Star Trek books worth reading

arcademaster · May 2013

I figured this might be a good place to ask, which Star Trek books are worth reading? There are a ton of them. And my experience with franchise works has been that 99% are ****. I expect Trek books to be the same, but among that mass there must be some good stuff (like the Thrawn novels Star Wars side).

So far I only read the Destiny trilogy since it was often talked about and I wanted to see where the Vesta came from (though it played a pretty darn small part in the end). It was decent, the second book dragged a bit, but the conflict was exciting, the stakes were high and the world building (Borg origin) was very interesting.

So anything else on that level?

Please only reply if you are able to tell a good book from a bad one (ie: you don't think the Dune prequels are awesome or some such).

sollvax · May 2013

IKS Gorkon novels

verlaine11 · May 2013

I really like the Typhon Pact series - its set in the years after the Destiny Trilogy and is a very good read as it presents a pretty good and believable universe after the Borg invasion, there are currently 7 books and deals a lot with the Typhon Pact races, Picard, Sisko, Dax, Riker, Bashir, Section 31 and others

Paths of Disharmony is quite interesting due to its outcome and how it effects the other books in the series

Should be a link to the books here
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Typhon_Pact

gfreeman98 · May 2013

"Enterprise, The First Adventure" chronicles James T. Kirk's first mission as captain of the Enterprise. It's quite good and frankly more creative than what we saw in JJ-Trek '09.

If you're interested in Vulcan I'd highly recommend the Diane Duane novel "Spock's World". "Sarek" and "Vulcan's Forge" are also good.

There's also a 3-novel series called Crucible about the impact of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy's journey through the Guardian of Forever, each focusing on one of the characters. Of the three, the first one I thought was best: "Star Trek: The Original Series: Crucible: McCoy: Provenance of Shadows" as it really fleshes out his character.

thomas12255 · May 2013

Star Trek Millennium Series - http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Deep_Space_Nine_-_Millennium

It's the book series that the game Star Trek The Fallen is based on if you've ever played it.

corethl · May 2013

I tend to go a bit old school, so finding these may be tricky. Still:

Final Frontier by Diane Duane chronicles a secret mission of mercy that blows up in scale fast in the era of Robert April (Pike's predecessor) and the father of Jim Kirk. If you enjoy that, then you'd probably enjoy the follow-up, Best Destiny, which shows a life-changing experience for the juvenile delinquent, Jim Kirk.

I'm also a fan of Federation, by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, which features a story featuring Kirk and Picard's crews, and a danger to the inventor of the warp drive; a chunk got invalidated by the First Contact movie, but the book itself still holds together pretty well.

bohiap · May 2013

If you can still get a copies of them, my favorite Star Trek novel's were Spock's World, Enterprise, The First Adventure, and The Final Reflection. There's also a book, from about that time, that features the first mission of Enterprise with Captain April and George Kirk. But, I don't remember the name of that one.

redsnake721 · May 2013

The Titan books about Rikers ship are entertaining.

hrisvalar · May 2013

There aren't many Trek novels that are really good. I generally dislike most as most Trek authors are quick to resort to pandering with a well-stocked cast of existing characters. And they'll go to rather extreme lengths do it, sometimes. It's a big Federation, but you wouldn't think so from reading about it.

Still, some I did like was "Watching the Clock" (A DTI novel, haven't read any of the others yet), "Articles of Federation" (Focused on the UFP presidency) and "A Stitch in Time" (Elim Garak's autobiography, co-written with the actor).

The ones that can stand on their own are generally best. If it's book X in a series, odds are it'll probably suck. (Although the Vanguard series looks like it might be good. Haven't read any of it yet.)

cptshephard · May 2013

Personally anything written by David Mack is gold. I love his books. That said, though, my favorite book is Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. Decandido and I have always thought something like it would make a good Trek series. It's no longer in print. I got my copy through a seller on eBay. You can probably find it through an Amazon or Barnes and Noble third party retailer too.

robeasom · May 2013

Star Trek New Frontier novels are good And also Stargazer novels as a young picard captains his first ship are good novels as well

artan42 · May 2013

Deep Space Nine relaunch series, or the Vanguard series.

auric2000 · May 2013

I Recommend 'The Lost Era' set between the death of Kirk in generations and the launch of the 1701-D. Best novel of the bunch is "Art of the Impossible" focusing on the Klingon-Cardassian betreka nebula incident and a good many other plot threads that appear in TNG and DS9.

The Terok Nor saga is another good set covering the occupation from the first official contact between the Cardassians and the Bajorans to at most days before Emissary.

Then the Enterprise Romulan War novels are a good pick up.

oldkirkfan · May 2013

One of my favorites is still Uhura's Song by Janet Kagan.

But then, I love cats.

snoggymack22 · May 2013

Star Trek Excelsior Forged in Fire is one of my favorites.

stardestroyer001 · May 2013

There was an old TOS novel, with the Enterprise being hurled into a different galaxy. I can't remember the name of it though.

Aside from that, here's my reading list:

Star Trek Destiny trilogy
Star Trek Voyager #18: Battle Lines
the Star Trek Specter trilogy by William Shatner (that's the only trilogy that is interesting, the rest are not so good)

markhawkman · May 2013

My faves were the Corps of Engineers books, and the novelizations of the TAS episodes. Some of the novelized TAS eps are far more complex than the originals. I think most if not all, would make a hour length episode rather than the 30 min timeslot of TAS.

vulcanclipper · May 2013

"The Final Reflection" by John M. Ford is a great book.

jonsills · May 2013

Particularly in light of tomorrow's Not Season Eight, I recommend Diane Duane's Rihannsu novels (I don't remember the names of all of them, but I'm sure someone here does). Of especial note in this light is The Romulan Way, co-written with her husband, Peter Norwood. It's an interesting take on the Rihannsu from the inside, and the only standard Trek character who makes an appearance (later in the novel) is McCoy.

John M. Ford's The Final Reflection is really good, although most of what Ford invented about the Klingons was later rendered non-canon (the only part that remains is a passing reference, in STO, to the game klin zha, a major feature of the novel). Again, if you're looking for a book that doesn't lean on the standard characters, here you go - we do meet a very young Spock at one point, and at another a man named McCoy mentions having to go home to take care of his grandson Leonard, but that's about it. It's a good examination of what Klingon society might have been, though, and even offers its own explanation for ridgeless Klingons (they create "fusions", genetic hybrids, of Klingons with neighboring species, in hopes of better understanding how those species think so as to make their conquest easier; those fusions are then usually set to patrolling the border with that neighbor species).

wetworth1 · May 2013

I second "Federation". I think that it's the best stand alone book.

tacofangs · May 2013

:::points to his shelf:::

crypticarmsman · May 2013

tacofangs wrote: »

:::points to his shelf:::

Just curious - why two copies of the TNG tech manual?

tuskin67 · May 2013

If you're a fan of Enterprise you need to read the Romulan war lead up and Romulan War series books, they're amazing.

mandoknight89 · May 2013

crypticarmsman wrote: »

Just curious - why two copies of the TNG tech manual?

Because his old copy was getting worn out?

jornado · May 2013

tacofangs wrote: »

:::points to his shelf:::

You're missing some of the really good manuals. TOS Tech manual and Medical manual, the Compendium, and everyone should really find a copy of Simon and Schuster Interactive's Omnipedia, fun piece of software that.

On the novel note, believe it or not, Shatner's novels are actually pretty decent (thanks to his co-authors in no small measure) and fill in some gaps in Fed history without stepping on canon too much.

There was also a series spanning all the eras, I want to say it was "The Furies", but I could be wrong. All different authors, but a nice tie-together for all eras.

There's an omnibus called "The Q Continuum" containing a trilogy of novellas that is excellent, like really awesome, doesn't step on canon, and really ties together a lot of Trek events.

I really like novels that span all eras as much as possible and bring discordant things together without openly defying what has been seen on screen, hence the books I recommend.

Cheers!

otisnoble · May 2013

arcademaster wrote: »

I figured this might be a good place to ask, which Star Trek books are worth reading? There are a ton of them. And my experience with franchise works has been that 99% are ****. I expect Trek books to be the same, but among that mass there must be some good stuff (like the Thrawn novels Star Wars side).

So far I only read the Destiny trilogy since it was often talked about and I wanted to see where the Vesta came from (though it played a pretty darn small part in the end). It was decent, the second book dragged a bit, but the conflict was exciting, the stakes were high and the world building (Borg origin) was very interesting.

So anything else on that level?

Please only reply if you are able to tell a good book from a bad one (ie: you don't think the Dune prequels are awesome or some such).

Almost anything by Peter David

skiffy1 · May 2013

tacofangs wrote: »

:::points to his shelf:::

WOAH!!! Where do I get copies of the technical memos from TNG and VOY?! I think I have nearly every other book displayed there, however.

ussackerman · May 2013

I usually like the Multi-book series. Ones that stick out for me are the "Captain's Table" series, The "Q-Continuum" series and the "Eugenics Wars" series.

The Q-Continuum has the only sane explanation about the "god-being" from STV:TFF I've ever seen and the Eugenics Wars books uses references and characters from every time-travel episode in Star Trek connecting TOS, TNG, DS9 and VOY and then there is a toss-away reference to Archer at the end of the last book to make a web connecting all the series to Khan.

jake477 · May 2013

My picks:

Star Trek Destiny Novels

Star Trek Vanguard Novels

Star Trek: Resistance

Star Trek: Before Dishonor

Star Trek: Greater than the Sum

Tales of the Dominion War

- (spoilers: it tells a story where Schinzon and his Stormtrooper Remans totally ransack a Jem'Hadar compound)

Star Trek Voyager series

or the new TOS series with the original crew.

Even the 2009 movie novel is good.

merkhet · May 2013

I've only read synopses, but Typhon Pact carves off its own little continuity that STO and some other novels ignore. I can't say I'm fond of the militaristic themes, either. I've been reading the Stargazer stuff, and I'd characterize it as adequate. I plan to slowly go through Stargazer, then post-TV Enterprise D/E stories, then Titan.

steamwright · May 2013

vulcanclipper wrote: »

"The Final Reflection" by John M. Ford is a great book.

I'll add my voice to this and about 4 others on this thread. Great book, even if some of the Klingon concepts have since changed in the TV series.

Just about anything by Diane Duane, but my favorite is My Enemy, My Ally. Her battle sequences are very cool, and utilize things in ways no one else apparently considered. (I especially like the use of a game table.) Additionally, she created my favorite ST book character here, Ensign Naraht the Horta. The humor of a rock with natural boyish charm partnered with his terrifying war skills when set loose on Enterprise's enemies make for a very interesting character.

The Yesterday Saga books by A.C. Crispin were pretty good, too.

Star Trek books worth reading

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