| THE LAST RESORT by Paul Leonard |
| Story 64 Synopsis: Earth is now in really serious trouble. The Doctor's remedy has failed, and a company called Good Times Inc is taking people on package tours to Earth's past. Anji and Fitz get undercover jobs with the company, whilst the Doctor tries a desperate plan to stop GTI. Sabbath meets Fitz, claiming the Doctor is dead. Fitz has met a boy named Jack, whose father Aaron is the driving force behind GTI. Jack made an experimental time machine, and comes from an Earth which can conquered the Martians. Jack wants to go back and save the Martians, and has inadvertently messed up history in the process. Sabbath thinks the only answer is to kill Jack, but the Doctor merely sends him off to a different life before he can start causing trouble. |
| Review:- Back onto the main thrust, and a return to action for Sabbath himself this time. The story is quite convoluted. DWm compared it to Festival Of Death, but it reminds me more of The Sands Of Time (although that may be related to the fact that I don't rate Festival... as madly as most, but quite like Sands...) The basic story is quite straightforward, once you realise what it is. Certainly compared to recent books, it's quite good. The Doctor doesn't really turn up until halfway through the book. I almost wondered whether he would turn up at all. But he does, and it's almost as if he hadn't. He has what might be best described euphemistically as a near-death experience, but it scarcely feels like he is the driving force in proceedings. Fitz and Anji, on the other hand, get the lion's share of the storytelling, and by and large, this works well. Anji seems a little distant, but then what's new? Fitz doesn't get to lust after women for no discernible reason, and this probably helps make him more convincing. He and Anji also have brushes with death (and if you've recently read Loving The Alien, you will find resonance here, oh yes). Jack is our main new character, a hapless teenage American who doesn't realise what a catastrophe he is responsible for, and no-one ever bothers to tell him. In a novel piece of punishment, he is packed off to new parents to ensure he never makes the same mess. There's one for the Justice Department. He is given some depth, but ultimately, isn't very interesting. And as for Akhenaton, the less said the better. Sabbath does at least feel welcome, though whether this is a genuine emotion, or just relief, I don't know. He seems to be growing more forceful, and I wonder quite how the Doctor is supposed to settle up with him in the near future. Iyeeye is a time sensitive, and I suspect "native American", although naturally a decent explanation is notable by its absence. She makes a useful prop character to pad out the comings and going. Finally, we meet TX, who may well be Trix from Time Zero. I find her more worrying than Sabbath, and don't relish her eventual discovery much. So, next time, it's Timeless... |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |