On the strength of The Collectors, I was really looking forward to reading Time Lock, but while Collectors was energetic and inventive, Time Lock is-- like the two DTI novels-- plodding and over-expository. Things get off to a rough start with a confusing sequence where people tell each other and/or think about a time portal recovered from the Gum Nebula, the political configuration of the Vomnin, the events of Titan: Orion's Hounds, how the Vault works, and the identities of a bunch of different DTI characters. People think to themselves, "better not be pedantic and say x," and think about x instead, which I will say is not really an interesting to smuggle in exposition that actually doesn't add anything.

I like the idea of this book, but it never takes off. That the DTI could be subject to a heist where each side uses temporal devices against the other sounds fun, but it ended up in practice being dull. Too often the DTI characters do something clever but obscure, and then it is explained to us what was done, meaning a lot of the action is retrospective and detached, which prevents us from feeling invested in it. The villain is a bit on the cartoony side, and I will admit to not strongly caring about any of the original DTI characters.

The idea of the time lock is clever: within the Vault, time keeps slowing down, so at first the Vault is a minute behind, then it's 20 minutes behind, then forty, then an hour; by the novella's end, only a couple days have passed inside the Vault, but eight months have gone by outside! This is clever, yes, but it does mean that any sense of urgency completely evaporates when the action switches to outside the Vault. Oh no, will the DTI figure it out? Well, yes, because they have months to investigate it at their leisure, actually. And these scenes are often bogged down by exposition, too, such as a long and pointless explanation of stepwells.

The problem is that the longer the book goes on, the more time the outside characters have to solve the problems inside the Vault. The end of the book tries to raise the stakes by having something go horribly wrong, but it feels arbitrary in its deployment of technobabble: suddenly it's "blah blah subspace" and the tension is just draining away. And then the resolution comes from the outside characters having months to research something that will save the inside characters.

It did have its moments, but based on The Collectors, I expected quick-fire time shenanigans as the two groups tried to outwit each other. Instead I felt like each side had just two ideas that were doled out very slowly. The end promises a sequel, which doesn't leave me very excited.

Continuity Notes:

• At one point there's a recap of Orion's Hounds that is (on my Kindle settings, at least) a whole page long. I have read that book and this still confused me, but I think it could have been cut with no problem.
• There is a reference to the appearances of the rouge Aegis agents in DC's 1990s comics (previously reviewed by me). I know the novels have been using the term "Aegis" from those comics since Assignment: Eternity, but is this the first time any actual events from those comics have been referenced?

Other Notes:

• One thing I found really weird is when two DTI agents go to check out the home planet of the antagonist: "We investigated her people, the Tomika. There was no sign any of them would have the knowledge or the desire to participate in something like this. And none of them seemed to have the unusual strength and perception she's shown." They checked out an entire sapient species and none of them were interested in stealing time technology? It's a pretty improbable statement, I felt.
• There's an okay gag where someone is "aged to death" and instead of living until seventy, he died right away because, duh, he doesn't have any food or water. As soon as I read it, I thought of the Babylon 5 episode "Babylon Squared" because this trope has bothered me every since I saw that episode-- and upon reading the author's annotations, Bennett was thinking of that ep himself. But I think the moment is clunky (someone says that it always works in the holodramas, but I got it before then), and it's undermined by the fact that the victim doesn't actually die.
• I am delighted to report a complete lack of workplace sexual harassment in this DTI installment

A really fun novella taking place in the Star Trek universe. All sorts of time tricks and travel made for a very clever short.

[I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.] ( )

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Pocket Books/Star Trek in exchange for an honest review.

This is the fourth book in the Department of Temporal Investigations, and the fifth book I’ve read by this author (though one of those books is a full length novel hidden inside a longer collection of novels. It is titled ‘Places of Exile’, and is roughly 192 pages in length, and is found inside the book titled ‘Infinity’s Prism’).

As the Acknowledgments and notes section . . . um . . . notes, Agents Lucsly and Dulmer ‘were introduced in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine “Trials and Tribble-ations”’ episode. This explains to me where there was a note at the beginning of this that indicated that this was somehow connected to Deep Space Nine. This confused me, since I didn’t recall any of the previous books specifically including DS9 people. As in, since DS9 takes place at the same time, same century/year, as The Next Generation, and Voyager, I was confused as to why DS9 was specifically mentioned. But I realize now why it was.

Just like the previous books in this series, this book is about a government agency that has the directive to safeguard any and all time travel devices that it comes across. Unlike the previous books, the two main characters who were partners in the previous books, have been separated. Lucsly is working on the ice-moon Eris, while Dulmer is now an assistant director setting up a new branch of DTI on Denobula.

Before I get too far down this road, I need to note something(s): (1) I was excited to have the opportunity to read this book – regardless of the next comment, I am/was excited to be able to read this book; (2) one of the reasons I decided to read this specific book right now, instead of any other book I have access to, is relatively simply the idea that I felt a small need to dive into something that did not/does not have romance in it. Well . . . that idea failed. One of the main characters gets himself involved in a bit of romance. Who knew, eh?

Right, back to business –

While doing his job in the ‘vault of secret time devices’, Lucsly’s day is interrupted when one of the objects d’time suddenly activates. And spits out military personal carrying weaponry. A bit of Trojan Horse going on here (a phrase, well ‘Trojan Horse’) specifically used in this book. Agent Gariff Lucsly, several scientists stationed at the base, and the DTI director Laarin Andos (who just happened to be there for some reason or another) attempt to fight off the invaders. Hampered, somewhat, by the fact that while they might be agents, they are not, and I wish to word this carefully, highly trained military personal. I think. At least Lucsly makes a comment to that effect at some point.

While the fight commences in the secret base, Dulmer, and the rest of star fleet, attempt to provide some assistance. Hampered, somewhat, by the defensive measures put in place when the invaders invaded. That whole thing, the ‘defensive measures’ and the like were quite neat.

Long and short of it – this was a quite neat, fun, exciting novella. I already knew it was only 112 pages, so that didn’t specifically matter to me – as in, I knew I was reading a short story. As a short story, it had almost everything it needed. Ended on kind of a cliff-hanger, but still, a fully formed story. Though access to knowledge of the previous books in the series would help – plus access to knowledge of the books that occur – or are set around this specific point in time (2385) could conceivably help – there was mention of several books that this story falls in between so it is possible that my lack of knowledge of those books might have had an adverse impact on my enjoyment of this story. Or, in other words, it is possible, however slight or large this possibility might be, that I might have had a higher level of enjoyment if I had read those other books – the Titan ones, not the other books in this series, since I’ve read the other books in this series.

Now off to double check when it is that I can post this review at this time.

March 25 2016
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I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Normally, I like these short Star Trek novellas, but this one just grated on my nerves. It felt like it was written for middle-school readers, and the writing was sub-par, focusing on the "telling" rather than letting the story develop. It just didn't connect for me. ( )