| INFINITE REQUIEM by Daniel Blythe |
| Story 36 Synopsis: The Doctor lands the TARDIS on Earth, 1997, where he becomes concerned with expectant mother Tilusha Meswani. He sends Bernice off in the TARDIS with a hologram of himself, to Gadrell Major, 2387, which is a colony where humans from Earth, led by Darius Cheynor, are fighting the machine race of Phractons. Recently arrived there is a mysterious woman, Shanstra, who is one of three Sensopaths, split throughout history. A second of them, Jirenal, causes trouble at the Pridka Dream Centre in the far future, harnessing the mental power of 15,000 visitors. The third member of the Sensopath trinity, Kelzen, has come to in Tilusha's womb. Though Tilusha dies in childbirth, the Doctor is able to help Kelzen, who seems less fierce than his kin. Shanstra uses the Phractons as puppets in an attack on human security forces, but the Doctor is able to break her link, and peace between the Phractons and humans is restored. The Doctor goes to face Jirenal, and finds he is in greater control than he expects. With Kelzen's help, he exposes to Jirenal that Shanstra does not want to let her kin free, she wants to consume all the power. During a counter-attack, Shanstra is killed, whilst Kelzen and Jirenal merge, leaving Tilusha's child, Sanjay, free. After a time, the gestalt Sensopath dies. On Gadrell Major, the humans and Phractons agree to a truce, but dissident Phractons blow up Cheynor's ship, with him aboard. |
| Review:- A year and a bit after his first Dr Who book, The Dimension Riders, Blythe returns, with Darius Cheynor, in a complex tale spanning time and space... The book can't be faulted for trying. It creates new races like the sensitive Pridka, the mechanical Phractons, and the powerful Sensopaths. It shows us Gadrell Major and the Dream Centre near Taprid. It has an all-action structure that contrasts the serenity of the far future with the brutal wartime of the near future, and the chaos of modern Earth. What it doesn't quite have is a constructive plot. The Infinite Requiem provides a snappy title, and a supposed end for the Sensopaths, but it's never really made sense of, and that's a shame. Then again, at least the three Sensopaths are well characterised as individuals (perhaps ironically, of course), and their ferocious powers are given some reasonable demonstration, rather than just simple god-like tinkering. They're very good villains. The divisions amongst the humans and the Phractons on Gadrell Major is well explained, too. Both Cheynor and the Commandant show that those in command have to consider more options than simple killing. Whilst Hogarth and the Secondary are articulations of the desire for fighting, they would never rise to the top with that attitude, and both pay the price for it. Sadly, of course, both Cheynor and the Commandant fail to make it, also, but they last longer because of their perspectives. The Earth section is perhaps the most sedate and boring. The domestic tragedy of Tilusha Meswani, abused by her husband and forsaken by her family, is undeniably well-crafted, but it doesn't lead anywhere, except to create the dilemma for Kelzen. Once the Doctor rejoins Bernice on Gadrell Major, the book starts cooking. There are also other stories wrapped in - the guilt of Suzi Palsson, and the hard life of Trinket, Polymer and Livewire, not to mention the fate of Amarill. But these feel less satisfying, and more like the actions of ciphers, not people. The resolution is fairly smooth, as Kelzen makes her choice, and Shanstra's selfish greed rebounds on her. The final added-on fate for Cheynor and Palsson is a credible depiction that the Phracton situation was not ended as smoothly as it might have been. At least it spares Darius a third run-in with the Doctor. For Bernice, a first outing with Ace around lands her with a hologram of the Doctor, which proves next to useless, causing the reader to ask what the point of it was. She's less involved than she might be, just a handy piece of the Doctor's chess game. Though surprised by Jirenal, he's already got his solution ready anyway, so it's just a matter of bringing the strands together. Though pushed, it's not much of a struggle for him. Slow to start, it's quite a decent book once it gets going, but nothing too out of the ordinary. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy of this book. |