Any love for Star Trek novels/books?

[Ineti]

I don't see any listed in the Book Index. Any love out there for Trek?

I've been reading the books pretty heavily over the last four years or so, after a long break away from them. Partly because I've been getting stories published by the Trek folks, but also because I've discovered that they're pretty good reads.

[ShannonA]

Congrats on the pubs.

It's been literally decades since I read any ST books, but I keep being tempted to pick up the Deep Space 9 continuations, since I loved that series, and the books seem to be fairly well regarded.

[Ineti]

Yeah, the DS9 series of books are pretty tight.

And it just so happens that an omnibus of the first five stories in the new DS9 series was just released. Title is "Twist of Faith." I'd say it's definitely worth your while to check out if you were a fan of the show. The series picks up right where the "What you Left Behind" leaves off.

[mcrow]

Not really. I read one (A Good Day to Die) about two years ago and it was OK.

I might read some more at some point.

[Quasar]

I read some for a time. Mainly PAD books. Then Babylon 5 came and my interest in trek completely evaporated.

The Last one I read I think was Q-Squared. I don't think I even read Imzadi II, which is a little surprising given how much I adored the original.

What was Imzadi II like? Worth reading?

[Tom B]

I really liked them when they first started coming out (yes, I'm that old). In particular, I remembered enjoying "The Entropy Effect". I burned out on them pretty rapidly after that. I'll occasionally pick one up these days, but the last ones I enjoyed were the Calhoun books...although they were pretty over-the-top, even for Star Trek. Some of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers books have been enjoyable. I keep intending to pick up some of the compilations.

[Fritzef]

Probably not what you're asking about, but long ago I was very fond of James Blish's adaptations of the original series' episodes. Of course, this was back when there was no Trek of any type available (OS off the air, no movies or TNG yet, no DVDs, etc.) I happened to buy a collection of all of the stories at a library book sale last year and keep meaning to read them for old times' sake.

[Neil]

Probably not what you're asking about, but long ago I was very fond of James Blish's adaptations of the original series' episodes. Of course, this was back when there was no Trek of any type available (OS off the air, no movies or TNG yet, no DVDs, etc.) I happened to buy a collection of all of the stories at a library book sale last year and keep meaning to read them for old times' sake.

James Blish adaptions of the original scripts are pretty good! I read them at the same time period you did.

[David Goodner]

I like Trek books. They fill roughly the same niche as the occasional Forgotten Realms novel or Star Wars EU book (up until the New Jedi Order garbage). I tend to prefer TNG, because the characters are a little more interesting, and because I was kind of young for Trek the first time around, but right in the target market for TNG.

At the last Friends of the Arlington Public Library book sale, I bought a whole box of Trek books for $6.00. I've been reading them sporadically whenever I get bored and have nothing else to read. It was a well spent six bucks.

David G.

[bertipa]

The final reflection by John M. Ford.

[hive_mind]

I've been reading the Star Trek Vanguard series over the last few days and am enjoying it much more than I thought I would.

The first book, Harbinger by David Mack, was faitly well written though events were a bit forced at times. That's probably not surprising considering the intent of the book was to introduce the Taurus Reach, Vanguard Station, a host of new characters, as ell as the conflict that sets the stage for the series. I particularly like the fact that the book focuses on some of the darker elements of the Federation and the choices that the characters have to make between doing what's right and what's necessary. I also find it interesting that the Tholians have a fairly prominent role in the conflict, a nice change of pace from the typical Fed/Klingon/Romulan Paradigm.

The second book, Summon The Thunder by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore, was surprisingly well written. They do an excellent job on characterization without getting too attached to any particular person in the story. They also don't seem to mind killing off a charcater if it advances the story. Finally the Shedai parts of the book are very interesting and I found myself wanting to find out more about the Wanderer and the rest of the race.

I'm in the middle of the third book, Reap The Whirlwind by David Mack, and finding it much better written than Harbinger. I'm not quite done with it yet but it has very action-packed and I'm really looking forward to finding out how many of the characters are going to get out of their current predicaments.

Technically there is at least one Star Trek SCE (Starfleet Corpse of Engineers) book that deals with Vanguard Station and some of the mysteries of the Taurus Reach. It's called Distant Early Warning and I have not read it, nor do I feel that I'm missing anything major in the story for not doing so.

[Devin Parker]

I haven't read any Star Trek novels since "Voyager" first aired, but I remember particularly enjoying Peter David's treatments.

I forget the title of the last novel I read, but it was a crossover series that would cover every era of Trek. The first one dealt with TNG and DS9 characters, and was about confronting some sort of massive plague.

As a previous reader mentioned, in my mind I place them in the same category as game-based fiction - fun and fluffy vacation reading. That may not be entirely fair to the authors, but that's how I think of them.

[Ineti]

I haven't read any Star Trek novels since "Voyager" first aired

As a previous reader mentioned, in my mind I place them in the same category as game-based fiction - fun and fluffy vacation reading. That may not be entirely fair to the authors, but that's how I think of them.

Voyager aired in 1995. Star Trek fiction has come a long, long way in 12 years. I'd opine that calling the current offerings fun and fluffy isn't so much fair to the authors as it is simply an inaccuracy.

[Tom B]

I'll second the Vanguard books. It's interesting (in the first book) to see the Enterprise play a secondary role to the actual main characters.

[Devin Parker]

Voyager aired in 1995. Star Trek fiction has come a long, long way in 12 years. I'd opine that calling the current offerings fun and fluffy isn't so much fair to the authors as it is simply an inaccuracy.

Has it really been that long? Oy.

Well, if this is the case then I may have to do a bit of browsing next time I'm at the Barnes & Noble.