Please recommend some good Trek books, folks!

Superman · Fleet Admiral Joined: 06 Dec 2003 Posts: 10220

Hi there, folks.

In all my years as a Trek fan, I've probably read 4 or 5 novels only. In fact, it's very rare for me to read books now.

Don't get me wrong, I do like books. I think a book can be good because it can leave so much to the imagination unlike a movie or TV show. I wish I could devote more time to reading.

My main problem is this; my work involves a LOT of paperwork, quite a bit of reading and plenty of time in front of a computer screen (which is why I find myself getting up from my desk every five minutes). Because of this, I rarely feel like reading words in a book when I get home. Who wants to read words in a book when you've spent the whole day reading and writing?

However, I am going to change my attitude. I am going to devote more time to reading because a) there is a hell of a lot of junk on TV and at the movies and b) I miss reading.

So, can you folks please recommend some good Trek books for me. I know there have been hundreds published so I'll tell you a bit about what I like and perhaps you can recommend some books for me.

FAVOURITE SERIES- Original Series
FAVOURITE CAPTAIN- Kirk with Janeway/Picard tied for second choice
FAVOURITE VILLAINS- The Romulans

I love books that have social commentary whether it be commentary on politics, religion or something similar. I am also a fan of plots that deal with sentient machinery and the concept of what constitutes a "living being".

I love Philip K. Dick novels so anything similar to them, I would enjoy.

And I simply ENJOY the mischevious Q. Any recommendations you have for good Q novels, I would appreciate.

I'd also be interested in any prequel books (for any character) and any books that feature the adventures of Trek between the end of TOS and the start of TNG era.

Any books that shine the spotlight on Chekov, Sulu, Riker, Data and Sisko would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance, folks. I look forward to resuming the wonderful thing we call reading.

gul Lemek III. · **Sat Sep 11, 2004 3:56 pm**

Okay, here's the deal. If you like Kirk and Picard and Romulans as the villains, you HAVE to read The Return. It has all that and it's nicely written. And it is based on TNG and TOS. And try The Lost Era series. They talk about stuff that happened when Sisko was a lieutenant and very young. Actually it talks about things that haven't been talked about until now. Try it!

Lindley · **Sat Sep 11, 2004 4:11 pm**

Well, personally, I think the single best Trek novel is A Stich In Time. Its Garak's autobiography, written by the actor who plays him.

Solitary Poet · **Sun Sep 12, 2004 2:52 am**

�The Captains Table� book four: FIRE SHIP, it�s an all Captain Janeway novel, the rest of the crew doesn't show up till the last chapter.

Omet'Ikilan · **Sun Sep 12, 2004 4:06 am**

The Q Continuum

Superman · Fleet Admiral Joined: 06 Dec 2003 Posts: 10220

Thank you for the recommendation, folks.

I am going to do a lot of reading over the next few weeks, as opposed to switching on the TV (which is far too easy).

By the way, on a related note, if you can get your hands on the audio tape of Spock VS Q, I would recommend it. It was simply brilliant.

Here's to reading!!!

1/1 · **Mon Sep 13, 2004 1:29 pm**

I know its a bit late but Star Trek Voyager: Mosaic is a fantastic book too. Its a kinda biography of Janeways life.

Superman · Fleet Admiral Joined: 06 Dec 2003 Posts: 10220

Thank you 1/1, that does sound most interesting. The more I can get of Kirk and Janeway the better.

Regarding this book, are there any passages that refer to Janeway walking barefoot?

It's just that, erm, a friend of, erm, mine is doing a college study into how often the word "foot" and "feet" is used in books. That's why I want to know, it's not because I have a foot fetish or anything.

Just kidding, you don't have to answer that.

gul Lemek III. · **Mon Sep 13, 2004 2:30 pm**

^

Well, anyway. I'd really like to read a stitch in time and when I get my hands on it, well...

Solitary Poet · **Mon Sep 13, 2004 3:46 pm**

I'm reading "a stitch in time" as we speak, it's not a novel in the usual sense, it's like an entire 4 part DS9 episode centered entirely around Elim Garak and Julian Bashir writing letters to each other. In short, IT ROCKS!!

Superman · Fleet Admiral Joined: 06 Dec 2003 Posts: 10220

Keep those recommendations coming in please, folks. I've got a lot of reading to do. I am now taking public transport to work so I shall be using the opportunity to do a LOT of reading. Think about it, you can probably get through a book a week if you do it on the bus or train.

Defiant · **Tue Sep 14, 2004 1:15 pm**

Lindley · **Tue Sep 14, 2004 1:38 pm**

For a good TOS story, I recommend Mind Meld.

The characters introduced therein have a tendency to appear in John Vornholt's later work, but that's one of his best.

Superman · Fleet Admiral Joined: 06 Dec 2003 Posts: 10220

Those sound good, folks. Thanks.

I am going to the library on Saturday. I am pretty sure they will stock a good selection of Trek books. I shall probably rent out 4 and read them on the way to and coming home from work.

BTW, I noticed those "Lost Era" books that were mentioned. They have some in the local bookshop. I shall buy some soon, the premises for some of them are very interesting indeed.

Lindley · **Wed Sep 15, 2004 3:27 am**

Defiant · **Wed Sep 15, 2004 3:55 am**

Ive heard nothing but good about Unity. I really want to pick up Unity before I leave. That sounds like a hell of a read.

Lindley · **Wed Sep 15, 2004 9:28 am**

Defiant · **Wed Sep 15, 2004 1:04 pm**

Indeed I have. I read avatar, the DS9 section 31 book, etc. I very much look forward to Unity.

The Delta Flyer · **Wed Sep 15, 2004 7:14 pm**

I think Mission Gamma # 4 is pretty important as well; it pretty much sets the scene for Unity if I'm remembering correctly.

If it's just good sci-fi books you're after (I just realised you're only after Trek) but you can't go wrong with the Thrawn Star Wars trilogy of books - Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command. Once you've read those you'll never go back to Trek. Well you probably will, but I didn't. Lol.

Defiant · **Thu Sep 16, 2004 2:02 am**

Yah, I suppose the Mission Gamma series was cool too.

You know a good klingon read is "Kahless." I was delightfully surprised.

Superman · Fleet Admiral Joined: 06 Dec 2003 Posts: 10220

Lindley · **Thu Sep 16, 2004 2:55 pm**

On the Star Wars front, I'll second the recommendation of the Thrawn Trilogy, and anything else by Timothy Zahn. I haven't read a book of his yet I didn't like. (His other SW books include The Hand of Thrawn duology, and Survivor's Quest. He's also done several SW short stories.)

Avoid the Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy. Seriously......the only halfway decent parts are Dengar healing Boba Fett after his escape from the Sarlacc. The flashbacks (which are easily more than half the trilogy) are boring as heck, and the Xixor scenes......well, let's just say they redefine boring.

Highly recommend the X-Wing series; both the books by Micheal Stackpole, and those by Aaron Allston. It doesn't have many of the original characters in it, but its still very good.

The Jedi Academy Trilogy is.....all right. It isn't terrific, but its sort of necessary, because, well, its the Jedi Academy Trilogy!

I, Jedi retells much of the Jedi Academy Trilogy, but not all of it; so if you get bored with the JAT, read I,J instead. However, I, Jedi should be read after the X-Wing series (or at least after X-Wing #1-4).

The Black Fleet Crisis is kind of eh. Very skippable. Not horrid, though; read it if you run out of other stuff.

You'll probably want to read Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, given your enjoyment of the other two Tales Of books. Tales from the Empire and Tales from the New Republic are also good, but they have a different editor, so expect a slightly different style. Oh, and read ToTE before ToTNR---there is a bit of crossover.

Skip The Crystal Star. 'Nuff said.

Then there's the unofficial "Callista trilogy", which consists of Children of the Jedi, Darksaber, and Planet of Twight. There are generally regarded as being pretty bad. Personally, I think they're readable, but not much more than that........I wouldn't classify them as "good".

The Corellian Trilogy is decent; you should probably put that on your to-read list.

The Han Solo Trilogy by AC Crispin is very good. Definately read that.

Finally------and I do mean finally, don't read this until you've read a lot, if not all, of the above------there's The New Jedi Order series. People either love this or hate it......its definately a departure from what came before. Personally, I enjoyed it a great deal. Don't read the backs of the books, that's spoil the previous ones in the series.

Superman · Fleet Admiral Joined: 06 Dec 2003 Posts: 10220

Thanks for your recommendations, Lindley.

Lindley · **Thu Sep 16, 2004 4:14 pm**

The Delta Flyer · **Thu Sep 16, 2004 4:41 pm**

I have to say that I would have understood very little of the New Jedi Order series without having read alot of the previous material (the majority of the characters are based in the Expanded Universe - that is to say, the books, games, etc that continue the Star Wars story.

At the risk of spending my entire post talking about Star Wars, I have to agree with Lindley; it's best to read the series in order - though me personally, I started with Wraith Squadron. I loved that and went on to buy the Wraith Squadron series as it was released and then eventually, getting the Rogue Squadron series as well (gotta say I liked the Wraith series of books best simply for the humour).

Again, I agree with Lindley regarding the Bounty Hunter books - the action scenes were good when they happened but there was SO much talking in between...I remember reading it and thinking, "Surely it's gonna speed up soon".
And the covers are misguiding - some of the things on the covers of the three novels have no relevance to the actual content of the books...which was rather annoying lol.

I have to say I've never read Tales from the New Republic or Mos Eisley Cantina so I can't comment on those, but the "Callista" trilogy - I only read Children of the Jedi and Darksaber.
I though Darksaber was OK but nothing special (I actually read this one first) but Children of the Jedi was a bit slow and boring compared to the other Star Wars books I'd read.

Oh, and the ultimate worst Star Wars books I've ever read are the three books that make up the "Lando" trilogy - set before the films, they feature Lando when he still owns the Falcon. I picked them up cheap at a bargain bookstore and...well...suffice to say, they were bad.

My best book would probably have to be Solo Command (one of the Wraith books) but you need to know a bit of background to the series first really; it's not one of those where you can jump in straight away.

I have some of the new "Clone Wars" books as well but for some reason I don't think they capture the magic of the post-ROTJ novels. Mind you, I think that's true of the prequels themselves.

I think that's why I prefer the Star Wars books to Trek. Admittedly I'm not much of a Trek fan anymore (I only really post in the sci-fi and books section of the site now) but the continuity of the Star Wars series was what drew me...events that happened in one book are referred to in subtle ways that won't (for the most part) alienate the casual reader but give a nice touch for those that have read of the events mentioned.
Like I say, with the NJO this probably isn't possible as much of the backstory established in the other novels is important...if not vital.

I found that with Trek, novels were constantly clashing with one another; full of inconsistancies. One example is when I'd finished reading the Dominion War quadrilogy (2 TNG, 2 DS9) and it involved Picard teaming up with Maquis Ro for the majority of the TNG duology . Yet in "Avatar", Ro says she hasn't seen Picard since she left the Ent-D.

I mean, OK it hardly ruins the story but for me, it really ruins the...realism I guess. With the Trek books, as I was reading I found myself thinking "nope that's wrong", "but what about...", etc. I know it's sad lol but it really put me off them.

I also think that the Star Wars novels are alot more mature in the fact that they're alot more detailed...in my experience, Star Trek books tend to say things like, "He fired phaser beams down the corridor" whereas the Star Wars books are almost sensual in the fact that they give smells, etc, describing the corridor itself. I sound like a right geek here I know but that extra detail made it all the more atmospheric. I've no idea if the Star Trek books are aimed at a different age range to the Star Wars ones though.

I'm also a fan of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels but don't get me started on that lol...

Oh and see, I did mange to bring Star Trek into my post somewhere