Since someone asked, my quick take on some Peter David Star Trek books…
Q-Squared was a solid romp. Alternate timelines, the fate of the universe hanging in the balance, the tragedy of Jack Crusher. My favorite scene has to be the three Datas discussing their sexual habits while the Enterprise-D is about to crash. The scene is so utterly surreal that it’s impossible to believe.
Vendetta is the best Borg story, ever. Even better than “Best of Both Worlds.” “BoBW” had much higher personal stakes for Picard, but Vendetta had a lot more personal depth to it. We didn’t get a sense of how “BoBW” affected anyone, but Vendetta fired on more emotional cylinders. This might have been the last book to carry the dreaded Roddenberry disclaimer, too. (The reason for the disclaimer: PAD wrote in a female Borg, and at that point in time female Borg hadn’t been established on the show. Talk about Richard Arnold being anal retentive.)
Imzadi was recently voted the best Star Trek novel of all time. I happen to love the book, but the love-story aspect doesn’t do much for me. Instead, I much prefer the conflict between Admiral Riker and Commodore Data; when at the Guardian of Forever Admiral Riker states that he will do what it takes to save Deanna Troi’s life in the past and Commodore Data states flatly that he will kill Deanna Troi himself, you know that you’re about to get deep. I loved the tagline for this one: “The adventure across time in which death is only the beginning.” This should be filmed.
New Frontier. The first four books are pretty good. I don’t think they’re PAD’s best work by any stretch. They do what they need to do, introduce us to a brand-new crew and their adventures. As a pilot story it’s okay. But not a great work.
His best NF work is probably Once Burned, the story of Mackenzie Calhoun’s greatest failure: the death of his Captain aboard the USS Grissom. The story is handled so well, Calhoun’s voice is so distinct, that it’s just a good novel, and who cares that it’s a Star Trek novel. Even if you haven’t read New Frontier, even if you don’t care about The Captain’s Table, Once Burned should be read by all Star Trek fans.
The Excalibur trilogy, though, I have very mixed feelings about. I feel that it began well in Requiem, that Renaissance was a middling effort (mostly because of the boringness of the Lefler storyline), and that Restoration was a first-class disappointment. I’ve analyzed Restoration at length elsewhere, and if pressed will do so again. I will say this: the Excalibur trilogy is neither the jumping-on-point or the turning-point that the series was sold as being.
The Captain’s Daughter is excellent. I really enjoyed this novel, delving into the background of Hikaru Sulu, showing us where Demora came from, and what kind of Captain he became. Very well written, especially the scene where Rand and Sulu are talking about losing a loved one. The way that scene turns you suddenly realize who it is they’re talking about, even if names never enter into the equation. Recommended.
Another one I’d recommend is A Rock and a Hard Place.
Oh, and the first original DS9 novel, The Siege. Talk about intense. The scene where Meta kills the Cardassian has to be one of the most brutal scenes in a Star Trek novel.
I loved Q-in-Law. I think it’s one of the funniest Q stories ever done. Haven’t read it in almost ten years (my gahd, has it been that long? came out in 1991….), but I remember it as being a laugh-riot, more so than even Strike Zone.
Triangle: Imzadi II never caught my attention. I’ve read it, but I’ve never been excited about it. I’ve always been left feeling vaguely uneasy about it. And I couldn’t put my finger on what is wrong with this one, either.
Peter David’s work sells, and it sells very well, and I’m glad that it sells very well. But I don’t think that his work today reaches the same heights that it did five or ten years ago when he might put out only one or two Trek novels a year. I’d love to see him take a sabbatical from Trek, but the New Frontier novels consistently outsell all other Trek novels, so the chances of Peter David leaving the world of Trek novels for any appreciable length of time is nil.
From the time PAD started writing Star Trek for DC Comics in 1988, it was clear that he “got it.” How would things have gone had he been in charge of the franchise instead of Berman, Braga, and now, Abrams? The new movie was a huge letdown.