In deciding to look back on some previous novels that
I have already reviewed, I took a moment to reread some of my older reviews to
see which ones I may not have been entirely happy with. The Empire of Glass was one of those reviews
which upon giving it a look, a reread went right to the top of my list. The novel is Andy Lane’s fourth for Virgin
Books and at the time what I believed to be his weakest, giving it a lower score
than it deserved for rather weak reasons.
At the time I hadn’t experienced the TARDIS team of the First Doctor,
Steven, and Vicki, and as such was really unable to analyze just what made Lane’s
work great. The Empire of Glass
is a pseudo-historical concerning Irving Braxiatel inviting the Doctor to mediate
a peace conference against several different alien races in a floating city
above Venice in 1609. Andy Lane writes
this with about the same grasp on history as stories such as The Gunfighters,
as historical figures such as Galileo Galilei, Christopher Marlowe, and William
Shakespeare all appear in Venice at this point, even though Marlowe is supposed
to be dead at this point, Shakespeare is supposed to be London and not finishing
Macbeth (which was written years earlier). Also of course, there wasn’t a giant floating
city that appeared above Venice at the time.
This isn’t a criticism by any means, the absurdity of the novel helps
set the tone for proceedings and just contributes to the fun nature of Lane’s
work.
Much of the first half of the novel involves Braxiatel’s
efforts to get the Doctor to the conference: he’s working with aliens who grab
a random Cardinal of the Catholic Church come to Venice to try Galileo and just
so happens to look like the Doctor. The
Cardinal rationalizes his abduction as being abducted by angels who take him to
heaven, Lane making use of Biblical descriptions of angels to great effect. The Doctor doesn’t realize Braxiatel is
looking for him, as before this novel he took his place in The Three Doctors
and had his memories of events erased by the Time Lords. This allows for a comedy of errors while the
Doctor and Vicki make friends with Galileo in the disguise of Cardinal
Bellarmine while Steven is repeatedly accused of murder, and then is
stabbed. Also he gets drunk with Galileo
which simply is a treat for readers, as it makes the character stumble over
several words and phrases throughout which only adds to the absurd nature of
the book. That isn’t to say all of the
first half of this book is absurdism, quite the contrary. Lane devotes large portions of the book to delving
into the relationship between the Doctor and Vicki. Vicki describes the feelings she gets from the
Doctor like the feelings she had for Sandy the Sand Beast in The Rescue. She feels that he does love her, but as one
would love a pet: an interest but could easily survive without them. The Doctor also has to combat this idea and
admit that Vicki was invited because she reminded the Doctor of Susan Foreman.
The second half of the novel gets ever so slightly
convoluted with the introduction of Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare. Marlowe, who is supposed to be dead (which is
lampshaded), is set up as almost a spy for the British Empire while Shakespeare
has come to Venice to investigate and find inspiration for future works. He also ends up gaining knowledge of the
future and taking it back to England, which leads to an infiltration of the
staging of Macbeth. The climax of
the book is genuinely hilarious with Shakespeare in the role of Lady Macbeth
performing the sleepwalking scene with interruptions from the Doctor and Vicki. Of course, as Vicki is from the future and
doesn’t know the play and the First Doctor has a tendency to fluff, hilarity
ensues. This is also a novel where the
cool, calm, calculating, and conniving exterior of Irving Braxiatel breaks as
the genuinely good scheme is ruined by those who work with him. While he hadn’t been cast in the role at this
point, Miles Richardson’s portrayal of Braxiatel fits perfectly here and if you’ve
listened to anything with the character there’s a chance you’ll put his
delivery into this book. The epilogue
with Braxiatel also adds some nice little connections to other books, showing
that like Sylvester McCoy’s Seventh Doctor, this Time Lord has had his hand in
several other stories. Christopher
Marlowe is also an interesting character here, as he immediately stands out to
the reader and you can’t help be charmed.
It makes his eventual fate incredibly impactful as one of the really
serious moments in the story. Overall, The
Empire of Glass is a novel which sparkles and could easily fit within the
era with the types of historicals being done at the time. 9/10.
The Time of Contempt
is the shortest of the Witcher Saga for what seems to be the simple reason is
the author Andrzej Sapkowski used this installment to build up where the series
is going to eventually conclude. The
book ends with characters in various places around the world searching for one
another and putting into place the politics of war as battles break out between
forces. Much like Blood of Elves,
The Time of Contempt is most definitely the story of Ciri instead of Geralt,
who doesn’t appear in the final third of the book and is sent into exile with a
group of dryads about halfway through.
The same can be said of Yennefer who disappears once the council of
sorcerers is attacked at the midpoint of the novel. This isn’t an issue with the novel, as the
rest of the characters make up for the main characters’ absence. The most interesting portion of the book is
when Geralt is in exile and Dandelion has to fill him, and by extension the
audience, into the goings on of the wider world. This segment of the novel reads incredibly
like a scene in a stage play where Dandelion narrates while the flashbacks start
to show what exactly happens. Dandelion
also serves as a nice source of comic relief as the entire book deals with the
emerging war between Nilfgaard and the rest of the world, which somehow feels just
as dangerous even though Sapkowski leaves much of the bloody battles in this
book off-screen.
This is also the novel where Rience’s master,
Vilgefortz, a sorcerer at the council, is revealed to be a major player in this
war and working behind the scenes for his own benefit. The entire sequence of the novel at the
Council is where we get most of Geralt’s appearances in the book occur, and several
other characters attempt to get Geralt on their side. One point of Geralt’s core philosophy is that
he only works for himself, despite the attitude he gives to others that
Yennefer has him around her finger, and attempting to buy him and his allegiance
is interesting to say the least. These
other characters try to get Geralt on their side and somehow he is unable to
read between the lines to see that everything is going to come crumbling down. This is extended to the audience as we are
only privy to Geralt’s mind throughout these scenes and we cannot see it
coming, which allows the slow disintegration of stability to hit incredibly
hard. Geralt also begins to patch up his
relationship with Yennefer through these segments, as Ciri runs away from Yennefer
to Geralt which brings them together.
The two characters have to face each other to see just what they wish to
do with Ciri, which of course evolves into the beginning of rekindling sparks
in the relationship. Sapkowski also
avoids writing an unnecessary love triangle, at least in this book, as the
character of Triss Merigold appears and has shown an attraction to the Witcher
in the past. She’s oddly more of a background
character here, only serving as a messenger to explain why Dandelion can find
Geralt later in the book.
Sapkowski also gives Emperor of Nilfgaard Emyr van
Emries as the breaking up of the council is his doing, and this is what starts
the entire war. Emries is also one of
those interesting characters who is intent on marrying Ciri due to the fact that
she is the Child of the Elder Blood, and Sapkowski allows this to give us some
depth into just what the prophecy states.
The idea is that Ciri’s son will destroy this age and usher in a new age,
something that everyone fears. Emries
wishes to marry Ciri just to confirm his place as Emperor, and goes so far as
to finding an imposter to use as a bride.
Sapkowski makes the character utterly despicable throughout the book in his
few segments. The last third of the
novel focuses exclusively on Ciri’s attempts to survive in desert and mountains
where she comes upon a unicorn. This section
of the book shows just how much the character has grown into her own, finding a
way to use magic to survive and falling into a group of bandits known as the
Rats which work as a place of safety and give her a new name, Falka, which coincidentally
refers to one of her ancestors also of the Elder Blood. The biggest issue of the novel is here,
however, as the book really doesn’t conclude, instead it just stops where it
is. Clearly, Sapkowski intended each
installment in the saga to be just one part, but unlike Blood of Elves
which ended on a definite note, The Time of Contempt leaves the reader
with many dangling threads which works as a double-edged sword. It entices the reader to return, but just
leaves with slight notes of confusion.
8/10.
When writing these reviews, I usually begin with an
idea of where I am going. I’ve always
read the book, or listened to the audio, or seen the story, and got a general
idea of what the final score is going to be.
This is one of those cases where I genuinely have little idea as to how
this review is going to go. Demontage
is the twentieth Eighth Doctor Adventure published by BBC Books and the second
to be written by Justin Richards. The
cover of the novel doesn’t actually relate to much of what happens in the novel,
as the style of the day only allowed one centralized image to intrigue readers
and Justin Richards wished to dispel rumors that the Eighth Doctor couldn’t
appear on the cover. The design looks
like a stock photo from the TV Movie with a Snapchat filter applied to
make it look like a painting because the work of an artist plays a major role
in the story. If I wasn’t attempting to
review the entire Eighth Doctor Adventures range, very little would make me
wish to pick up the book based on the quality of this cover. The description on the back cover fares much
better, describing the three plot threads of the Doctor and his companions as
they get into shenanigans on the planet Vega dealing a murder mystery, an
assassination plot, and various other investigations.
Justin Richards writes a novel with a description
which promises three distinct plotlines set on this planet, yet with his
writing style they all mesh into one mostly coherent story. Richards’ style of writing is one that is incredibly
easy to become invested in, bringing the readers into the story with the characters
and letting them experience the world.
It makes the plot, which is a pretty standard Doctor Who story, stand
out among the crowd at least a little bit.
Richards’ best ideas here are the stuff with the missing painting “Murdering
Art”. The painting is one which intentionally
changes in a manner similar to the Weeping Angels in the New Series, shifting
position and becoming closer. Richards
plays this off as if the painting is being replaced with several forgeries as
Martinique is one of those dead artists who became incredibly popular in the
event of their death. To someone reading
before Blink, that line of reasoning is incredibly credible, as this is
Doctor Who, not some fantasy show where anything can happen so the third act
twist works on a structural level. There
is also an anti-discrimination and a cultural integration storyline present in Demontage
which isn’t handled nearly as well as the art storyline. The Vega Station, the setting of this novel, is
mostly home to the Battrulians while the Canvine (a race which isn’t quite
described, but implied to be canine in nature) are allowed to live and are
nearly equal, but there is this sense of separation between the two races. Richards just fails to do anything
interesting with the storyline and almost drops it half way through.
This is also the first novel where Fitz Kreiner is
actually a companion and Richards makes him the highlight of the novel. Vega is a station where a large portion is
devoted to gambling and the Doctor and Fitz have made a bet as to how well they
do at a week of gambling. On the first night,
Fitz loses all his money and spends the rest of the novel trying to avoid the
fact that he lost while the Doctor remains clueless. Sam realizes just how much
Fitz is all talk, but no real bluster which is hilarious, as the character
means well. Fitz also has to deal with
the fact that as a man from the 1960s he kind of has a low key smoking addiction
which he must overcome. Richards is also
incredibly fun at writing the Eighth Doctor, as Richards realizes just how much
fun the Doctor has at gambling. The
Doctor has accrued enough money to buy up Vega Station if he ever were to cash
in on his winnings, but as this is the Doctor: he wouldn’t attempt to gain
money, just continue to gamble for fun and to win the bet. Demontage overall is a novel with great
ideas, some fun characters, and a plot that is at least interesting, but it can
only be said that overall it is only slightly more interesting than its bland
cover. Much of it I enjoyed, much of it
dragged, and some of it was hilarious, I think I’ve come to a decision for the
score. 6/10.
Shifting a series from short stories to feature length
novels are not an easy feat due to the different styles of writing that must
happen when writing these different types of prose. Short stories can only facilitate a few
characters and tell a whole story meant to be experienced in one sitting while
novels facilitate a much longer page count.
The plot of a novel by its very nature must be more complex than that of
a short story and almost always features more characters and plots. Blood of Elves is the first full
length novel of The Witcher series and shifts away from collecting short
stories into a five-part story arc which runs deeply through each of the books. When opening Blood of Elves, what the
reader will immediately notice is that the story begins during the events of “Something
More” from Sword of Destiny, yet not told from the perspective of Geralt
of Rivia, but as a nightmare had by Ciri.
While Sapkowski seems to be using this as a recap, it isn’t as effective
as it could have been made more effective if “Something More” was included as a
prologue to this novel. It is further
compounded by the fact that Sword of Destiny was not published in the
English speaking world until 2015. Luckily
any damage to the story because of this is made up for due to the fact that now
all readers can read in order, but there is still a sense that something is
missing from the beginning of this book.
It is also interesting to note that this book was translated by Danusia
Stok and published in the English speaking world just after The Last Wish,
so the style of translation throughout reading is slightly different with small
portions of the book feeling like metaphors that only work in the original
Polish.
Blood of Elves
is also a book where the “main” character is not Geralt of Rivia, this story is
not the story of the Witcher, but the story of Ciri. Yes, Geralt heavily features in the book and
is a major player, but after the halfway point his appearance and contribution
to the plot is minimal. The later half
spends its time with Geralt setting up his own plotline for future events. During the first half of the novel there is
quite a bit of time spent developing the subtle caring relationship he has with
Ciri. At the beginning of the novel,
Ciri is training with other Witchers at Kaer Morhen and while Geralt never
takes it easy when it comes to Ciri, there are these subtle moments which show
that he cares and that he is proud of her for coming this far and persevering.
The scenes at Kaer Morhen also introduce another
enchantress character, Triss Merigold, who is a fierce woman unabashed at
challenging the Witchers for what they plan to do for Ciri. The Witcher’s elixers which allow them to
become witchers have damaging effects on their bodies and it is Triss who stops
them from using them on Ciri. She
becomes protective of allowing Ciri to grow into a woman, as the effects would
be harsher for women than men. Sapkowski
uses Triss to give the reader good inclinations at the other Witchers of Geralt’s
order including Vesemir and Lambert. Vesemir
was Geralt’s mentor and is several centuries old, but due to being a Witcher
only looks middle aged. Sapkowski
characterizes him as incredibly intelligent, yet lacking some slight common sense
as how to teach a young girl such as Ciri.
Lambert is the most antagonistic of the Witcher’s presence, hating the
fact that she is impressed with Ciri’s skills and the one it takes the longest
to be impressed by.
The second half of the novel deals with Ciri being sent
to the temple of Melitele from The Last Wish and being trained by
Yennefer to be a magician. The dynamic
between Ciri and Yennefer is one that almost forms to a mother/daughter bond. It isn’t a typical bond as such, but the
mentoring force of Yennefer shows that the sorceress grows to care for the
child. She is a character who has this
influence and almost godlike calm when dealing with Ciri, who believes she
doesn’t have the ability to use magic.
Yennefer spends much of the later half of the book giving Ciri a mix of
encouragement and stern guidance to coax out Ciri’s best possible self. There is also teaching of emotional maturity
given to the young princess, as she is teased for remaining a virgin at the
incredibly high age of 13.
Outside of Ciri’s plotline, the background of the
novel is devoted to a brewing war between the Scoia’tael (Squirrel) elves and
the kingdom of Nilfgaard. There are
forces working behind the scenes attempting to make the prophecies about Ciri
come through including a wizard called Rience who serves a higher power,
Vilgefortz of Roggeveen. Vilgefortz is
clearly being set up to be one of the big bad’s behind as he is shrouded in
mystery. Rience is immediately
introduced as a threat as he lulls Dandelion into a false sense of security and
proceeds to torture him for information on Geralt and Ciri. This is Dandelion’s only appearance in this
novel and he is saved by Yennefer before he can actually give up his friend’s
location. Sapkowski writes the scene excellently,
showing just how strong the normally comic relief character actually is. He holds out in the face of torture and
Yennefer being an absolute badass, scarring the villain is also excellent. There’s also a lot of this early book showing
just how the tensions are building and how neither the elves nor the humans
really have valid claims for war, but war is definitely coming and dwarven
friends of Geralt seem to be caught in the middle. Overall, Sapkowski does an excellent job
setting the stage for the coming saga and putting plots into motion which will
eventually be paid off in future books.
The book has a slow start, yet leaves the reader wanting more. 9/10.
Dreamers of Death
is written by Steve Moore with art by Dave Gibbons. It was released in Doctor Who Monthly issues
47-48 (December 1980-January 1981) and is reprinted in its original form
in Doctor Who: Dragon’s Claw by
Panini Books.
Writing out Sharon Davies
as a character was a necessity for Steve Moore once switching over to the monthly
release schedule as he couldn’t have too many characters in a story which only
lasted between 8 and 16 pages. Dreamers
of Death is the comic strip which has been used to accomplish this. It is one of those departures that Doctor Who
is famous for doing when it must be done quickly as the story doesn’t build up
to a departure, but springs it upon the reader in the last few panels of the
story. The setting of this story is Uniceptor
IV, a utopia planet which the Doctor has visited before and due to Sharon being
aged in Doctor Who and the Time Witch, she decides once the events are
over that this would be a good place to settle down in. While not the best exit for a companion, it at
least has Sharon settling into a new society instead of the weird standard companion
falls in love like Susan in The Dalek Invasion of Earth and Leela in The
Invasion of Time. The Doctor’s
reaction to Sharon’s exit is also interesting, as Moore does a good thing in
not attempting to make it some sad event.
The Doctor just says goodbye, they leave each other on good terms and
suggest maybe they’ll see each other again in the future.
The story of Dreamers
of Death plays quite a bit with a really nice and potentially ahead of its
time science fiction ideas. The planet
Uniceptor IV, as stated above, is a utopia and for entertainment has turned away
from television and turned towards shared dreaming. Through virtual reality helmets, friends and
family can share dreams together and tell different types of stories where they
take part in the action. This is an
interesting projection as to where the future of video games were to go. Remember that this was published in late 1980,
three years before the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System in Japan,
and five years before its release in the United States bringing home video
games to the western world. Having them
a group experience with deep stories with completely different story potential
to other forms of media is quite accurate.
It is also excellent to see a story about video games going wrong which
is still optimistic. The threat come
from the psychic creatures used to link dreams together going haywire and
eventually growing to kaiju levels in size.
The solution in this story does come out of nowhere but considering how
short this comic actually is that isn’t really a problem.
Dave Gibbons continues as
artist for the comic strip and as always his artwork is excellent, and his
design for the forms of the creatures in this story shift from cute and cuddly
to harsh and threatening while still recognizably being the same creature. The style of thick linework is well suited
for these types of adventures and he manages to elevate every strip read. Overall, Dreamers of Death shows that
the shorter format can still tell great slices of Doctor Who despite its limitations
and if the rest of Moore’s run continues in this vain the magazine will reach
great heights of quality. 9/10.
Sword of Destiny
is the second of two short story collections in The Witcher series and unlike
The Last Wish, which collected stories with a similar theme through a framing
device, simply presents the six short stories as is, in chronological
order. That makes Sword of Destiny
overall feel less cohesive of a book, and more of the anthology style of many
short story collection. This is further
compounded with the odd nature of the final two stories in the collection being
direct setups for the series proper which begins in the next book.
“The Sword of Destiny” and “Something More” are essentially
sequels to “A Question of Price” and introduce the character of Ciri, the
granddaughter of Queen Calanthe and the promised child to Geralt. It is interesting to note that through both stories
Geralt is resistant to allowing her to become a witcher due to the mutations
one undergoes in the process. They
reveal a caring side to Geralt as throughout he keeps up the stoic façade of
his normal characterization, but there are these little moments where the
reader can tell he is in physical pain. Of
the two, “The Sword of Destiny” is of a higher quality, as it sees Geralt cross
paths with Ciri as she is being brought to a group of dryads to essentially
give him an out. It is a story where he
accidentally breaks the young girl’s trust while still allowing her to wish to
stay with the Witcher. The dryads will wipe
her memory and sap her will to leave their domain. The dryads are an interesting race of
characters, reflecting older stories of faeries who abduct children and raise
them to become like them. Overall this
isn’t a story about some great villain to fight or a monster to defeat, and not
one to impart a specific moral, but one where the characters deal with character
drama. It is something that Sapkowski does
marvelously and writes a highly engaging short story. 8/10.
“Something More” is the darker, yet slightly weaker of
the two, as unlike “The Sword of Destiny”, it is there purely for setup. It’s a story about how the rest of Ciri’s
family was killed and her land was taken over by the forces of Nilfgaard, all
done off-page as the story follows Geralt on his way to Cintra. There is some buildup of character for Geralt
here as the title refers to the final line of the story as Geralt realizes what
Ciri means to him and almost promises to himself that he will care for
her. The plot itself essentially has
Geralt putting himself completely by accident into caring for Ciri after creating
a similar deal with a different character as he did in “A Question of Price”. The story itself while enjoyable and ending
the collection on a brilliant note, feels very much like Sapkowski is quickly
attempting a prologue to get his characters ready for where they begin in Blood
of Elves. Sword of Destiny as
an anthology would have been much stronger had “Something More” been placed as
prologue instead of the culmination of the short story collection, as it is necessary
for the overall story arc but doesn’t entirely end on a solid note. 6/10.
The rest of Sword of Destiny’s stories are
essentially stand alone and keeping more in line with those in The Last Wish,
as four little morality plays playing out.
The collection opens strong with “The Bounds of Reason” which is perhaps
the best story in the collection. It
tells of Geralt and Yennifer hunting for a dragon with a ragtag team including
a shoemaker. The opening of the story is
a great reintroduction to Geralt and just how the world thinks of him, told
from the point of view of people contracting him for a paltry sum to kill a
basilisk. The reaction to Geralt surviving
and accepting his small sum is priceless and a great way for Sapkowski to
reestablish just who Geralt is as a character.
He fights monsters and is not in it for the money. Once again every scene between Geralt and
Yennifer are a joy to watch as they verbally spar in a manner only those deeply
in love understand which is surprising how well it translates. Much of the enjoyment from this story for
English readers should be shared with translator David French. This is a difficult story to translate and
the lighter tone of the story and humor of the tale highlights what can make The
Witcher work as a franchise. 10/10.
Sword of Destiny’s
weakest element is the fact that there isn’t as much enjoyable character
development or a character through line for the book. “A Shard of Ice”, the second story of the
book, is the one that feels like it is meant for developing the relationship of
Geralt and Yennefer, and showing how it works as an on again, off again relationship. This story is one where Geralt has to deal
with another lover of Yennefer’s, dealing with the saying ‘truth is like a
shard of ice’. It is telling about
Yennefer that she first and foremost has to keep her own goals above Geralt’s
when dealing with her past. Sapkowski
also explores the idea of love over sex: Yennifer has sex with Istredd, her sorcerer
friend and ex-lover, and with Geralt, but she truly loves Geralt. Geralt also proves in this story that above
his mutations, he does feel emotions and ends the story with the moral high
ground by walking away from a fight. This
may actually be the first story where Geralt feels true emotions and has to go through
a wide range of experiences. His final
actions in this story are telling for what depths the character will go for the
story. Istredd is also an interesting
character as he has this innate prejudice for the Witcher yet still tries to
connect with Yennifer despite the fact that she is a sorceress. He and Geralt are part of classes which are
discriminated against, which makes it all the more interesting that he hates
Geralt for his nature. Overall, another
hit for Sword of Destiny. 8/10.
The weak link of this collection is “Eternal Flame”. This is a story about a religious order and the
world’s discrimination against dwarves, halflings, and other magical creatures,
yet has one major issue that brings it down.
The pacing of this story is incredibly weird as it’s a story that includes
a lot of ideas but doesn’t have enough time to flesh them all out. The most interesting thing about the story is
the ‘doppler’ which is a shapeshifter which Geralt has to hunt down but oddly
this is a story where the ending is almost entirely positive. This sticks out like a sore thumb as the rest
of the stories end up feeling like they have a point where this one is just
worldbuilding. After reading, much of
the story is pretty forgettable and only worthwhile for the banter between
Geralt and Dandelion. It’s also kind of
a mystery story, but that mystery just doesn’t really land well creating just a
mediocre time. 4/10.
“A Little Sacrifice” is basically The Witcher
does The Little Mermaid, which is lampshaded within the story. The title refers to what each partner of a
star-crossed trans-species pair of lovers is not willing to give up when Geralt
attempts to broker a love. A mermaid
wishes her human lover to be given a fish tail (forgetting the fact that he
cannot breathe underwater) while the human prince wishes the mermaid to grow
legs to live on land. Sapkowski is
intentional in crafting a relationship where one party actually needs to
sacrifice something and is hypocritical for avoiding it. It’s a parallel for the relationship between
Geralt and Yennefer, which Geralt reflects upon for a large portion of this story,
as a rival of Dandelion grows feelings for the Witcher. Geralt, of course, has no real way of reciprocating
those feelings or explaining why he doesn’t reciprocate the feelings. It makes for an interesting character study
for Geralt and genuinely a heartbreaking tale.
Essi Daven is Dandelion’s rival and Geralt’s “love interest” for this tale
and Sapkowski makes her one of the most memorable side characters with a fully
developed arc. Once again “A Little Sacrifice”
is a story elevated by some amazing final moments, which is a trend of
Sapkowski. 7/10.
Overall, Sword of Destiny is a varied short
story collection with less consistency than The Last Wish. While it has some highs, it also has some
genuine lows for the book and feels at times more like an extended prologue
instead of an independent collection in its own right. 7.17/10.
The Collector
is written by Steve Moore with art by Dave Gibbons. It was released in Doctor Who Monthly issue
46 and is reprinted in its original form in Doctor Who: Dragon’s Claw by Panini Books.
The transition from Doctor
Who Weekly to Doctor Who Monthly was an interesting one for the comic
strip due to what a change in format does for how the comic was being
written. Throughout the Doctor Who Weekly
run for the strip were multi-part eight week runs for each of the stories under
Mills and Wagner, and slightly shorter, yet still multi issue stories under
Steve Moore’s hand. Changing to a
monthly release schedule brought a challenge to Moore and Doctor Who Monthly’s
publishers as the fear became what would happen if longer stories were told on
a monthly format. Only releasing one
issue of a magazine per month in 1980 was only really feasible for long form narratives
in the eyes of the publishers for an actual comic book, fully devoted to
that. Doctor Who Monthly was not
marketed to those types of readers, but to younger children who the publishers
believed would not necessarily be able to follow a long running monthly
story. This perhaps goes to explain why
beginning with The Collector and running until the end of the Fourth
Doctor’s run the stories would only span at most two issues. The Collector is the first single
issue story for Doctor Who Monthly and has an interesting format.
Steve Moore takes full
advantage of the fact that there is now an eight page run to each issue so The
Collector can tell a simple, yet engaging story over a simple eight
pages. The Collector deals with a
ship held in stasis over the Earth where a man is essentially in a Stockholm syndrome
situation with a robot, and is collecting human specimens just to pass the
time. He isn’t a villain, but is doing
some villainous things basically so he can keep his sanity in space which makes
this small little story have some depth in what is easily just a light bit of
fluff. One of the biggest complaints
here is that Sharon has very little to do within this story, kind of only being
there as a holdover from the previous stories.
It is clear that Moore is ready to write the character out of the strip for
the only reason of making it easier to write short form stories with only
necessary characters. Moore just doesn’t
have anything for her to do except ask one or two questions while the Doctor is
the one to take quite a bit of time to ask questions. The robotic antagonist is interesting and
Moore almost comes upon an artificial intelligence taking over story aimed at
children and it is quite admirable to begin to expose kids to these complex
views. As always Dave Gibbons’ artwork
is excellent and makes these comics incredibly easy to follow and enjoy. Overall, The Collector is a fun enough
bit of fluff bringing in a new style for Doctor Who Monthly, but isn’t
going to be remembered as one of the greats.
7/10.
If there’s one type of story that the Jon Pertwee era
is never associated with is the historical, much less the pure historical. Of the 24 stories from Pertwee’s run as the
Doctor only one took place in the past and that was The Time Warrior, a
story that doesn’t really use any historical elements outside of the basic
setting. This makes it odd that the Past
Doctor Adventures gives the Third Doctor his very own historical, and a pure
historical at that as his fourth novel. The
Wages of Sin takes the Third Doctor and Jo Grant, reuniting them with Liz Shaw,
and taking them back in time to St. Petersburg in December 1916. Europe is in the clutches of the First World
War, Russia is on the brink of Revolution, the final Tsar is in power, and men
are plotting the downfall of the mad monk Rasputin. This being a pure historical it is only
fitting that David A. McIntee authors after his excellent work on the Virgin
New Adventure Sanctuary. The
novel has a clear mission statement, explore the history and attempt to make
some sort of sense out of the mysterious circumstances of the death of Rasputin. There are several contradicting accounts of
how the man died, but what is known is that he died on December 30, 1916 of
three gunshot wounds. A trio of men:
Felix Yusupov, Dmitri Pavlovich, and Vladimir Purishkevich are responsible for
the plot and murder, but nobody quite knows the circumstances of the man’s
death. McIntee himself claims in his
Author’s Note that he “tried to use the different sources to construct the most
feasible person possible”. It is because
of this that the ending of the novel is a bit too convoluted and not as
satisfying as it perhaps could have been, but that’s history isn’t it?
There is little artistic license when portraying Russia
as a setting. McIntee imbues the novel
with this sense of mistrust. The Doctor
cannot believe that there isn’t some alien running around in early portions of
the novel, members of the predecessor to the KGB are a constant threat, and
many of the conversations between every character have this tense undercurrent
to them. As this is a pure historical
there must be an action which keeps the Doctor and company in Russia at this
time as early in the novel the Doctor implies that this was only meant to be a
quick trip to prove to Liz especially what the TARDIS could do. He has just gotten back control of the ship
after all so he was always going to show off.
McIntee has certain Russian agents following the TARDIS crew believing
them to be spies for the British so they steal the TARDIS. The actual plot is the Doctor, Liz, and Jo
each in their own way attempting to find the TARDIS while history is occurring around
them. The characterization of Liz Shaw
is interesting here as this is the first piece of Doctor Who media to really
come to terms with how the character would react to time travel. McIntee excels with Liz’s internal monologue
as throughout the novel she is questioning just how any of this is possible. It is interesting contrast as in her
television appearances she is skeptical but never faced with anything that she
couldn’t rationalize. The prospect of
time travel is enough to break her which is excellent. She comes to terms with this about halfway
through the book at which point McIntee throws her right into the conspirators.
McIntee does some interesting things with the Doctor
here, having his constant name dropping actual get him into trouble. Russia at this time is incredibly suspicious
to outsiders and the aristocracy, and the Third Doctor is perhaps one of the
most aristocratic versions of the Doctor.
There are those immediately convinced he’s working for British
Intelligence and his name dropping of Lethbridge-Stewart only bring this right
to the forefront. It’s the Doctor who
causes this books plot to occur in the first place, yet for the most part he takes
more of a standard action hero role as Liz and Jo both get the spotlight. Jo here is portrayed with excellent to
contrast with Liz, showing both of their intelligences and how they
differ. For lack of a better phrase, Jo
is the “street smarts” to the “book smarts” of Liz (who has quite a few
thoughts on how odd Jo is for an assistant).
Rasputin is the one who gets Jo under his spell, allowing her and the audience
to sympathize with a much maligned figure from history. Rasputin has always been characterized as
some villain throughout history, yet like many figures, the man behind the myth
is quite a bit different. McIntee
portrays him as much as the manipulator as well as a deeply holy man. He doesn’t want to see bad things happen and genuinely
has good intentions. He is too short sighted
to the Tsar and Tsarina to see what is happening out there. He also has less desirable qualities: a womanizer
and an alcoholic to boot, he’s a perfect example of how to write a complex
character. Jo isn’t taken in by any
mystical means, but by the very human character she is presented with. Overall, The Wages of Sin shows a glimpse
into what might have been had pure historicals been done in the Pertwee era. 8/10.
Many gamers are familiar with CD Projekt Red’s trilogy
of The Witcher video games which were critically successful, being
rereleased for several systems including the Nintendo Switch. It is odd that there are still those
unfamiliar with the series of novels the games are based upon by Polish author
Andrzej Sapkowski and published in the original Polish between 1992 and 2013,
and translated into English between 2007 (in conjunction with the first video
game) and 2018. Ostatnie życzenie or The Last Wish, as it is
translated is the first book in the series (though published second) and
collects seven short stories told outside of chronological order of adventures
in the life of Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher, and the series main protagonist. A Witcher in this world is someone who since
childhood has undergone many mutations to their body to aid them in fighting
monsters, leaving their hair white and eyes yellow. The series is also being adapted into a Netflix
Original Series starring Henry Cavill in the title role, and it is my intention
to have the series reviewed before the web series is released on December
20. The Last Wish is notable for
being one of two of the books to be translated by Danusia Stok into English
apart from the series’ usual translator David French.
The Last
Wish is framed through a
frame story called “The Voice of Reason” which can be quickly summarized as
worldbuilding and a simple device to bring the reader from one story to the
next, as Geralt reflects on several moments in his life after the events of the
first story in the collection. It’s not
really a story in it’s own right, but as a framing story it is enjoyable and
keeps things moving and more memorable than just presenting the stories. 7/10.
The first story in the collection
is “The Witcher” which serves as the first proper introduction to the character
of Geralt and what exactly he does. The
plot is simple, Geralt is contracted by the king of Vizima to cure his daughter
who has become a vampire like striga who has been terrorizing the land for
several years. Geralt spends the night
in the girl’s tomb using tricks of his trade to keep the striga out of her
coffin for one night which should cure her.
Sapkowski then uses this time to throw in one little twist as to why the
girl has been stuck in this form for years, a lord has been using this
situation for his own selfish gain, wishing the king to be deposed. Exposing the darker sides of humanity is a
common theme throughout the series and introducing it up front like this
immediately sets the tone for the rest of the stories. This is not some happy story about monster hunting
but something more. What “The Witcher”
also does is introduce the stoic nature of Geralt of Rivia. As it’s a short story there isn’t much
backstory to the details of who Geralt is, just the basic outline of what a Witcher
is and why they are often hated by society at large. Its excellence is in its simplicity which
introduces readers to Sapkowski’s world, magic system, and main character in
telling a solid yet incredibly human tale.
8/10.
Sapkowski’s series is
heavily inspired by Eastern European mythology and fairy tales and the second
story of the collection, “A Grain of Truth”, is one such fairy tale
retelling. The story is a retelling of Beauty
and the Beast from the perspective of the Beast with a subverted
ending. A man named Nivellan has been
transformed into a bear-like creature after his father forced him to overtake a
priestess and can only be freed by a true love.
Nivellan has attempted to fall in love with several women, but many of
them are only attracted to the magical power that come with his curse. Sapkowski once again employs a twist in this
tale as the beauty whom breaks the curse at the end of the story is a bruxa, another
vampire like creature responsible for a trail of corpses which leads Geralt to
the castle. Of course Geralt must slay
the monster as that is what Witchers do and the creature does have malicious
intent to all those except its love. This
story is the first appearance of Geralt’s horse Roach whom he often speaks to,
and Sapkowski gives Geralt a much more fleshed out personality. There is this very subtle dry wit added to the
character which suits the more dialogue driven story that “A Grain of Truth”
tells and while “The Witcher” was a good introduction, this is the story which
began to make me fall in love with the character. 9/10.
The morality play is
another type of story which Sapkowski employs in these collections as he
deconstructs specific concepts. “The
Lesser Evil” takes its title from the idea that of two evil actions, one is
inherently less evil and that is the action which should be taken. Geralt as a character is opposed to this
idea, evil is evil, there are no degrees to it.
This is a story meant to shake the character’s moral viewpoint of the world,
as the climax involves the town of Blaviken being massacred with an illusion
making it look as Geralt is the one responsible. In actuality he was killing a band of
assassins sent to kill a wizard friend of Geralt’s. “The Lesser Evil” is one that seems to be
wholly original and deals with Geralt’s eventually futile attempts to save
everyone involved, which obviously fails by the end of the story. While this is a good story, it is the weakest
thus far. I believe this may be down to
translation issues as there is very little characterization to the supporting
characters involved in this story. There’s
also a lack of tension as the story does attempt to go to a thrilling climax
and conclusion, but for whatever reason just doesn’t pick up as much steam. 7/10.
The fourth story in the
collection is one of the first to have major connections to the story arc of
the series. “A Question of Price” is
also an interesting story as it opens as a story not about Geralt attempting to
slay a monster, but disguising himself as a nobleman and present at a party
where the princess of Cintra must choose a suitor for a husband. This is a story inspired primarily by laws of
chivalry and interestingly Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, as a
monstrous intruder enters claiming that long ago the King promised him whatever
he wishes. Of course he wishes the King’s
daughter in marriage which causes an uproar at the dinner and a brawl breaks
out, but this causes Pavetta to reveal some force within her, a force of magic
as this creature is her lover. The story
ends with everything revealed to be a miscommunication and almost a comedy of
errors, hinting that the child Pavetta will bare shall become a Witcher. That is the titular question of price and
this hint is that the child will be bound by destiny. As a story it is excellent,
but one of two halves. The first half is
much of Geralt discussing with the queen what exactly she wishes for him at a
dinner table. This is oddly a tense section
of the story as Sapkowski draws you in as a suspicious Geralt looks around at
the suitors and the idea is planted that any one of them could be listening on their
conversations for an edge. The second
half of the story is also such an enjoyable free for all, building to an
excellent final line which seals this as one of the best of the
collection. 10/10.
It is followed by the
weakest story of the collection “The Edge of the World” which feels like its only
purpose is to do some worldbuilding on elves.
Sapkowski’s elves here are incredibly dangerous and incredibly bitter
creatures and the title refers to the idea of a metaphorical edge Geralt and
his friend, Dandelion, are apparently brought to. The plot has Geralt contracted to stop a
devil in a field which Dandelion does not believe in existing, as the humans
they are around are essentially yokels who wouldn’t know what a monster
it. Geralt is willing to take the
contract as they seem honest enough, but the devil itself is actually an
illusion conjured by some elves who bound the two heroes. The story ends with a deus ex machina and
attempts to build ups the idea of a conflict with the elves brewing, but
outside of that it is weak. It is an
enjoyable story for introducing Dandelion, a bard who really shouldn’t be
friends with Geralt, but in the book’s own words “opposites attract” and they end
up being very close friends. “The Edge
of the World” doesn’t manage to hold interest as well as it feels like there
isn’t a concrete end goal for the story, but it is still at least okay. 6/10.
The final story in the collection
is the story which gives the collection its name. “The Last Wish” shows the first meeting
between Geralt and the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg after Dandelion
accidentally releases a djinn which hurts him.
Geralt and Yennifer’s introduction to one another is excellent as Sapkowski
immediately lets the sparks fly between them.
It’s never stated outright that they are love interests, but the writing
style changes immediately to one of intimacy.
Yennefer as a character perhaps can be characterized as a femme fatale,
confident in her sexuality and a complete tease to Geralt through their first
scene together. They end up discussing
things while Yennefer takes a bath which makes Geralt note her beauty and
interestingly it’s one small action which inspires Yennifer to help. He takes a moment to help her get a drink
early on in the story when others would be more concerned about their friend,
which is interesting. The djinn itself
is also this force of nature and a looming threat throughout this short story,
which isn’t that long all things considered.
“The Last Wish” is perhaps the best short story in the collection,
bringing together some great action, drama, character interactions, and
character development into an incredibly engaging read. 10/10.
Overall, The Last
Wish is a successful collection and excellent introduction to The
Witcher franchise. If there was one
flaw, the nature of being a short story collection does not allow the deepest
level of characterization or an actual arc for the series to follow. 8.14/10.
Dragon’s Claw
is written by Steve Moore with art by Dave Gibbons. It was released in Doctor Who Weekly issues 39-43 and Doctor Who Monthly 44-45 (July-October
1980) and is reprinted in its original form in Doctor Who: Dragon’s Claw by Panini Books.
The opening story of the
second Panini Doctor Who Magazine graphic novel gives the book its title
and is one of the more odd entries in Steve Moore’s run of Doctor Who comics. Dragon’s Claw is a story that spans
seven issues, but of varying page lengths due to what was happening behind the
scenes at Doctor Who Weekly. The
year is 1980 and Doctor Who Weekly has been running successfully since
October 17, 1979, releasing one issue per week.
The comic strip was successful under Mills and Wagner due to their
stories coming from pitches sent to the production office as potential serials,
while Steve Moore’s run had been wholly original work. Giving original work to a four page comic
book in a serialized story is difficult and due to a drop in sales of the
magazine the decision was made in September 1980 to switch from a weekly
schedule to a monthly schedule. This
brought with it a higher price, but nearly double the page count dedicated to the
comic strips and an 8 page increase in the length of the magazine overall. This increase in page count midway through
the story makes it feel as if Moore took the concluding four issues and pasted
them together quickly, as there are moments halfway through the final two parts
which feel like they are meant to be cliffhangers. It creates an odd pacing for the story as
each part usually builds to a cliffhanger, not a weird halfway point and then
resolves that point to an actual cliffhanger.
Dragon’s Claw itself allows Steve Moore to partake in much of his
love for China and its ancient history, sending the Doctor and Sharon to an
ancient Chinese Buddhist monastery where strange events are occurring. The first issue of the story is spent in a village
which is under siege by pirates introducing the group of monks as holy men who
come to the villagers’ rescue, but also causing violent chaos in their wake. It is this mystery as why monks who usually
only fight in self defense would become violent throughout the course of this
story. The Doctor, Sharon, and K9 only
arrive in the final few panels of the first issue where they are captured. This style is markedly different from the
earlier comics of Mills and Wagner with a late arrival of the TARDIS team
emulating the types of stories which had begun airing on television at the time. Luckily, unlike the darker version of the
Doctor from Season 18, Moore characterizes the Doctor in a manner much similar
to his earlier persona during the Graham Williams era which is fitting for a
comic strip. Moore also keeps the focus
squarely on the Doctor once he arrives which with the shorter page count of the
first five issues of the story is an asset.
The TARDIS team become the point of view characters for the lengthy
story with the twists coming to the reader when the characters discover them.
The story plays out for
the first five issues like a standard Doctor Who story with the Doctor, Sharon,
and K9 being captured and escaping, until they eventually discover what’s
behind this story. Dragon’s Claw
is most famous for bringing the Sontarans right into the Doctor Who comics. Moore actually uses the Sontarans to better
effect than television appearances like The Invasion of Time: they are
warmongers and are using their time in Ancient China so they can gain a
tactical advantage in their war. There
is a large piece of quartz which can be used to power their spaceships and they
are using hypnosis to convince the monks to kill the emperor on a specific
command. Overall their plan is
reminiscent of Linx’s efforts to get his spaceship working in The Time
Warrior, but Moore does elevate the story by using the setting and culture
to great effect. Dave Gibbons’ artwork as
always is excellent and the detail in designing the Sontarans as actual clones
is a nice touch. Dragon’s Claw is
a story whose biggest flaw was due to conditions outs of the creators’ control,
but even with that considered it causes some structural issues which are difficult
to annoy. It brings down what could have
been an all out classic. 8/10.
The debut novel of Michael Collier Longest Day
is one of the weakest Eighth Doctor Adventures.
Often when a novel is not well received by the greater Doctor Who fan
community, the author would not be invited to contribute any more material to
the Doctor Who novel range, so it was a surprise when ten books later BBC Books
released The Taint, Collier’s second and final effort for any Doctor Who
range, with the promise that this is the introduction of a new companion for the
Eighth Doctor. With Collier’s previous
work being a weaker entry, there was a sense of apprehension reading this one
as it could easily turn out as weak as the former. The Taint once again demonstrates
Collier’s propensity for filling stories with interesting ideas. The novel is set in London, 1963 where six
individuals have all begun to share the same delusion. They believe that they are all Satan, the
Devil himself, come up from Hell for nefarious purposes and delusions of torment
by demons. Luckily, these shared delusions
do not seem to make them dangerous, but they have been taken under the care of
Dr. Charles Roley. Roley is taking care
of them at his own manor with their consent and attempting to get to the bottom
of this mystery.
The main theme of the novel is one of the study of
parapsychology, a field of pseudoscience popular in the 1960s as advances in
science brought to the forefront the possibility that psychic powers were a
legitimate field of inquiry. Inquiry led
to thorough debunking of the field in reality, but playing around in the Doctor
Who universe makes the field an incredibly interesting idea to explore. Much of the first half of the novel involves
discussion between Roley, his assistant Maria, and the Doctor on the nature of
his experiments and the possible causes of these delusions. The investigation slowly builds as it becomes
apparent that there is something more occurring in the story. This is one aspect of the novel where Collier
lets the story down is that the actual storyline doesn’t delve deeply into exactly
what experiments Roley has been conducting and becomes far too quick on the
uptake when it comes to including alien intervention. The villains of the novel are Azoth and Tarr. Azoth presents himself as an almost demonic
figure attempting to use these people for his own purposes, but Collier eventually
reveals that he’s just an android from the future. This twist is perhaps the weirdest twist of
the novel, as Collier implies Azoth should be some alien and an android villain
doesn’t quite make sense with what is set up.
Tarr is a human villain and to be honest he is incredibly bland, making
little impact on the plot except being someone for Azoth to talk to and intimidate.
Collier does shine in this second attempt at a novel
in characterizing the Doctor and Sam as well as introducing a new
companion. Fitz Kreiner is a young man
working in a greenhouse whose mother is one of Dr. Roley’s patients and gets
caught up in the events of the novel.
Fitz is a character whom Collier immediately ingrains into the reader’s
mind by giving quite a bit of insight into his mind. He’s a lovable rogue archetype through and
through, convinced he’s a ladies man and going to make it as a star one day,
but hopelessly lost in London with a dead end job. He does land a date with Sam Jones and they
do spend much of the book with scenes of excellent chemistry. Collier hints on a potential romance, but the
plot of the novel makes note that this chain of events is not fated to happen
as Fitz undergoes emotional trauma as his mother does not make it out
alive. Sam Jones is also characterized
quite well by Collier, having some great scenes with Fitz and a sense of
emotional connection. Outside of that
her character is no less bland than her other appearances. The Eighth Doctor here perhaps acts most like
the character, with his first appearance attempting to by a dead begonia which
he intends to rescue. It is an excellent
scene and the childlike wonder and eternal optimism of the character is present
throughout. Overall, The Taint is
an improvement over Longest Day and is good, but the weak villains and a
plot that needs a little more time to breathe.
6/10.
