| ALL-CONSUMING FIRE by Andy Lane |
| Story 27 Synopsis: Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are tasked by the Pope with recovering books stolen from the Library of St John the Beheaded, in Holborn. Their searches lead them to the Doctor, who is also after the books. They learn from Sherlock's eldest brother, Sherringford, that the books contain information concerning a threat to invade a planet called Ry'leh, via a passage in India. The Doctor, Holmes and Watson travel to Bombay, where they meet up with Bernice, and after the Doctor is kidnapped, they manage to trace the invading army, but are unable to stop it passing through to Ry'leh, thanks to a chant contained in the stolen books. Using a copy of the words, the Doctor and all travel through. Watson meets up with Ace there, whilst the others are kidnapped again, and brought before Sherringford's master, a super-being called Azathoth. The Doctor, having expected a Great Old One, realises this is just a confidence trickster. Sherringford isn't planning to invade Ry'leh - they're going to invade Earth. Unable to stop the invasion, the Doctor rewrites the special chant, leading them all through in San Francisco, during the 1906 earthquake. Azathoth is destroyed, and his followers killed. The Doctor fetches the TARDIS, and takes Holmes & Watson home. They're offered the chance to stay on, but opt to return to London. |
| Review:- The Great Detective more than meets his match, as does Watson... Arthur Conan Doyle's greatest creation has provided fascination and delight to readers for more than a century, and the idea of a cross-over between his story and that of the Doctor was clearly too good to miss out on. Here it is, and from a mysterious Library, to the Diogenes Club, to foreign lands of India and Ry'leh, the tale is written in a loving pastiche of Conan Doyle, recounted chiefly by Watson, but also at times by Bernice, in a nod to the NA range. The story is quite complicated, as the notion of aliens loose in London, of mystic paths to other worlds, and so on, must necessarily be. The joy of the two narrators is that it means that sometimes the fantastic is related in quite mundane ways, as it would for people unfamiliar with the discoveries of a later time, and Bernice's futuristic perspective isn't as big an advantage as it might seem. The theft of books seems a small scale crime, but the Library they came from elevates the danger, and brings in both Sherlock's brother Mycroft, and the Doctor, who unfortunately seems to put Holmes down a lot, and also to have most of the story sussed before Sherlock even starts, which isn't big or clever. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing in London, including the introduction of Sherringford, and establishment of Baron Maupertuis as a bad cove, the story shifts to India, where Bernice has been waiting for a while. The story then progresses fitfully, with the Doctor captured and then tracked down, a surprise appearance by Moriarty, and a desperate trip to Ry'leh. Here, Ace is found, and she and Watson are detailed in climbing a mountain for no apparent plot necessity, other than establishing how crappy a planet to live on it must be. With the Baron easily dispatched, the revelation of Sherringford's villainy is soon subsumed to the prospect of the deadly Azathoth. Unfortunately, whereas the Doctor dreads meeting Azathoth, he's far too relaxed once he twigs that it's just an impostor. He does wing the solution a bit, which is symptomatic of how sloppy the book gets towards the end. Dumping Azathoth and his followers in the aftermath of a natural disaster is hardly ideal work, and asking for trouble for later. But it's just back to the TARDIS, once an improbable offer is made to Holmes & Watson, which they're clearly not going to take up! Presumably the temptation with a crossover like this was to make it Conan Doyle "with space knobs on". Unfortunately, the London sections are far more successful and entertaining, and the more it loses its Holmesian trappings, the duller it gets. Not only the Doctor, but Bernice and Ace are also scornful of Holmes & Watson, as if they know this should be their story, not that of the Great Detective. It could easily have been so much better. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy of this book. |