Worth Time Investment? Legacies Trilogy (50th Anniversary)

[frkcd]

Good day all,
I skipped the Legacies trilogy from 2016. At the time the books didn't spark my interest, and I had limited time to read. Listening to an old interview on Trek FM of David Mack talking about the trilogy and his entry. The political angle caught my attention and interest, including the inclusion of Sarek and a younger Gorkon.

So, for those of you who read the series or any of it: what do you think? I understand that the three are not completely tied together. Do you think reading book #2 and then, if I like it, #1, would likely leave me with a negative reading experience? Lost? Frustrated? In other words, since you've read them, you can at least consider the hypothetical I'm contemplating. Also, what about reading #2 and then #3 (since they do seem more connected) and then jump back to #1 if I want?

Thanks in advance for any input. I know reading is a truly singular experience; still, I'd appreciate honest reactions as I contemplate using my reading time wisely.

Donnie

 

[Smiley]

Best Defense is an easy four-star read. I liked Captain to Captain (easy three stars), which is a setup for the rest of the trilogy but can also be separate from the other two. The big problem is Purgatory's Key. While nothing in it is out and out bad, it wraps everything up in bland and predictable fashion and squanders the potential of what was established in Best Defense. I, too, love seeing Sarek and Gorkon, and they were barely in the third book of the Legacies trilogy.

All of these authors and the characters of Sarek and Gorkon have better Star Trek books, and I would recommend reading those first. If you are still on the fence or curious about Legacies, try the sample chapters, and see how they grab you. As always, your mileage may vary.

 

[Leto_II]

If nothing else, it's the trilogy that gave Number One her now-screen-canonized name ("Una," on Star Trek: Discovery and Strange New Worlds coming up), or at least part of it.

Also, it's a pretty damn great read in its own right, by and large -- our four guys really hit it out of the park, IMO.

 

[Reanok]

I liked it alot and if your a fan of the original Star Trek series it's worth the time to read it.I liked that Spock's parents were in the book and McCoy's daughter Joanna is also in the books.

 

[frkcd]

Thanks for the feedback, folks. I appreciate the thoughts and reactions. Smiley, your final observation fits the impression I had back in 2016 that left me to skip the trilogy. If I did not have other books I wanted to read, well, then I'd have no reason not to roll the dice with my time. However, I'm not one of those folks who cannot get enough of TOS books. I'll make a note that I might want to return to these in the future if I'm looking for a Trek book to read and there isn't one on the horizon for a while.

 

[Starbreaker]

I really like these novels. It was an interesting concept to bridge the three crews together with one story. It was all the rage to use differerent pronouns to refer to people in book at the time and there are some aliens who get called Xe an Xer which is pretty cringy, though.

 

[Greg Cox]

I really like these novels. It was an interesting concept to bridge the three crews together with one story. It was all the rage to use differerent pronouns to refer to people in book at the time and there are some aliens who get called Xe an Xer which is pretty cringy, though.

That was my idea, and, honestly, I wasn't trying to be trendy. Those particular aliens were genderless mollusks so it just seemed odd to use humanoid pronouns for them. Although I'll concede that that proved to be a pain in the ass while proofreading that book.

 

[Christopher]

That was my idea, and, honestly, I wasn't trying to be trendy. Those particular aliens were genderless mollusks so it just seemed odd to use humanoid pronouns for them. Although I'll concede that that proved to be a pain in the ass while proofreading that book.

I'm so grateful that society finally figured out that there's nothing wrong with singular "they," which has been part of English usage since before Chaucer. It's so much simpler than making up fake genderless pronouns.

Although in DS9: The Missing, Una McCormack managed to write an entire novel without ever using a pronoun for any member of its featured alien species, so that their genders were never specified one way or the other. Though unfortunately, Memory Beta and a lot of the online reviewers defaulted to assuming the characters were male.

 

[mastadge]

Although in DS9: The Missing, Una McCormack managed to write an entire novel without ever using a pronoun for any member of its featured alien species, so that their genders were never specified one way or the other. Though unfortunately, Memory Beta and a lot of the online reviewers defaulted to assuming the characters were male.

Graydon Saunders started a whole egalitarian fantasy series with The March North which is entirely free of gendered pronouns. It's not in-your-face in any way but once you notice it you can't unnotice it. An interesting exercise. Good book, too, if you're into The Black Company type of thing.

 

[Greg Cox]

I'm so grateful that society finally figured out that there's nothing wrong with singular "they," which has been part of English usage since before Chaucer. It's so much simpler than making up fake genderless pronouns.

Although in DS9: The Missing, Una McCormack managed to write an entire novel without ever using a pronoun for any member of its featured alien species, so that their genders were never specified one way or the other. Though unfortunately, Memory Beta and a lot of the online reviewers defaulted to assuming the characters were male.

I remember doing some homework and discovering that "Xe" had been used by Trek authors in the past for non-gendered life-forms so I figured I'd just stick with that precedent -- which, yes, was something of a headache in the end, at least in terms of copyediting.

 

[Kilana2]

For me it was worth reading it in English and German.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I remember doing some homework and discovering that "Xe" had been used by Trek authors in the past for non-gendered life-forms so I figured I'd just stick with that precedent

If I remember correctly, "xe" is also a non-binary pronoun used IRL.