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TimeWars #6
The Khyber Connection
The year was 1897. The Khyber Pass echoed with the sounds of war. Soldiers from Britain, India, and Afghanistan were immersed in a bloody conflict.
Enter the Time Commandos. Their mission: To foil a plot that has set timelines on a collision course. Only they can save the timestream from disruption -- with a little help from a war correspondent named Winston Churchill...and a waterboy called Gunga Din.
Enter the Time Commandos. Their mission: To foil a plot that has set timelines on a collision course. Only they can save the timestream from disruption -- with a little help from a war correspondent named Winston Churchill...and a waterboy called Gunga Din.
198 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1986
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129 people want to read
About the author
Simon Hawke
90 books238 followersAlso published as J.D. Masters.
He was born Nicholas Valentin Yermakov, but began writing as Simon Hawke in 1984 and later changed his legal name to Hawke. He has also written near future adventure novels under the penname "J. D. Masters" and mystery novels.
He was born Nicholas Valentin Yermakov, but began writing as Simon Hawke in 1984 and later changed his legal name to Hawke. He has also written near future adventure novels under the penname "J. D. Masters" and mystery novels.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 6, 2019
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.
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.
May 23, 2016
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
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
September 6, 2024
Book 6 of Simon Hawke's Time Wars series,The Khyber Connection, is really a bridge between two eras (so it's perhaps clever on his part to set it in a mountain pass). By the end of this short-ish novel, a main character will have died (the reader spends a lot of time wondering if there'll be a time travel fix or if they will be replaced and if so, by whom - that's good literary tension) and a new enemy will rise, completely changing the nature of the series. Honestly, it's probably what the books should have been doing from the beginning, and more properly taps into the "Time Wars" label. Otherwise, it's much like other chapters in the series, with its heavy-handed history lessons acting as a backdrop for the action, and intersecting with a piece of literature, in this case, Kipling's stories about Asia Minor, using several of his characters, including Gunga Din. There's a lot of talking, and then some furious action in an all-too-short third act, but if the story is relatively thin, what happens is an important to the continuing narrative. Am I HAPPY with those changes? The big game changer, yes. That team's status quo? Neutral, heavily dependent on how Book 7 shakes out.
March 2, 2018
Book 6 in the excellent Time War series. This one is based on the historical incidence of British military action b on the northwest border of India in 1896. Hawke adds Kipling's Gunga Din in tribute and to add color.
January 23, 2019
A good romp but not as good as I remembered.
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April 15, 2020An excellent read!
October 20, 2025
This is a fairly average story in the Time Wars series: not one of the best, not one of the worst. It’s 1897 and there’s trouble on the Northwest Frontier of India: not just the usual trouble between the British and the Afghans, but the start of a serious war between two parallel timelines. Oh, and Nikolai Drakov, the regular bad guy of the series, turns up in alliance with the other timeline.
Various real characters from the history of the period are included, including Winston Churchill at the age of 22, plus Kipling’s fictional Soldiers Three and Gunga Din.
Various real characters from the history of the period are included, including Winston Churchill at the age of 22, plus Kipling’s fictional Soldiers Three and Gunga Din.
March 4, 2014
Hmm tricky one here not to talk about the book and give things away as now the real picture the big story (and all those other pompous phrases) swing in to full effect as the real danger comes to the front and worlds literally start to collide. The story is fast paced and has a few surprises in store for it - and as with other books in the series has a rye smile at famous literary works on the subject. The series I think is properly back on course and at this point I was truly hooked. Thankfully the series was still being printed in the UK and I was able to get my fix of the adventures of the Time Commandos - and this one didnt disappoint
September 22, 2014
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.
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June 21, 2007A look at Young Winston Churchill & Gunga Din, especially considering what is going on in the Middle East today.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews