| LORDS OF THE STORM by David A. McIntee |
| Story ? Synopsis: The Doctor is trying to effect repairs on the TARDIS, and Turlough suggests they land somewhere. They pick Unukalhai IV, aka Raghi. After buying equipment for repairs, they come across a woman desperate for a doctor. The Doctor volunteers, but the patient is soon taken away in a strange ambulance. Suspicious, he and Turlough get to see the Preceptor, Ambika, who runs the colony, but who rejects their offer of help. His daughter, Nur, is more grateful. She takes the Doctor over to look at Agni, a nearby station which the Doctor suspects is involved. He leaves Turlough to investigate the recent victims. Turlough also finds Sontarans are about. They give chase, but he escapes. The Doctor and Nur are nearly blasted to bits, but they manage to sneak through to land on Agni. There, they meet Sharma, ship's pilot, who has been under Sontaran mind control, as have all the people on the base. The Doctor deduces that the Sontarans have introduced a genetic tag into the Raghi people, so that a Rutan scan will think it's a Sontaran base. Then, when the Rutan arrive, they'll use a captured Tzun Stormblade to destroy Indra, the local sun, killing everyone on Raghi, including the Rutan. He gets Nur and Sharma back to Raghi, and finds Turlough again. The Sontarans attack, having realised the Doctor is present. They manage to steal the TARDIS before leaving. The Doctor decides to ask the Rutan to get them to land on the Sontaran ship containing the TARDIS. The Sontarans attack again, but their Fleet Marshal is killed by Major Karne - a Rutan working under deep cover as a Sontaran. He tries to escape, aware that the Sontarans have just gained vital files on the Rutans. In the confusion, the Doctor and his friends reach the TARDIS, and return to Raghi, which both the Sontarans and Rutans will now avoid for millennia. Though his ship explodes, Karne survives in hibernation... |
| Review:- All action, as the Sontaran-Rutan war takes a tricky turn, with a daring and cunning Sontaran plan that will spell death for millions of bystanders... McIntee put his historical NAs behind him to dish up a space opera-cum-medical thriller, and by and large, does a good job. The Sontarans are one of the better monsters, and their war with the Rutan has both expanded their possibilities and given them depth, yet simultaneously provided a limitation to their use, i.e. whatever they're doing is part of their war, not just a casual invasion. At least their plan here is pretty smart. That plan is set against the background of pioneer life in the 24th century in the Unukalhai system, chiefly the planet Raghi and nearby moon Agni, orbiting a star called Indra. McIntee gives the settlers a caste system, which is both relevant to the plot, and also a reflection on the Sontarans themselves. Their differing faces in their TV adventures is simply ascribed to their belonging to different clans, even for a clone race. This works pretty well, and along with details about their weaponry and spaceships, ensures that the Sontarans come out of this pretty well. Though there are only a handful of human characters from Raghi included in speaking parts, they're well-defined and believeable. Rebellious Nur, daughter of chief honcho Ambika, makes a useful ally for the Doctor and Turlough, who make the unusual entry into the drama by witnessing the effects of illness and then going to the top. Their plans to repair the TARDIS are sidelined (inevitably, though this does prevent its usage as a "taxi" to nip over to Agni). Turlough is given an independent subplot which adds some colour to his character for once, and uses his self-reliance, especially when he stumbles on the Sontarans on Raghi. Though his nerve later wanes, he has some useful comments comparing Raghi to Trion. As for the Doctor, he brings his usual concern to the tale of misguided medicine, and a brutal scheme to massacre millions. He has several brushes with danger, but is still confident enough to use the Rutan to get him close to recovering his stolen TARDIS. The medical plot allows for some consideration of gene sequencing, and altering DNA, though here it's just for cosmetic reasons. So, an excellent book? Not quite. McIntee's usual pomposity is still present - the glossary is meant well, but rather exposed as worthless by the idea that a golf-cart is still a golf-cart in 5 centuries' time. Then we have a prelude AND a prologue (wot, no preface?). And it almost wouldn't be a McIntee book without mention of the Tzun, and how amazingly interesting they're supposed to be. Or not. It's also a bit weak that the apparent main plot of preventing the activation of the Sontaran plan is settled with about 60-70 pages left, enabling the need to then go fetch the TARDIS, and lead to the settling of the other plot strand, namely the deceptive Major Karne. His deep-cover antics lead into the book, Shakedown, which was released in the same month. So, flawed but impressive, rather like the Sontarans it depicts so well. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |