Before I can get into a
lot of the positives, I want to get through the flaws of the novel first,
because they are there. First off the
length of the novel is quite long for the story it is wanting to tell. Roberts goes into depths about how the scenes
are set up in the novel and the twists with the Femdroids being in control and
the humans as a puppet government can be seen coming nearly at the beginning of
the novel when the Femdroids are introduced.
It’s just a portion of the story that really brought down from the whole
of the novel. The length of the novel
just adds to the problem by dragging everything out to the nth degree which
gets tiring, which I read on long car ride.
Second the Metralubit election that allows K-9 to run for office as the
premier creates a plot hole. The point
is the opposition doesn’t exist and it’s the Femdroids running things, but
early on K-9 tries to save the life of the leader of the opposition. This really isn’t explained. Are the Femdroids keeping someone as
opposition just to make it look real?
Does Rabley actually exist? Is it
the Black Guardian creating someone?
Finally, and this is really minor, the plot is a rip off of A Device of Death, but does the idea
much better.
The plot itself is about
a war where both sides of the conflict are terribly nice to each other. Sure they fight, but they makes sure the
missile strikes miss. The leaders meet
with each other over tea and a tea lady travels between both sides giving out
snacks to the troops. The story starts
really by making jokes about this war while the Doctor, Romana, and K-9 are all
separated from each other. K-9 decides he’s
going to run for office and much of the humor comes from the sarcastic nature
of the character. Romana thinks K-9 is
doing it for self-esteem boosts, and not as he claims to help the Doctor. K-9 is the delight of the novel and steals
the show for its first half. The villain
of the Darkness, a hive mind that kills you, inhabits your body, and turns you
into a zombie, actually starts to appear in these segment and inhabits
Viddeas. Viddeas goes through this
spiral into madness as he slowly decomposes which has a lot of body horror
which really works. The Chelonians are
featured in this novel and their leader Jaffid is the most interesting of the
Chelonians. He doesn’t think parasites
(humans) are parasites and keeps up a relationship with the other side. It is the best the Chelonians have been done
and their punishment of the Web of Death and the sequence that goes along with
it is hilarious to be sure. The characterization of the Doctor, especially in
these scenes is excellent and Roberts encapsulates Tom Baker’s performance.
The second half of the
novel is where things get really dark.
The Darkness becomes a much more terrifying villain as it causes
paranoia. The paranoia makes everyone
want to go to war and bodies start to fall on both sides. Communication breaks down completely and the
missiles are fired. The feeling of an
actual war comes through and the danger of being in this conflict hits you like
a brick and makes you wake up to how bad the situation has become in the time
span of a few short hours. Roberts makes
the novel about the horrors of war and the transition to a darker tone really
does work for the novel. I feel the
Darkness, as an entity, is Gareth Roberts’s writing on his opinions for war
which is nuanced. He characterizes it as
something that doesn’t discriminate when it goes after people, it doesn’t pick
a side and has both the humans and Chelonians killed. Roberts keeps comic relief with returning the
character of Melove Stokes from The
Romance of Crime who was the best character. His ending at the end of the novel is also
amazing. It becomes the highlight and
almost makes the rest of the novel feel just a little bit boring for everything
that has come before. His interactions
with Romana are also excellent as they have this chemistry with Stokes being
over the top while Romana is the straight man to the comedic elements.
I think it’s time to talk
about that ending right about now. So
after everything is solved the Darkness gets into the TARDIS with Stokes. The scanner opens up to reveal the Black
Guardian has made a deal with Stokes to seek revenge on the Doctor. The Black Guardian only appears in this
scene, but Roberts makes him an absolute evil delight for then novel. I love the idea that he handwrites Stokes a
note of thanks when he gets the Doctor.
It’s really just a funny little gag that made me laugh out loud. The ending however is brilliant as the Doctor
takes the emergency unit out, the one from The
Mind Robber as a solution to the problem and to summarize my opinion can be
seen in the final lines of the novel:
'Goodbye,
universe,' the Doctor said sadly. 'I'll be back again, one day. Try to look
after yourself. Mind out for the Daleks, keep an eye out for the Cybermen,
don't let the Sontarans boss you about. Good luck.'
The
Doctor and Romana looked at each other.
The
Doctor kissed Romana quickly on the cheek.
Together
they pressed the button.
THE
END
90/100.
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