14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad, but not great, either., November 28, 1999
I've had a love-hate thing going on with Peter David's writing for many a moon now, and IMZADI II is an excellent example of just why that is.
Ostensibly, what we have here is a sequel to the highly popular IMZADI, in which David was permitted to explore one of the many untold elements comprising the backstory of the STAR TREK universe: the meeting, romance, and separation of Commander William Riker and Counselor Deanna Troi. That novel was fairly guaranteed a massive audience response due, if nothing else, to the fact that reference after reference to the characters' pre-ENTERPRISE dealings had been made throughout the run of ST:TNG, but no such events had actually been depicted. David, as both a novelist and comic book scribe, has a definite penchant for "filling in the blanks" by offering moments and/or entire storylines that seem to be "missing" from a particular canon, and IMZADI is no exception.
IMZADI II attempts to similarly illuminate a perhaps more grievous leap in diegetic logic by broaching the question, "What happened to Worf and Troi's relationship?" By the end of season seven of the late, lamented ST:TNG, the Klingon security officer and the Betazoid counselor were well on their way to a serious romance; however, there was no mention of that thread in either the theatrical release STAR TREK GENERATIONS or ST:TNG sister show STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE, despite the fact that Worf became a regular character on the latter. Fans were left wondering, "What the hell happened?" -- especially once Worf took up a serious relationship with Trill science officer Jadzia Dax.
So, again, David plunges into ripe territory. Unfortunately, the result is somewhat less than satisfying. Yes, there are some amusing and pointed moments once Troi brings Worf and his son Alexander home with her to Betazed, most of them involving efforts by Troi's impossibly stubborn and haughty mother (played by Majel Barrett Roddenberry in ST:TNG and ST:DS9) to acclimatize her warrior son-in-law-to-be to the more cerebral ways of the peaceful, telepathic Betazoids. But those moments -- as well as any solid focus on Will Riker's last-minute desire to confound Worf and Troi's romance for his own purposes -- get lost in the shuffle a bit as David weaves a sinister espionage plot into the mix.
I won't lambast this seemingly ill-fitting element of the novel overmuch, though, since David is savvy enough to center it around yet another bit of untilled TREK soil, the "duplicate man" known as Thomas Riker, introduced in ST:TNG as a Will Riker clone of sorts created by a transporter accident and subsequently dumped into a Cardassian labor camp on ST:DS9 after committing well-intended but nonetheless treasonous acts. His presence in the events of IMZADI II make for some terrific reading, as he provides a foil for not only Will Riker, but in a way for Worf as well. Additionally, his interaction with Sela, the half-Romulan daughter of ST:TNG casualty Tasha Yar (if you don't know, trust me: don't ask), are incisive and cleverly written. I truly enjoyed seeing Tom Riker again, even if only on the written page.
But again, I have to express more disappointment with than approval of the overall package. The "explanation" of what happened to Worf and Troi -- and where Will Riker and Troi find themselves in the eventual wake of that relationship -- is neither insightful nor interesting, and it's certainly not any kind of a surprise. Worst of all, one is left with the feeling that _that_ part of the story could have been told in about a quarter of the space that IMZADI II takes up.
So go right ahead and dive into IMZADI II. There's some truly fun material in it, and as always with Peter David's work, some moments that will stay with you for a long time to come. But if you're looking for the kind of emotional intensity and romantic focus contained in the original IMZADI, you'll be left wanting. I know I was.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It is so good it should have been a movie. Read it in 3days., July 12, 1999
If you are a Next Generation and Deep Space 9 fan and love Worf this book is the one for you. It will make you laugh and maybe cry a little, yet one thing is true you will never want to put it down. It follows the end of the Generations Movie, to Worf entering DS9, the death of Jadzia and what really happened to the relationship between Worf, Deanna Troi and the Rikers. If you remember that at the end of The Next Generation there was a romance between Worf and Troi, DS9 never really cleared what happened and believe me it is quite an adventure. If you didn't read the first one it is irrelevant still I really recommend it. Peter David is the excellent capturing each and every cast member down to their every manerisms. Worf is captured as the true warrior, impressive lover and most caring he's ever been portrayed on written page. You will be surprised to find the life of a forgotten character that you may remember as the accidental-clone-twin of Will Riker better known as Tom Riker. Will Riker will impress you with his feelings towards Deanna. Deanna will make you as she tries to understand Worf. The ever loving Lwaxana Troi will never make you laugh harder, specially when she interacts with Worf, and Riker. A visit to the adoptive parents of Worf will make you love them even more. As a person who never really reads any Star Trek books there is something about the two Imzadi's, I don't know if it was intuition or just curiosity that drew me to the tittles but once I opened the first page, I couldn't stop reading. If you are a true fan you will never forgive yourself if you haven't read it and if you already read it you will wish you never read it so you could read it for the first time. Francisco
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good book with Troi being "The Helpless Princes", March 8, 2001
Another one of Peter David's insightfull TNG novels continuing in the tradition of the original Imzadi book.
While not as good as it's predesessor it was an enlightening read regarding the forgotten relationship of Commander Troi and Liutenant Worf. Although a bit soapy the book was an original insight to the characters of Worf and even Commander Riker wich in my opinion only Peter David can make sound anything else but an undeveloped megalomaniac without changing the character completely. That compensated for the minor lapses in plot that was very satisfactory for the most part, at least.
Deanna Troi, on the other hand, was strangelly annoying.
This is a character greatly missunderstood by many, making her sound like a stupid, overemotionall, prom princess, wich I think she definitely is not. Her strong side is hugely ignored by many authors by, for example, leaving her out of fighting scenes.
There's a huge potentiall there wich Mr. David has often used, but in this book she was nothing else but an object to be saved from the bad guys and that actually hurt the story, with Troi supposedly not being the unexperienced psychology student she was in Imzadi I.
You should read this book if you read the first one, by the way, because it at least tries to repair the inconsistancies between that book and the TV series, although it's too hard for even Peter David to handle well enough. In short: an original book that does justice to the series.
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