First, the novel at three
hundred pages is an extremely slow burner.
It takes fifty pages for the Zarbi and Menoptera to show up in the novel
and there is extensive backstory and interludes between chapters. Bulis does build some atmosphere with these
sections of the novel, but the pace is what does turn many off. My advice is to go through these sections and
let them soak in as they are pretty good overall. Bulis is relishing the attempt to get a good
reveal of the Zarbi and the way he describes them makes them terrifying. It is through Victoria’s perspective and that
makes them extremely intimidating:
It was a gigantic ant
standing as tall as she was. The soft light gleamed off its glossy black
carapace. Powerful mandibles extended from its bulbous triangular head, above
which two huge lidless eyes seemed to glow in the dimness. Two of its six legs
had hypertrophied, bearing its whole weight and allowing its remaining limbs to
be held forward clear of the ground.
It’s a good characterization of Victoria that really
makes the novel work better than it was.
This is difficult considering how odd the characterization it was during
that era of television. Victoria is
fearful of the alien environment and Bulis makes her confront her fear by being
separated from the Doctor and Jamie. She
has to take Barbara Wright’s role in the story as she leads the Menoptera for a
portion of the novel. She actually has
to be a strong character and she pulls it off.
Bulis also captures the alienness of Menoptera by using Victoria’s
perspective:
Folded across their backs
were large translucent wings. A cowl of fur with tiger-stripe markings covered
their heads and necks and ran down over their shoulders. They had no visible
ears, but two long trembling antennae rose from the sides of their heads.
Beneath their compound eyes was a severe downturned slit of a mouth. Bands of
pale fur ran about their wrists and ankles and around their trunks and leg
joints. Between them was dark carapace material that seemed more pliant than
that of the giant ant. She realized their hands had no fingers, only thumbs and
long flexible tapering palms
The Menoptera are also portrayed much more like a
force in the novel as they want to be a mediator between the two forces of the
Rhumon who really don’t make an interesting race. The Zarbi also don’t make much of an
impression in the novel as they have their role as slaves to the Menoptera
which sound like there’s supposed to be a plotline there, but nothing comes out
of it.
Bulis has a knack for characterizing the Second Doctor
who has the persona of a child. He loves
being back on Vortis after all these years and is glad that many things have
been going well. The vegetation has
returned and everything seems to be back to normal, but the Doctor’s reaction
to the Animus making a return is priceless as everything has fallen apart for
the previous story. Bulis however does
fail in two respects. First the ending
is awful as everything is resolved with a deus ex machina that doesn’t really
work and second is Jamie. Jamie is
portrayed in places as almost a violent idiot, but in other places as the
character that we know from television.
It’s this inconsistency that really causes a lot of the problems for the
novel.
To summarize, Twilight
of the Gods is an underrated gem of a novel that takes an underrated story
and gives it at least an interesting sequel.
The prose is really what draws you into the story while the characters
and some great action make you want to stay.
There are things that aren’t good however as an ending lets it down and
the interludes can be very distracting to a reader. 60/100
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