My personal favorite Star Trek novel of all time!!!And I believe that if I have to choose only one novel of all that I have read, this one has to be my favorite novel at all too. SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODYThis book has it all... drama, action, romance, mystery, science fiction, time travel, alternate realities, etc......well you couldn't ask for more!!!When I read the synopsis in the back cover (back then, in 1993), while judging if I'd buy the book or not, I got amazed.And when I read the book, I just love it! I am quite glad that I was able to get the book in its first printing with the extra details on the cover with surface effects, since nowadays they only reprint the story as a combo book under the title of Imzadi Forever uniting the first novel with its sequel and honestly it's sad that Imzadi II wasn't nearly that good as the first novel (just to treat it kindly), even my best advice is don't read the sequel.However, I honestly think that it wasn't the fault of Peter David, the author of both novels, but it was the fault of the writers of the TV show that they mess with a perfect couple like Riker and Troi and to put Worf in the formula. I have nothing against Worf but he is not the soulmate of Deanna. Imzadi is perfection made into letters on paper. A wonderful example of an exciting sci-fi novel merging with a true romance book, creating an extraordinary story.Without a doubt, in my humble opinion, I think that this novel is the most solid Star Trek: The Next Generation novel and also the best book of the Star Trek franchise. MERGING GENERATIONSIt's incredible the way how Peter David could take a recognizable element from Star Trek: The Original Series like the Guardian of Forever, which is part of the best TV episode: The City at the Edge of Forever to make it again as a key factor in a The Next Generation novel. This is not so rare in various of the best novels by Peter David, since he used too elements from classic episodes of The Original Series in other The Next Generation novels such as Vendetta and Q-Squared.TALE AS OLD AS TIMEThe story is set in three different time periods...The Past: Telling how William T. Riker and Deanna Troi met for the first time, several years before of their re-encounter in the USS Enterprise-D, while Riker was still a young lieutenant and assigned to a post in the planet Betazed, the homeworld of Deanna.Making a bond beyond friendship and love, a bond beyond time and space, a bond beyond reality and alternatives, a bond so strong and unique that only can be named with a Betazoid word......Imzadi.The Present: Exposing how wrong what it was supposed to be an easy diplomatic mission causing the shocking death of......Counselor Deanna Troi.The Future: Where William T. Riker is now an admiral but hardly his career is considered a success while commanding a distant space station without any strategic importance. He is now a embittered old man, still suffering due the death of the love of his life. In his heart he knows that Deanna's death was wrong, he knows in very soul that that death shouldn't happened.And he will go to the Guardian of Forever to change the past and the Temporal Prime Directive can go to hell!However, Commodore Data, now commanding officer of the USS Enterprise-F will begin a chase against his former comrade since his duty is to protect the integrity of the timeline even if that means that Deanna Troi should remain dead in the past!"T." IS FOR...A curious trivia in this novel was that it was supposed to explain the meaning of the "T." in William T. Riker, and back then could be considered a spoiler, but after the TV episode Second Chances now is not a spoiler anymore but a non-canon curiousity.The "T." was supposed to be for "Thelonious" that you may think as something odd, but it wasn't a bad idea then since the concept was to make something similar to the "T." in James T. Kirk that it's for "Tiberius", in that way both characters of different generations would have a second name taken from ancient history.However, due ignorance about the novel or just not wanting to use the ancient name, on the Second Chances episode was canonically established that the "T." in William T. Riker was for "Thomas". I have nothing against the name "Thomas", I only think that it could be cooler that the novel Imzadi would be respected and keep the name used there.Just like "Tiberius" was never explained on the original TV series but in the following animated series that its canonicity was always a polemic issue, but finally in Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country was honored the animated series mentioning that the "T." in James T. Kirk was indeed for "Tiberius".THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING RIKERI always have been fan of William T. Riker's character, obviously I like Picard too and many other The Next Generation's characters for not saying of the rest of the franchise, but people use to underestimate the character of Riker and if you ever watched key TV episodes of The Next Generation like 11001001, Peak Performance, A Matter of Honor, The Best of Both Worlds (Parts 1 & 2), Future Imperfect, Chain of Command (Parts 1 & 2), Second Chances and The Pegasus, just to name a few, you will realize how richful and valuable is the character of William Riker to the reason of The Next Generation success.And certainly there isn't a best option in novels as this one to get to learn in depth the psyche of the character of William T. Riker.
I remember watching Star Trek with my dad when I was a kid. It would come on after school, and I loved it. The adventures, the crazy escapes, the close calls... It was good stuff. I had SUCH a crush on Will Riker when I was younger. Not baby-faced Riker, but more mature, bearded Riker. Man I loved him. (And to this day, I love a man with facial hair. But that's beside the point. LOL)As much as I loved the show, I'm not much of a tie-in fiction reader. I love Star Wars too (yeah, I swing both ways) and but struggled through the tie-in story collection I read. And I read a Firefly tie-in and thought it was OK. I haven't really tried any others though... Maybe I will someday, but it's generally not a "genre" that calls my name. So a friend chose this book for a group of us to read, and I enjoyed it. I didn't love it, and I think that there were times when things felt a little much, especially the romance, but overall, I did like it. I think that the characters were true to the characters that I've loved from the show, and I enjoyed seeing them here. The story was a little more complex than I expected, in all honesty, and jumped around quite a bit. It was a bit hard to follow, considering that the ebook formatting was atrocious and there weren't line or chapter or section breaks where they should have been. The last 50 pages of the book were by far my favorite. I liked the humor here, and the way that things came together. It was a little too perfect, but... enjoyable. I'd recommend it...
What do You think about Imzadi (1998)?
Imzadi is a novel based upon the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. The main characters that are involved in the plot are Deanna Troi and William Riker. I was very curious when I first borrowed this book from my boyfriend to see if it would be like other science fiction and or fantasy genre books that I have read; and in addition I wanted to know if it would stay true to the television series. This book in particular had more of a romantic twist to it as it from the very beginning went into detail about the sexual inuendo and romantic relationship between Riker and Deanna Troi. That I did think differed from the television series quite a bit in the fact that on the show their relationship (Riker And Troi) usually stayed on the professional end. I did enjoy the authors take on how they met and how Deanna got Riker to see beyond himself and to be able to open up to her and let her into his inner sanctum as she might say. There were parts in the book that stayed very true to the television series too however that I believe quoted word for word; I admired the writer for being able to do that while still adding his own twist to the main plot line of the story. It was really more of a love story than the other books in this series that I've come into contact with; but it is able to stand on its own merit because it has enough adventure in it that the romance does not pervade the whole storyline so much that the reader even if they were not a lover of romance that they would get bored with it. If you like the Star Trek: The Next Generation Series then I would definitely recommend this book; however even if you'd never seen Star Trek it I still think you could read it and find the story interesting enough to get through. While reading this book I was in the mood for a predictable ending; which to a point I did get so if your looking for a light read with a little romance and a little bit of adventure I'd recommend this book.
—Elizabeth
I have been meaning to thank you for your FBR choice! I loved this book! Have you read the sequel? I can't help but.wonder if the story of Deanna & Wolf would take away from the story of Deanna & Will. Especially the way the first book ends, making you wonder if Deanna & Will's future has changed.
—Leslie
There is so much depth to this story. To the realization of the characters, the world of Betazed and what it's like being Betazoid, and to the relationship between Riker and Troi which is never really explored on the show. It also is a beautifully done romance which goes so well with a story that involves the Guardian of Forever (which is from the Original series episode "The City on the Edge of Forever.") And it's beautifully done because there are complications to the romance, and to Riker's actions, which made for some very interesting dilemmas that even Data wasn't able to see his way through clearly. The characterizations of the characters we are familiar with was spot on, although I was sometimes at some doubt to Data's decision-making in the story, since I think as a character he can be swayed from logic sometimes by loyalty.The story combines action, adventure, time travel and romance to create a very moving tribute to the relationship of Riker and Troi, and I'm a little sad that the potential of exploring their romance and history more wasn't a real part of the show. But perhaps it was only through this novel that their complicated relationship could be explored and come off so believably. Because this book does fit in so well with the way the characters developed on the show.This is a book that transcends the TV show and fully captures the world and the characters in an absorbing, suspenseful and touching read. It is apparent that this book came out before the end of the TV series as there are some changes from canon as it were, but this was ultimately such a satisfying and believable extension of the the characters' stories that I wish it was canon.
—Charlene
