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Triggered by the Lucas/Disney thread, I thought I'd take a break from some of the drama recently and solicit your opinion on this.

I am admittedly a prude when it comes to addressing canonical material for Star Wars, and even more so for entries in the Star Trek universe; Roddenberry's vision a more robust source for drawing said material, IMO but I'm not here to start a war.

There are precious few books from either side that have come recommended to me in my years of fandom, but there were a few. I'd like to fear what I could have been missing... any immediate recommendations for "required reading" from either of these camps?

I really liked the so-called Shatnerverse books. The first few at least, were really well done. It felt like what Star Trek: Generations should have been, and there's some great Mirror-Universe stuff that happens in The Spectre and Dark Victory in particular, and I don't think there's a Mirror Universe Star Trek thing out there that I haven't enjoyed.

Shatnerverse Books that I Read and Enjoyed:
-Star Trek: The Return
-Star Trek: The Avenger
-Star Trek: The Spectre
-Star Trek: Dark Victory

Ironically, I haven't read the first book in the series, "Ashes of Eden", yet. I originally bought "The Return", because I wanted to read a good Kirk & Picard team-up, and just got hooked and kept buying the next books in the series.

The Star Trek: Destiny Trilogy was also very good, and is the closest to cannon events you can find that that take place in the proper Star Trek universe after the endings of Star Trek TNG, DS9, & Voyager. This series involved characters from all 3 T.V. series, as well. It tells the origin of The Borg, as well as the end of The Borg. And it tells this story superbly amongst multiple ship crews and settings, and even across time.

Star Trek: Destiny Trilogy:
-Star Trek: Destiny, Book 1: Gods of Night
-Star Trek: Destiny, Book 2: Mere Mortals
-Star Trek: Destiny, Book 3: Lost Souls

I also really liked the Star Trek: Voyager: String Theory Trilogy. An all original story based in a very strange area of space where space and time are being effected. A very "sci-fi" story that just keeps you entranced as you read on to see what's gonna happen next.

Star Trek: Voyager: String Theory Trilogy:
-Star Trek: Voyager: String Theory, Book 1: Cohesion
-Star Trek: Voyager: String Theory, Book 2: Fusion
-Star Trek: Voyager: String Theory, Book 3: Evolution

If you like Kirk/Picard chemistry, you owe it to yourself to check out this audio book by Shatner himself. MUCH better than Star Trek: Generations, and narrated by Shatner himself.

Will consider this list, but I should warn you and other contributors that I hate the Voyager run and am not too keen on Enterprise. In order of preference:

Star Trek "Classic" (TOS)
Star Trek: TNG
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

pretty much stops there.

I haven't read many Star Trek books. Q Squared is decent. I have to remember the title, but I believe it is Kobyrashu Mayru (Sp) is a great read. That one details how other members of the crew handled it.

I have an additional question, that perhaps someone can answer me.

After the new movie came out, what became the status of the Star Trek books? Has there been new stuff, does it happen in the new universe, old universe?

I ask because worst case scenario, that is what happens to Star Wars novels.

As far as I know, the novels continued with the Next Generation and Voyager (back in the Alpha Quadrant again) crews as if the timeline never changed, as well as ex-Commander now Captain Riker and his ship The Titan.

As far as I am concerned, there is only one Star Trek trilogy that is beyond brilliant:

Star Trek: Destiny.

For sure. But it wasn't a real finale to the Borg, unfortunately, because they're back in Star Trek: The Next Generation - Hive by IDW.

Personally, I would never allow a story line conjured in the back room editing hall of IDW to trump a Star Trek tale that was published in novel format. There's non-canon and then there is Non-Canon. Even without reading it first, I would stick with a text inspired finale.

Yea, but that looks to be from the "multiverse" because there has been some changes in the books which didn't appear in No. 1 of hive.

IDW had something to do with it? Doesn't matter the trilogy was brilliant. The best Post TV booksI have ever read and I have read LOADS of those books.