Well the story isn’t
Russell’s strong suit as it is basically another rewrite of The Curse of
Peladon with the Third Doctor being switched for the Seventh Doctor, Jo
switched to Benny, King Peladon switched for King Tarrol, an Ice Warrior, an
Ice Lord, the same old Alpha Centauri, no Aggedor and basically writing Ace out
of the narrative for the entire plot of the story. So yeah the story itself isn’t very strong,
so that’s two major points against the novel in terms of quality. Now that said the characters Russell does
write are a bit more interesting than the ones in The Curse of Peladon as he
can get into their heads in writing unlike a visual medium. Of the main three, Ace is the weakest as she
has become even more insufferable since the end of Tragedy Day, so she is
shipped off for most of the story but whenever she shows up quality takes a
turn downwards as you can’t stand her.
The Doctor is also written a bit off.
He’s got some great stuff throughout the novel but there are these little
moments, like when he is captured and is literally working out the story thus
far on a chessboard, that turn him into a caricature of what he should be. I still love some of the stuff that Russell
does with him especially when he explains his regeneration to Alpha Centauri
who doesn’t question it at all because it’s Alpha Centauri.
Now the highlight of the
main cast is the characterization of Benny who gets a lot of the focus through
the novel. With every scene she’s in
Benny continues to win me over. Ancient
Martian society is her specialty so she doesn’t judge the Ice Warriors on first
appearance like the Doctor does. She
knows exactly how to hold her alcohol and knows exactly how to play drunk to
get what she and the Doctor need (which is one of the funniest scenes I’ve ever
read). She is an incredible actor and
actually feels manipulated by the Doctor for once. Now the supporting characters that are ripped
straight out of The Curse of Peladon and The Monster of Peladon are average
with the exceptions of the Ice Lord Savaar and Alpha Centauri. Savaar goes out of his way to be cordial to
the Doctor who is as racist as always when it comes to the Ice Warriors. He ends up enjoying a kiss with Benny and
takes her with him to some ruins on Mars she wants to see. Alpha Centauri is as hilarious as ever even
if his appearance here is toned down from the hermaphrodite hexapod in a yellow
cape seen on television.
Even with the problems I’ve
previously mentioned the novel is good enough to be an above average novel, but
Russell of course ruins those chances with his pacing. It is all over the place as there are about
ten chapters with three interludes and they all go on for way too long. While the interludes eventually tie into the
whole murder mystery plot that is going on it takes way too long to get through
them. Russell also leaves Ace with the
race of rat aliens known as Pakhars which are great, but the plot with them is
just as dull as the interludes.
To summarize, Legacy isn’t
a very good example of a legacy. While yes
it makes reference to almost every single Doctor Who story ever, that just
creates one more problem on the heavy pile of problems that plague this
story. The characters are a bit boring
with a few notable exceptions and the plot is an honest rehash of The Curse of
Peladon with the names switched out making for an average read. 50/100
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