Imzadi

By: Peter David

Rating: 94%


Brief Summary: The story of Troi and Riker's first romance. Oh, and it is mixed with a time travel subplot.

Peter David is a brilliant writer. He has effectively taken a story that I (and most) could care less about - the romance of Deanna Troi and William Riker - and turned it into one of the only Star Trek books that was a New York Times bestseller. And Imzadi lives up to this title as well as any book could have.

This was a different type of novel for author Peter David. While his typical laugh-out-loud style was kept to a minimal, the general overtones of Imzadi is one of a serious nature. Of course, you can not read a Peter David novel without laughing out loud even once - be it his trademarked horrible puns, or something that is completely outlandish - Imzadi will not disappoint: Pay attention to Lt. Barclay's role at the end of the book.

Despite the toned down humorous style, this is clearly a typical Peter David book as he endeavors to take a story - that was never addressed - and gives us the missing gaps: that being Riker and Troi's mysterious past. In his own words, this is an "ambitious" novel. He even takes a piece of history from The Original Series and uses it to wrap the past, present, and future events together - of course I am talking about "The Guardian of Forever" from the TOS episode City on the Edge of Forever.

Plot-wise, the meat of this book revolves around the "flashback" portion of Lieutenant Riker's assignment on the planet Betazed, and his first encounter with Troi. As a rule of thumb, I do not read romance. However, this story should be an exception to any testosterone filled male. I am not embarrassed to say that I honestly loved every minute of this novel!

We find that Troi is not exactly a willing catch, but Riker proves to be ever persistent. Even Deanna Troi's mom, Lxawana, plays an important role in the story - and a quite humorous one at that. Peter David has managed to capture the essence of these three main characters. On a side note: Imzadi is probably the most "sexual" Star Trek book you will ever read, but it won't be offensive to sensitive readers. However, I would not exactly lend it over to your ten year old child either.

Overall, this was an excellent book with two great plots. Primarily the romance story that we just discussed, and secondly, the time travel aspects that weave the books together are fun as well.

Overall, this is a priority Star Trek novel that should be read soon!

More information on Imzadi at Amazon.com