Subject:      The Shadow of Weng-Chiang:  REAL review by the Happy Guy
From:         gaffney@iconn.net (Sean Gaffney)
Date:         1996/08/09
Message-Id:   <4ugfce$oms@news.iconn.net>
Organization: i-Conn
Newsgroups:   rec.arts.drwho

OK, having actually read the book this time, here's the review.

SPOILERS for SoW-C....

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would.  Understand,
I don't have the problem with McIntee that others do.  I enjoyed
White Darkness and Sanctuary.  But First Frontier was too dull.  And
Lords of the Storm was definitely sub-par.  Plus, he loves the use
of superfluous verbiage to enunciate the semiotic thickness of his
text.  Or something.

But this is a definite step back in the right direction.

Plot:  Can you say 40s serial?  This seems to combine The Phantom
Creeps with Commando Cody, scary as that sounds.  There's lots of
running around, beating people up, moving on, etc.  The science went
beyond me, but still...pretty good.

The Doctor:  When he was in character (most of the time), he was fine.
Occasionally, there were lines that jangled so badly, though.  Particularly
when the Doctor quoted others.  The quotes were majorly OOC. Didn't
work there.

Romana:  Well, we weren't gonna see a Dodo or Liz Shaw type
revelation in this book, but she's pretty good.  I like this Romana better,
so I was in a good mood to start with.  And she doesn't have any OOC
moments.  Very good.

K9:  Well written.  Bless my soul.

Villains:  Intriguing.  The two "lead villains" are very sympathetic, while
one of our "good guys" is revealed to be an absolute creep.  A shame
about Hsien-Ko's demise.  (Hsien-Ko.  You're welcome.)

Style:  My main problem.  David's trimmed his speech a bit, but it's still
too adjectival.  Where were the editors?  And this book is more brutal
than any other MA *or* NA so far.  In particular, Sin's killings are gruesomely
detailed, and they don't need to be.  Sensationalism, in the wrong place.

Overall:  A lot better.  He still needs work, though.  And now he has to
write Pat Troughton, which *no-one* has been able to do so far.

Good luck.

7/10.

--Sean Gaffney
--"You git!  I thought you were dead!  Git git git!" - Benny, No Future