This tells the story of a secret organization that moves in after UNIT is done, collects up everything alien left behind, from the tech to the bodies of both the aliens and their victims. Adapting and using what they can figure out and saving what they can't, they're outside the government, hidden from the United Nations, and beyond the law. "Torchwood created by Russell T Davies" my butt!More than that, it's a great departure story for Liz, and a neat transition story between "The Silurians" and "The Sea Devils." Having seen "The Silurians" twice in the last year, it makes me really want to see "The Sea Devils" again! But sadly, I don't think Mylene is ever going to make it past episode 3 of "The Daemons" in our WhoQuest so if I want to see it, I'll probably need to just watch it on my own, which she says she doesn't want me to do so I really don't want to do that to her, but I don't want to pressure her into watching something she doesn't want to watch, cause that's no fun. But I digress.
If Paul Cornell is the Peter David of Doctor Who, then Gary Russell is the Keith R. A. DeCandido. He's got such a feel for the whole mythos. Never mind the wonderful touch of having the book broken up into 7 episodes, just like all but one of Liz Shaw's stories were; he goes to great lengths to piece together the rotating UNIT cast we saw all through Pertwee's first season and discuss how all these men served together along with Benton and Yates, even though the show hadn't settled on them as the UNIT leads yet.
Chalk up another win for Gary Russell!
1 comment:
I love Gary Russell's books too. He gets a lot of crap for fanwank but I guess I like having my fan wanked.
"Business Unusual" is a direct sequel to The Scales of Injustice and it is also Mel's first story meeting The Doctor plus The Brigadier. And "Instruments of Darkness" completes the trilogy while also bringing Mel and Evelyn Smythe together. Although to fully appreciate the latter one you have to either read or listen to "Paradise of Death" and/or "The Ghosts of N-Space" the Pertwee audio stories done in the early 90's. I can't tell you why though.
Unrelated is Divided Loyalties, an awesome book giving an unexpected backstory to the Celestial Toymaker. Its a little contrived in the idea that nearly all of the renegade Time Lords were part of an elite group at school called "The Deca" - The Doctor, The Master, The Rani, The War Chief and The Monk. Also Drax from "The Armageddon Factor" and Vansell who appears in several Big Finish Doctor Who audios including Zagreus and Sirens of Time. Plus three newly introduced Time Lords form The Deca. Actually all of them make sense since The Master, The Rani and Drax have all mentioned attending the Academy with The Doctor and The War Chief makes sense since he and The Doctor obviously recognize each other in "The War Games" but I feel including The Monk was going too far as he and The Doctor clearly do not recognize one another in "The Time Meddler". That's a nitpick though in an otherwise incredible book that tells a 1st Doctor story set on Gallifrey and invlolving The Doctor's first encounter with The Toymaker in flashbacks and ties it into a 5th Doctor story where he encounters The Toymaker once more and ties everything while also setting things up for The 6thy Doctor's enounter with The Toymaker in "The Nightmare Fair". And as an interesting side bit, the book makes reference to The Master's and Monk's real names revealed in "The Dark Path" and "No Future" respectively and also reveals The Rani and The War Chief's real names as well.
Post a Comment