Worst Trek book?
- Thread starter Xploda
- Start date
Nardpuncher
Rear Admiral
LightningStorm said:
CaptJimboJones said:
The first Mission: Gamma book. It was so plodding and boring that I gave up midway, and it basically stopped me cold from reading the rest of the DS9 relaunch.
I thought I was the only one on the net who didn't like that book. Although it didn't stop me from continuing the DS9R. Every book after that one (except the Trill story in Worlds) was better than it.
I've started that one twice myself and find it very plodding. 3 or 4 pages talking about Kira feeling torn and lighting candles from what I remember. I do think I'll try again though.
G
Guest
Guest
Worst one I ever read was a TOS book called Death's Angel. It's old, I think it was a Bantam book.
I really didn't like this one. The whole thing is, in my opinion, quite poor, but there's this one part near the end that just pushed it over the edge and made me want to fling the book across the room.
I really didn't like this one. The whole thing is, in my opinion, quite poor, but there's this one part near the end that just pushed it over the edge and made me want to fling the book across the room.
Ha ha.... ahem.
Worst novels... A Time to Sow/Harvest... only joking. It's gotta be a A Time to be born/die or A Time to Love/Hate. Those two dulogies just hurt. Bad.
Captain's Table: The Mist (DS9 entry). What an awful book of non-stop bickering and non-existent plot.
Sci said:
CaptJimboJones said:
The first Mission: Gamma book. It was so plodding and boring that I gave up midway, and it basically stopped me cold from reading the rest of the DS9 relaunch.
That's too bad. I thought it a brilliant novel. You should just skip ahead past it, though; all the books are designed to be ones you can jump into as a general rule
Well, different tastes and all that.
But I'll take your advice and move on to the next book - I hear so much raving about the DS9 relaunch around here that I hate to miss out on it!Sondra Marshak's and Myrna Culbreath's "The Price of the Phoenix" and "The Fate of the Phoenix."
So difficult to read and I could not for the life of me understand the plot and I've read Moby Dick and Shakespeare with less work.
So difficult to read and I could not for the life of me understand the plot and I've read Moby Dick and Shakespeare with less work.
I still haven't found anything as bad as the DS9 book Laetian Gamble by Robert Sheckley. It honestly reads as if it wasn't proofread and I was so put off by it that I stopped buying DS9 novels on a regular basis (I just lost interest). I was very surprised to learn later that the late Mr. Sheckley was a noted SF author (heck he was supposed to write a new novel based on the Prisoner at the time of his death) ... he must have written Laertian Gamble on a bad day.
In terms of "event" Trek novels, the worst had to be Enterprise: The First Adventure. Aside from some rather glaring and basic canonical errors, Vonda McIntire made some rather ... unwise choices when it came to some of the characters. Like making Rand a teenager, for instance. Also, considering how significant Kirk's first mission as the Enterprise's captain you'd think the plot would have actually been interesting. This is actually the very first Star Trek novel that I was unable to finish. I gave up at the 3/4 mark in disgust (I even managed to finish Laertian Gamble). I like McIntire's work in general ... once again it must have been a bad day. Now this Enterprise I don't mind bashing.
Cheers!
Alex
In terms of "event" Trek novels, the worst had to be Enterprise: The First Adventure. Aside from some rather glaring and basic canonical errors, Vonda McIntire made some rather ... unwise choices when it came to some of the characters. Like making Rand a teenager, for instance. Also, considering how significant Kirk's first mission as the Enterprise's captain you'd think the plot would have actually been interesting. This is actually the very first Star Trek novel that I was unable to finish. I gave up at the 3/4 mark in disgust (I even managed to finish Laertian Gamble). I like McIntire's work in general ... once again it must have been a bad day. Now this Enterprise I don't mind bashing.
Cheers!
Alex
My feelings exactly. Turning each page was an exercise in tedium. IIRC, it was a Bashir-heavy storyline and I love Bashir, but the book drove me nuts. I can't say I was in a hurry to investigate Sheckley (non ST) SF novels after that, like I had eagerly done with Niven, Gerrold, Blish, McIntyre, Crispin and David.
Yeah, and it wasn't helped in that DC Comics celebrated the exact same event with a superb annual ("All Those Years Ago...") and, up until "Enterprise: The First Adventure", Pocket and DC had done quite a bit of cross pollination, but these two projects diverged like "Sliding Doors". (If only! The two writers could have had a little meeting to sort out who was already on the crew under Pike and who was brought in by Kirk.) And to think that McIntyre's "The Entropy Effect" and the ST II and ST III novelizations were so great!
However, do give the audio production of "Enterprise: TFA" a go, especially since you said you never finished the book. The first contact aspect of the story comes out quite strongly in this version and I've enjoyed hearing it several times, even though I've only read E:TFA once. Maybe its Sulu's soothing voice, Spock's log entries and the music and sound FX?
I've had this since it was first published and I've never managed to read more than 50 pages in the 5 times I've tried reading it. It's the cure for insomnia.
Aha! I'm gonna suprise you all with my decision:
Star Trek Vanguard.
It was just so.... bad. By the end of it, I worked out the ending to the third book: Vanguard and the three ships in the book are destroyed by a join Klingon-Tholian fleet. The Enterprise, come for some shoreleave, is able to take out some of the fleet, then warps out of there. The Klingons and the Tholians then turn on each other, and annihilate one another.
THE END
Oh, also, the TOS-era Section 31 book.
Star Trek Vanguard.
It was just so.... bad. By the end of it, I worked out the ending to the third book: Vanguard and the three ships in the book are destroyed by a join Klingon-Tholian fleet. The Enterprise, come for some shoreleave, is able to take out some of the fleet, then warps out of there. The Klingons and the Tholians then turn on each other, and annihilate one another.
THE END
Oh, also, the TOS-era Section 31 book.
I honestly can't tell who's joking and who's not.
I thought the premise, of uniting all those TOS villains against Q and q, was cool. And 0 was great, too. But...
The middle volume really annoyed me and it felt like padding for a tighter duology. (The promotional cover of the third volume, still shown on Amazon today, but replaced by new artwork when released, seemed to confirm it to me at the time: originally it was a combination of the artwork for the first two books.)
But it wasn't among the worst.
I started buying Trek novels when I was a teen-ager (and knew little about good literature). All I wanted from a novel was a exciting story with my favourite heroes, but as I grew up (and my taste changed) I started to find more and more flaws in the novels. Here is the list of the worst Trek novels, according to me:
Tos-Kobayashi Maru&Mutiny on the Enterprise
TNG-The Peacekeepers&Survivors&Nightshade
Voy-Chrysalis&Battle Lines
After Battle Lines I stopped buying Trek novels at all, and I've never come to regret my decision.
Tos-Kobayashi Maru&Mutiny on the Enterprise
TNG-The Peacekeepers&Survivors&Nightshade
Voy-Chrysalis&Battle Lines
After Battle Lines I stopped buying Trek novels at all, and I've never come to regret my decision.
Similar threads
