| LEGACY OF THE DALEKS by John Peel |
| Story 10 Synopsis: The Doctor decides to begin his search for Sam on Earth, 30-odd years after he left Susan there. He meets Donna, a knight, who fills him on the local situation. The world is struggling, and a feudal power game is apace in England. Donna is the daughter of one Lord, who rules the Domain of London. They learn that a rival Lord, Haldoran, is attacking London with stolen Dalek guns. Susan has gone missing whilst investigating one of many sealed-off Dalek Artifacts. The Doctor, Donna and Susan's husband, David, go to investigate and are captured. The Doctor destroys Haldoran's new shipment of Dalek weapons, and Haldoran is killed. But the Artifact has been revived by Haldoran's new aide, who turns out to be the Master. The Daleks awaken. The Master is after a weapon they developed, a matter transmuter. Susan escapes from Dalek captivity, and thwarts the Master's plan. He takes her to his TARDIS, shooting the Doctor in the shoulder and then killing David. The Doctor has overloaded the Daleks' computer system, and the base explodes, disposing of them. Susan surprises the Master in his TARDIS, and uses his TCE to destroy the matter transmuter, and leave the Master close to death. She then leaves in his TARDIS. Gallifrey is alerted, and Chancellor Goth comes to Tersurus to make a surprising find... The Doctor learns Sam is not on Earth after all. |
| Review:- Hot on the heels of his previous Daleks book, War Of The Daleks, Peel returns with a solo Doctor and some famous loose ends... Sequels have been a regular event in these book ranges, so one following on from The Dalek Invasion Of Earth is not too surprising. Set 30 years later, the human race has not yet got its act together, and Susan's marriage to David is crumbling over their different genetics. Into this world comes the Doctor, who soon finds an ally in Donna, free spirit and do-gooder who is achieving something useful with her life, but hiding hurt. The Doctor is able to help her through her past pain, and find some closure for her, even if her bloody murder of her horrid husband Haldoran is not what he had in mind. He's less successful with the Campbell's marriage problems, as even though both Susan and David know they can work out their trouble, he barely finds her again before he's shot dead trying to save the Doctor. And she shows spirit and determination often lacking on screen by escaping the Daleks, outwitting the Master and finding her freedom. The Master's appearance comes as a surprise, but as his last on-screen appearance was in The TV Movie, Peel picks an earlier version, which only becomes clear at his finale, when Susan leaves him close to death, ready for The Deadly Assassin. The Master makes a good contribution to the story, unleashing the Daleks by mistake and seeking a new master weapon. It is his bad luck to underestimate Susan (although most viewers would have done the same). As for the Daleks themselves, well they do manage to come across as fearsome enemies, but are only on the periphery of the story. They don't appear in the first half, and never leave their Artifact in the second half, though the threat that they will be free again soon is kept up. Their legacy is to have left Earth in a right mess, and the humans have failed to cope with their freedom from tyranny. As with the recent Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways, the Doctor's intervention has not worked out as comprehensively as he hoped. It's a good plot idea to use. Mention of other Dalek bases suggest this book still might not be the end of the matter, and the Doctor is still no nearer to finding why Sam left him, and where she went. His search continues in Dreamstone Moon... On the whole, this is a decent little read, fashioning a sensible sequel that creates something new from something old. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy of the book. |