The Shadow of Weng-Chiang by: David A. McIntee: No Literally, Magnus Greel Isn't in This One

Providing sequels to highly acclaimed Doctor Who stories seems to be something that the Virgin Missing Adventures just loves to do.  The range opened with Goth Opera, a sequel to State of Decay.  It has included sequels to The Web of Fear, Pyramids of Mars, The Mark of the Rani, and Doctor Who and the Silurians with a sequel to The Web Planet and a prequel to Terror of the Autons forthcoming.  A lot of these sequels are for highly acclaimed stories which must be done with at least some sort of tact and finesse before being considered too much of fanservice for good stories.  The novel I am looking at today is one of these sequels.  It is a sequel to Philip Hinchcliffe’s final story as producer and one of Tom Baker’s best, even if there are claims of racism.  That story is The Talons of Weng-Chiang, one of the true terror with a horrifying villain and a Victorian aesthetic.  David A. McIntee wrote The Shadow of Weng-Chiang set forty years later and literally dealing with the after effects of Magnus Greel being killed after those time experiments.

 

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