As the leading historical adjustment team of the First Division of the U.S. Army Temporal Corps, Lucas Priest, Finn Delaney, and Andre Cross are used to being called into hazardous situations in which the fate of their world is at stake. But when a sergeant in the USATC serving as a British soldier in 1897 Afghanistan is found dead next to the identical body of a Ghazi tribesman, it is clear that the trio face their most dangerous mission yet. Not only does it appear that a time stream split has taken place, but that the people in that timeline are also operating in the past. To find the split, Priest, Delaney and Cross join a relief expedition dispatched by the British Army into the Khyber Pass to deal with rebelling tribesmen. But what if the situation is more serious than it seems? And why is it that none of their briefing materials include any mention of a war correspondent named Winston Churchill?

With the sixth book in his Time Wars series, Simon Hawke shifts his focus to a new threat that will predominate for the rest of its run. Having previously dealt with the consequences of temporal accidents and the machinations of the history-disrupting terrorists known as the Timekeepers, the time commandos now face an alternate timeline that has declared war against them. This increases the stakes, and allows Hawke to introduce the prospect of temporal doppelgangers and a higher degree of emotional conflict. His efficient storytelling makes for a zippy, Kipling-flavored novel that is only occasionally derailed by periodic exposition-dumps that his characters make in order to clear the way for other developments, resulting in an enjoyable sci-fi adventure that provides a pleasant afternoon of light reading. ( )

I remembered that this book marked a transition into more cerebral time issues from fun literature integrations, but had forgotten how well Hawke wove conundrums into a decent story. Add a touch of history and a little Kipling fiction to those fanciful paradoxes and you have one of his better outings in the series. ( )

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission. Title: The Khyber Connection Series: Time Wars Author: Simon Hawke Rating: of 5 Battle Axes Genre: SFF Pages: 170 Format: Kindle Synopsis: The events from the previous book have brought two alternate time streams into confluence. Separate time streams, not a split. Thus parallel universes begin a truly horrific conflict. My Thoughts: I actually enjoyed this more than most of the previous books. Part of that was because Hawke left off trying to create "feel real" characters and just let them be cardboard cutouts. It works better this way. I haven't read the actual The Khyber Connection so I wasn't able to compare how Hawke weaved this story into that plot line. Reading this made me want to read the actual book but stories of Imperial India, except for Kim, have never truly interested me. This was good enough that I'll keep on with the series. I was beginning to wonder after the last book. " ( )

In this sixth book in the series, we see the fight of the British to expand their empire in the Hindu Kush. Well, they are already there, more like we see an uprising that is religiously driven among the natives of the region against the British.

Into this scenario we have an actual parallel time line impose itself on evens, as opposed to past books that seemed to imply that parallel time-lines weren't possible - or at the very least, that if a time line split, 'it'd be the end of everything'. Well, apparently some of the weapons used by the time comandos packed a mighty punch. Most of which got sent along, vaguely magically, to some distant point. At least that's what they thought. Unbeknownst to them, the energy actually was being sent into a parallel time line - and killing millions. Naturally that time line, when it got the opportunity, launched an actual time war upon those knowingly or unknowingly kiling them.

An interesting enough book. Certain points seemed to have had odd moments of info dumps, which were both odd and unneeded. And then there was the case of Col. Priest for some reason being referred to as Major Priest. He was a Colonel in one or more previous books. A light Colonel, but still, not a Major. Makes me wonder if I've somehow drifted into some third time line.

Oh, and one last note - that whole business involving that Dr. Darkness guy? Quite annoying.

April 23 2016 ( )

A good time travel story, all the better because Mr. Hawke appears to have researched the Northwest frontier past the usual depths. ( )