Title: It’s About Time
Author: Dennis Patrick Treece
Publisher: Elk Press
ISBN: 978-1989942000
Pages: 384
Genre: Science-Fiction & Fantasy
Reviewed by: Tony Espinoza
Hollywood Book Reviews
As we, as a society, have advanced into a digital age of technology. The questions of how dependent our world is on this tech and how much of it is being used by corporations and governments have become a topic of discussion in nearly every household. While technology can be a benefit, not just for entertainment but also for healthcare, finances and social work as well, it can also be debilitating if misused by the wrong people. As Al Gore once pointed out, “Surveillance technologies now available – including the monitoring of virtually all digital information – have advanced to the point where much of the essential apparatus of a police state is already in place.”
In author Dennis Patrick Treece’s It’s About Time, the he takes readers into the future where one world has made Earth its most prime form of entertainment, by using technology to surveil the planet and its inhabitants. The second book in the author’s “Shonak” series, the book follows Itself, an over-spirit of “Six Earths,” who shockingly causes a time-shift for Earth that propels it and the people there over 3000 years into the future. Now technologically advanced enough to communicate, the people of Shonak make contact and offer to help with Earth’s problems. However, Shonak continues to surveil Earth and even creates surveillance bots to look like animals, inanimate objects, and people on Earth. Problems soon arise, however, when Earth discovers these “humbots,” and tensions mount between the two peoples.
This is a truly marvelous, fascinating and an in-depth novel. The author brilliantly crafts a mythos and world in which both science fiction and spirituality have gained prominence, and work well together within the narrative. The novel does a marvelous job of exploring the rich differences between the people of Earth and Shonak, and how characters like Bon can witness the interactions with and between humans and not only note those differences, but inexplicably begin to experience things that won’t become apparent to Bon until a later date. The author’s exploration of not only time but phasing technology and being operating on different harmonic frequencies was a unique twist on the concept of two worlds colliding, and the exploration of an advanced society implementing changes for what they deem “better” causes characters like Bon to analyze whether the ends justify the means, make this book’s narrative truly shine through.
This is the perfect read for those who enjoy sci-fi and spirituality blending together in a natural way, intricately detailed mythologies implemented throughout an entire series, and deeply rich and connected protagonists who seem to have a more profound understanding of the Universe the author has crafted. As a fan of the genre, it was fantastic to see the author implement such unique changes to the sci-fi genre while still maintaining that balance of advanced tech and new worlds.
Author Dennis Patrick Treece’s It’s About Time is a wonderful sequel in a well-developed sci-fi series. The way the characters and readers are treated to a spiritual journey within a tech-heavy world made for a majestic experience for many sci-fi readers, and the promise of future stories in the series makes this ending feel even more profound as the reader progresses. If you haven’t yet, grab your copy today and be prepared to travel to the world of Shonak for yourselves.