[Firestorm]

I felt the same way about the Titan series. So many of the aliens are hard to visualise and it can get really confusing to remember who is who. I found myself flicking back through the book to remind myself who a particular character was. I loved Dr. Ree though (the dinosaur) I felt he was a really cool character.

I think the problem is that these species are chosen for the sake of having them. When you build a character, you should start with with the character of the character and then pick a species which compliments that. In Titan, some of characters seem to have been constructed the other way around, they picked or made up a species they wanted to see and then chose what that character was going to be like to fit the species; rather than having the character fit the story and the species fit the character. If that make sense?

[Christopher Halsey]

I get what you mean Firestorm and I personally found Dr Ree one of the more likeable new characters but I think part of that was to do with the fact that he was easy to remember, he had a short name and he was a dinosaur... when reading it was easy to remember which one that was lol

Silynn its funny you mention Christine Vale she does develop in to a really good character. I won't give any spoilers away but suffice to say you might see her elsewhere in the Star Trek universe if you continue reading the books we've listed for you.

As for Star Trek wiki sites there are only two you need. Memory Alpha which is the wiki for canon Star Trek and Memory Beta which is the wiki for licensed Star Trek.

[Silynn]

I felt the same way about the Titan series. So many of the aliens are hard to visualise and it can get really confusing to remember who is who. I found myself flicking back through the book to remind myself who a particular character was. I loved Dr. Ree though (the dinosaur) I felt he was a really cool character.

So far, in “A time too…” series (I’m on Book 5: A Time to Love), the majority of the crew have been easy to remember. Mostly because of their longtime standing and familiarity. Because of that, all of the secondary crew are brought forward a little better as the writers didn’t have to dwell on the main characters for long. At least I was able to keep track of some of the engineering officers, etc.

However, when it came to the aliens that the Enterprise crew dealt with… at times it was hard to remember who was who. Like Daeniq… was which Dokalaan? Oh, yeah, he was the Security Minister Nidan. Stuff like that. But true, the alien names were hard to remember and I just remembered them as “he was Dixx. She took over as Lomax. She was the science minister.”

I think the problem is that these species are chosen for the sake of having them. When you build a character, you should start with with the character of the character and then pick a species which compliments that. In Titan, some of characters seem to have been constructed the other way around, they picked or made up a species they wanted to see and then chose what that character was going to be like to fit the species; rather than having the character fit the story and the species fit the character. If that make sense?

I wish… and it is just that, that the holders of Star Trek would mandate that any author who creates a new race, fully develop them (physiology, culture, ART, etc) prior to including them into any novel.

Star Trek has numerous races, but there is scarcely any hard information on said races. Some don’t even have strong physical descriptions (Baders? Dosets?). I just view them as humans with some kind of nose or forehead ridge unless told otherwise.

Even the Ontalians seemed to have more character. They didn’t have any individuals that stood out, but when you picture fur-covered octopus-like orangutans assaulting the bridge crew of the Enterprise, it was easy to visualize them.

The fact that I am human (watch the jokes! Heh)… I think that I usually remember the human type characters or those who portray some strong human-like quality for the simple that I can identify with them. I understood Riker’s anger at the Satarran agent. I understand Troi’s compassion. I understood Geordi’s initial sense of loss when Data had his emotion chip removed. I can’t relate to why a spacefaring octopus-like orangutan would destroy the JUNO when they KNEW about the mimicking “demon ship”.

[Silynn]

Silynn its funny you mention Christine Vale she does develop in to a really good character. I won't give any spoilers away but suffice to say you might see her elsewhere in the Star Trek universe if you continue reading the books we've listed for you.

As for Star Trek wiki sites there are only two you need. Memory Alpha which is the wiki for canon Star Trek and Memory Beta which is the wiki for licensed Star Trek.

I have been consulting both of those sites frequently as of late. They are quite helpful... though, I wish they were more in depth. Star Wars is really good with information on their "Aliens".

As for Vale, she is really coming along. Though she was never in any of the shows/movies, I think I like her better than Worf. Mostly because, Christine Vale has a great sense of humor. Worf was humorless. Though he was neat, I just like characters (and people) who understand and radiate good humor.