Trek-Lit Reading Order Flow Chart

The expansive continuity that is the Star Trek "relaunch" novels range often leaves people wondering: "What do I need to read before Articles of the Federation?" or "...Destiny?" or "...The Fall?"; well here are the answers.

If you're a bit lost navigating the sometimes complex web of interconnectivity between the various Star Trek novels in the post-finale continuity, this is the resource you need. TrekBBS user Thrawn found a most elegant solution, with his brilliant Star Trek Lit-Verse Reading Order Flowchart. Now (as of 2020) on the version six, Thrawn and I guide you through the world of Star Trek fiction.

Whether you're a fan of TNG, DS9, Voyager, or Enterprise the chart below will show how they spin off into New Frontier, Titan, IKS Gorkon, Vanguard, or Seekers, and crossover into Destiny, Typhon Pact, The Fall, Mirror Universe, and more; letting you chart your own path through the Trek-litverse. Once you've got to grips with the flow chart you might also find some of my lists a useful reference too. Click the image to view larger:

Many thanks to Thrawn for allowing me to share this fantastic resource with you, and for his continued support in making new revisions. For more information on how everything links up, check out the Charting the Novel-verse thread on the TrekBBS, or have a look at The Star Trek Lit-verse Reading Guide.

Not sure where to begin your reading adventure? The chart highlights several ideal starting points. Here is a full explanation of those suggestions:

• Crossovers:
• To fully immerse yourself in the litverse, the big crossover event that really starting to bring things together was the Destiny trilogy - A  great place to jump in, leading to stories from several series set after it. One step back from Destiny is Articles of the Federation, which is the perfect introduction to the world of Federation politics which becomes prominent in Destiny and beyond.
• If you're looking to jump in further along, then The Fall is a good place to start; the five-part crossover brings together most of the 24th century series, and shakes up the status quo for the series as they continue independently after.
• A cohesive series of Mirror Universe stories builds to a grand finale that has knock-on effects in the prime timeline narrative. These stories begin in the anthology Glass Empire.
• DS9:
• DS9 was the first series to enjoy a post-TV relaunch; the main new DS9 adventures start from Avatar, which is also available in Twist of Faith, an omnibus of the first four books of the series.
• TNG
• The ongoing TNG narrative really starts from the A Time to… series, but you could jump on from the first book set after Nemesis, Death in Winter. Later on in the run, other good jumping on points are the Cold Equations trilogy, or Armageddon's Arrow, the first of a run of stories from the same mission for the Enterprise. 
• Another branch of TNG, Titan, featuring Captain Riker's ship, gets going from Taking Wing, or you can explore Picard's backstory in the run of Stargazer novels which begins with Reunion.
• Voyager:
• Voyager's first post-Endgame stories start from Homecoming, but the series got something of a second start later with the return to the Delta Quadrant in Full Circle.
• Enterprise:
• Enterprise's post finale adventures begin from The Good That Men Do. This series also has secondary relaunch with the post-Romulan War era in A Choice of Futures beginning the Rise of the Federation series.
• TOS:
• TOS doesn't have quite the same sort of ongoing narrative as the other series, but there are a few books that form a loose continuity, and The Captain's Oath is a good place to start with those. 
• If you're looking for something more serialised in the 23rd century, then check out Vanguard, which starts from Harbinger, and spawned a spin-off series Seekers, beginning with Second Nature.
• A side-step from regular TOS adventures gives us a linked series of books featuring the Star Trek universe of the 20th and 21st centuries. A good place to start exploring these is the Eugenics Wars duology.
• Other spin-offs
• New Frontier was the first major spin-off Star Trek book series, featuring the adventures of Captain Calhoun and the USS Excalibur. The series begins with House of Cards, but the first four books were all short, and are also available as a single omnibus.
• IKS Gorkon, retitled in its final book as Klingon Empire, is a Klingon series, which got it's first moment's in the TNG novel Diplomatic Implausibility. 
• Not listed in full on the chart is Corps of Engineers, also known as SCE, this extensive series of novellas features the engineering specialists of the USS da Vinci and crosses over into other series every so often. Their stories begin with The Belly of the Beast, or an omnibus of the first four books in the series, Have Tech, Will Travel.
• Department of Temporal Investigations features the time traveling hijinks, and frustrated bureaucracy, of the Federation's time police. Their adventures start (depending on how you perceive time) with Watching the Clock.
• Prometheus is a unique series, the first tie-in to be originally written in German, but also available in English. A trilogy of books featuring the distinctive ship begins with Fire with Fire.