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Reading "Q-Squared" and trying to follow the track changes has me like... (tesseract.dubvee.org)
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by ptz@dubvee.org to c/tenforward@lemmy.world
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Saw some posts and comments from a while back about the Trek books and decided to give them a try. Starting out with "Q-Squared" because it was on sale for $1.99 and I figured a Q-centric story would be a fun entry point. I am now kind of regretting that frugal decision.

It follows multiple parallel realities (called "tracks" in the book) with Q and Trelane central to the plots, so my usual casual reading style of a chapter each evening is not working out well because I just cannot keep up.

The only saving grace is that I've at least read "A Stitch in Time" so I know not all Trek books are this confusing. Probably going to have to just power through this one and not let it ruin the medium. It's not that it's a bad story, just hard to follow.

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[–] data1701d@startrek.website 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I’ve also been jumping into the novelverse recently; my grandfather had a friend who was trying to offload his late wife’s Trek collection, and I ended up the recipient.

I started with the second Department of Temporal Investigations book, then used this chart to decide where to properly begin. Even though I heard some grievances about it, I chose the DS9: Avatar books; it all made fun enough reading for before bed.

Unfortunately, my collection has a bunch of weird gaps, so now that I’ve finished those, I have to look for the next book, Section 31: Abyss (Little relation to the now-infamous film), at a used book store in my area.

[–] ptz@dubvee.org 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Very nice and....way more detailed than I would have imagined. I don't even see the book I'm currently reading in that chart. I did find "Destiny" in there (recommended here twice) and it has the indicator for "good starting point" even though several others lead into it. So if I needed a third reason to buy that set, there it is.

Luckily (YMMV) I've come to appreciate ebooks so it's just a matter of finding ones that don't have DRM and putting in my credit card.

[–] trolololol@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Are you against DRM for technical limitations or convenience? I do it for convenience and started writing down before choosing what to buy, but even some short trilogies have mixed DRM and no DRM. I mostly use Kobo for buying but I have no strings attached.

[–] data1701d@startrek.website 1 points 1 day ago

The main thing that personally drives me nuts about DRM is as a Linux user, many streaming services will only give you 480p or even 360p video even though you're paying for more. With that bullcrap, combined with buggy streaming services, the high seas is sometimes literally a better experience than streaming. Then the hippy moral stuff gets involved:

Although of course, if I can buy it used on Blu-Ray at a local business (Zia and Bookmans are probably the two best places to do it in my area), I'll do that instead, and just rip the Blu-Rays; it funds places I like while still being (more) legal (than just straight up pirating).

(Granted, I'm a bit of a hypocrite, as I don't pirate that much. I'm still on Paramount+ for now because my parents still pay for it, but we're so focused on Star Trek that my idea to just get the Blu-Rays and DVDs is tempting them to get off.)

[–] ptz@dubvee.org 4 points 1 day ago

Both technical limitations, convenience, and moral objections to DRM (if it has to phone home or I can't use it how I want, I won't buy it). I have a Kobo but prefer to have a clean epub for whatever I buy so I feel like I actually own it.

The online shop I bought "Q-Squared" from has most of them DRM free, including all 3 of the Destiny books. Not sure how deep the DRM-free well is, but spot checking it shows most of the ones I looked at were clean. Worst comes to worse, I'll do like I did when I still bought ebooks from Amazon and buy the DRM'd version and high-seas a clean copy.

[–] data1701d@startrek.website 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm usually not big on ebooks, as I tend to read in the evening and haven't had a good e-reader for a long time, and I just don't enjoy blue light at night.

However, I got a bunch of Star Trek comic eBooks in a Humble Bundle recently, and I need a good way to read those; I'm thinking I'll pick up one of the Kobo Colors. I've seen their limitations, and while it's enough to annoy a lot of comic readers, I'm personally fine so long as I can distinguish the division colors and think it would still be a good purchase for my use case. It might also be nice for my many Star Trek Adventures RPG PDFs; it'd be one less window on my laptop when I (occasionally) GM.

[–] ptz@dubvee.org 3 points 1 day ago

I also like to read in the evening, usually right before bed. My Kobo has adjustable color temp but I usually leave the backlight off and just use my lamp like with a normal book. Looks better and easier on the eyes IMO and also makes the epaper seem more magical. I dunno why, but the backlight on them ruins the effect for me.

Haven't tried a color one. TBH, the Kobo I have is the very entry-level one since I wasn't sure if I'd use it often or not. Turns out I love it so may upgrade at some point.

[–] trolololol@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

My first book was also a stitch in time and I loved it. Some years later and I'm probably around 100 books, although I still didn't buy q-squared.

There's this awesome and slightly outdated guide where it's easier for you to pick books. Or just go with your personal favourite series.

Some exceptions that never went on TV that I know are: stargazer(Picard before enterprise), Titan (Riker after enterprise) and New Frontiers( based on a whole new set of characters and by far the funniest of all I read).

https://www.thetrekcollective.com/p/trek-lit-reading-order.html?m=1

[–] ptz@dubvee.org 4 points 1 day ago

https://www.thetrekcollective.com/p/trek-lit-reading-order.html?m=1

Someone else commented it a bit ago, and made me realize the rabbit hole for the Trek novelverse goes deeper than I thought.

Destiny was recommended twice here and the guide lists it as a good starting point, so once I power through this one I'll probably start there.

I should buy A Stitch in Time. I borrowed a copy and read it years ago but I don't actually have a copy myself.

[–] Bumrocky@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That was a hard book. I always enjoyed Federation. Then there was The Captains Table series that went across all series at the time. I always found you could never go wrong with anything by Michael Jan Friedman or Judith & Garfield Reves-Stevens. Good luck and good reading!

[–] ptz@dubvee.org 1 points 2 days ago

Definitely so. I am enjoying it once I re-read the previous chapter and get my bearings. It's just hard to get a momentum going because of all the backtracking I've had to do.

I'm off work this week, so maybe I'll just sit down and read it in larger chunks and see how that goes.

[–] IcedRaktajino@startrek.website 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Saw some posts and comments from a while back about the Trek books

That was probably me. I started reading them over the summer and have talked about them quite a bit. I haven't read Q-Squared yet, but I also have it in my collection (not for $1.99 though 😠). I took a break after I finished the Cold Equations trilogy but am probably going to start on the Titan series next.

Thanks for the heads up about it being confusing to follow. I tend to do marathon reads rather than short sprints, so hopefully that helps. I don't think I've read any of Peter David's books yet, but the ones by David Mack are all great and well paced.

and not let it ruin the medium

If you're not a fan of that one, yes, please don't let it ruin the rest of them for you. The Destiny trilogy is absolutely amazing as are most of the ones I've read (though Destiny is for sure my favorite).

My collection so far:

[–] ptz@dubvee.org 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, reading more than a chapter at a time is what I'm gonna try for the rest of this book. I'm about 1/3 into it but have to keep going back and reading the previous chapter over again because I can't remember which universe the last "wham moment" happened in.

spoilerAnd the fact that any time something major happens, Trelane wipes their memory of it isn't helping

That's quite the collection. I just read the synopsis for Destiny and it does sound quite promising. After I finish this one I may buy that and give it a go.

[–] LtCmdrDatabase@startrek.website 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Highly recommend the Destiny trilogy!