Yes this novel is the
exit of the professor of archeology as we see her married off to Jason Kane
after the events of Death and Diplomacy. In typical Virgin fashion Happy Endings exclusively focuses on the
wedding of Benny and Jason and all the mishaps, guests and cameos brought with
it. This novel features or at least
mentions one character from each novel in some way. I’m not going to bore everyone with listing
everyone off, because there are nearly fifty characters to remember, but I will
mention at least the important ones. You
would think that there would be difficulty to remember every character, but
really that isn’t a problem in this novel as every character at least gets
something done really well. I will be
spoiling some of the best bits of the novel as Cornell writes a comedy of
errors so do not read on until you have read the novel or if you don’t care
about having somethings spoiled for you.
Let’s start with Reverend
Annie Trelaw, neice of Reverend Ernst Trelaw from Timewyrm: Revelation. Annie
of course accepts the Doctor at face value and has the honor of marrying the
happy couple. Saul the sentient church
also makes a brief appearance to add a few quips into the mix of chaos in the
story. Peter and Emily Hutchings also
make a return as the story is primarily set in Cheldon Bonniface and of course
does the Timewyrm, Ishtar Hutchings.
Ishtar gets the most character development as she develops a
relationship with Chris Cwej over the course of the novel and they have a child
together. Ishtar is a great character as
instead of the domineering Timewrym, she’s much closer to a mischievous little
pixie. She and Chris really do fit well
together in the relationship, even if they leave each other at the end of the
novel. She still has his child who in
turn gives birth to the eternal Time.
Basically the way the Seventh Doctor acts in his incarnation is all
Chris’s fault. Ishtar is still a great
character and Chris is just as wide eyed and innocent as always as Cornell is
the first to point out. The way Chris
acts you just want to have him around for the laughs it would cause.
The Ice Warriors from Legacy are brought in as peace mediators
for the wedding which is a fault for this novel as really they only get to
partake in a bar fight which is a great scene.
The bar brawl and pub quiz section of the novel shines as a genuinely
good moment because of all the culture clashing as wordplay becomes
misunderstanding and misunderstanding becomes violence. Cornell also brings in two Silurians/Earth
Reptiles to represent Blood Heat and
Plasticine from No Future to serve as
the music for the wedding. The Silurians are of course part of a chase reminiscent
to the cliffhanger to Episode Four of Doctor
Who and the Silurians and are of course in a relationship. They bring that style of comedy to the novel
while Plasticine allow us to reminisce on Benny’s past relationships in some
beautifully done nostalgia tripping.
Then the Doctor brings in Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson who go on
their own little mystery to solve in some hilarious running gags. Holmes and Watson are two of many show
stoppers and give Roz something to do in the novel which is great for all three
of them. Add in some sexual tension
between Benny and Watson and you have a recipe for comedy genius.
Now it’s time for us to
get to the happy couple, Jason and Benny who tie the knot after over two
hundred pages of arguing like an old married couple. Yeah they’re pretty much meant for each other
and of course the antics that they get up to in this novel are hilarious. There is slapping, sleeping around, clones,
the Master, and of course a marriage to be had.
The crazy is upped in every scene and Benny really earns her middle name
of Surprise as everything tries to go wrong as there are Pakhars there to have
a lot of problems and a cricket match that lasts fifty pages. The amount of humor with the two characters
as they have to learn to live with each other is just hilarious and you believe
by the end of the novel that they will live a happy, if dysfunctional, life
together travelling through time with the Time Rings they were given. The Doctor actually gets to be the one to
give Benny away as her father is still missing somewhere out there. The Doctor has to plan the wedding and the
man is trying his best to master manipulate things into place, but of course
none of it works. He has great ideas
that really allow the characters to explore their dynamics with each other for
a lot of what amounts to a great novel.
To summarize, everything
will come to an end eventually and Happy
Endings starts preparing for that inevitable goodbye from the Virgin
line. Benny gets her happily ever after
with Jason and the Doctor is allowed to go on with Chris and Roz. The cameos come fast and you can play a great
game of spot the reference. This review
only mentioned less than half of the brilliant characters which include, the
Brigadier, Doris, Benton, Yates, the Master of the Land of Fiction, Keri,
Kitai, Hamlet Macbeth, Ruby Duvall, Muddwych from Birthright, and of course many more. It isn’t perfect as a lot of the story doesn’t
have a plot but still it’s a happy ending.
90/100
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