Would you guys help me organize my reading list catch-up?

[Sakrysta]

I'm determined to get caught up on the current continuity this year, or at least make a valiant effort at it. Problem is, I got behind with Warpath, as well as missing a few before that. That puts me FOUR solid years behind. I also stopped reading New Frontier somewhere along book 5 or 6, can't remember, and I want to get caught up with them too.

So, here's a list of what I'm intending to tackle this year. Do you guys have any suggestions about reading order, books I should add, and/or books I should avoid like the plague?

I'm planning to tackle a few non-continuity books before jumping into this task, so by the time this discussion shakes down, I should be ready to start.

Reading now (or soon):

• Intellivore
• Immortal Coil
• The Battle of Betazed
• The Buried Age
• The Terok Nor Trilogy

Books I'm planning to tackle in my quest to catch up:

• I.K.S. Gorkon Books (Brave & Bold Duology, Good Day, Honor, Enemy, & Burning House)
• DS9 Relaunch (Cloak, Gateways, Gamma, Rising Son, Unity, Worlds, Warpath, are there any more I'm missing?)
• Voyager Relaunch (Homecoming, Farther Shore, Spirit Walk, Full Circle, Unworthy)
• New Frontier (all of it - gulp)
• Titan (all of it)
• Articles of the Federation
• Death in Winter
• Before Dishonor
• Greater Than the Sum
• Destiny (Trilogy & Singular)
• Losing the Peace
• Typhon Pact

*deep breath*

Okay, so that's kind of the order I had in mind, but I'm open to modification, especially since I was also considering reading them in published order. Also, would it help me to catch up on S.C.E.? I think I've only read the first two or three MMPBs so far, so that would be another considerable addition to the plan.

If you guys help me out, I'll try to post my impressions as I go for your consideration/entertainment.

 

[Thrawn]

Gorkon, the DS9 Relaunch, and New Frontier all happen very much before all the rest. Check their memory beta pages for reading order and completeness; you have a couple mistakes there, but it'd be easier for you to fix it.

Finish all three of those before you read the rest, if you want to stick to pseudo-chronological order, but know that none of the books below refers to them very much until you get to Typhon Pact, which picks up a few threads from the DS9 Relaunch.

SCE is occasionally referenced, but never necessary. And you can really skip New Frontier, too, if you're looking for a way to lighten the load; it's great fun, but doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the continuity, really.

The rest go like this:

VOY: Homecoming, Farther Shore, Spirit Walk (these are not strictly necessary)
A Time To... series (also not strictly necessary, but the last three are fairly important)
(Nemesis)
TNG: Death In Winter
Titan: Taking Wing
Titan: Red King
Articles Of The Federation
Titan: Orion's Hounds
TNG: Resistance
TNG: Q&A
TNG: Before Dishonor
Titan: Sword Of Damocles
TNG: Greater Than The Sum
Destiny x3
TNG: Losing The Peace
A Singular Destiny
VOY: Full Circle
VOY: Unworthy
Titan: Torrent Sea
Titan: Synthesis
Typhon Pact

(I should note, before someone else does, that this is my particular favorite reading order, and there are others; the books sometimes overlap and cover similar timeframes but different events. I think this is the best way to read them. If someone else moves a couple around, then their's is probably fine too.)

 

[JD]

This seems like the best order to me too.

 

[Paris]

Thrawn's order is almost exactly how I'd re-read it all, except for Full Circle. As it covers Voyager from 2378 to the end of Destiny in 2381, and as I really dig Voyager, I'd read it after the "A Time to..." books. But, of course, this will partially spoil a few things, but as Full Circle doesn't recount all of Destiny anyways, Full Circle can act as a tease for the next two years of treklit continuity.

 

[Sakrysta]

Well, if New Frontier isn't really involved in the continuity, then I will put it off until after I get caught up. What about Gorkon? It's shorter, so it wouldn't take me as long, but if it's not necessary, I will put it off too.

I've already read the A Time To... series which is nice. I'm pretty sure I remember it well enough to not have to refresh it. Not so the DS9 Relaunch. I loved it when I read it, but it's all so hazy now that I'm really looking forward to going through it again.

I didn't include Resistance and Q & A because I don't have copies of them yet, and I was going off the books on my shelves to make my list. I try so hard to get first printings of my books, and I haven't run across them for those two yet. Actually rather annoyed about that. Anyway, thanks for reminding me about them. Hopefully I'll find copies before I get to their position on the list.

Do I need to read the Nemesis novel, or is having seen the movie enough?

Oh also, a question I've been wondering about for ages. I keep seeing references to "Horn and Ivory", but I've never figured out what or where it is, other than that it's related to and/or follows the Gateways series. Is that right? Help!

Thanks for the list, Thrawn! It's a big help. Anyone else have any suggestions? Any other novels I left off my list besides Resistance and Q & A?

 

[Paris]

Oh also, a question I've been wondering about for ages. I keep seeing references to "Horn and Ivory", but I've never figured out what or where it is, other than that it's related to and/or follows the Gateways series. Is that right? Help!

It's the short story ending for the DS9 entry of Gateways in the 7th book of the Gateways series

 

[Thrawn]

Yes, you can skip Gorkon. It's referenced a bit in the last A Time To... book and in A Singular Destiny, but not in any dealbreaker sort of way.

The DS9 Relaunch is both more important and also totally freaking fantastic, though, so I'd definitely read all that.

 

[Christopher]

Well, if New Frontier isn't really involved in the continuity, then I will put it off until after I get caught up. What about Gorkon? It's shorter, so it wouldn't take me as long, but if it's not necessary, I will put it off too.

It has some overlaps with other in-continuity books, but they're subtle, so you can read them whenever you like, I guess. However, they all take place in 2376, contemporaneous with the DS9 post-finale books and some time before all the stuff concentrated around Nemesis and Destiny.

Whenever you read it, keep in mind that it's divided among various titles. First comes TNG: Diplomatic Implausibility. This is followed by part 4 of the duology The Brave and the Bold, which crosses the Gorkon crew over with the TNG crew. Then come the three IKS Gorkon novels, A Good Day to Die, Honor Bound, and Enemy Territory. Then the series is retitled Klingon Empire with the last novel to date, A Burning House. There's also a Gorkon story in Tales from the Captain's Table (whose frame story takes place during A Burning House), and a Mirror Universe GKN tale in Shards and Shadows.

Do I need to read the Nemesis novel, or is having seen the movie enough?

I don't recall specifics about this one, but generally the novelizations aren't considered part of the novel continuity overall. Sometimes novelizations assert things beyond the film that are disregarded in other books, which are only bound to follow the film's version of events.

Oh also, a question I've been wondering about for ages. I keep seeing references to "Horn and Ivory", but I've never figured out what or where it is, other than that it's related to and/or follows the Gateways series. Is that right? Help!

It's the DS9 installment in the final Gateways book, What Lay Beyond. Each of the books in the miniseries ended with a cliffhanger which was resolved in WLB. Both the DS9 Gateways installments, Demons of Air and Darkness and "Horn and Ivory," are collected back-to-back in the trade paperback Twist of Faith.

 

[ryan123450]

I'm planning to tackle a few non-continuity books before jumping into this task, so by the time this discussion shakes down, I should be ready to start.


Reading now (or soon):

• Intellivore
• Immortal Coil
• The Battle of Betazed
• The Buried Age
• The Terok Nor Trilogy

I'm not sure about Intellivore, but keep in mind that all the others are in line with the rest of the continuity, especially The Battle of Betazed and the Terok Nor trilogy.

I most definitly would NOT read Full Circle until after Destiny. However if you own all these books you'll be reading, you could read the first half of the story, which is pre-Destiny and ends concurrently with Before Dishonor, which it would also spoil.