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Department of Temporal Investigations: Watching the Clock
Department of Temporal Investigations: Watching the Clock
Department of Temporal Investigations: Watching the Clock
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Department of Temporal Investigations: Watching the Clock

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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There’s likely no more of a thankless job in the Federation than temporal investigation. While starship explorers get to live the human adventure of traveling to other times and realities, it’s up to the dedicated agents of the Federation Department of Temporal Investigations to deal with the consequences to the timestream that the rest of the Galaxy has to live with day by day. But when history as we know it could be wiped out at any moment by time warriors from the future, misused relics of ancient races, or accident-prone starships, only the most disciplined, obsessive, and unimaginative government employees have what it takes to face the existential uncertainty of it all on a daily basis . . . and still stay sane enough to complete their assignments.

That’s where Agents Lucsly and Dulmur come in—stalwart and unflappable, these men are the Federation’s unsung anchors in a chaotic universe. Together with their colleagues in the DTI—and with the help and sometimes hindrance of Starfleet’s finest—they do what they can to keep the timestream, or at least the paperwork, as neat and orderly as they are. But when a series of escalating temporal incursions threatens to open a new front of the history-spanning Temporal Cold War in the twenty-fourth century, Agents Lucsly and Dulmur will need all their investigative skill and unbending determination to stop those who wish to rewrite the past for their own advantage, and to keep the present and the future from devolving into the kind of chaos they really, really hate.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateApr 26, 2011
ISBN9781451606294
Department of Temporal Investigations: Watching the Clock
Author

Christopher L. Bennett

Christopher L. Bennett is a lifelong resident of Cincinnati, Ohio, with bachelor’s degrees in physics and history from the University of Cincinnati. He has written such critically acclaimed Star Trek novels as Ex Machina, The Buried Age, the Titan novels Orion’s Hounds and Over a Torrent Sea, the two Department of Temporal Investigations novels Watching the Clock and Forgotten History, and the Enterprise novels Rise of the Federation: A Choice of Futures, Tower of Babel, Uncertain Logic, and Live By the Code, as well as shorter works including stories in the anniversary anthologies Constellations, The Sky’s the Limit, Prophecy and Change, and Distant Shores. Beyond Star Trek, he has penned the novels X Men: Watchers on the Walls and Spider Man: Drowned in Thunder. His original work includes the hard science fiction superhero novel Only Superhuman, as well as several novelettes in Analog and other science fiction magazines.

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Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Holy crap. This was so amazing. So awesome. It was up there with Q-Squared because it was so mind bendingly crazy (huh, I don't think that in the actual book there was anything about Q-Squared in there though, although there was almost every other temporal Star Trek thing in there, from both media and books).It was about the DIT (Department of Temporal Investigations) and the Agents who try to fix the temporal problems of the current time, that either anomalies or Starfleet officers caused. We meet Lucsly, Dulmur, Shelan, Teresa Ortiz, and Clare Raymond amongst so many others.I have to admit that I wasn't quite sure what the point/theme of the book was supposed to be, but, the two main stories in the book were cool (and super super mind bending as I said above). Also, if I wasn't so familiar with the media/book Star Trek universe I probably would have been totally lost.Still. Taking this department that was only barely seen in the TV series and expanding on it so much and so awesomely. I can't wait for the next book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Christopher wrote one of the most well thought through time-travel books that I have read. He successfully tied it in with most of the time travel incidents from the StarTrek universe. Gave a nod to some writers and smirk to others. Everything regarding time-travel: in-universe and IRL is very well researched and even referenced at the end of the book. Thumbs up for proper referencing!

    Now on to the downsides. The book has very poor interleaving of the chapters. Although it makes the story more dynamic. After the initial fork in the storyline, the subplots converge with no significant contribution to each other. And they are quite weak; mostly providing space for essays on temporal mechanics and interspecies relations. Characters were surprisingly solid most of the time with a few unexpected aberrations here and there.

    Overall, the author provides great attention to details, but could also keep in mind a little bit more of the global overview.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Time travel and the possibilities it represents is one of the coolest aspects of science fiction, a genre that celebrates possibilities. Star Trek has dealt with some madness and has created a pretty mess tapestry in it's canon, with loose threads dangling that would bring hours of joy to a whole pride of domestic cats. Enter Trek literary technician, Christopher L. Bennett and his ability to tighten those loose ends and connect dots that many fans may not have even noticed. Even make sense out of that Temporal Cold War nonsense. He's the man. This is a good read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I really enjoyed reading this book. I have been a fan since the sixties, though mostly original series. Yes, there is a lot of back story in this book tieing a lot of episodes, books, etc. together, but I feel it did not get in the way, but added to the story.

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Department of Temporal Investigations - Christopher L. Bennett

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