From: "Sean Gaffney" Subject: Verdigris: Review by the Happy Guy Date: 08 Apr 2000 00:00:00 GMT Message-ID: <8cnu77$827@netaxs.com> X-Priority: 3 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2314.1300 Organization: newsread.com ISP News Reading Service (http://www.newsread.com) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal Newsgroups: rec.arts.drwho Boy, was I waiting for this one. Not only did I enjoy Paul's previous books and want to see more of his work, but there was a hot radw debate on this from the moment the cover art became available. Good old Iris, she takes the heat off of Compassion when it comes to controversy... And never being someone who likes to be pegged, Paul has taken us on yet another odd journey, still with his metatextual issues, but far more normal... in fact, one might almost say *trad*. SPOILERS!!! This is a fun book. Make no mistake. This isn't the Season 7, gritty UNIT or even the later Pertwee UNIT made gritty, such as in a David MacIntee book. No, this is the Pertwee era that spawned Terror of the Autons' flashy colors, The Claws of Axos' weird plotlines, and the entirety of The Time Monster. And much to my surprise, Paul writes the era wonderfully. Parts of these books SING with in-characterness. PLOT: This is perhaps the least trad part of the book, of course. On paper, you could describe it as your typical Who plot, with nice aliens trying to settle on Earth secretly being manipulated by forces behind the scenes who mean to destroy the Doctor and all he holds dear, and the Doctor saves the day with only a few stirring speeches and some Venusian Akaido. The trouble is this leaves out the actual DETAILS, such as the 19th-century fictional characters. Or the robot sheep. In any case, wonderfully twisty, and you really don't know what's happening till the end. THE DOCTOR: Fabulous. If Jon was alive, I'd love to hear this as an audio, because the Doctor's dialogue is superb. Dealing with Iris brings out some of 3Doc's more churlish traits, and the scene in the prison where he threatens her is quite marvelous. Satisfied with his exile and his cushy job on Earth? Like hell. :-D JO: Equally wonderful, if only because for once there's an author who *doesn't* try to give Jo three dimensions or a tragic past or a tragic future or something else of that sort. She's the dim, loyal, lovable assistant to the core here, and was always the best at asking lots of questions without being annoying. IRIS: Yup, she's back, and boy, is she irritating. I don't mean that in a bad way, though... she's irritating in a fun, grates-on-your-nerves- but-you-like-her-anyway sort of way, only getting slightly less successful when actively groping the Doctor. (This is, btw, not the more serious, Jane Fonda Iris we saw in TBA, but the batty broad that... well, most every other regeneration of hers seems to be). I'm beginning to wonder if Iris had never actually met the Doctor till his Eighth incarnation, and because his timeline was so malleable thanks to Faction Paradox, managed to inveigle herself into his timeline. Now she's going back and ensuring she actually DID do all this stuff with him. :-D OK, just a theory... TOM: Nice companion, 3-D, and bless his soul, does *not* get taken in by The Tomorrow People and their giant Simon toy. I'd like to see more with him. (In fact, how bout an Iris and Tom novel sans Doctor?) VILLAIN: That'd be Verdigris, then, even though he's not much of a villain, more of a genie used poorly. You do feel for him a bit, even with his 9 or 10 different motives and 2 or 3 different masters. But, when all is said and done, he's a walking Deus Ex Machina. OTHERS: The scene with the Brig as a supermarket manager has to be read to be believed. The gang of kids are OK, if slightly annoying and bratty... but then, kids are. Sally was also a lovely character. STYLE: Actually, it's mostly a generic, well-told adventure novel style, with a few stopoffs here and there in Magrs-metatext-narrative causality-Land. It's also quite, quite funny, with lots of wonderful in-jokes involving concurrent spy shows of the 70s, and even has a few moments that totally weird you out, so to speak. (The Master kissing Jo, etc.) Oh, at one point there's some sort of continuity error involving Peladon, but it's so small I doubt the reader will even notice it, really. OVERALL: This was a wonderfully fun book to read. Not as totally Pertwee to the core as, say, Last of the Gadarene, but the Doctor and Jo are done wonderfully true to TV, Iris is... Iris is Iris, and as such she works very well. ^_^ I can't even think of anything I disliked, really. Smashing stuff. 10/10. --SG --next: Coldheart, deep into the Heart of Tradness...