| LEGACY by Gary Russell |
| Story 25 Synopsis: The TARDIS lands on Io, centre of the Galactic Federation. There, the Doctor is given a mission to visit Peladon with representatives from the Federation. He takes Bernice with him on a ship crewed by Ice Warriors. He sends Ace on a separate mission to Pakha. On Peladon, the Doctor starts to suspect something is wrong. Royal artefacts start to disappear, and people are killed. The Doctor is framed for one of these murders, a task the High Priestess, Atissa, seems keen to have carried out. The leading Ice Warrior, Savaar, uses a sacred sword to behead him. Bernice later learns this was just a trick of holo-technology, for Atissa's benefit. She misses it due to being knocked unconscious, she thinks by Savaar, though he, too, has been framed. The Doctor reveals that the real culprit is a Fed representative called Nic Reece, but nobody else has realised, and Nic takes Bernice into the catacombs. He is expecting thieves to bring him the Ancient Diadem from Pakha, which Ace had been on the trail of, though too late to change anything. Nic dies during a short duel with Peladon's King, Tarrol, and the Ice Warriors' ship is used to blast the Diadem out of the skies. Tarrol decides to bring Peladon out of the Federation, though Atissa voluntarily goes into exile rather than face stricter punishment for her actions. Bernice opts for some time out on an archaeological mission with Savaar's brother, and the Doctor and Ace head back to Io. |
| Review:- Back to Peladon we go... oh joy. It is to the book's credit, that there is more to it than just a return to the planet. The whole hunt for the legendary Diadem, and the backstory of Peladon's history provides some needed colour to what could easily be (and indeed sometimes is) a dull rehash of the Doctor's two previous visits. The feckless young monarch, the scheming & insane High Priest(ess), the loyal but unconvincing Chamberlain, dotty Alpha Centauri, the uncertain nature of the Ice Warriors... all these ideas are present and boringly correct. Not that there is much that could be done to improve these props, except playing them against type, but using them almost as stereotypes results in a worthless, and one-dimensional narrative, that comes to bury Peladon, not to praise it (and if that was the intention, surely there could have been a better way...) Ace, fortunately, is sidelined effectively with a trip to Pakha, and then a futile attempt to track the jewel thieves. As hers was far from the best character ever created, this is welcome. Bernice gets more centre stage, which given her much-vaunted interest in the Martians, is only sensible. This works to their credit, and it is a shame that the Doctor's apparent xenophobia should work against him and them. Perhaps fittingly, they turn out to have been the good guys all along, and prove useful in the denouements. Where Bernice is less successful is her fawning over Nic Reece. I'm not sure how much of the book I followed when I initially read it, but a second reading points out endless clues as to the mystery identity of the killer/would-be smuggler. By letting her heart (charitably) rule her head, Bernice just looks a dumb-cluck for falling for his rugged charms. The Doctor, however, takes too many risks, and only comes through due to luck and circumstance, which is hardly to his credit. Whilst his need to catch Reece in the act is understandable, he puts his head metaphorically in Aggedor's mouth in the process. By not letting anyone else in on it, he allows Lianna to die, and others, almost including Bernice. This book range seems to have had a habit of making its lead characters take stupid decisions and then forgive each other easily. The Diadem, when it eventually arrives, proves almost a gimcrack McGuffin, which is probably deliberate. It means more when used as a threat, a piece of the jigsaw, of which Tarrol's ceremonial broadcast is probably the best bit. Though the Pakhars are tiresome, as is Keri's really annoying habit of ending every utterance with "Yeah!" (cf. Chantho in Utopia), and the Cantryans seem an unsubtle and broad mocking, at least the transmission is a useful plot device, unlike so many of the others. {I have heard it said that Keri Pakhar is somehow meant as a joke reference to Australian media mogul Kerry Packer. If true, then words fail me, even with the chance to swear here.} Overall, whilst often derivative and dreary, the book does get exciting towards the end, once Reece is free to take the villain's role, and though the very many continuity references are usually irrelevant, the Ice Warriors are well served, and the people of Peladon come out quite well. Their leaving the Federation is probably a blessing if it stops any further visits by the Doctor (oh, if only...). Disappointing, but still worth a look. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy of this book. |