Imzadi

Pros: This story is clearly told with a lot of love for the feature characters, and the topic is of immediate interest from the first moments that Will Riker comes face to face with Deanna in “Encounter at Farpoint”(1:1). David has a very strong feel for these characters, and I think this is the first time where I didn’t feel that any of the main cast was discolored at all from their on screen counterparts. The story too is a bold and refreshing change of pace in that it doesn’t fixate on the need to feel like a science fiction story. This novel is clearly proof that the Star Trek universe is large enough to house any and all genres, including in this case a sort of gothic romance complete with empty lightning lit mansions and a defeated soul mate hiding from the rain in the mausoleum of his true love recounting the tale of her death. There were a few moments early on where I felt the faintest whiff of the breezes off of the moors near Wuthering Heights. The comparison is neither deep nor lasting, but it’s important to notice David’s restraint with the sci-fi accouterments when they weren’t needed, and his establishment of the tragedy of Deanna’s death and its subsequent effect on the trajectory of Riker’s life. A special mention should be made for the character of a security officer named Tang who steals the show a few times with a pleasant counter position to Riker and Troi’s overthinking, “How much philosophy do you need to get through life? If something attacks you, shoot it. If it doesn’t attack you, leave it alone. Everything else is just window dressing”(157). This is on top of his catch-phrase, “it’s all part of the service”(300) ringing out of Riker’s mouth near the end of the novel. Using Data as an antagonist to Riker’s attempt to travel back in time to save Deanna was also a wonderful choice as it was welcome and unexpected yet also perfectly in line with a line of thought Data would be expected to take. 

Cons: dialogue, climax, and (unfortunately) love story. I should be clear that the dialogue in the novel as a whole is not a loss, but there are particular moments where it jumps to the forefront and stumbles over itself in its clunkiness. The most blatant examples of this are the Sindareen art heist and the subsequent rescue of Deanna in the jungle. Maror, the Sindareen kidnapper, constantly comes across like a mustache twirling villain when he spouts cringeworthy monologues such as, “…or maybe you just want to take a whack at shooting the both of us. But I don’t stun easy, Lieutenant! You’ll probably fry her while you’re trying to knock me out. And if you fail to stun me, then I’ll kill her anyway. From where I sit, you don’t have a hell of a lot of choices!”, and winners like, “You can’t fool me. That’s against Starfleet policy”(205). Several of the action heavy set pieces are thusly plagued, and it often reads as though David doesn’t trust his readers to understand the subtleties of a situation so he has the characters say things aloud for clarity.  Thankfully, this stiltedness does not invade most of the other dialogue, and as the action is not the focus of the novel it does not distract often. 

The climax, as another action heavy set piece, also suffers in many ways but for different reasons. I will not comment on the time travel elements because time travel stories never survive close inspection, and this story does no better or worse than any other trying to make sense of the convoluted chain of events that time travel must by necessity be. However, some elements of the climax, particularly the hamfisted comic relief, are frustrating to say the least. I, like many a TNG fan I suppose, was wearing a willing smile as the aged Riker came into contact with Reginald Barclay, but the running gag of Barclay bumping into alternate versions of people from the future, doubting his sanity, and passing out on the floor all happen at the most critical moments of the story and completely detract from what should have been the most tense period of the entire work. Likewise, the scene of Admiral Riker running down the hallway carrying Data’s head and being followed by Data’s headless body, beggars description. 

Ultimately though the success or failure of the novel hangs entirely on the love story, and there is just not enough here. It is written serviceably and there is strong characterization throughout, but the major events in the relationship are largely cliched and the lovers themselves do not shine in the most positive of lights. The standard elements are here: rich girl with a prearranged marriage, devil-may-care boy from the wrong side of the tracks, damsel in distress, and a daring rescue. Unfortunately, it all of that boils down to a couple of days of inhibition free sex during a walk through the jungle which is expected to be the foundation of some larger than life star-crossed connection, and it simply doesn’t land. The discussions of true love and fate are brought up but never explored in more than a cursory fashion. Almost certainly some of this is the writer’s careful attention not to contradict the relationship in the show, and that needs to be remembered throughout. Fun for Star Trek fans, but not particularly useful elsewise.