Whenever these types of threads come up, I always say "I'll have to reread that"... and then I don't. But I had wanted to reread this one for a while now anyway, so I decided to go for it, and I reread it this weekend.
And yes, in my opinion, it does hold up!
I enjoyed it a great deal. Surprisingly, the book is 22 years old (
), but the good side of that is that it had been so long since I had originally read it, that I only remembered a very vague outline of the plot, so reading it now was pretty much like reading it new, anyway!
Some random thoughts:
- There didn't seem to be anything in the book that seriously contradicted later canon, although there was a reference to the historical first contact between Andorians and Ferengi, which may contradict the history of Ferengi spaceflight established in "Little Green Men".
- I don't think there was anything that conflicts with the current novelverse, either, with the usual exception of the Andorian genders, which we can usually handwave anyway. Actually, now that I think about it, in the Andorian historical section, there was a reference to a woman's "consort", and it was kind of implied he was the only spouse, so I guess this would contradict "Data's Day"... which aired a couple of years before the book's release.
- I really enjoy books that give us glimpses into the history of the Star Trek universe!
- I liked the prose style used here a great deal, and I also liked the "dreams within dreams" structure the author occasionally used.
- The resolution seemed to happen a bit too quickly, but it was set up well, and nothing feels like it was just pulled out of thin air or anything.
- I was kind of struck this time with the similarities between the Heart and the One Ring, which I wouldn't have known about when I first read the book.
- The three planets the Iconians fled to are all spelled differently in the book than their "official" spelling (assuming what's on MA is the "official" spelling): Ikkabar vs. Iccobar, DiWahn vs. Dewan, and Dynasia vs. Dinasia. However, since there was no MA back then, and this book predates the release of the first edition of the ST Encyclopedia, I'm willing to cut it some slack!
- On that note... I would have sort of assumed from "Contagion" that the Iconians fled to a larger number of planets, and these three were just the ones close enough that the Federation would have encountered them and been able to note the similarity of the languages, but the book stipulates the Iconians fled to ONLY these three planets. (And the descendants were all aware of their Iconian heritage, which makes it seem a bit odd that the Iconians were seen as mysterious in "Contagion".)
- I'm sure this is just a grand coincidence, but the Heart is called Ko N'ya in Vulcan, which of course is very similar to Rennan Konya's last name. Perhaps Picard should be keeping a closer eye on him!
- I kind of wonder who the people on the cover are supposed to be. Based on the glow around all their heads, I'm guessing they're all supposed to be past Gem Bearers. So, the Klingon would then be Kessec, but all the others look too... human. Perhaps the woman on the upper right is Halaylah, since I don't recall a description being provided for her (although I might just not remember it), but I'm really not sure about the others.
- Speaking of the cover, it's kind of funny that the cover artist drew the Heart based on Picard's speculation on what Crusher might have expected the Heart to look like ("A faceted ruby the size of a watermelon"), rather than what the Heart *actually* looked like: an unassuming rock.
So, yes, I still enjoy this book even now. I'm not sure yet whether I'd rate it "Outstanding" or "Above Average" if this was one of our "standard" voting threads... but since it's not, I don't have to make the decision!
