Spoilers DTI: Watching the Clock by C. L. Bennett Review Thread
- Thread starter Thrawn
- Start date
Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread
Thanks! As for the spoiler, no, you caught all the references of that particular type. I considered including the thing you suggest, but I couldn't figure out a suitably concise description and I didn't really have the opportunity.
However, there are plenty of in-jokes in character names and the like.
Nothing from ST:O, no. I'm not very familiar with it, and I don't really think of it as something that can fit into the same Trek continuity as the novels, even as an alternate timeline. I mean, there are so many game-oriented things about it that could never be true in the "real" Trek universe, like the absurdly gigantic "sets" to allow virtual camera movement, the way every player is instantly a captain with one's own ship, the way every specific mission gets played over and over again by different people, etc.
Thanks! As for the spoiler, no, you caught all the references of that particular type. I considered including the thing you suggest, but I couldn't figure out a suitably concise description and I didn't really have the opportunity.
However, there are plenty of in-jokes in character names and the like.
Nothing from ST:O, no. I'm not very familiar with it, and I don't really think of it as something that can fit into the same Trek continuity as the novels, even as an alternate timeline. I mean, there are so many game-oriented things about it that could never be true in the "real" Trek universe, like the absurdly gigantic "sets" to allow virtual camera movement, the way every player is instantly a captain with one's own ship, the way every specific mission gets played over and over again by different people, etc.
Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread
I'm reading the book right now (very good, BTW
) and I did catch a reference that might be to STO, or to ST XI, or to neither one. 
I'm reading the book right now (very good, BTW
) and I did catch a reference that might be to STO, or to ST XI, or to neither one. I just got to the part at the DTI academy where the recruit, Teresa Garcia, is asking about what happens when the timeline is changed. She asks what would happen if she goes back and changes something, but remains in the past - would her original timeline be okay? Another agent, Teyak, says that it might, if the transfer of information from one timeline to another is strictly one-way - such as a black hole. We saw time-travel done via that manner in ST XI. So that reinforces the belief that the time travel in that film did not destroy the 'prime' timeline...
Last edited:
Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread
^Yes, that was the idea. I don't see how it could be read as an STO reference, though.
^Yes, that was the idea. I don't see how it could be read as an STO reference, though.
Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread
^ I guess I was thinking of Countdown, which takes place in the STO timeline and which leads directly into ST XI.
^ I guess I was thinking of Countdown, which takes place in the STO timeline and which leads directly into ST XI.
Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread
Ah well, no biggy. I was just wondering. The Needs of the Many's Lucsly and Dulmer chapter had a sneaky little reference to the TrekLit timeline, so I thought this book might have had one to the game.
I guess I'll still grab it.
Ah well, no biggy. I was just wondering. The Needs of the Many's Lucsly and Dulmer chapter had a sneaky little reference to the TrekLit timeline, so I thought this book might have had one to the game.
I guess I'll still grab it.
Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread
Not really a spoiler, but what the hell...
Not really a spoiler, but what the hell...
Going by Watching the Clock's rules, the prime timeline's version of Dulmur and Lucsly (and, by extension, the rest of that timeline's DTI) will never know about the Abramsverse. This is because Clock establishes that a time travel process that is strictly one-way, such as the black hole that is used in ST XI, will not under any circumstances wipe out the original timeline, because no information is 'transmitted' back to it. So there's really no problem with the divergence.
Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread
Finally got the book today, am on page 152 & like it so far.
Finally got the book today, am on page 152 & like it so far.
Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread
92 pages in. Some of the paragraphs make for difficult reading.
Christopher, high marks for having T'Khut in a separate orbit and mentioning orbit interactions.
92 pages in. Some of the paragraphs make for difficult reading.
Christopher, high marks for having T'Khut in a separate orbit and mentioning orbit interactions.
Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread
To those who have read it : could you wander over to Amazon and leave a review? There's only one, currently, and it's...not similar to the general sentiment here.
To those who have read it : could you wander over to Amazon and leave a review? There's only one, currently, and it's...not similar to the general sentiment here.
Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread
I keep getting lost on where 'we' are in the timeline between the current story and flashbacks. Every section heading starting with a different planet/society's date format isn't helping because you don't know how far away one is relative to another. The uptime/downtime stardates are the master key, I guess.
I keep getting lost on where 'we' are in the timeline between the current story and flashbacks. Every section heading starting with a different planet/society's date format isn't helping because you don't know how far away one is relative to another. The uptime/downtime stardates are the master key, I guess.
The recruiting of the Deltan DTI agent confused me with how far it was from the 'current' story. He seems like a seasoned agent (though the story states how he his knowledge was 'advanced') but he really hasn't been an agent that long it seems.
Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread
Yikes. A 1 out of 5...I submitted a brief review in response, and it should be up within 48 hours.
My review:
4 stars out of 5
It's a little disjointed at times and sometimes feels like a collection of short stories or a scientific paper on the nature of time. The book picks up mid-way, though, and you start to see how all the stories fit together into the larger whole. It's not the easiest Trek book I've ever read, but it's a satisfying science fiction story that manages to create a coherent background for time travel in the trek universe.
Yikes. A 1 out of 5...I submitted a brief review in response, and it should be up within 48 hours.
My review:
4 stars out of 5
It's a little disjointed at times and sometimes feels like a collection of short stories or a scientific paper on the nature of time. The book picks up mid-way, though, and you start to see how all the stories fit together into the larger whole. It's not the easiest Trek book I've ever read, but it's a satisfying science fiction story that manages to create a coherent background for time travel in the trek universe.
Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread
Uh oh. That was how I was gonna buy it. What makes it so bad?
Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread
No italics. There should be italics, but there are none in the eBook. Also, some of the section headers are missing the bold. I cannot speak for any textual errors as I am still reading Paths of Disharmony.
No italics. There should be italics, but there are none in the eBook. Also, some of the section headers are missing the bold. I cannot speak for any textual errors as I am still reading Paths of Disharmony.
Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread
Sorry I haven't answered before now -- I'm at a hotel in Seattle and their wi-fi wasn't working.
That and the chronology cues I tried to insert in the actual text about how long it had been since certain episodes/films or previous events in the book.
Thanks! Actually my initial goal was to have several parallel plots that were pretty much independent of each other, to show the whole range of responsibilities of the DTI. My model was procedural TV shows, so I was thinking in terms of A and B and C plots. I was also influenced by Articles of the Federation and its episodic structure. The plotlines just ended up aligning more with one another than I anticipated.
Sorry I haven't answered before now -- I'm at a hotel in Seattle and their wi-fi wasn't working.
That and the chronology cues I tried to insert in the actual text about how long it had been since certain episodes/films or previous events in the book.
The story with Ranjea's recruitment is in 2372, about six months after DS9: "Visionary," as mentioned in the text. The next chapter begins with Ranjea four months after graduation, and is set shortly after "Trials and Tribble-ations," putting it in the first half of 2373. So he's been an agent for over eight years at the start of the book. That seems fairly seasoned to me.
Thanks! Actually my initial goal was to have several parallel plots that were pretty much independent of each other, to show the whole range of responsibilities of the DTI. My model was procedural TV shows, so I was thinking in terms of A and B and C plots. I was also influenced by Articles of the Federation and its episodic structure. The plotlines just ended up aligning more with one another than I anticipated.
Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread
Liked the bit where the DTI wanted
Liked the bit where the DTI wanted
to throw the book at Janeway. Always thought it was a bit unbelievable that she pretty much got off scott free...
Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread
A lot of Christopher's books spend some time "retconning" explanations for things we saw in episodes that seem to have bothered him.
A lot of Christopher's books spend some time "retconning" explanations for things we saw in episodes that seem to have bothered him.
Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread
I prefer to see it as developing story possibilities that were only hinted at onscreen. In this case, I wasn't trying to "fix" anything about the episode in question.
I prefer to see it as developing story possibilities that were only hinted at onscreen. In this case, I wasn't trying to "fix" anything about the episode in question.
The decision not to prosecute Janeway could've been explained purely in terms of the Federation and Starfleet leadership being willing to overlook the details of how the hero captain beat back the Borg and brought her ship home. But in the context of the larger story I'd already decided to tell, it seemed logical that the uptime agencies would intervene as well.
Actually the main thing I wanted to do here was to justify my own premise about what the background was behind the Temporal Cold War. In order for my explanation of that to make sense, I needed to come up with a reason why the future factions would leave the Federation alone between Enterprise and the time frame of the novel. The handiest explanation was that the defeat of the Borg in Destiny was necessary for them to exist, hence they had to keep their hands off of the sequence of events leading up to it. And "Endgame" was part of that sequence.
Actually the main thing I wanted to do here was to justify my own premise about what the background was behind the Temporal Cold War. In order for my explanation of that to make sense, I needed to come up with a reason why the future factions would leave the Federation alone between Enterprise and the time frame of the novel. The handiest explanation was that the defeat of the Borg in Destiny was necessary for them to exist, hence they had to keep their hands off of the sequence of events leading up to it. And "Endgame" was part of that sequence.
Similar threads
