Spoilers DTI: Watching the Clock by C. L. Bennett Review Thread

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Thrawn, Apr 18, 2011.

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Rate DTI: Watching The Clock

  1. Outstanding

    100 vote(s)
    59.5%
  2. Above Average

    44 vote(s)
    26.2%
  3. Average

    14 vote(s)
    8.3%
  4. Below Average

    3 vote(s)
    1.8%
  5. Poor

    7 vote(s)
    4.2%
  1. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    ^Actually Forgotten History covers both the TOS era and the post-TMP era, and even some stuff in between.
     
  2. TenLubak

    TenLubak Commander Red Shirt

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    man everyone seems to love this book. I was gonna get this one but i was scared it would go over my head and was for Hardcore Holly type fans. I wish i got it instead of Rommie War now. But its ok one day i will go back to the store again :)
     
  3. P0sitr0nic

    P0sitr0nic Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Ok, i just finished this book, and i gotta say..."Good lordy!"

    I loved it. Seriously, I bought,couldnt put it down till i was falling asleep. Picked it up the next morning, and kept right on going.

    Fantastic!
     
  4. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    ^Thanks!
     
  5. P0sitr0nic

    P0sitr0nic Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    I love that you post here.. xD

    I was reading the book, hadnt looked at the author yet, and I was actually wondering if whoever had written it posted at TrekBBS. Then I looked, and I was like "oh, well yep."
     
  6. Yevetha

    Yevetha Commodore

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Does this book deal with time travels outside of the movies and series?
     
  7. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Yes, to some extent.
     
  8. MatthiasRussell

    MatthiasRussell Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    It does an excellent job making sense of how we can exist linearly despite time travel and alternate universes. It isn't just good trek, it is great science fiction in general.

    I didn't even want to read this book but a friend convinced me to and it turned out being one of the best I've read. I'd consider it a "must read" for Trek fans.
     
  9. Vastator

    Vastator Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Any chance we might see some of the temporal agencies used by the other powers? I smiled when I read about the Temporal Assessment Group being mentioned since I really liked the LUG "All Our Yesterdays" Sourcebook. That combined with the Chronological Defense Corps was fascinating to me about competing agencies over time travel.
     
  10. Yevetha

    Yevetha Commodore

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Should i watch every time travel episode and movie for the book?
     
  11. Turtletrekker

    Turtletrekker Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Of course not... :rolleyes:
     
  12. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Forgotten History's set too early for that.


    Only if you really, really want to. Everything you need to know to follow the story is explained in the book. As a rule, you can assume that's always the case. It's not like we're deliberately trying to confuse or exclude our readers.
     
  13. Yevetha

    Yevetha Commodore

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    is Forgotten History your pitch or the editors?
     
  14. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    My editor suggested doing a TOS/DTI crossover, and then I figured out the rest.
     
  15. captcalhoun

    captcalhoun Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    um, time travel...
     
  16. NSTrekfan

    NSTrekfan Lieutenant Commander

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    It's a predestination paradox!
     
  17. Yevetha

    Yevetha Commodore

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Christopher i wonder if the DTI is worried about the Q.

    Do they have an agreement with them?
     
  18. Defcon

    Defcon Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    My review was put online earlier this week at Unreality SF.

    Short Version: A better than expected, decent novel.
     
  19. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    The DTI are worried about a lot of civilizations and entities that they have no influence over. It's a big universe, and the timeline could be altered at any moment by someone halfway across the galaxy, and the DTI would be able to do nothing about it. The Q are just one part of that overall problem. That's one of the realities that makes the DTI's work so maddening, as the novel discusses. To paraphrase Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, they simply do the best they can.
     
  20. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Christopher, I just wanted to chime in and say something:

    My best friend is a young woman from Chicago. She's in grad school and came to D.C. for the summer for an internship her program requires. Since I was already here, she has spent the summer renting a room in the same house in which I rent.

    I thought that this neighborhood was really nice and safe; nothing had ever happened to me. But since my friend moved here, she's opened my eyes to some male privilege I had: Almost every day she walks home from the metro station to the house, she's hounded by men who sexually harass her. They yell at her, call her names, solicit her for sex, insult her if she refuses, and even sometimes try to talk her to getting into their cars. Complete strangers, harassing her for having the audacity to walk down a street while being female. Because of this, we've taken to having me walk with her from the metro station every night when she gets home from her internship if I'm available (which I usually am, since I get off work before she does).

    So I was looking at Watching the Clock again (I've started it but haven't finished it), and a small detail stuck out at me:

    Clare Raymond, thinking to herself about how much life has changed on 24th Century Earth since the 190s, musing to herself that she or any other woman can now walk down the streets of any city on Earth late at night, alone, knowing that they're safe.

    After having seen the kinds of humiliation and harassment my best friend has suffered in this area just because she happens to be a woman, I've got to say: Thank you.

    It's a small detail in your book, but the idea is incredibly meaningful to me. :)