A Time to Love

Star Trek: A Time to... #5

by Robert Greenberger

A century ago the long-running conflict between two alien civilizations ended when both of them colonised the same distant planet, becoming instead a shining example of inter-species cooperation and coexistence. Now an investigation headed by Kyle Riker -- estranged father of Commander William Riker -- has revealed how fragile their hard-won paradise is. Within a few generations, a virus indigenous to their colony planet of Delta Sigma IV will wipe out all its inhabitants. Faced with this threat the delicate shell of harmony starts to crumble... Jean-Luc Picard and his crew, still reeling from the events which have tarnished the career of one of Starfleet's most decorated captains, must come to the aid of a world which once knew only peace, but now faces violence and chaos. Riker, meantime, must face the fact that his own father may be responsible for the anarchy into which Delta Sigma IV is descending.

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Star Trek The Next Generation, Fiction, Ebooks, Adventure, Science Fiction Fantasy

263 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 2004

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library)]

I love a good space opera...and this one was just that!

[Graff Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Time to ... 05 A Time to Love by Robert Greenberger

4.25 Stars

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense

Medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters are a main focus: Yes

This is highest rated story within this series. I'm not sure if it actually IS better, or have finally gotten used to the story structure...and found peace with it?

I feel that there should be more resolutions within a novel. That's my biggest problem with the series...there's NOT enough things accomplished within the novel. You get to the end, and you are not satisfied with all the build-up of the plot, and then there's a MINOR accomplishment...and you say to yourself (or at least I do), "that's it? Really? Why am I reading this series...it's not a satisfying read. Honestly." I keep saying this at the end of each of these novels. Ugh.

I am enjoying the defeated/deflated feeling of crew, who've been continually ground down. Going from one moderately successful mission, to a disasterous one, to one they come away with their tails between their legs, to another disasterous mission. 

The in-world feel about the USS Enterprise is that it is toxic. Crew members are transferring to other ships, just to get the "stink" off of them and advance their careers with other less-tainted ships.

For us TV and novel readers, we hold the Enterprise in such high acclaim that we don't see this new era of less than stellar results from this once acclaimed crew.

This seems to be the cloud that is operating around the ship. Like the character in Peanuts with the dust cloud. It is eminating from himself.

You can see the frustrations of the main characters, and feeling ill-prepared for the currrent rash of losses, and how can they keep going?

Phew, got that off my chest. I'm not terribly excited about picking up the next book in this series, but then again, I want the payoff that HAS to be coming. Right?

Okay, A Time To... 06 A Time To Hate by this same author...so there should be good story continuity, and follow-through. Hopefully.

[Brian · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel bad to the author for giving the book a 1 star, but when I think about all the ways this book was a let down, it seems the most appropriate rating. My primary reason for disliking the book seems to be the result of whoever organized this series, and not necessarily the authors' doing alone, and so far, it's been true of all the previous books in this series.

Each set of stories seem to follow this pattern: Develop a plot for one book from each author, then pad so much filler to the story that they can get 2 books out of each author. It's a money grab scheme, and every book in the series drags, and drags, and tries your patience, until you just want the whole thing to be over.

Unfortunately, the author's plan to add filler is much more obvious than the previous authors in the series. What he does is he introduces a scene (usually with coffee or tea), talks about something that has nothing to do with the plot, then starts to mention something relative to the story, then the scene ends before anything is accomplished. This allows him to repeat the same process for 200 pages, and we never get anywhere.

What has Riker done for 200 pages? Sight seeing, nothing else.
What has Picard done for 200 pages? Stood in the same building, drinking tea, frowning.
What has Crusher done for 200 pages? Reading the same report (drinking coffee), and nothing else. Wow! She's a slow reader!
At least Troi had some form of progression, although she didn't accomplish anything at all.

There are some other serious plot issues too. First, the believability of the plot is very low. It's just forced down our throats, and we have to accept it. Second, the motivation for the guy Riker is searching for changes throughout the book, for no reason at all, and contradicts itself totally. In once instance, he's chasing someone else, in another, he's avoiding Riker, in another, he's doing exactly what Riker would expect, on purpose. All three are not possible at the same time, so which is it? If he's chasing someone, how could he decide where he wants to go, so that Riker could find him (even though he doesn't want to be found)? It makes no sense! I suspect the writer didn't know himself, and never sat there for 2 minutes to decide.

Now, I said that I blame the higher-ups for how much filler there is in this book. However, writers have to take some blame too. When told to create filler, they could have actually spent their time creating interesting filler. However, Robert Greenberger, instead, opted to trick us instead, constantly scene hopping, so that he could retell the same portions, over and over, and therefore create a higher word count. This isn't cool. Readers aren't stupid, and the other reviews reflect how much readers dislike being strung along for the sake of publishing 2 books instead of 1.

I can't let this review end without saying one positive, so here it is: The characterizations were on target.

I can't wait until this series is over. The only thing that's keeping me going is knowing that Keith R.A. DeCandido can't tell a bad story. Unfortunately, his is the last book in the series (strange how it's only one book and not two, with filler). I've read some decent reviews about David Macks two books that follow, so there's hope at the end of this tunnel, I suppose. I still have to get through the "conclusion" to this one, that really only had enough substance to last 150 pages...

For those of you thinking about reading this book, here's a fun fact: You can easily read the first 4 chapters, then skip to the last 2 and miss nothing! Enjoy.

[Crystal Bensley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a huge fan of the writing style but the mystery itself is definitely exciting!

[reherrma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Im neuen Roman der "Zeit des Wandels"-Reihe beschreibt Robert Greenberger eine neue Episode um die Zeit nach der Schlacht um den remanischen Klon Shinzon von Jean Luc Picard, in der viele Mitglieder der langjährigen Besatzung der ENTERPRISE auf den Weg zu neuen Aufgaben und neuen Herausforderungen aufgebrochen sind. Zu den Veränderungen gehörten z.B. William Rikers Beförderung zum Kapitän und sein neues Kommando (TITAN), Rikers Heirat mit Councelor Deanna Troi und Dr. Beverly Crushers neue Karriere bei der medizinischen Abteilung der Sternenflotte.
Captain Picard und seine Crew erholen sich immer noch von den tragischen Ereignissen, die die Karriere eines der höchstdekorierten Kapitäne der Föderation getrübt haben, und nun werden sie von den Sternenflotten-Admirälen immer wieder zu unbedeutenden Missionen geschickt, die aber dennoch kaum zu lösen sind. Nun müssen sie einer Welt zu Hilfe kommen, die einst nur Frieden kannte, nun aber mit aufkommender Gewalt und Chaos konfrontiert ist … und Commander Riker muss sich der Realität stellen, dass sein eigener Vater für den fast sicheren Untergang von Delta Sigma IV verantwortlich gemacht werden könnte...!
Der erste Teil dieser neuen Duologie führt langsam in das Thema ein, durch einige Morde wird das Gefühl der Bedrohung immer stärker, man tappt im Dunkeln und die Suche nach den Verdächtigen konzentriert sich immer weiter auf Kyle Riker, dem Vater von Will. Picard ist wieder voll in die Diplomatie involviert, ohne dass ein Konsens gefunden werden kann, die Fremdenfeindlichkeit der sterbenden Bevölkerung konzentriert sich immer mehr gegen die Föderation, gleichzeitig ist Beverly Crusher gefordert, eine medizinische Lösung zu finden...
Der 2. Teil der Duologie wird eine Lösung aufzeigen...

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

For much of this story, it feels like the plot is treading water. This may be because the story had to be stretched over two books, but I can't say for certain. There are moments where I feel like the characters should be able to figure out problems easily, but the resolution is stretched and delayed. However, there are some nice character moments, and a few interesting ideas that move the plot forward. It is also difficult to review this novel as it is only half of the complete story and feels like it was split in two at a fairly arbitrary point. Not a bad read, but definitely a bit of a step down from the previous two novels in the series. Good character moments and Greenberger's obvious familiarity with the characters and the world they inhabit bump the score up a bit.

Full review: http://www.treklit.com/2018/11/ATtL.html

[Brent Knorr · Rating 3 out of 5]

This really seemed like the first half of a two part story that didn't really have enough material to be two books. It's not that the story is bad so far, it just seemed to have a lot of repetition and unnecessary scenes. Hopefully the second book moves along a little quicker.

[Eurocrime · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very topical despite it being published in 2004! An 'infection' is racing through a planet's population causing violence and death. One of the characters comments that you can rebuild an economy but you can't resurrect the dead...

[Joshua Palmatier · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first part of a duology (with A TIME TO HATE) in this nine part Star Trek series chronicling the activities of the Enterprise and crew between the two movies Insurrection and Nemesis. The first four books were great. This one, not so much.

The basic premise is that two warring cultures were colonizing planets and both laid claim to Delta Sigma IV a hundred years ago. Rather than fight over the planet, the two races--the Bader and the Dorset--decided to work together and forged a new peace on the planet, even while their home planets continued their aggressions. Delta Sigma IV became a member of the Federation, because of their spirit of cooperation and peace. Unfortunately, something on the planet is shortening both races' life spans, to the point where their entire culture will die off in a matter of a generation or two. They appeal to Starfleet, which researches the problem and devises a cure. The five test subjects are returned to the world for the celebration of its colonization . . . only to have one of the test subjects kill another. This initial outbreak of violence--not experienced on this world in over 100 years--appears to precipitate violence across the world and Picard and the Enterprise are dispatched to find out what's going on.

I can't say what's going on without ruining the surprise and mystery of this first book, but this idea is the best thing about this book. It was a cool idea, and I'm certain it's what got the books sold. The issue, and the quandary it sets up for Picard and crew, especially Dr. Crusher, is interesting with lots of thought-provoking ramifications. The problem is that the plot of the book and the writing don't do the idea justice. My most significant critique is that no one seems to do anything of any importance in this first book at all. We go from scene to scene, but nothing ever seems to actually happen. I felt like Picard and crew should have arrived, sized up the situation, and then acted. But no one acts. And there's really no reason given for WHY they aren't acting. When it becomes clear that the Bader and Dorset aren't going to act themselves, I expected Picard to take control. In fact, he doesn't even offer suggestions for how the leaders of the planet CAN take control. Everyone sort of stands by and waits and I felt frustrated with them, especially when I didn't see why they couldn't act.

I also had problems with the secondary plotline, which is that Riker's father is on the planet and may know something about the murder and the situation. Riker is sent to find him, of course. But everyone on the planet seems bent on blaming Riker's father, when it's clear based on the story and witnesses that he had nothing to do with the murder. AND NO ONE POINTS THIS OUT in their discussions. No one simply says, "Well, he obviously didn't do it himself, so why do you think he did?" There's no evidence at all implicating Riker's father, merely evidence that he tried to stop the murderer as he left and then vanished. Then, as the novel progresses, we see more of this blindness and inability to speak up.

So the book suffers from inaction on many levels. It's one of those cases where if someone had just done something, or said something, all of the problems everyone is experiencing could have been resolved much faster. Which of course is why no one acted or spoke up; that would have made the novel into a short story. But this kind of manipulation in order to keep the story going is just annoying to me. Someone could have acted or spoken up and then discovered that whatever they did or said just makes matters worse in some way. That's how a plot works.

In the end, the book is simply frustrating, because the characters aren't behaving in realistic, believable, and most important INTELLIGENT ways. They are making unexplained dumb decisions, which bogs down what could have been an interesting exploration of a cool concept. I'm hoping something more significant happens in the second book, so save this duology. We'll see.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

A rather middling affair which - despite its short length - feels like it drags on far too long. After Starfleet decides that Picard and the Enterprise should be assigned a more challenging mission, the crew are faced with investigating an outbreak of violence on Federation colony Delta Sigma IV. Riker's absent father Kyle is somehow involved, leaving Will to track him down and Beverly to hunt for a cure to the outbreak.

Robert Greenberger clearly wants to explore some of Riker's unresolved angst, not just with his father but also with Deanna and the dilemma of having children or taking his own command. While he does an admirable job of teasing out some of those buried feelings (the scenes with Seer's family are particularly nice), he wraps them in a thoroughly uninteresting plot which creeps along at a snail's pace. We're essentially left with Riker crisscrossing the country with Seer, going from one unruly mob to another in a rather haphazard effort to locate his father. This had the potential to be interesting with slightly different framing, however the author decides to chronicle the journey with endless pages of prose about how "drab" and "uniformly dull" the planet is, and how dangerous and critical the situation is becoming. This severely limits any enjoyment I got learning about Riker's character progression, the lack of direction of the search for his father reflecting the lack of direction of the book as a whole.

Meanwhile, Crusher's efforts to uncover a cure behind the violence epidemic are similarly uninspired. She spends the majority of the book straining to understand the root cause, and so we're left with lukewarm scenes of her interactions with Picard and Troi, with Beverly sporting "smudges" under her eyes from all the late-night research. Yawn. There's a slight change of pace when she's forced into an emergency situation in sickbay and has to deal with a slew of horrific injuries, but otherwise things plod on uneventfully. Nevertheless, between this and the Dokaalan mission in the previous duology, you do get the sense that starship doctoring is taking its toll on Beverly, adding weight to her eventual decision to return to Starfleet Medical on Earth. I just wish it had been handled better.

Data and Geordi are largely relegated to the "B-story" in this episode. This wouldn't have felt out of place inserted into a mediocre episode of TNG as a B plot, but it certainly feels out of place here, especially when we're cutting from gruesome murders on a planet to mild humor and bad dialogue on the ship. Still, I enjoyed the insight into how Starfleet is stretched so thin after the Dominion war and has to rely on the ingenuity of its officers on the frontier to help other ships in need.

Then there's Troi. I get the feeling the character of Anh Hoang has been created just to give Troi something to do. Sadly it feels so tangential and removed from the primary plot that it loses all relevance. Yes, she's a tragic character. Yes, I have sympathy for her plight. But (so far) she is completely removed from the plot, and her story feels like it belongs in a different book completely. Let's see if Part 2 changes that.

I wanted to enjoy "A Time to Love". I really did. But with the glacial pace of plot development and the author's rather stilted writing style, I had a hard time making it through. I'm certainly not excited about the prospect of reading the conclusion. Greenberger does himself no favors in making the inhabitants of Delta Sigma IV totally unlikable. Unlike the Dokaalan, who genuinely commanded sympathy and compassion from the reader, the Dorset and Badar are both rather annoying, poorly written and lacking any characteristics which make the reader feel for them. Simply put - I couldn't care less what happens to them. The gratuitous violence at the end of Chkarad's story felt totally unnecessary, and despite its intensity, added nothing to a rather bland and featureless character.

So let's see. Perhaps Part 2 will redeem the rather poor start to this story.

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ugh, sloppy writing and editing. Page 100 Troi and a security guard beam from the conference room to the medical center. Page 101, In the conference room, Troi and the security guard block others from Picard to allow him a private conversation. A huge continuity error just paragraphs apart? Besides, that, this whole series is making most of the Enterprise crew look like total idiots. I’d be transferring off ship too.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

A TIME TO LOVE is well written and a good read. I enjoyed it, but honestly I think it and A TIME TO HATE could have been one book. The funny thing in "LOVE" is that on page 100 Troi beams back to the Enterprise, but on page 101 she is clearly still on the surface of the planet with Picard. I found this goof hilarious but forgivable. All in all, "LOVE," is worth reading.

[Patrick Hayes · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book when it originally came out in 2004, but couldn't remember anything about it. It's the first of two books, with the sequel being A Time to Hate.

I've read many books and comics by author Robert Greenberger, and I haven't been disappointed by anything he's written. Sadly, this was the first. Now, this is only the first half of a story, so my opinion of it may change, but on its own it's really, really just too slow.

The disgraced (long story--that's the theme of the A Time to...books) Enterprise is sent to Delta Sigma IV as it's had its first murder. The planet is inhabited by two spacefaring races that normal despise one another, but have colonized the world peacefully. Complicating the murder is that the killer was one of the test subjects of Federation medicine that's looking to increase the population's mysteriously lowering life cycle. And increasing the tension further is that Kyle Riker, Will Riker's father, was one of the people monitoring the test subjects and who's disappeared after the murder. Murders, and planetary violence, continue to increase and Kyle Riker is spotted at each scene of the killings.

Great premise, but not much happens. Riker goes looking for his father with a guide and it becomes a sightseeing journey around the planet with nothing discovered, Picard deals with the frustratingly ineffective government and the increasing levels of violence, Crusher deals with the test subjects, Data is stuck in command of the Enterprise since Picard is on planet, and Geordi works with other ships in the area to get supplies for the Enterprise since they're too far out from normal suppliers.

All of the characters are written perfectly. Their actions ring true and it was impossible to read their dialogue or thoughts without hearing them in the actors' voices.

The last six pages reveal the reason for the planet's upheaval and it's brilliant. My hat is off to Greenberger for this smart twist. I've not encountered it in any other Trek episodes, movies, novels, or comics. It's undeniably clever.

It just takes too long to get there. Way too long.

Again, this is only one half of the story, so I will read (reread--again I've not read it since 2004) the follow up book. However, I'm going in trepidatiously. I'm rooting for Greenberger to pull this around.

[Matthew · Rating 1 out of 5]

It doesn't matter how good a story is if it's poorly told. A Time To Love is just badly written and that takes away from what could have been an intriguing tale. I never like to give 1-star reviews nor dunk on a single author, but I just don't see how this got past the editing stages.

The main plot is constantly dodged around and instead we get a series of asides in which Troi harasses a crewmember (with very little effort or tact) because she thinks she needs to make an effort to be more social. There's a bizarre series of background events in which La Forge creates an intergalactic bartering system to get equipment for the Enterprise (why not just replicate it?). Picard stands around a lot and frets that other people are standing around too much.

In one scene Picard orders Counsellor Troi to beam away and pursue something else, but a few paragraphs later she's still in there in the same room.

The whole book just feels like its standing still, while simultaneously throwing too much at the reader. In the end we get a cliff hanger suddenly set up in the final pages (all of the mysteries suddenly given answers) in an effort to drag this story across two books instead of one.

[Drac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found myself skipping most of the chapters, because all that happens is a bunch of tea or coffee drinking while the plot treads water. The cliffhanger was especially frustrating because 1) there was only perhaps 4 chapters’ worth of plot in this book to begin with; don’t write a novel FILLED with filler and then end it on a cliffhanger! 2) I did not buy the second book 😆 made the mistake of thinking this was a standalone self contained story within a series.

Characterizations were on point though, and there were some poignant moments with Riker surrounding his daddy issues (which ofc is why I bought the book).

[Oleg X · Rating 2 out of 5]

Предыдущие две дилогии в этой серии разваливались на второй книге, но эта идет на рекорд и умирает практически сразу. Это условно детектив, в котором персонажи почти всю первую половину (aka первую книгу) топчутся на месте и не получают никаких результатов, пока ситуация ухудшается. И разгадка основного кризиса довольно паршивая на первый взгляд.

На этом фоне невероятно живыми и искрящими выглядят второстепенные линии, где Джорди строит сеть обмена деталями между кораблями Флота в этом отдаленном регионе, а Деанна волнуется за социальное здоровье молодой инженерки.

[Peter Rydén · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boken var visserligen bra, men lösningen på den kändes så uppenbar från sidan 3 och framåt. Jag blev besviken då jag hört mycket gott om Greenberger. Varför kunde inte ansvarig personal ombord Enterprise upptäcka orsakerna bakom våldsutbrotten långt tidigare? Nej, även om storyn i övrigt är intressant och bra, så känns det som att Greenberger kunde ha gjort ett bättre arbete. Betyget kan därför inte bli så högt. Hoppas att författaren hämtar upp sig i efterföljaren A Time to Hate.

[Bernard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh Dad, where art thou, sayeth Riker.
Vale—worthy successor to Yar & Worf!
Crusher, missing her son and deciding her fate.
Troi, hoping for a close shave.
Diplomatic Picard, his patience stretched.
Geordi and Data, distribution managers!
All this, plus Ferengi!

A solid story, that suffers only from it being part 1. But was it really A Time to Love?

[Jonathan Koan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My full review will be up on Roqoo Depot. This was the strongest book in the series thus far, but still has a lot of problems. While this book doesn't have the same Science-Fiction feel, all of the characters were handled really well. 4 out of 5.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some bits of talking that I liked, such as Crusher telling Troi she doesn't want to leave the Enterprise for a different job, but chapters do not need to be this long. Interesting to have Riker's dad involved I guess.

[Natasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t realize this book would end on a cliffhanger. Lots of padding about Geordi doing trading of ship parts. Pretty repetitive, and honestly could have stuffed the whole story of this book into one instead of two. I won’t be reading the second.

[Les Hopper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick, easy, fun read. An improvement on the last one in the series. As with the others, one story is basically spread across two books. I've not yet read the next part but will at some point.

[Nickie JoD’Cee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I adore Star Trek. However the story was very slow.

[Ashley Hobgood · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had read this book because I watched the t.v. series. I didn't like the story because it had to get into and monotonous. I thought the book was dull and boring. I was not impressed with this book.

[Kenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mmmm…their natural state is violence? So being violent is purely genetic? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Joel Aarons · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first part of a decent story. The characters are all written well but my only gripe is I found it fairly predictable. I knew exactly how and when the book would finish in the story.

[Shoumik Hassin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't quite expecting the escalation this took and am slightly disappointed it's not a murder mystery, but I like the Riker stuff well enough.

[Christian Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Felt much pacier than the earlier books, a bit less padding out.
Certainly the strongest one of the Time To books so far.

[George Kingsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Father vs Son maybe.

Like more Riker stories. Looking forward to reading more adventures with him as captain of the Titan with Troi. The best is yet to come.

[Jonne Steen Redeker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reasonably interesting story badly told and stretched to death.

A colony world inhabited by two species who are constantly at each other's throats everywhere else, but somehow have managed to create a peaceful society here. When a medical crisis hits their lifespans get shorter and shorter. Eventually the planet will die out, unless a solution can be found. When the first patients treated against this condition return home an epidemic of violence breaks out, on a world that had no violent crime for centuries. Enterprise is send to help.

So... Have you spotted the cause yet? Trust me this summary is enough to spot it, yet it takes Crusher and the rest of the medical staff ages to figure it out... That is only a sample of the problems with this book. Star Trek has always had a big component of competency porn in it, so nothing is more frustrating than the characters struggling to figure out the obvious.

If I had to point the finger at the cause, i think it was the author forcing the plot of a single short novel, into two. Lets hope the second part manages to pull it together.