Subject:      Tempest:  Review by the Happy Guy
From:         "Sean Gaffney" <gaffney@iconn.net>
Date:         1998/04/07
Message-ID:   <01bd625a$bf46aa60$a580abcf@default>
Newsgroups:   rec.arts.drwho
[More Headers]
[Subscribe to rec.arts.drwho]

No, I'm not back in force just yet.  It's just I wanted to
finish this up before Wednesday, as it's likely I won't get
a chance to read much for the rest of the week...month.

SPOILERS!!!

Hmm.  Another book which is hard to judge.  I enjoyed it as
I was reading it, but, as a mystery, it failed miserably.

PLOT:  The book's big weakness.  Everything in this book is
stultifyingly predictable, from the mishaps along the way to
the investigation team being waylaid, all the way up to the
big finale.  I knew who did it about 3 pages after the murder
was committed.  This does, despite what some fans may tell
you, detract from the mystery. ^_^  The book was also filled
with other mystery cliches, but I can forgive cliches a lot
more than being obvious.

BERNICE:  Fairly well-written dialogue, though I think was
a little too eager to get involved.  As a psuedo-Poirot, she
does well here, and it helps that we've seen her do this
before, in Ship of Fools - in fact, that's why I think she
was a tad too eager this time round.

OTHERS:  They were nicely dialogued, and amusing, but all of
them fit into a set cliche.  Costermann and Tyne came off
the best.

STYLE:  The usual Bulis style - it rips along, fast and
furious, and you don't realise how light and airy it is
until you finish it.  Which, I might add, is not a bad thing
in and of itself.  Chris' books occupy 260 pages very well,
and I don't begrudge him that.

ONE MORE THING:  I did this for Infinite Requiem, and I'll
do it here - 2 points off automatically for killing off a
character not for plot reasons, but just to be tragic.  Lil's
death was solely there to make the situation graver than it
was.  Find another way to do that. :-P

OVERALL:  I'm giving this book points for making me enjoy
it, despite all its faults.  Perhaps the best thing going
for it is its insubstantiality, which makes you forgive the
threadbare plot a bit more.

6/10.

--Sean Gaffney
--next review whenever...