The novel takes place in
Shanghai before the outbreak of World War II where Hsien Ko, daughter of Li
Hsien Chang, is looking for a way to intercept Magnus Greel’s journey to the
past so she can kill him and avenge her father’s death. Magnus Greel actually doesn’t have a presence
in this story and the only linking factor back to The Talons of Weng-Chiang, is Mr. Sin making a reappearance. The story is one of revenge and like other
David A. McIntee novels the story really is in the foreground while it
integrates a historic setting for the Doctor and companion to explore. This time it’s the Fourth Doctor and the
first Romana, in between The Stones of
Blood and The Androids of Tara,
searching for the Key to Time. The
search for the fourth segment occupies the first portion of the novel and is a
bit odd as the audience knows that the fourth segment isn’t on Earth at all,
but of course is on Tara. Yes it’s nice
to have another story to make the opening of The Androids of Tara run smoothly, but it really doesn’t allow any
tension to build for the first half of the novel.
There is some enjoyment
of the gothic horror aspect coming back into the novel especially since it
takes place after The Stones of Blood,
which is a motivation for getting through the first half of the novel. Hsien Ko is a wonderful villain for the piece
and the book plays out similar to a murder mystery where the Doctor is the main
suspect in the case. She’s extremely brutal
when confronting failure and could easily give Magnus Greel a run for his money
when it comes to murdering those underneath her. She’s also extremely sympathetic as a
character as she is motivated by the death of her father which is something
that can turn any man sour. You almost
want her to succeed even if it will cause history as we know it to fall
apart. Setting Shanghai as a backdrop
for the story allows McIntee delve into the complex race relations of the time
between the Chinese and the British.
Both held contempt for each other as they go through these dirty deals
of opium trade and tensions are building towards World War II.
The Doctor, being the
embodiment of Britishness is thought to be a murderer as it would give a reason
to continue the animosity between the two cultures. McIntee captures Tom Baker perfectly as he is
the Doctor only wanting to enjoy himself and he doesn’t care much for the less
important Laws of Time. He gets a
secondary companion in the form of Li, a Chinese detective. Li isn’t a very interesting character and
McIntee is obviously trying to replicate the success of Jago and Litefoot, but
it doesn’t really come across well in the novel. Romana gets to be the better of the
companions for the novel as McIntee grasps what makes Romana work as a
character and even slips in little references to her origins in the production
office as a laugh. K9 is also in the
novel, but doesn’t do much in the way of plot and McIntee really didn’t know
how to get him out of the plot.
To summarize, The Shadow of Weng-Chiang is a shadow of
a much better story. Like many sequels
it is nowhere near as good as the story that came before it in every sense of
the word. McIntee manages however to
make the novel at the very least an engaging story with a good old fashion
revenge plot to keep readers going to the end.
73/100
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