The plot involves Holmes
and Watson being asked by the Pope to find some missing library books from the
Library of St. John the Beheaded.
Through their investigations they meet up with a mysterious Doctor and
see cases of spontaneous combustion, hence the title All-Consuming Fire. The
investigations eventually lead to an alien asking for help and a journey to
India where Professor Bernice Summerfield has been making preparations for the
mysterious Doctor where the villain is eventually revealed to be one of the
Great Old Ones, horrible creatures from a universe before this one, who has
corrupted Sherlock’s older brother Sherringford into following him.
The characterization of Holmes
and Watson in this novel is top notch as they both feel like Conan Doyle’s
original characters. Part of this is
down to the style of storytelling, but also the fact that Andy Lane is such a
good author. Throughout the novel there
are appearances from Mycroft at the Diogenes Club where the Doctor gets his
third incarnation kicked out as seven completes his crossword. Moriarty is there to lend a helping hand with
the investigation as he doesn’t want his crimes to stop before they are
completed. The London police are just as
incompetent and rely way too much on Holmes’ intervention to figure anything
else.
The Doctor is also great
here as he doesn’t appear until the investigation is well under way, yet a good
reader can tell that he has been looking into these missing books as well. He gets a lot of the spotlight during the
first half of the book and his interactions with Holmes and Watson are
great. Holmes hates that the Doctor has
dirt he doesn’t recognize and that he cannot deduce where this man came
from. The Doctor wishes for the day’s
where his companions screamed and asked stupid questions. It gets to be some of the funniest parts of
the novel as he is in full chess master mode, yet is having a blast figuring
out the mystery as Holmes doesn’t like to believe spontaneous combustion is
possible.
About halfway through the
novel Benny makes her first appearance in India. She hates the time as women are still
oppressed. She knocks a guy out and
liberates his clothes to cross-dress as a man and try and get things ready for
the Doctor. Her narration is full of wit
and sarcasm yet feels genuine. This is
probably one of the best portrayals of Benny since No Future. Ace also fares
just as well as she is sidelined for the majority of the novel. When she does enter she is just as hardened,
but is still a human being. She just won’t
take any of the nonsense that Watson tries to give her. By the climax everyone in the main cast is
working so well with each other the story really gets tense and has an
explosive resolution.
The supporting characters
are also really well developed from Conan Doyle’s original manuscripts. Mycroft is pretty much a fat version of the
Third Doctor. The Third Doctor gets a
really funny character. Azathoth is one
of the most interesting of the Great Old Ones seen in the Virgin New Adventures
and works a lot better than Cthulu did in White
Darkness. Sherringford fits in
nicely with the other Holmes brothers and his fate is extremely deserving as he
wanted power. He’s basically an evil
version of Sherlock which is a fascinating idea.
To summarize, All-Consuming Fire is one of the best
Virgin New Adventures as the story sees a Sherlock/Doctor Who crossover without
fanwank that could have easily happened.
The characterization is nearly perfect and as the story gets going it
keeps getting better. Andy Lane you are
a genius. 100/100
No comments:
Post a Comment