What to read next? Recommendations?

[TJ Sinclair]

Taking this from the What are you reading thread into its own because it's gotten lost with only one response. If a thread like this would be helpful for people who are looking for recommendations, maybe the mods can sticky this one, too?

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I finished The Last Best Hope last night, and now I'm conflicted about what to read next. I need some suggestions, and I didn't want to start a new thread, so I figured asking here would be okay (if it's not, forgive me. Let me know, and I'll go make that separate thread). I need something hopeful, but I also I need to get caught up on post-The Fall novels, or Christopher's TMP-era books, so I can read The Higher Frontier.

The most recent stories I've read in the 24th century Litverse book lines are: Takedown, The Light Fantastic, The Missing, Absent Enemies, and the Prometheus trilogy. I had started Armageddon's Arrow back when that came out, but just couldn't get into it - so far, the only one of Dayton's books I haven't absolutely devoured within a day or two.

After TLBH, I need a dose of hope right now. Titan's normally been good for that, so should I start with Sight Unseen? Or the next DS9 Relaunch book (Sacraments of Fire, I think)? Or try and get back into Armageddon's Arrow? Basically I want to get caught up on everything chronologically up to the Prey trilogy before I get into that.

Or, I drop back to the TMP era, with Ex Machina. I really want to read The Higher Frontier, but I want to read Christopher's previous books TOS/TMP books first. I know I don't need to, but I want to. I also need to finish up Vanguard, and What Judgments Come is next on that list. And apart from the Legacies trilogy, The Face of the Unknown and The Antares Maelstrom, I really haven't read any TOS book published after Cast No Shadow, so From History's Shadow and all the other stuff that more recent books are building on, I still need to get to. For the Discovery books, the next one on my list is The Enterprise War.

Apart from Trek, there's The Squire's Crystal, the next Bernice Summerfield book on my list, or Sophie Aldred's Doctor Who: At Childhood's End. Outside of tie-ins entirely, I've got the most recent Rivers of London novel on deck, Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane, or maybe something by Brandon Sanderson so my best friend can finally be happy that I've read his current favorite author. Real hard SF is off the table right now, and I know all this is pretty light, but having come off a long stretch of Russian literature, political science, and Octavia Butler, I need something lighter in my literary diet right now.

So with all that in mind, what Trek book would you suggest for me next?

 

[tomswift2002]

Maybe you should go further back and read Q-In-Law by Peter David. Or How Much For Just The Planet?. Those are two very comedic and light-hearted novels.

 

[TJ Sinclair]

Maybe you should go further back and read Q-In-Law by Peter David. Or How Much For Just The Planet?. Those are two very comedic and light-hearted novels.

Already read both, several times over the years, but thanks!

 

[indianatrekker26]

I found a TOS chronological list online, so I started with TOS: The Captain's Oath. Here is the great site I use: https://startreklitverse.com/the-original-series.php

 

[Thrawn]

I think The Captain's Oath might be the sort of thing you're looking for. Big, epic, and optimistic.

 

[TJ Sinclair]

I think The Captain's Oath might be the sort of thing you're looking for. Big, epic, and optimistic.

That is an excellent recommendation, and I've been looking at that one. Would it be advisable to read Ex Machina first, just for the sake of anything that's referenced? I know they're standalone, but authors do tend to work in references to their previously published books. Just wondering if reading in publication order would be more advisable in this case?

 

[Smiley]

My memory of The Captain's Oath is that it is all set before the events of Ex Machina. If there were any references, they slipped by me. If you are reading both anyway, though, you may as well start with Ex Machina. You will see how Bennett has grown as an author between the two stories.

 

[Thrawn]

Yeah - absolutely no need to read Ex Machina first. Captain's Oath is a lot faster moving and has more stuff in it; I think it's the more awesome read. But hard to go wrong with either!

 

[TJ Sinclair]

I know it's not necessary, and that The Captain's Oath comes first chronologically. But I wouldn't want to have read, say, Cast No Shadow or Serpents Among the Ruins before I met Elias Vaughn in Avatar, even though Avatar took place the better part of a century after the others.

But if there's nothing like that, then The Captain's Oath is probably as good as any next. Thanks!

 

[Desert Kris]

The Captain's Oath is the first Christopher Bennett Star Trek novel I read, and the first modern TOS novel as well. I found it very user friendly, needing no prior knowledge of other modern or old ST novels. I agree with Thrawn that it's got an optimistic outlook, overall; and shows Kirk growing into the captain we know, while still being the character we know, if that makes sense. Good read, with a lot of story contained in it's pages.

 

[JD]

Just for the sake of completeness I'm going to repost my response from the other thread:

I'd vote for What Judgements Come, just because every Vanguard book was awesome.

 

[tomswift2002]

You could always try John Jackson Miller’s “The Enterprise War”. Sure it’s under the Discovery banner, but it could easily be a TOS branded novel, as it’s about Pike and the Enterprise.