The Buried Age

[garoo1980]

I'm about 200 pages into this and I just wanted to say how much I'm ejoying it. Its a tough read, challenging and pretty technical in places, but really well done.

Oh and the battle scene at the start was insanely good. It was great to see how the Battle of Maxia really went down. Plus I've now read enough Stargazer books that I really felt it when it was lost.

 

[D Man]

The Buried Age is probably my favorite Trek novel. It just got better and better all the way through, with some really clever sci-fi ideas too. Picard has never had a better story told about him.

 

[RonG]

The Buried Age is indeed the ultimate Picard novel to date.

The novel shows Picard as a rounded character, provides insights to his thoughts and actions (especially as seen at the start of TNG), and is, all in all, a superior sci-fi tale

 

[Paris]

Another one here saying that TBA is the best Picard story ever. After reading it, all I wanted was CLB to take over the Stargazer line or start writing more TNG books. Half got my wish with Greater than the Sum

 

[Christopher]

Thanks, folks!

 

[Thrawn]

After an absence of many years, this is the book that got me back into TrekLit. (Well, this and reading about the upcoming Destiny trilogy, which made me want to dive into the main continuity more. But this was definitely the instigator.) Incredible novel.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Definitely a brilliant novel, if I'm not redundant now in saying it . I'll chime in anyway to say that it's on my "top 5" list for Trek (and it's the only one of the 5 not to feature Cardassians, I notice ). Among many other reasons, I felt that it achieved the perfect balance between slotting comfortably into the established Trek setting and its continuity, and being incredibly inventive, surprising and unique. It did not feel out of place at all- it built entirely on the established setting and made that universe convincing and "alive" in the process, as well as joining up the dots- but it also told a very unusual Trek tale that really stood out and definitely transcended any simple "fill in the gaps" function. I suppose that's one way of saying "this is exactly what a media tie-in novel should be".

And of course the characterization, world-building, scientific background, etc, was great throughout.

 

[Thrawn]

^ What would your other 4 be?

 

[Deranged Nasat]

^ What would your other 4 be?

1. A Stitch in Time (my favourite novel full stop)

Then, in no particular order:

Day of the Vipers
Well of Souls
The Never-Ending Sacrifice (it used to be "Orion's Hounds", but Rugal knocked it out of the top 5)

 

[TerraUnam]

I for one would like to see future development of the Carnelian Throne Regency. They and the Federation arrive at the same conclusions by opposite methods and as a result they seem to talk past one another. Their frames of reference are just too different.

There seems so much dramatic potential in that. At least a novella, I think.

 

[T'Ressa Dax]

Yep, The Buried Age pushed some books further down on my favorites list too.

 

[Christopher]

I'd be happy to revisit the Carnelian Regnancy given the opportunity. We'll have to see what comes up in the future.

 

[DBall]

I tried to read it once, got distracted, and never finished it... hearing all the praises here, looks like I'll need to revisit it and actually read through it this time.

 

[Paris]

I'd be happy to revisit the Carnelian Regnancy given the opportunity. We'll have to see what comes up in the future.

Nice . It would be cool if Picard and co. had an adventure that included them somehow after the Destiny clean-up phase and the Typhon Pact storylines are done...

 

[Captain Kor]

I really enjoyed this book, however a lot of it appeared to be retconning or explaining things like how the Picard maneuver worked and that the Federation had been at war with Cardassia and why Data acted weird in the first season. A lot of that took me out of the story. I just wanted more story less backstory.

 

[Paris]

...A lot of that took me out of the story. I just wanted more story less backstory.

I'm sure Christopher will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the "backstory" was the point. It was a "Lost Era" book afterall...

 

[USS Intrepid]

I just read this a few months back and absolutely loved it. As others have said, by far the best Picard story Trek lit has ever told. Easily on a par with the Reeves Stevens' Prime Directive.

I particularly liked how Picard was presented as a complex, well-rounded individual.

 

[JarodRussell]

I liked the story, but it does suffer from small universe syndrome quite a lot.

 

[ProtoAvatar]

I liked the story, but it does suffer from small universe syndrome quite a lot.

I have to disagree on this point.
The alien societies and species the book presents are 'new' to the trekverse.
The fact that Picard meets his future crewmembers throughout the book makes sense and is, indeed, required, considering that he'll choose them as his crew.

 

[Christopher]

Proto's right. It would only be small-universe syndrome if it were a coincidence that all these run-ins happened. But none of it was coincidence. They weren't random cameos like, say, revealing that Quark was a crewman on the Ferengi ship that destroyed the Stargazer. I focused specifically on characters that were established in TNG as old friends or acquaintances of Picard or people that he handpicked for his crew, and I tried to show the foundations of those canonically established relationships.

And really, considering that the book spans nine years of Picard's life, it would've been implausible if he hadn't encountered multiple familiar characters over that span. The very nature of the book required it. What would've made it small-universe syndrome would be if Picard had met all those characters at once. Instead I made a point of spacing it out.

I'll admit that including Janeway was a bit of a reach, and my editor resisted it, but there was indication in First Contact and the novel Homecoming that Janeway and Picard were previously acquainted and on friendly terms (and Janeway's Picard imitation in "Scorpion" offers canonical support that she knew him personally). So it falls under the same category of showing the beginnings of a relationship established onscreen. Sure, I could've easily used an original character there, but it was a major role in that phase of the story, calling for a character the audience would be invested in, and Janeway's pretty much the only prominent character who was active as a Starfleet science officer at that point.