Current Reads

[Cheryl]

I'm doing a similar thing. I want to be current, but I don't know enough of the deep lore. I'm starting over at the beginning, with Star Trek: The Classic Episodes, Volume 1
.

[Lee]

This week, I finished and . The latter is the lowest-numbered (#2) Pocket paperback in my collection, so I figured starting from the bottom was a good enough place to begin. It turns out both were written by Vonda McIntyre, and both highlighted Sulu and another "visiting" captain and crew.

Captain Hunter of Aerfen is a small "fighter" on the border patrol, who saved one of the colony worlds Sulu grew up on, so he developed a case of hero-worshipping. In "Enterprise", we see Ensign Sulu, straight out of Academy, losing his dream assignment to Aerfen. In "Entropy", he wins a transfer from Kirk to Hunter-- one of his former loves-- but events intervene.

Both of these also feature one or more cat-humanoid crewmembers, plus some minor characters-- all well-drawn-- mostly in the security section. "Entropy" establishes a character as ship's Security department head, but I'm sure she is replaced several times over the course of the novels.

Those links were more interesting to me, having accidentally read them back-to-back, than the plots of the books themselves. I think I will jump to the next McIntyre book I have, to see if any of these characters repeat. (Spoiler: Memory Alpha does not list any more reappearances of Hunter & Aerfen)

[Cheryl]

Not a bad idea, to follow an author when appropriate.

[[deleted user]]

Right now I'm reading the books releated to the Full Circle Fleet by Kirsten Beyer, more specifically Acts of Contrition.

[W]

The Black Shore by Greg Cox

[[deleted user]]

Anyone who has read (or is reading) the series "A Time To..."?
Did you like it? Because I read the first two or three books before change to the "Full Circle" series...

Right now I'm reading (starting is more appropriate): Atonement by Kirsten Beyer!

[Daniel]

Welcome Chiara! I have read the A Time To series and I think they're great. The first two books set up a really interesting arc . . which is not really followed up on though in my opinion. The last three books could be read together and really set up the 20 + book post-nemesis novelverse.
Vornholt (who wrote those first two books from the A Time To series) is one of the those writers that people either love or hate. e.g. see the reviews on those Dominion War novels, but I really enjoy his writing.

[Bruce]

I read the entire A Time To... series in 2018 for our Literary Treks podcast. We covered all of the books in the series. If you want to listen to those episodes, we start with the first book, A Time To Be Born, on episode 228.

[Oz]

I recommend the series and the Literary Treks episodes reviewing the books.

[[deleted user]]

Daniel wrote: "Welcome Chiara! I have read the A Time To series and I think they're great. The first two books set up a really interesting arc . . which is not really followed up on though in my opinion. The last..."

Thank you very much!! I think I read the first three books of the series, than I change set of novels (starting with "Death in Winter" by Michael Jan Friedman) and now I'm following the Full Circle Fleet.
I'll take my chance and I'll buy the other books from "A Time To.." to so what'll happen ;)

[[deleted user]]

Bruce wrote: "I read the entire A Time To... series in 2018 for our Literary Treks podcast. We covered all of the books in the series. If you want to listen to those episodes, we start with the first book, A Tim..."

That's really interesting! As soon as possibile, I'll listen the podcast! Wonderful!

[Bruce]

FYI - My co-host, Dan Gunther, and I left that podcast last year and are still covering Star Trek books on the Positively Trek podcast.

[Brandon]

Chiara,

When you finish your current Star Trek reading goals, you should check out The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway by Una McCormack. She is one of the best authors currently working in any type of literary field.

[[deleted user]]

Brandon, absolutely! The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway is on my wishlist and I have also had the pleasure to read some interesting stuff by Una McCormack (if I'm not mistaken, she should have written something for the Typhon Pact series?)...

Being very fond of Janeway's character, she is "my" Captain as Voyager was the first Trek series I saw, I will make sure I get that text in hard copy!

[Andrea]

The Full Circle books by Kirsten Beyer are some of the best Trek books out there, imho. Whenever I'm reading one I tend to devour them quickly because I can't put them down.

Also agree with the recommendation for Una McCormack's books. The Never Ending Sacrifice was such a great look into post-war Cardassia.

I've been alternating reading some of the older Trek (the early TNG stuff) and the newer stuff, and it's so interesting seeing how much has developed for Treklit in the last 30+ years.

[[deleted user]]

I really loved reading Death in Winter by Michael Jan Friedman and the Destiny: The Complete Saga: Gods of Night, Mere Mortals, and Lost Souls series by David Mack!

Only recently I have "discovered" other authors, suck Kirsten Beyer and Una McCormack! Surely it'll take time, but I'm going to read all of them!

[Andrea]

Chiara wrote: "I really loved reading Death in Winter by Michael Jan Friedman and the Destiny: The Complete Saga: Gods of Night, Mere Mortals, and Lost Souls series by..."

The Destiny trilogy is my favourite of all the Treks I've read <3

[Oz]

Just started The Dark Veil by James Swallow 🖖

[[deleted user]]

Andrea wrote: "Chiara wrote: "I really loved reading Death in Winter by Michael Jan Friedman and the [book:Destiny: The Complete Saga: Gods of Night, Mere Mortals, and Lost Souls|1892..."

I really appreciated that too!!

[Daniel]

Oz wrote: "Just started The Dark Veil by James Swallow 🖖"
I am very close to finishing this book and I won't spoil it for you but it's been good to do a rewatch of Picard in conjunction. Some random thoughts (again without spoiling the book):
this month in the USA we saw a movement of conspiracy theorists attack the very country they claim to love by, well, conspiring to overthrow our legitimate government. As heartbreaking as it was, it was also just self-sabotage; it was moronic. There's a flashback moment in a Picard episode where Picard asks Rafi: "why would the Tal Shiar destroy the very ships that were intended to save the Romulans?" But, you know, this is one of the most insidious aspects of unfounded conspiracies: they spread dissent and erode faith in the foundation of the very institutions that are working in their best interests. And they're fanatics.
Obviously James Swallow didn't know what was going to happen in the USA on January 6, but one of the main themes of the Picard series is fear -fear of the Other, fear of the immigrant, fear of people who look different, that they might not be "real." Okay, again, I don't want to spoil the book. But these themes in the Picard series and in the Picard books are prescient to modern day.

[Lizzie]

Daniel wrote: "Oz wrote: "Just started The Dark Veil by James Swallow 🖖"
I am very close to finishing this book and I won't spoil it for you but it's been good to do a rewatch of Picard in conjunction. Some rando..."

The presceience of Star Trek has been a very interesting part of the whole phenomenon of hard sciences and social sciences intersecting with science fiction.

[Lizzie]

I had Janeway on pre-order and it finally arrived, but then I didn't have time to read it, yet. I have read the other Captain books and find fascinating the whole concept of writing about their lives and how they ended up in the place that we know them best, the center seat of a starship.

[Lee]

I've gotten 1 new and 1 old Trek novels done.

I liked this one, I remembered a lot of the episodes that were referenced. I liked her perspective as a Star Fleet "insider", including (maybe especially) the one captain she couldn't get along with.

One of my oldest Pocket Books (#3!) I had re-read this about 10 years ago, and I still found it a good story-- not spectacular, but good. McCoy is the main point-of-view character, and I enjoyed seeing things through his eyes, even if he is grumping about his age most of the time.

[[deleted user]]

Lee wrote: "I've gotten 1 new and 1 old Trek novels done.

[bookcover:The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway: Captain Janeway of the USS Voyager tells the story of her life in Starfleet, for fans of Star Trek|55..."

I am a great fan of Janeway! And surely, I'll take it too!

[Cheryl]

Yes, because McCoy was so old, this early in the franchise... lol.

[Andrea]

I just finished a second readthrough of the first Corps of Engineers book. It's been over a decade since I read it the first time, but I think I enjoyed it more this time around.

I've always admired the engineering characters in various Treks, and when I used to play in written online Star Trek RPGs I would always be engineering. So it's a lot of fun to jump sorta back into that world reading this book.

I love that they give life back to some guest characters from various shows. And also weave in some old show plotlines too, in a totally different way than the rest of the Trek books. Have Tech, Will Travel

[Lee]

I zipped through and I have to say that I did not like it as much as the Janeway book. This Kirk seemed OK, but the feel of Star Fleet and his career seemed off. What I remember of some novels and movies was contradicted here, and that was most jarring. The primary one was that this Kirk was aware of his son with Carol Marcus, while I'm pretty sure I remember Kirk was stunned by David's existence revealed in TWoK.
Gary Mitchell becomes a fellow cadet at the Academy, instead of a student in one of Kirk's classes.
Some upper-level Star Fleet service politics are revealed-- a nice touch where it explained one thing-- but it fell into the trap of TNG's "All Admirals are warmongering conspirators" trope, even Adm. Nogura, portrayed very differently in numerous novels.

Meh.

[Cheryl]

Thanks Lee, good to know.

[[deleted user]]

Now I'm reading A Pocket Full of Lies by Kirsten Beyer... I hate temporal paradoxes ;P

By the way, it's interesting, but this line of stories about Voyager's crew doesn't take me as I wished, although I'm gonna finish all the books releated!

[Brandon]

I've read the Beyer Voyager books through Architects of Infinity, and I would say her most successful ones have been Full Circle, Children of the Storm, The Eternal Tide, and Atonement. There have been some wonderful bits in the others, too, and none are less than three stars with me, but it has been a while since I have read what feels like a home run in the series.

[[deleted user]]

I haven't yet read Full Circle, but Children of the Storm, The Eternal Tide and Atonement are wonderful and I really loved them!

Voyager is my favorite series (it was the first I ever seen), but about the books I loved more the TNG's Pocket Books :(

[Cheryl]

I do think that the first series we see is likely to be our favorite. After all, they're all good in a way, so the others have to match the benchmark set in our hearts.

[Sophie]

Hi All,

I'm working my way through some TOS books as I've neglected that series of books.

I'm actually going back and reading all the TOS, VOY, TNG and DS9 books in order. Could take me a lifetime but there's not much else to do in lockdown!

I don't own anything that was published more recently than about 5 years ago but I've got plenty of reading material.

[Brandon]

That's great, Sophie! There is an abundance of great books for TOS and the other three series you mentioned.

I am going through the Trek universe roughly chronologically right now, rereading some favorites and filling in some of the more interesting-looking holes in my reading. Demons by J.M. Dillard is my current book, and it is probably going to end up in my top 10% of the numbered novels.

I highly recommend The Latter Fire by James Swallow for a TOS book, in case that's not already something you have read or considered.

[Sophie]

Thanks Brandon. The Latter Fire by James Swallow (published 2016) isn't on my list as it wasn't one that I could download. But maybe in the future?

I've just looked at what's on my Kindle and I've only got books published before 2014. That's still a load of books so it's not like I'm short of reading material phew!! I've got 65 Star Trek books on my Goodreads bookshelves that I've either read our have lined up to read next.

I've just started reading The Covenant of the Crown. It's got some mixed reviews but I'm determined to read through the numberd books before I get my teeth into other things.

[Chad]

I am also going thru chronologically, and I'm up in the TOS movie era right now, shortly before Wrath of Khan. I also recommend The Latter Fire, but there are so many others, that I've made it to thus far that are great. The Legacies Trilogy is really good too, as is From History's Shadow.

[Lizzie]

There are 163 books related to TOS. Although this is put out by someone in connection with Amazon, it does have pretty good lists.

https://www.orderofbooks.com/characte...

[Sophie]

This is a fantastic list THANK YOU!!!! I had started the numbers in order but do you think that reading them in chronological order is a better experience???

Is there a list like this for VOY TNG and DS9 too?

[Sophie]

Ak found the links to the other books at the bottom. Sorry.

[Brandon]

I am using a site called startrekreadingorder.com, which started life as a Marvel Comics ordering resource but has expanded to about a dozen series.

[Lee]

In the last few weeks, I tried reading book:The Prometheus Design|216663] and finished The Klingon Gambit, in my attempt to go through the old Pocket Books that have been on my shelf for a long time. I noted that Prometheus Design had a friend's name on the inside cover, I vaguely remember a donation of books that weren't in my collection.

Prometheus Design: I couldn't finish it, far too gushily worshipping at the feet of Spock and Vulcan-- the human characters and the authors alike.
Klingon Gambit: OK, not great.

Abode of Life The Abode of Life is next up, and it's also OK so far. I think it's another of the donations that I hadn't read back in the 80s.

[[deleted user]]

Ehi, everybody! How are you?

Right now, I decided to leave for a while the Full Circle series, written by Kirsten Beyer, and I thrown myself in reading by Jeri Taylor!

Did you read it? I'm finding it interesting and I think I'm also going to read , also written by Jeri Taylor!

[Lee]

Bleah.

Picard's Autobiography and Web of the Romulans are next in the queue

[Lizzie]

Sophie wrote: "This is a fantastic list THANK YOU!!!! I had started the numbers in order but do you think that reading them in chronological order is a better experience???"

I am glad you found the links to the other series.

Since I read them in order of release and not chronological order, I don't know which is better. I would have to do both to make that decision, and I don't have time to reread all of TOS and Voyager. If I ever have time and money to read the other Trek series, maybe I will try out DS9 or STNG in chrono order.

[Lizzie]

I just finished the autobiography of Janeway. I wasn't happy with it. I liked the Kirk and Picard versions. The Janeway one left me disappointed.

[Kreg]

Lee wrote: " Bleah.

Picard's Autobiography and Web of the Romulans are next in the queue"

I read Triangle many years ago and still think it's the worst Trek book I've ever read. It's like really bad fan-fiction.

[[deleted user]]

I've finished Mosaic and Pathways.

I was torn between finishing Architects of Infinity or starting with A Time to Harvest and I decided to give a shot to this one.

Perhaps, after a bunch of book not releated to the Full Circle series and Voyager, I'll be good to finish Architects of Infinity and the other books of the Full Circle series!

[Andrea]

I've been reading a TON this year, and Trek books are no exception. Here's what I've read over the last couple months.

Ascendance This book was okay. The author seemed to be wrapped up several previous storylines in this book (I've luckily read the other books), so there were quite a few threads going. I'm not sure the plot with the Ascendants ended in a satisfying way to me. But some of the characters did get some good development. One of my biggest pet peeves is the author repeated himself A LOT. Scenes from earlier chapters get repeated so much and it's so annoying...

Star Trek: Discovery: Desperate Hours This book was really really good. I appreciated a more in-depth look into the Disco characters, since I didn't find that season 1 did them much justice (seasons 2 and 3 are different stories). It really helps to situation the characters in the Trek canon and explains why some of them are the way they are. Really enjoyed this!

Fortune's Light I usually struggle with the older books, but this one was pretty good! It was nice to see Riker struggle with something instead of being a "Kirk-esque" perfect-at-everything character that I often feel he's portrayed like in the older novels. A short and sweet read.

Miracle Workers, S.C.E. Book Two A fun collection of fun stories in the Corps of Engineers plotline. The first was a fun wrap up of a two part story dealing with the USS Defiant from the TOS era. The second was a romp aboard Empok Nor with Nog guest staring. I thought Nog was disserviced a little bit in this story, but it went to show off the snootiness of the SCE. The last was focused on Sonya Gomez and it was pretty heart wrenching.. it will be interested to see how this character bounces back.

[[deleted user]]

Hi, everybody!
I have finally finished the book A Time to Harvest, interesting conclusion of the duology formed by it and A Time to Sow!

While I'm going to start A Time to Love, I'll also finish Articles of the Federation and Architects of Infinity, that I left behind in the last weeks.

[Lee]

Picard's Autobiography was good, not great, for me.

Web of the Romulans was OK. The story seemed slow to start, but rushed to finish. The multiple PoVs were useful in building tension.