Star Trek Novels-recommdations sought
- Thread starter Lyndon
- Start date
Do you plan on reading many novels or do you only want to read a few stand alones?
The books that have come out in the last 10 years fit together in a storyline that proceeds from the finales of all the series. There are hundreds of stand alone books also.
If I had to recommend a standalone for TNG it would be Immortal Coil. It's Data-centric and referenced TOS quite a bit too. TOS I would recommend Mere Anarchy. It's a epic tale of a world Kirk and co. interact with over thier 30 year careers. VOY I would beg you to read Full Circle, Unworthy, and Children of the Storm. They are some of the best Trek-Lit out there. They are part of that big Lit-verse I was refering to however, so if you're going to delve into that any, I would recommend reading the Destiny trilogy first.
If you want to read dozens of books, you can definitly start at the beginning of the Lit-verse and work your way through it all, but if you want to read a half dozen or so books and see the best Trek Lit has to offer, I'd read those two trilogies.
The books that have come out in the last 10 years fit together in a storyline that proceeds from the finales of all the series. There are hundreds of stand alone books also.
If I had to recommend a standalone for TNG it would be Immortal Coil. It's Data-centric and referenced TOS quite a bit too. TOS I would recommend Mere Anarchy. It's a epic tale of a world Kirk and co. interact with over thier 30 year careers. VOY I would beg you to read Full Circle, Unworthy, and Children of the Storm. They are some of the best Trek-Lit out there. They are part of that big Lit-verse I was refering to however, so if you're going to delve into that any, I would recommend reading the Destiny trilogy first.
If you want to read dozens of books, you can definitly start at the beginning of the Lit-verse and work your way through it all, but if you want to read a half dozen or so books and see the best Trek Lit has to offer, I'd read those two trilogies.
As we ask every time this question is raised: do you like relationship stories, alien contact, sequels, humour, hard tech, away team stories? Do you have particular characters you prefer?
What are your favourite episodes of TNG, TOS and VOY?
Are you wanting to buy new, second hand or electronic?
This information will help us to recommend a list.
Since I personally only tend to like the standalones or mini series, I might as well just post my recommendations since they're along those lines anyway:
TOS
The Final Reflection <- The best trek book there is
Where Sea Meets Sky (Cap'n Pike book)
The Wounded Sky
Spock's World (preferably after The Wounded Sky)
Yesterday's Son
Time for Yesterday(read after Yesterday's Son)
Doctor's Orders
Sarek
Traitors Wind
My Brother's Keeper Trilogy
Errand of Vengeance Trilogy
Errand of Fury Trilogy (set after Vengeance trilogy, read that first)
First Frontier
Memory Prime
TNG
Q-Squared
Vendetta
Federation(almost as good as final reflection, a must read)
Dark Mirror
Imzadi
Masks
q-in-law
blaze of glory
The Romulan Stratagem
A Rock and a Hard Place
The Last Stand
Possession
Intellivore
The Q Continuum trilogy
The Return
I would also give a look to New Frontier books by Peter David, which takes some bit-part TNG characters and some entirely new characters and makes a brilliant series out of it.
Can't help on voyager, not really a fan.
TOS
The Final Reflection <- The best trek book there is
Where Sea Meets Sky (Cap'n Pike book)
The Wounded Sky
Spock's World (preferably after The Wounded Sky)
Yesterday's Son
Time for Yesterday(read after Yesterday's Son)
Doctor's Orders
Sarek
Traitors Wind
My Brother's Keeper Trilogy
Errand of Vengeance Trilogy
Errand of Fury Trilogy (set after Vengeance trilogy, read that first)
First Frontier
Memory Prime
TNG
Q-Squared
Vendetta
Federation(almost as good as final reflection, a must read)
Dark Mirror
Imzadi
Masks
q-in-law
blaze of glory
The Romulan Stratagem
A Rock and a Hard Place
The Last Stand
Possession
Intellivore
The Q Continuum trilogy
The Return
I would also give a look to New Frontier books by Peter David, which takes some bit-part TNG characters and some entirely new characters and makes a brilliant series out of it.
Can't help on voyager, not really a fan.
After recently finishing DTI: Watching the Clock, I'd definitely recommend it. It features characters from almost every series, whilst it reveals the impact that several temporal incidents in the show have made on the overall timeline and their relationship to one another.
Destiny is a really good series too, quite possibly the best written so far. Along with that series, if you like the Borg, I'd recommend you check out Vendetta, Resistance and Before Dishonor.
The best TNG book I've read so far, is Greater Than The Sum. It's one of those that you can read without versing yourself too much in the novelverse continunity. It's honestly that good!
Destiny is a really good series too, quite possibly the best written so far. Along with that series, if you like the Borg, I'd recommend you check out Vendetta, Resistance and Before Dishonor.
The best TNG book I've read so far, is Greater Than The Sum. It's one of those that you can read without versing yourself too much in the novelverse continunity. It's honestly that good!
I have liked these:
TNG
"Perchance to Dream"
"Guises of the Mind" (takes place between the episodes "Cost of Living" and "The Perfect Mate")
"Nightshade"
"Section 31 Rogue" (Set pre "First Contact" movie)
"Death in Winter" (Post "Nemesis")
TOS
"Uhura's Song"
TNG
"Perchance to Dream"
"Guises of the Mind" (takes place between the episodes "Cost of Living" and "The Perfect Mate")
"Nightshade"
"Section 31 Rogue" (Set pre "First Contact" movie)
"Death in Winter" (Post "Nemesis")
TOS
"Uhura's Song"
For TNG, I'd recommend:
Survivors (Tasha's backstory)
Metamorphosis (Data's made human)
Vendetta (Borg, a planet killer, Guinan's "soul sister")
The Captain's Honor (the space Romans from TOS are misfit Federation members with their own starship. Picard vs. Roman Picard)
Federation (Zephram Cochrane, World War III, TOS and TNG combine, story incompatible with First Contact movie)
Dark Mirror (TNG mirror universe, incompatible with DS9's)
Q-Squared (Q, Trelane, 4 alternate TNG timelines crossing over, Jack Crusher)
The Devil's Heart (a sinister artifact causes chaos)
All are old and can be gotten online for little more than the cost of shipping.
Survivors (Tasha's backstory)
Metamorphosis (Data's made human)
Vendetta (Borg, a planet killer, Guinan's "soul sister")
The Captain's Honor (the space Romans from TOS are misfit Federation members with their own starship. Picard vs. Roman Picard)
Federation (Zephram Cochrane, World War III, TOS and TNG combine, story incompatible with First Contact movie)
Dark Mirror (TNG mirror universe, incompatible with DS9's)
Q-Squared (Q, Trelane, 4 alternate TNG timelines crossing over, Jack Crusher)
The Devil's Heart (a sinister artifact causes chaos)
All are old and can be gotten online for little more than the cost of shipping.
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Holy cow, this is exactly what I was going to say. Your list of TOS books is pretty much the same as mine. I loved DC Spock books (when I saw her at a con after "Heart of Vulcan" came out, I told her, "So YOU were the one who made Spock all dark and depressing!").
I just think you should be warned that some of the events in these books were contradicted by TV episodes that aired after they were written. Some of the others in the list might have too, but I don't know for sure.
I know the others, but how in the case of Spock's World?
I don't know, I just thought I remembered somebody saying that some of the stuff in it didn't line up with some of the stuff established about Vulcan history in later shows. I'm reading it right now, but I'm only to the point where Vulcan is turned into a desert, so I haven't gotten to any thing recent enough for them to have referred to it on the shows.
Huh?
DC Fontana wrote "Vulcan's Glory".
The "Vulcan's Forge" and "Vulcan's Heart" novels, and the "Vulcan's Soul" trilogy, were by Josepha Sherman & Susan Shwartz.
"Spock's World" kills off T'Pau as a dramatic story point, and then a later, unrelated novel brings her back. (There's a line somewhere where characters realise the rumours of her death are unfounded.) The Vulcan pre-history chapters in SW inspired the pre-history developed by Josepha Sherman & Susan Shwartz, but they tweaked it somewhat. I assume the ENT Vulcan trilogy about Surak's katra is also a little incompatible with SW, but the ENT stuff is canon and new Vulcan novels would have to conform with ENT.
Dear Therin of Andor: I like alien contact (especially the Borg), hard tech. I like almost all the characters. My favorite episodes of TNG is The best of both worlds, Q, who?, First Contact; almost all, except for a few. TOS: Where no man has gone before, Space seed, The city on the edge of forever. VOY: I can't remember, I haven't watched it for some time; maybe when Seven of Nine is caught and transformed back to human. I prefer to buy new, but if not available, used is OK too. Thanks in advance.
Seems like I was right in thinking you might want to read the Destiny trilogy and Kirsten Beyer's Voyager novels.
YES THIS YES.
A thousand times YES.
It boggles my mind more people aren't in here mentioning these.
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