babylon 5 books...

why are the early novels (except #7 and #9) considered unimportant in the overall babylon 5 story? are they written badly, bad characterization, or do they actually contradict something else that is more legitimate?

...are they written badly, bad characterization, or do they actually contradict something else that is more legitimate?

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[kosh] Yes. [/kosh]

I had planned on reading the series through, but somewhere around the middle of book one I just got fed up. Since then, I've only read the ones that others suggest to me and those that are truly considered "canon."

I really did find that all three of those things were true...
*Bad writing
*Bad characterization
*Inconsistency with what I thought B5 was really about

Becuase most of them are CRAP!

I think this is entirely a matter of opinion as for myself I throughly enjoyed of the numbred novels despite what I had been told about them.I knew they weren't considered and that some of the characterization was way off but I really enjoyed and found them all to be a terrific read.

Prior to the seventh novel of the <cough> nine book series, The authors barely had any idea of what the show was about. They wrote from character sketches and some had never even seen an episode of the show - they had to fill in the blanks themselves.

And if you have any doubts about the accuracy of the characterisation, one of the books reveals that Talia is actually deaf, but knows what people are saying through her psi ability.


I don't think the producers got involved until late in the game. #7-#9 are actually given timeframe and relevance to the show's canon, but the rest are frivolous.

Someone was trying to cash in on a franchise. And considering that everything post-series has been quite superior, it seems a shame that there are no plans to continue on with any original novels.

I'm in the process of re-reading them at the moment, just on book 1: Voices by John Vornholt.
I don't remember some of the stuff mentioned above, but then it is a while, but I do remember liking them (obviously Talia being "allegedly" deaf may dampen my enthusiasm) - I definitely liked the novels the first time round, but I'm not so "up" on all the details, so maybe there are inconsistencies.
Maybe on re-reading, I'll change my opinion.
But the author of the first book in the series has definitely seen the series - characters and situations from episodes are used - Harriman Gray for instance, and I like the characterisation in this book.
Another point - and the hard-core fans may correct me - but I remember at the time of earlier reading these books that I noticed that a few of the writers of earlier novels were involved (to some capacity) with the production of the B5 series. I will look into this and confirm it.
More when I have read more

And if you have any doubts about the accuracy of the characterisation, one of the books reveals that Talia is actually deaf, but knows what people are saying through her psi ability.

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The deaf character was Lyta. This was a mistake made by the books author. Lyta has good hearing.

Yes. Lyta.

It's been awhile since I read it.

You know what is worst? Only the first 6 books were released in German! But nonetheless I enjoyed reading them. Only the ones written by John Vornholt! His writting style is cruel!