| THE QUANTUM ARCHANGEL by Craig Hinton |
| Story ? Synopsis: The Doctor makes a catastrophic mistake, dooming the people of Maradnias, and a sickened Mel asks to be dropped back on Earth. Whilst there, in 2003, the Doctor detects time disturbance, and traces it to an old friend, Stuart Hyde, who has moved from TOMTIT to TITAN. Hyde is merely the guiding force, encouraging his protege, Paul Kairos, whose genius far outstrips that of Hyde. Mel meets an old friend, Angeliqua Whitefriar, and is surprised to find her a changed, colder woman than the one she knew. Angeliqua is soon gulled by Branko Gospodar, alias the Master, into stealing TITAN. The Master plans to use its power to restore himself and then zap the Chronovores. But Angeliqua is put in as a test subject, and is changed into the Quantum Archangel. The Doctor, Mel and Hyde are sent into parallel fantasy worlds, whilst the Quantum Archangel meets the Mad Mind of Bophemeral, who will help her in her quest to improve the universe. Kairos is able to pull his friends out of their delusions, and then separate Bophemeral from Angeliqua. Kairos turns out to be Kronos after all. The Master is partially restored, but pursued by vengeful Chronovores. Mel decides to stick with the Doctor after all. |
| Review:- You've an idea for a sequel to The Time Monster, and it can also follow on to your own Millennial Rites. What do you do? Both those stories were weak, so it'll have to be a storming good idea to compensate. This book isn't very good, either. And not for want of trying, really, for there's everything here, including the kitchen sink... but a compelling and believable story? Nope. The opening is slightly promising, as the Doctor has cocked up for once, and Mel is not happy. She asks to be returned home, but finds she cannot resume her old life easily. The Doctor is soon distracted by his old friend Stuart Hyde, and the successor to TOMTIT, the snappier named TITAN Array. By a huge coincidence, this becomes crucial to the plans of the Master, who has the Chronovores after him. And so on... The two new key characters are the unlikeable Angeliqua, and the mysterious Kairos. Whilst the former proves a gullible aide for the Master, the latter proves to be a lot more helpful, and hiding a big secret... The story takes in mysterious wars in space, the Cathedral of the Constructors, and assorted namedropped superbeings. Angeliqua gets zapped in error, and the trouble really starts... Along the way, the reader is treated to rehashed elements from its prequel, but the great sense of pointlessness is never far away. The Master's body becoming decayed prompts the notion that he must recover a bit to take part in Survival, and whilst it's slightly funny to see the Doctor and Mel going through alternate lives, that was more comprehensively done in Millennial Rites. And then Kairos just saves the day. So what? I recall the first time I read this that I totally lost interest and patience in the second half where there are pages of descriptive background for the Mad Mind of Bophemeral. By then, it was far too late to start caring about any of it. There are interesting themes here: the Master needing a new power source to stay alive, the chasm between the Doctor and Mel, but wrapping them inside this tedious sequel leaves a very unsatisfying product. One of its only saving graces is as a yardstick of how bad ideas can produce bad books. It's tempting to ask if this book would have been accepted by a new writer, or thrown in the bin. Some people really could get any old rubbish published. |
| Disclaimer: I've read the book. |