Anything by Una McCormack. Especially DS9, but not exclusively.
A Stitch In Time, by Garak, is also generally considered top of the class.
this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2023
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A Stitch in Time has been on my list ever since I saw the news about Andrew Robinson voicing it. Una McCormack's stuff looks interesting though! I'll have to check it out, especially the DS9 stuff
Agreed, I’d put The never ending sacrifice at the top
Yeah, I agree. She is great!
Off the top of my head, I’m thinking the Destiny trilogy by David Mack. Good luck! There are a lot of great Trek books out there.
The two recent series that stick out for me are IKS Gorkon by Keith R.A. DeCandido and Typhon Pact.
If you liked the Klingon-centric episodes of DS9 and were left wanting more, the Gorkon series fills that void.
Typhon Pact salvages the Ezri Dax character, has a lot of good Riker bits, and features "the Romulan Star Empire, the Breen Confederacy, the Tholian Assembly, the Gorn Hegemony, [&] the Tzenkethi."
DeCandido’s ‘A Singlular Destiny’ follows directly from Mack’s Destiny Trilogy. Then, the main Relauch novelverse moves through the Typhon Pact books.
Ezri Dax starts evolving as she integrates Dax’s former hosts and wrangles them in some earlier DS9 books. But she really takes off as one of the 4 hero captains of Destiny.
For those who want to start the Relaunch books from some of the deep political turning points, Mack’s two books in the ‘Time to…’ series are the key ones. They take place between the TNG movies Insurrection and Nemesis, putting dynamics in play that run right up to the end of the Relaunch novelverse in Coda.
(And yes I’m still grieving the end of the Relauch alternate timeline.)
If you're not just looking for novels I would like to highly recommend two non-fiction books: "The Fifty-Year Mission: The first 25 years" and "The Fifty-Year Mission: the next 25 years" by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross. The books tell the oral history of Star Trek up until 2016. They consist entirely of interview snippets from cast and crew, sorted chronologically and thematically. It's a super interesting look behind the scenes.
Probably not the best, but I enjoyed the novelization of Star Trek IV. You get to actually see what the probe is thinking from its point of view, which was fun and super interesting.
Who wrote the novelization?
No idea. I read it when I was like 12.
EDIT: a quick google search gave me the name Vonda N. McIntyre. No idea who she is.
Vonda N McIntyre is one of the strongest Star Trek writers of that era.
She was very successful in writing her own original science fiction novels and short stories. She was a collaborator of Ursula LeGuin and a leader in a group of writers in the Northwest.
Here’s a TOR feature retrospective of her work.
The Wounded Sky (IMO better across the galaxy instant drive story than Discovery) My Enemy, My Ally Doctors Orders The Invasion series Uhuras Song Black Fire The Romulan Way Yesterday's Son Time for Yesterday
"Federation" is fantastic. It has a slow start, but the ending is well worth it. Plus it has lots of Zephram Cochrane in it.
I've not read it myself yet, but I've heard great things about "I Q".
If you like TNG, then go find anything by Peter David.
It's not "the best", but Vendetta is a guilty pleasure for tying together one of my favorite TOS stories with my fave TNG villain.
When I first read Vendetta I thought it said Vindictia...
The actual book looks interesting I'll have to check it out
It's kinda "pulpy" and you can nock it out over a weekend. I still think it's fun 😊
Fun is what I look for, that's why I love Lower Decks!
Star Trek: Year Five - four-volume trade paperback (from the comic books)
Outstanding pacing, art, and characterization. Uhura really gets a chance to show her expertise in communications. Several connections to the original series, but they don’t feel like they’re just awkwardly-forced name checks.
From the Relaunch novelverse:
David Mack - Destiny trilogy, Cold Equations trilogy
Una McCormack - The Neverending Sacrifice
Also the 23rd century Vanguard and Seeker series by Mack, Ward and Dilmore.
Earlier books
DC Fontana - Vulcan’s Glory
Diane Duane and Vonda McIntyre’s books.