Launched in 1997, New Frontier was something new for Trek fiction. Though a few of the characters had appeared on screen in minor roles, it featured an original captain and starship, with missions in a new region of space. It was something of an experiment to test the enthusiasm of readers for stories not centred on characters from TV. Given that it ran for twenty novels plus additional short stories, comic books, and novellas, we can safely assume the experiment was a success.

The books themselves are largely short in the manner of early Star Trek novels, and carry a mix of episodic plots and long-running character arcs. All of the main novels are written by Trek stalwart Peter David, which lends the series a sense of cohesion and narrative direction that is often lacking in multi-author series.

I’ve accumulated a grab-bag of random books from this series over the past few months, and read all five of them in March. These books come from across the series, so there’s clearly a lot that I’m missing out on in terms of context. Nevertheless, here are thoughts on the quintet of stories.

#5: Martyr

I was thrilled to find out that Dr Selar is part of the Excalibur crew. If ever there was a character in need of more time, it’s Selar. Unfortunately, this is also a pon farr story. This results in a story that quickly becomes farcical as various crewmembers pursue one another for a variety of reasons. It’s a shame, as it distracts from an otherwise interesting tale of prophecy and change.

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#6: Fire on High

There’s nothing overly bad about Fire on High, but it is incredibly forgettable. David’s writing is what carries the book through unlikely events and convenient turns of plot, but ultimately it’s all rather hollow.

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#7: The Quiet Place

Another weak book, this one loses points for its lack of focus. The whole point of the series is to showcase a new crew, yet here they are largely relegated to supporting roles. This can work (as in the episode ‘Lower Decks’) but here it falls on its face.

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#9: Excalibur #1: Requiem

This one marks a mid-series reboot, taking place after the apparent death of a major character, and showing the emotional fallout from that loss. It’s the best use of the characters to date, with a strongly episodic approach that gives everyone something to do. Narratively it’s all over the place, but the individual sections are very strong.

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#14: Stone and Anvil

This later novel in the series is far more in keeping with the Litverse as I recognise it. It’s a neat little standalone murder mystery that is somewhat sabotaged by a split narrative. The ‘then’ and ‘now’ sections are both interesting in their own right, especially in sections of Calhoun’s background, but it takes far too long for them to intertwine, and when they do it’s rather unconvincing. There are some fun cameos along the way, however, and this is definitely the strongest of the five books I’ve read.

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These five books give a nice overview of a key phase of Star Trek’s development on the literary front. The results are incredibly mixed, but there’s some good material here. Not enough to make me fully commit to the series, but I’ll certainly pick them up if I see them in the wild.