Imzadi is a non-canon Star Trek novel by Peter David, primarily exploring William Riker's assignment to Betazed and his early relationship with Deanna Troi.
Imzadi has a complex structure, involving time travel through the Guardian of Forever, but a straightforward plot of love and rescue. Troi's history with Riker had been introduced in the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Encounter at Farpoint"; this also included the word imzadi, a Betazoid term of endearment usually translated as "beloved". The novel expands on the meaning of imzadi when Troi explains that its literal meaning is "the first," not necessarily referring to the first sexual partner but, as Troi puts it to Riker, "the first to ever touch your soul." Imzadi II: Triangle brings in additional characters and multiple plot lines.
Other versions
Both Imzadi novels were re-released in 2003 as the omnibus collection Imzadi Forever.
Abridged versions of the novels were also released as audiobooks. Imzadi was read by Jonathan Frakes (the actor who played Riker), and Imzadi II by Robert O'Reilly (whose recurring onscreen role was the Klingon Gowron).
Extracts from both books were included in Star Trek: Adventures in Time and Space, which was described by the editor as featuring clips from the best of twenty years of Pocket Books official Star Trek line.
Reception
Imzadi is rated 4 out of 5 on Google books.
A TrekMovie.com reviewer writing in 2010 about Peter David's later works mentioned that Imzadi remained his favorite Star Trek book of all time. In 2015, "Imzadi" was noted as one of better Star Trek novels, noting an audio book narrated by Jonathan Frakes himself (who played Commander Riker on the TV show).
In 2015, John Bardinelli of Barnesandnoble.com highlighted this as among of the best Star Trek novels.