Lynda C. (Readnmachine) reviewed Forgotten History (Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations, Bk 2) on + 1462 more book reviews
There are way too many plotlines in this convoluted story of a time-travel experiment from Kirk's era gone, with the Department of Temporal Investigations from the DS9 timeline involved in the investigation and resolution of the anomaly.
The first third if the book digresses into the machinations of a Starfleet admiral obsessed with the military applications of time travel who believes that the Enterprise (or more specifically, her engines and warp drive apparatus) have somehow, due to their time travel experiences during the 5-year mission, retained a unique capability to carry a new ship, built around those engines, on time voyages of its own. His attempts to obtain those engines ultimately leads to the development of what became DTI.
Bennett makes a valiant attempt to weave events and characters from the original series, the animated series, offscreen activities predating and immediately following the first movie, and pronovels from dozens of different writers spanning half a century of Trek-based fiction into a cohesive whole. There are some nice Easter eggs hidden in the background, but it often threatens to overwhelm what should be the main story.
And during all this set-up, unfortunately, Kirk and cpmpany pretty well disappear into the background. Spock comes forth to spout technobabble theory about the physics of time travel, as do several of author's original characters and that whole quantum discussion rapidly causes MEGO in non-physicist readers.
Then at about the halfway point, we're back with the TDI folks and their investigation of the timeship, but only briefly, because there is a flashback as to how and why it got there from Kirk's time. And here, finally, the original Trek crew takes center stage. There's a nice Spockian interlude which turns out to actually have some bearing on the resolution of one problem facing the crew later on.
As the story zigzags to its conclusion, Bennett piles on complication after complication with time jumps, parallel universes, new characters, new political alliances, new technology, and still more incomprehensible theorizing about the nature of the space-time continuum. The reader who has managed to hang on to this point is likely to do nothing more than to breath a huge sigh of relief when the marathon ends, as all Trek pronovels must, with everything neatly tucked back into the official framework.
The first third if the book digresses into the machinations of a Starfleet admiral obsessed with the military applications of time travel who believes that the Enterprise (or more specifically, her engines and warp drive apparatus) have somehow, due to their time travel experiences during the 5-year mission, retained a unique capability to carry a new ship, built around those engines, on time voyages of its own. His attempts to obtain those engines ultimately leads to the development of what became DTI.
Bennett makes a valiant attempt to weave events and characters from the original series, the animated series, offscreen activities predating and immediately following the first movie, and pronovels from dozens of different writers spanning half a century of Trek-based fiction into a cohesive whole. There are some nice Easter eggs hidden in the background, but it often threatens to overwhelm what should be the main story.
And during all this set-up, unfortunately, Kirk and cpmpany pretty well disappear into the background. Spock comes forth to spout technobabble theory about the physics of time travel, as do several of author's original characters and that whole quantum discussion rapidly causes MEGO in non-physicist readers.
Then at about the halfway point, we're back with the TDI folks and their investigation of the timeship, but only briefly, because there is a flashback as to how and why it got there from Kirk's time. And here, finally, the original Trek crew takes center stage. There's a nice Spockian interlude which turns out to actually have some bearing on the resolution of one problem facing the crew later on.
As the story zigzags to its conclusion, Bennett piles on complication after complication with time jumps, parallel universes, new characters, new political alliances, new technology, and still more incomprehensible theorizing about the nature of the space-time continuum. The reader who has managed to hang on to this point is likely to do nothing more than to breath a huge sigh of relief when the marathon ends, as all Trek pronovels must, with everything neatly tucked back into the official framework.
