trek book suggestions

Jason von Evil · Post by **Jason von Evil** » 2004-12-17 08:11am

Well, I plan on buying a trek book or two tonight, does anyone have any suggestions on what to get?

Post by **Gandalf** » 2004-12-17 08:13am

The Dominion War series was worth a read or two. It's a 4 book series.

Crazedwraith · Post by **Crazedwraith** » 2004-12-17 11:46am

Anything by Peter David. New Frontier books, but you'd properly have to try and find the really old beginnig books which is a pain or buy the hard back of Stone and Anvil which has all but the one before it on disc.

JME2 · Post by **JME2** » 2004-12-17 02:44pm

Depends on your taste of Trek.

* If you like anthologies, go with Tales of the Dominion War.

* If you like exploring the various nuances and angles of Trek history, go with The Lost Era novels.

* If you like DS9/VGR and want to see them continue, go with their respective relaunch novels (For DS9, I recommend Unity or The Left Hand of Destiny duology; I've personally avoided the VGR relaunch after reading the opening duology, but it's your choice).

* If you like none of the above, fall back on Peter David.

Bob the Gunslinger · Post by **Bob the Gunslinger** » 2004-12-17 03:51pm

DEFINITELY get a Peter David book!

Vendetta was frikkin awesome! It's a book about the Borg that Walper wishes was canon. Q-Squared is another good one. For humor, I recommend Q-In-Law, which is really funny. Then there is the New Frontier series, which I personally think should have been the next Trek series instead of Voyager. It's really well written with lots of interesting characters, but it is a pretty long series and still expanding, so keep that in mind.

The Final Reflection gets many good reviews here, too.

Currently I am reading Diane Carey's Ship of the Line, about Captain Bateman of the USS Bozeman. The book is pretty good so far, but I havce yet to finish it, so I can't say if it will be great or not. FYI, Bateman is a Warsie, and he thinks that the Next Gen crews are pansies.

JME2 · Post by **JME2** » 2004-12-17 03:59pm

Bob the Gunslinger wrote:DEFINITELY get a Peter David book!

Vendetta was frikkin awesome! It's a book about the Borg that Walper wishes was canon. Q-Squared is another good one. For humor, I recommend Q-In-Law, which is really funny. Then there is the New Frontier series, which I personally think should have been the next Trek series instead of Voyager. It's really well written with lots of interesting characters, but it is a pretty long series and still expanding, so keep that in mind.

Don't forget I,Q either -- especially in the audiobook form because, like David's other Q novels, John deLancie is the narrarator. I have the audiobook on my computer and it's good fun to listen to as I write out The Best of Both Worlds.

Bob the Gunslinger · Post by **Bob the Gunslinger** » 2004-12-17 04:37pm

D'oh, I forgot I, Q.

Seriously, De Lancy does his Q voice for the audiobooks? Excellent.

Jason von Evil · Post by **Jason von Evil** » 2004-12-18 10:55am

I have the first two NF books, but can't seem to locate the other early NF books.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2004-12-18 11:05am

Aya wrote:I have the first two NF books, but can't seem to locate the other early NF books.

One of the recent books came with a CD that included all the previous NF books and stories on it in adobe acrobat format.

I think it was the hard back version of Stone and Anvil. IIRC the disk might be short the book right before S&A but it's a quick way to get all the back stories.

I still don't like spending that much time reading in front of my couputer but one of these days I should read the couple of NF stories on the disk that I missed.

Post by **Steve** » 2004-12-19 12:52am

If the names "Peter David", "Diane Carey", "Michael Jan Friedman", or "Diane Duane" are on the cover, odds are favorable that the book is good.

"I, Q", by Peter David and John de Lancie, is one of the funniest books I've ever read. They just do such an excellent job at spinning a unique yarn for the story.

"Ship of the Line" is excellent, but it's by Diane Carey and one expects excellence from her.

You must read Diane Duane's Rihannsu novels, particularly the first two: "My Enemy, My Ally" and "The Romulan Way". The Romulans - Rihannsu in their language (Which Duane created by mixing elements of Welsh and Latin and utilizing a rudimentary computer program she wrote in BASIC) - get a superb fleshing out, with an originally-crafted culture and manner that makes the Romulans of the TNG era seem pale and shallow. Rihannsu is, in fact, far more preferable a background for the Romulans than that damned Nemesis provided.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-19 01:16am

Steve is right, but let me comment that Carey is the weakest of the bunch. Diane Duane and John M. Ford's work would be canon background for the Romulans and Klingons if there was any justice in this universe.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-19 01:44am

A Stitch in Time by the guy who played Garak and a co-author makes for an excellent read. Fills in a lot of Garak's backstory and is just... well, it's pretty much my favorite Trek book.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-19 01:51am

Yah, that was pretty good.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-19 02:06am

Of course, I'm biased by the fact that Garak is my favorite character in Star Trek.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-19 02:16am

Garak was great. I loved the "not Starfleet" semi-regulars of DS9.

Bob the Gunslinger · Post by **Bob the Gunslinger** » 2004-12-19 07:36pm

Ship of the Line has a pretty funny debate between Riker and Captain Bateman around page 200. Basically Riker calls the captain barbaric for preparing for war to ensure peace and the captain replies that Riker is self-delusional and a pussy. Good stuff.

Jason von Evil · Post by **Jason von Evil** » 2004-12-20 06:17am

Tsyroc wrote:
Aya wrote:I have the first two NF books, but can't seem to locate the other early NF books.
One of the recent books came with a CD that included all the previous NF books and stories on it in adobe acrobat format.

I think it was the hard back version of Stone and Anvil. IIRC the disk might be short the book right before S&A but it's a quick way to get all the back stories.

I still don't like spending that much time reading in front of my couputer but one of these days I should read the couple of NF stories on the disk that I missed.

Meh, I dislike .PDFs.

Darth Lucifer · Post by **Darth Lucifer** » 2004-12-21 02:36am

I haven't picked up a Trek novel in a while, but one sticks out in my mind, particularly because I recently saw STII:TWOK. The Kobayashi Maru is the name of the novel, set in the pre-movie TOS era. I don't want to give away spoilers; the title should tell you everything you need to know.

From a Trekkie fanwank viewpoint, I remember it was a decent read. But I will bet you money that if I were to re-read it now, I would tear it to shreds with all of the things I've picked up here at SD.net.