I haven't read TEC yet, I'm about half way through the omnibus of the first ones, I had them both for Christmas (I do like Amazon wishlists, my family buy me things I want rather than socks!). And yes, the books are still as good as when I read them almost 20 years ago.

Thank you for such wonderful people! Life would be much duller without Ael, and Harb Tanzer -- and definitely Ensign Rock!