The Return.

 

[Captain Randy Hall]

I am new here, so forgive me if this is covered in another post.

I'm currently re-reading all of the "shatnerverse" novels and I'm wondering if anyone else has any comments on the series.

I read them a long time ago and listening to them now (I have them on audiobook as well), I'm finding the writing just a tad corny, even though past books by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens have been great. (I'm thinking of Federation to specific) Maybe it's just the one I'm on (Avenger). I really loved them when they first came out and devoured them as quick as they came out.

I also really enjoyed the new book Collision Course, even though the new movie sort of made it moot. (But as a the shatnerverse goes that doesn't really matter) I'm really excited for follow up books.

Anyway, I just wanted to discuss this somewhere, so dish it out good or bad.

I too liked the Shatnerverse, particularly when Shatner did the audio books. My all-time favorite was "The Ashes of Eden," but I liked them all. I was sorry to see the series end, but I enjoyed them while I had them.

 

[KHAAAN!]

I am new here, so forgive me if this is covered in another post.

I'm currently re-reading all of the "shatnerverse" novels and I'm wondering if anyone else has any comments on the series.

I read them a long time ago and listening to them now (I have them on audiobook as well), I'm finding the writing just a tad corny, even though past books by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens have been great. (I'm thinking of Federation to specific) Maybe it's just the one I'm on (Avenger). I really loved them when they first came out and devoured them as quick as they came out.

I also really enjoyed the new book Collision Course, even though the new movie sort of made it moot. (But as a the shatnerverse goes that doesn't really matter) I'm really excited for follow up books.

Anyway, I just wanted to discuss this somewhere, so dish it out good or bad.

I too liked the Shatnerverse, particularly when Shatner did the audio books. My all-time favorite was "The Ashes of Eden," but I liked them all. I was sorry to see the series end, but I enjoyed them while I had them.

It's really awesome hearing Shatner do all of the voices to every character. I have to break out laughing sometimes I can't control myself.

 

[Defcon]

Shatner should have stopped while he was ahead in my opinion. That means after Ashes of Eden,his first and best book, or after the first trilogy at the latest. It only went downhill after that.

 

[Nardpuncher]

There was a lot of corny writing.

I seem to think of a lot of stuff like this when I think of the Shatnerverse:

So Jim, when the odds were against him, did what he always did. He turned death into a chance to live, to fight, to survive.
It was, after all,Spock wopuld have said were he here, what he did best.

Then that sort of thing would happen about 8 times in each book.
Oh, and the fanwanky thing where a person ot two from TNG, DS9 and Voyager must show up.

 

[Csalem]

I enjoyed them, though quality diminished over the years. The Return and Avenger are probably my favourite two, with the first Mirror Universe book being also an enjoyable read.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I love the Shatnerverse, but I have yet to read Captain’s Blood or Glory. I’m looking forward to the Titan crossover, should I ever find them.

It's a shame the cool concepts (Borg Hypercube, the Preservers, Project Sign) never turn up again.

I can see why some people dislike it (usually the sort who take Star Trek too seriously, imo), but I personally love the Star Trek V/Stargate-style silliness and the fact that Kirk saves the day every single time.

I think the Back to the Future-style flying cars in Collision Course were a bit much, though.

 

[Saul]

I thought by that future time they'd have flying cars. You see them in TNG. If they can break the warp barrier then flying cars isn't overdoing it.

 

[Christopher]

^Flying cars are a very bad idea unless they're computer-controlled. People have enough traffic accidents in two dimensions. And if a normal car breaks down, you can just pull over to the side of the road, rather than falling to a grisly death.

 

[GeorgeKirk]

In my opinion, the Shatnerverse books are Mary Sue fanfic written by someone who actually portrayed a beloved character. The Kirk in those stories makes Chuck Norris look like Tinkerbell. They're what a Michael Bay Star Trek movie would look like, if Bay had a hardon for William Shatner instead of the US military.

 

[Desert Kris]

I read Ashes of Eden and was entertained and delighted by it. It could, arguable, be slotted in with the rest of canon without being classified as "shatnerverse." I have The Return, which I was always interested in because of The Borg, but always shied away from reading it because it brought Kirk back to life in The Next Generation's time.

That's the thing, is it is supposed to be The Next Generation's time. I do like that Gene Roddenberry held back from alluding to the original crew's fates, and it was nice over the course of TNG's run to get an answer for some of the original Enterprise's crew; a perfect little treat here and there in small doses.

I find it offputting when someone with enough ambition comes along with enough attention to detail to inventory all the old crew, and put them back into play in a setting that's so far removed from their prime place and time, when that setting belongs to a different ensemble.

I don't think I mind too much if the original crew presence is acknowledged in whatever place they've settled themselves into (Spock doing his reunification windmill, Scotty with his engineering thing, Uhura only hinted as residing in the shadows of Starfleet Intelligence). It gets weird when they are involved in the action. It gets wrong for me when two or more join up in an adventure.

So I was never going to venture much farther than The Return, and even that I might have ended up allocated to a bubble of apocrypha.

 

[seigezunt]

I read all of them up to Collission course. The first two are good, with a precipitous drop-off.

 

[bbailey861]

It has been quite a while since I have read these books and while I certainly "got the Shatner/Kirk lovefest" going on, I don't remember being as disappointed as some of the readers that have posted comments here. I would like to hear the audio books, though.

 

[Paris]

The only Shatnerverse book I ever bought was Ashes of Eden. At the time, I really enjoyed it. I've listened to the audiobook versions of book 2 to book 9 (Collision Course doesn't have one), and I agree that Shat's books are very Mary-Sue. With that being said, I still enjoyed the stories no matter how over the top they were. The best thing about them is the fact that Shatner reads them himself. It's like Kirk-prime lived on and told us the stories himself .

 

[KHAAAN!]

The only Shatnerverse book I ever bought was Ashes of Eden. At the time, I really enjoyed it. I've listened to the audiobook versions of book 2 to book 9 (Collision Course doesn't have one), and I agree that Shat's books are very Mary-Sue. With that being said, I still enjoyed the stories no matter how over the top they were. The best thing about them is the fact that Shatner reads them himself. It's like Kirk-prime lived on and told us the stories himself .

I like that . I was very unhappy (like a lot of people) and not satisfied with the way that Ron Moore ended with Kirk in Generations. It didn't feel like it was the right way to end with that character (not to start up that old debate again). I think the whole idea behind this series, for me at least, is a little fantasy that one of the greatest captain's in Starfleet history got a little better of an end story than the nonsense ending of Generations. Even if it doesn't fit in with the rest of Trek-lit, I still enjoy it on that level.

 

[seigezunt]

The only Shatnerverse book I ever bought was Ashes of Eden. At the time, I really enjoyed it. I've listened to the audiobook versions of book 2 to book 9 (Collision Course doesn't have one), and I agree that Shat's books are very Mary-Sue. With that being said, I still enjoyed the stories no matter how over the top they were. The best thing about them is the fact that Shatner reads them himself. It's like Kirk-prime lived on and told us the stories himself .

I like that . I was very unhappy (like a lot of people) and not satisfied with the way that Ron Moore ended with Kirk in Generations. It didn't feel like it was the right way to end with that character (not to start up that old debate again). I think the whole idea behind this series, for me at least, is a little fantasy that one of the greatest captain's in Starfleet history got a little better of an end story than the nonsense ending of Generations. Even if it doesn't fit in with the rest of Trek-lit, I still enjoy it on that level.

Then you might like David George III's Kirk volume in his Crucible series. It takes on those events in a novel fashion, but without making Kirk superhuman, while still giving his story a great ending.

 

[Christopher]

I was very unhappy (like a lot of people) and not satisfied with the way that Ron Moore ended with Kirk in Generations.

You know, that's almost refreshing. Generally, Rick Berman and Brannon Braga get blamed by default for everything people don't like about Trek, sometimes even when they had no involvement with it (like when people blame Braga for INS and NEM). And yet, even though GEN was scripted by Moore and Braga and co-plotted by Berman, Braga and Berman are the ones who don't get blamed for a change.