| MARTHA IN THE MIRROR by Justin Richards |
| Story 22 Synopsis: The TARDIS lands in Castle Extremis, where the Doctor and Martha pretend to be Galatic Alliance observers at the signing of a peace treaty to end a war between Anthium and Zerugma. When the Zerugian negotiator is murdered, the Doctor finds a glass book detailing the story of Manfred Grieg, the Man in the Mirror. A trap for the Doctor sees Martha instead falling into the Mortal Mirror, hanging in the Great Hall of the Castle, but the Doctor is able to find a way in, and get her out again. Grieg reveals himself to them, and explains the origins of the mirror, and why it's full of Zerugian troops, waiting for an attempted coup. The Doctor decides to let things proceed, but when General Orlo starts his coup, and brings troops through the mirror, their numbers increase more than the Doctor expects. He is able to use the peacekeeping forces to hold them back, combined with set screams from a small child. Eventually, the rebellion is crushed, and Orlo is revealed as a loose cannon. Further peace talks between the two states will be held. The Doctor and Martha travel back a century to leave the glass book in place, so that they can find it later/earlier. |
| Review:- Time for peace, or is it time for war? Some never want conflict to end until they've won... From the duff title to the duff premise, I went into this book with low expectations, that were then missed. Within a short space, a character is quoting former Prime Minister Tony Blair's infamous soundbite "I feel the hand of history on my shoulder", which unwittingly marks the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement bringing peace to Northern Ireland. Should older, more worldly-wise readers than those in the intended age range make matching assumptions about Anthium and Zerugma? I hope not. Anyway, the pivot of the story is the Mortal Mirror, a supposed facsimile of a major war relic, though it turns out to be the genuine article. What's special about it is that people can move in to and out of it, but if they are seen in the mirror, they are turned to glass, albeit moveable glass. Stored inside the Mirror are a massed army, ready to disrupt the peace conference. To prolong this event, there is the small matter of one of the delegates being murdered, although it turns out he was done in by his own side so he couldn't broker peace. How very cosmopolitan. There is also the mystery of a young girl whose twin did (or maybe didn't) get blown up accidentally in a mined garden. As you would. I suspect the girl is present merely to give the supposed target audience a character to identify with, and I pity them if so, because she's bog all use as Point of View figure, really. Even the mystery of whether she has a malevolent double is nothing more than padding to keep Martha occupied before her brief trip into the Mirror. This, which is the sole reason for the title of the book, comes about halfway in, and she's soon rescued by the Doctor with no ill-effects. What a total waste of time that is. Who commissioned this rubbish? Eventually, and sadly too late to care, the big revolt happens, and is given surprising depth by the duplication effect of the Mirror, and the two maintenance robots who turn out to have a key role to play. Unfortunately, the army is defeated by magnified screams, which seemed nauseatingly old hat when it was the resolution to Fury From The Deep 40 years ago, and is certainly no better now. To set the seal on this disaster of a book, the Doctor then uses time travel to set up the finding of the special glass book that played such a minor part in the story. All that's then missing is a song & dance routine, so perhaps I should be grateful for small mercies. Considering the improvements in this book range recently, this is definitely a backwards step. |
| Disclaimer: I've read the book. |