So, I'm from the Star War fandom but I'm curious about Star Trek, I actually never watched any show or movie or anything at all about Star Trek, I don't know nothing about, just vaguely aware about some Federation in the Universe that sound like a smaller version of the Galactic Republic from Star Wars, anyway, what are some good Star Trek books for someone that doesn't know anything about the universe, I have a preference for a book that is not tie to the any show or movie, I want original characters.
By - entomologist-cousin
It’s fairly rare to find a Star Trek novel that doesn’t tie to one of the Tv shows or movies. Generally this seems to be because the publishers believe they need that tie to sell the book. However there a few late 90s/early 00s sets that might meet your needs. The Corps of Engineers ebook series follows a group of engineers who are _mostly_ original, or if not original then only had small roles on TV. The New Frontier series is similarly part original characters part one-off characters from TV. But I wouldn’t really call it representative of Star Trek as a whole. More recently, and possibly the best bet for what you want, is the Vanguard series. It does have guest characters from TV but is (I think) mostly original characters. I’ve only read the first book though.
New frontier is the best!!! Peter David is inspired!
Star Trek books don't work like Star Wars books, almost all the books tie in directly with one series of another. There are some from the late 90s to mid 2010s where some unconnected books with original characters do pop up, but even there you'll see a lot of the existing characters throughout. A series line New Frontier might be worth a look. Honestly I'd recommend watching the TV shows first, a good entry point is Star Trek Prodigy, it's a kids show, but really good kinda like Rebels, it gives the best introduction to the franchise. Lower Decks is also good, an animated comedy, but a lot of their jokes play off of existing things in the franchise. Alternatively you could watch the original series films, 2,3,4 is a trilogy with the events of one playing into the next, and 6 is in a similar vein. 1 is slow, more like A Space Odyssey than space opera, 5 is just weird, I love it but many don't. But if you're dead set on a book, I'd recommend one of the crossover event series, like Double Helix. You get a story from each crew (at the time), following an interconnected plot arc, it even includes the aforementioned New Frontier crew.
You gotta watch the shows since most books are like missing episodes or continue from where the shows ended. Even books with largely original casts like Vanguard tie into the events of the original series and it's movies
Well, if you want alternate takes to the show,a couple suggestions: - The Motion Picture Novel by Roddenberry, from the original story by a name that should be familiar to you: Alan Dean Foster. - Early numbered TNG books from before the show premiered, based only on draft notes. - Books from the 70s. Some were quite out there for the original show and what followed. If you read those and then watch the shows expecting anything familiar, you'll be surprised.
I also recommend starting with the Star Trek Shows. I personally recommend Voyager as one of the original shows as it stands alone a bit better than the others how they relate to one another. Or if you want the feel of the episodic trek feel watch the new Strange New Worlds.
Hi! Late by a bit, but you could absolutely read The Final Reflection by John M. Ford with no Star Trek knowledge. The first couple pages do have tie ins, but not relevant to the story as the book is having you read a book that Captain Kirk (main guy) is reading.
*The Final Reflection* is an amazing book and I will never stop plugging it, but I wouldn’t recommend it for someone who’s never watched the shows because most of the information it contains has been retconned out of existence. It’d just be confusing once they start watching the shows or reading the later novels.