09 May 2011

Books: Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigation: Watching the Clock by Christopher L. Bennett (2011)

The Department of Temporal Investigations (DTI) exists to keep the timeline secure. Agents Lucsly and Dulmur (characters first introduced in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode Trials and Tribble-ations) have investigated many incidents of time travel and alternate realities within the Federation. But when a series of events threatens their current timeline and someone starts erasing people from history, the DTI agents find themselves up against a future adversary with an unknown agenda.

The novel, which also sometimes reads like a bunch of short stories, details Lucsly and Dulmur’s first meeting and subsequent partnership with in DTI. It also weaves a vast number of known time travel adventures from all of the Star Trek series. I recognized all of these instance, and was rather impressed with the level of detail that went into integrating them into the story.

There’s a lot of temporal physics in this story, and it sometimes can be overwhelming, however, there is still plenty of action, drama and comedy to keep any fan of Star Trek and time travel stories (which I love) turning the page.

It’s fun read, and fun way to see author Christopher Bennett sew 40 plus years of Star Trek TV shows (including the animated series) into a huge (sometimes complex) tapestry. It's also fun to see him close the book, as it were, on the Temporal Cold War that figured in Star Trek: Enterprise's first 2 seasons.

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