Subject: The Face of the Enemy: Review by the Happy Guy From: "Sean Gaffney" Date: 1998/04/12 Message-ID: <01bd6608$1b6c5d20$a980abcf@default> Newsgroups: rec.arts.drwho [More Headers] [Subscribe to rec.arts.drwho] Well, these are coming faster than I'd thought. On to David McIntee's new book. David has gotten both good and bad reviews from me, so I wasn't sure what to expect. SPOILERS!!! I was a little wary, I'll admit. I still have not finished The Dark Path, which, along with The Dying Days, So Vile a Sin, and Oh No It Isn't, is languishing in my backlog pile. In addition, David's prose has a tendency to irritate me at times, much like Gareth Roberts. (I believe I once referred to him as 'Why use one word when ten will do' McIntee.) Finally, it's a conspiracy book featuring UNIT. Not my cup of tea. I *despised* Who Killed Kennedy, the only Virgin book I absolutely refuse to finish. The Scales of Injustice, while I could tell it was well written, also did not set me on fire. That having been said, why did I like Face of the Enemy so much? Let's do the roundup of the usual suspects: PLOT: Rather clever, considering it has so many continuity balls to juggle. David loves continuity, be it relevant or no. Sometimes this works fairly well (White Darkness, most of Weng-Chiang), and sometimes it works not so well (Lords of the Storm, the Decalog story with Sarah and the Master). It works here, even though there's more of it than in any of David's other books. THE DOCTOR: N/A. THE MASTER: Probably the reason I enjoyed the book so much. Impeccably written, every single line seemed to ooze from Roger Delgado's throat. The Master does indeed spend a good deal of the book functioning in a 'Doctor' role, and yet you never forget that he really is a nasty piece of work - albeit a 3-D one. Shades of black, more than shades of grey. UNIT: Mostly the Brigadier, actually. Yates and Benton don't get as much to do. The Brig is also written very well, though I wanted a little more closure in his thoughts about Doris. We also see the 'first' appearance of Harry Sullivan, and I wonder if David read 'Harry Sullivan's War' before writing him here. ^_^ IAN AND BARBARA: Also very well done, especially Ian. David had said that Barbara was supposed to die, and indeed you can tell that she gets very little to do in the second half of the book. Nevertheless, it was nice to see them again, and I wish they'd been able to meet the Doctor. KYLE and the VILLAINS: The villains, for the most part, were rather generic villainy. Kyle, however, was something special, and I'm glad to see that David kept her alive. The core of uncertainty and need for attention at her core was very subtly played, while allowing her to still be creepy. More. BOUCHER: For a guy who I spent the entire book wondering on what page he'd die, he was very well done. ^_^ STYLE: I dunno, maybe it fits the espionage/conspiracy genre better, or maybe I'm just getting used to it. There wasn't any prose here that slapped me in the face and called me Susan, such as the Doctor's quotes in Weng-Chaing did. So pretty good. DRAWBACKS: The rushed ending. Now, I know that a bunch of stuff was cut, and I'd love to read the full version someday. But the last forty pages left you a bit dazed. I'd especially have liked to have seen more done with the final confrontation between the Master and Kyle. And the Corporal Bell subplot felt VERY tacked on, as if it was added at the last minute. OVERALL: Despite all my reservations, I liked this book a lot. And it didn't even need the Third Doctor (maybe that should be another plus ^_^). Kudos. 8.5/10. NEXT: Since I seem to be getting back up to speed, I'll throw in a next. Walking to Babylon is what I'm picking up. Damn, struggling through another Kate Orman book - however shall I survive? --Sean Gaffney --Lessee...Kate, one of my favorites, followed by Justin, another --one of my favorites, followed by Dave Stone, *another* one of --my favorites...followed by Jim Mortimore. Um.