The last best hope for peace.
A series of novels set in the Star Trek: Picard time period of the Star Trek. The books chronicle the lead up to the first season of the series (and beyond), often dealing with issues like the AI ban, Synth Uprising on Mars, Zhat Vash, and the destruction of the Romulan Sun.
- Star Trek: Picard - The Last Best Hope (2020)
- Star Trek: Picard - The Dark Veil (2021)
- Star Trek: Picard - Rogue Elements (2021)
- Star Trek: Picard - Second Self (2022)
- Star Trek: Picard - Firewall (2024)
These books have the following tropes:
- All There in the Manual: Much of the political situation regarding Romulus and the Synth Ban is detailed in The Last Best Hope.
- Broad Strokes: The U.S.S Titan series appears to be this for the novel line.
- Broken Pedestal: All of the main characters are dealing with the Federation not living up to its ideals by the Synth Ban as well as abandonment of the Romulan refugees.
- Bystander Syndrome: The Federation suffers this as it seems they considered the Romulan crisis to not be their problem after Mars.
- Canon Welding:
- The U.S.S Titan series is Broad Strokes canon for the Picardverse novels according to The Dark Veil.
- Much of the Deep Space Nine Relaunch's politics and history for the post-Dominion War Cardassia as well as Garak is recanonized for Second Self.
- Darker and Edgier: In large part because of the Doomed by Canon nature, most of the books are going to end on a Bittersweet Ending note or even outright Downer Ending.
- Demoted to Extra: With the exception of The Last Best Hope, Picard actually plays only a minor role in each book.
- Deconstruction: Of the Federation's status as an ideal government and Starfleet as The Paragon. Its still made of people with their own wants, needs, and flaws. At such, they eventually do make mistakes as well as do things in their own interest. This can have a powerful demoralizing effect on the main characters.
- Denser and Wackier: Rogue Elements is this compared to the previous two novels.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The Federation turning against Romulan refugees were inspired by the nativist political forces rising in both America as well as Europe. Much like in the show.
- Doomed by Canon: A number of characters are doomed to die by events. Bruce Maddox, Thaddeus Riker, and the entire Romulan Star System all die during the events of the book.
- Doomed Hometown: The Romulan homeworld is destined to be consumed by the destruction of their own sun.
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: The Romulan homeworld is going to have this happen to them.
- Fantastic Racism:
- It turns out that the Federation's border worlds have a lot of this built up against the Romulans and resent they must empty their pockets and slow down their own development to help them.
- Humans turn out to also have a lot of this toward Iotians, finding their culture ridiculous.
- Genre Shift: The Star Trek: Picard series is a action orientated thrill ride based around the titular character. The books tend to be subdued character pieces that mostly deal with the pasts of supporting characters.
- Planet of Hats:
- The Jazari have secrecy and privacy as theirs because they're all androids.
- The Iotians are ''still' a bunch of gangsters despite a century passing and achieving spaceflight.
- Prequel: The first three books are set mostly before the events of the series and add valuable insight into the characters. Likewise, he fourth novel, Second Self, serves as a prelude to Season Two.
