From: Sean Gaffney Subject: Parallel 59: Review by the Happy Guy Date: 10 Feb 2000 00:00:00 GMT Message-ID: <87svqt$88g$1@nnrp1.deja.com> X-Http-Proxy: 1.0 x38.deja.com:80 (Squid/1.1.22) for client 207.171.147.32 Organization: Deja.com - Before you buy. X-Article-Creation-Date: Thu Feb 10 00:13:21 2000 GMT X-MyDeja-Info: XMYDJUIDhotaru_chan Newsgroups: rec.arts.drwho X-Http-User-Agent: Mozilla/4.7 [en] (Win95; I) At last, the major Blake's 7 novel that fans have been craving for so long! Unfortunately, the seven have been replaced with the Doctor, Fitz, and Compassion, but everywhere else... SPOILERS!!! I enjoyed this book a lot by the end. This was a surprise, as the beginning was incredibly dull, and had some jarringly OOC moments. But the combination of the plot finally starting to move and the wonderfully drawn supporting cast led to an enjoyable, self-contained Who book that manages to fit in with the arc as well, although it's easily the least arc-oriented of the series. THE DOCTOR: Really variable. Some moments are absolutely dead on (The Doctor tickling information out of Jessen), while others are really, really jarring (the first 80 pages, where the Doctor acts like a refuge from Whose Line Is It Anyway?.) Like the novel, though, his characterization improves as the book progresses, though, and the final scenes are pretty much carried by sheer Doctor personality. FITZ: Fitz is remarkable in this. I wanted to kick him so many times in the first 150 or so pages. He was completely and utterly irritating in every way, shape, and form. And then... suddenly, as things in Mechta got worse, and worse, Fitz got more and more likeable, until the ending scenes with him and Filippa had me cheering for him. What makes this so well done is that there's not really much difference in the way he's written... it's simply the way he reacts to big events as opposed to small relationships. COMPASSION: One of the weaker points of the book, sadly. She's her normal, not-quite-Seven-of-Nine-but-too-similar-to-avoid-the-comparison self when she's with anyone with the Doctor... but with the Doctor she becomes an emotional mess. This would be intriguing (and prophetic) if it weren't handled so badly at the start... Compassion's scenes with the Doctor after they're captured are almost risible. Luckily, they're separated for most of the book. OTHERS: On the other hand, this is the book's best point. The secondary characters all had the opportunity to be one-dimensional Saward-ish bastards, but, with one or two exceptions, they each got multiple scenes of emotional torment, doubts, misgivings, joy, anger, psychotic frenzy, cold murder... lovely stuff. VILLAIN: Well, one villain, Terma, is one of the few exceptions to the above, being the standard lieutenant-gone-to-seed cackling bad guy. The other ones, though... that's the book's big surprise, and since Robert has started to post my reviews on his page, I won't mention it here, except to say it shocked me. Well done. STYLE: Well, it's a co-authored book... but that still doesn't forgive the fact that in the first 100 pages, virtually nothing happens. I was almost ready to give up I was so bored. And then, slowly, starting on Mechta and working its way into the main plot... action! Excitement! PACING! Yes! The last 50 pages of the book flew by like nothing. OVERALL: I can't really give this book a very high mark, as the beginning of it is really not up to standard. But get through the setup, and the rest is crackling. And the final two pages are wonderfully sentimental and emotional. . 7/10. Next: The Shadows of Avalon, which nobody seems to be talking about... must be dull. Paul said it was trad. ^_- --SG --wai! Paul Cornell book! Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.