Terok Nor Novels...

[Joel_Kirk]

What do posters think of the Terok Nor novels?

From what I've seen, they're prequels to the DS9 series.

I'm hesitant because I obviously know what is going to happen, but...I'm game for a good read.

I'm actually reading 'Trial by Error' right now in the DS9 universe.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Personally, I think they're very good. The first, "Day of the Vipers", is on my top-five list, and the remaining two are also impressive. As for "knowing what happens", that's not the same as knowing how or why it happens

"Day of the Vipers" expands on the Cardassians wonderfully, and also Dukat individually, and features one of the best portrayals of the Bajorans I've yet seen.

"Night of the Wolves" and "Dawn of the Eagles" also handle the Bajorans well, and give particular insight into female Cardassians to balance the more frequent exploration of male Cardassians (there are distinctions in social role that were definitely worth exploring).

Basically, the "Terok Nor" books add even more complexity to the Bajor-Cardassia story. They're everything a prequal should be, in my opinion, particularly "Day of the Vipers". They flesh out what we already know well, throw out several good surprises, clarify details that were hinted at by the series in very interesting ways, and make us care about new characters as well as portraying the early lives of several existing ones.

Plus, the Oralian Way is in it. Yay!

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Personally, I think they're very good. The first, "Day of the Vipers", is on my top-five list, and the remaining two are also impressive. As for "knowing what happens", that's not the same as knowing how or why it happens

"Day of the Vipers" expands on the Cardassians wonderfully, and also Dukat individually, and features one of the best portrayals of the Bajorans I've yet seen.

"Night of the Wolves" and "Dawn of the Eagles" also handle the Bajorans well, and give particular insight into female Cardassians to balance the more frequent exploration of male Cardassians (there are distinctions in social role that were definitely worth exploring).

Basically, the "Terok Nor" books add even more complexity to the Bajor-Cardassia story. They're everything a prequal should be, in my opinion, particularly "Day of the Vipers". They flesh out what we already know well, throw out several good surprises, clarify details that were hinted at by the series in very interesting ways, and make us care about new characters as well as portraying the early lives of several existing ones.

Plus, the Oralian Way is in it. Yay!

Cool...

 

[Steve Roby]

The first book tells how Bajor fell under Cardassian control. It's a story we haven't really heard much about before, so there's a lot of new material here, and it's a damn fine novel. The other two take all the bits and pieces we've learned over the years about Bajor during the occupation and make a reasonably cohesive pair of novels from that. There's a lot of familiar faces in those two, much more so than in the first.

If you like DS9 and you like reading, what are you waiting for?

 

[Joel_Kirk]

The first book tells how Bajor fell under Cardassian control. It's a story we haven't really heard much about before, so there's a lot of new material here, and it's a damn fine novel. The other two take all the bits and pieces we've learned over the years about Bajor during the occupation and make a reasonably cohesive pair of novels from that. There's a lot of familiar faces in those two, much more so than in the first.

If you like DS9 and you like reading, what are you waiting for?

Heh, heh, heh....

 

[Corran Horn]

These books will also want you to go back to DS9 and watch a few episodes.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I'll echo what's already been said: the trilogy as a whole is very good and goes into great depth in the Bajorian/Cardassian relationship. Ever since A Stitch in Time, I've become fascinated with Cardassian culture and this trilogy makes me all the more interested. Again, Day of the Vipers is the best of the three, but all three books are well worth reading.

 

[JD]

I'm gonna just say that I agree with everyone else here. If you have any interest at all in DS9's non human and/or Starfleet characters or the Cardassians or Bajorans you need to read the trilogy.

 

[Reanok]

I defrinitely agree with what others have said the Terok Nor books are really comples and rich in the backstory of Bajor& Cardassia . I really liked these books alot.It definitely adds new layers to the ds9 book series.I really liked geting to see more of Kira's family being explored in the books.And Odo's backstory too.

 

[nx1701g]

I thought that they were worth it and I enjoyed them.

 

[Sci]

I've only read Day of the Vipers, but let me tell you -- it's an amazing story about how greed and desperation lead the elites of two worlds to betray their own people, and a very moving, very realistic, story about the evils of imperialism.

 

[Una McCormack]

I think they're smashing. Day of the Vipers was my favourite, although there was one point in the final book where I was so shaken by what was happening that I had to put the book down for a couple of days. Didn't pull punches. Great stuff.

 

[Sean Aaron]

I'll have to check these out. I passed the first time due to the "prequel" (I really hate that word!) nature of them, but given the Typhon Pact stuff, I'm thinking this might be a good thing to tide me over until I see how that shakes out.

Are these going to be collected by any chance?

 

[Rosalind]

^ I really doubt it, considering the economy. and Pocket hasn't done a omnibus for a recently published trilogy (or series) for a long time. (the most recent ones, the Crucible collection was cancelled. )

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I think they're smashing. Day of the Vipers was my favourite, although there was one point in the final book where I was so shaken by what was happening that I had to put the book down for a couple of days. Didn't pull punches. Great stuff.

Indeed, though for me the most troubling part was the end of The Day of the Vipers. I knew it was going to happen, but there was one part where I'd hoped and believed it wasn't going to get THAT bad--and then a truly horrible thing happened.

Spoiler: Day of the Vipers

It was Bennek's death and the destruction of the mask and scriptures. Being a person of faith myself, seeing the near-complete destruction of the Oralian Way was quite painful.

As to the overall series, though, it was wonderful. Even though there were some truly horrible spots, there were also some good areas, too, signs of hope, especially in the last two books--particularly the story of Miras Vara. I literally cheered out loud in a few places!

The only criticism I have is that the beginning of The Day of the Vipers is slow, and had it not been for the Cardassian interludes, normally I would not have given a book that stayed dry for that many pages any sort of chance. But in the end, I'm VERY glad I did.

 

[T'Ressa Dax]

They're all right. I kept thinking I was just going to skip some parts of the books, then curiosity would get the better of me and I'd go back and read the whole scene.

 

[Thrawn]

I personally felt like way too much time in books 2 and 3 was spent telling us backstory we already know. Ro's backstory, for instance, was pretty much connecting the dots that the show had already established. Didn't get much out of that.

Parts of them were brilliant, but I'd say about half of them failed to be very enlightening.

The first book was great, but could've lost 80 pages.

 

[Christopher]

^I would've liked to see more about Ro after she left Bajor -- get a Bajoran refugee's perspective on life in the Federation.

 

[Sean Aaron]

Well I'm sold. Cheers for creating this thread!

 

[JD]

^I would've liked to see more about Ro after she left Bajor -- get a Bajoran refugee's perspective on life in the Federation.

I'm with you here. I kept hoping we'd see her again after she again after she left Bajor, but we never did.