| GOTH OPERA by Paul Cornell |
| Story ? Synopsis: Rogue Time Lady Ruath uses Romana as hostage to gain access to the Time Scoop. She then steals a TARDIS and heads to Earth, making contact with vampires, and releasing the Vampire Messiah. Holidaying in Australia, the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan are attacked by vampires, Nyssa becoming one. They all head back to Manchester, to try and trace the vampiric incursion. Nyssa tries to fight it, but gives in, and joins Ruath's band in Castle Yarven, near Leek. Ruath plans to use Vampire DNA to turn millions of humans into vampires, then head off through space to Gallifrey, and then into an assault on time. But her consort, the Vampire Messiah, is unhappy that his role seems to be as sacrifice to Ruath's glory. So once the Doctor has been caught, he plans to put him in the mix instead. But having deduced that the Castle in Ruath's TARDIS, the Doctor manages to dematerialise it, transporting the vampires to a world with twin suns. He offers a peaceful solution, which is rejected. When the sun comes up, the Messiah dies. Nyssa is cured, but the Doctor, made a vampire by Ruath, is still affected. He realises Ruath is on board his TARDIS, but Nyssa opens the doors, and the Time Lady is ejected into the Vortex. |
| Review:- Virgin's Missing Adventure range was launched with this book, tying into the New Adventure Blood Harvest, published the same month. With an opening essay of encouragement from editor Peter Darvill-Evans that claims his range will not be like its counterpart, Cornell writes a book that pretty much is. The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan start off on Tasmania in 1993, a typical Season 20 locale I don't think. Then they shove off to Manchester, just as unlikely, where they investigate missing people, lose Nyssa to vampirism, check out a spooky castle, before finishing up on a planet with two suns. Never mind 1983, this wouldn't get broadcast these days either. But this is perhaps a mere quibble of false advertising. To be fair, the book zips along at a tidy pace, and events follow a fairly reasonable order, with many moments of tense drama that up the stakes (!) as the story progresses to a conclusion. So, that's good. Not so good are the vampires, whom are either unpleasant, or naffly characterised. The persistent irreligious undercurrent smacks of juvenile foot-stamping, as if a grudge had been borne badly, for too long. Whilst Lang's televangelism is sanctimonious claptrap, his downfall is rather too OTT. His 'secret' seems easily guessable, and his revelation smacks of convenience rather than confession. Some have suggested that the vampirism is used in allegorical terms. However, for that to be so would be to make it even more insultingly unkind than it already is. Jake converts Madelaine in the most desultory fashion, and the Vampire Messiah seeks to infect all and sundry. Barely a plea for sympathy and understanding, really. The regular characters are just about passable. Nyssa faces the sternest examenation, but does get to put her scientific background to some use, before she descends into a gibbering wreck. Tegan acts headstrong, but that's about it for her. As for the Doctor, he sometimes seems out of character, but is mainly the likeable hero as usual. One facet that distinguishes the book is the continuity-heavy 6th chapter, which brings in a short diversion for Romana with Sabalom Glitz and a Miniscope. Intended to show what could be achieved in this range, it nonetheless feels rather too silly and unoriginal. This continuity-fest extends to Ruath's past association with the Doctor, which seems to drive her more than any concern for vampires. Her careful planning deserves to be ignored by her ally, and her eventual fate is a grisly echo of Salamander's. In summary, the book has its ups and downs, but has aged quite badly. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |