| SHADOWMIND by Christopher Bulis |
| Story 16 Synopsis: It's Ace's birthday, so the Doctor lands the TARDIS on Tairngire. But they soon run into trouble involving duplicates, which they trace to the nearby planet of Arden. There, they find that the locals have fallen under an influence, and have constructed huge furnaces to burn the trees. This operation is thwarted with help from the indigenous Shenn, but the source is traced to an asteroid where a shadowy creature called Umbra is trying to grow and expand itself. With its work threatened, it wreaks havoc on Tairngire, causing the need to attack Umbra's asteroid. Though putting up stiff resistance, Umbra is smothered in a giant screen, leaving it unable to expand or cause any more harm. |
| Review:- A prolific DW author makes his first foray here: Christopher Bulis would go on to write for each Doctor in turn, and even a solo tale for Bernice. His first effort is a modest space opera about duplicates and shadows. After a reasonable enough excuse to get to Tairngire, Bulis soon puts Ace in danger, and in many ways, it's her book. It's her birthday that the others are meant to be celebrating, she finds the unfortunate Ostman, she gets attacked when sent back to the TARDIS, she finds the TARDIS stolen, she gets most of her bones broken and meets the Shenn, she inspires the Shenn to fight back, she has the final dilemma to save her friends from Umbra... compared to this, the Doctor and Bernice are bit-part players in her story. The story is nicely structured with events on Tairngire taking precedence in the first half, before arriving on Arden in the second. The initial mystery of the duplicate Ostman is enough to draw the Doctor in, and his persuasion of trust through his credentials makes a nice change than merely being accused all the time. The hypergems are more important but less interesting, as there's little demonstration of their great power. Umbra could be using any old device. The burning of the forests to create shadowy creatures also seems less crucial than at first. Apart from one main attack, this line doesn't go anywhere. Clues to the brains behind the crisis come slowly and painfully, and Umbra turns out to be a decidedly dull prospect. It is only of minimal interest that despite the plan to blast Umbra to bits, it is instead merely cocooned and shut off from external stimuli, which is arguably a rougher result. Overall, this is a drab book that uses bland characters to pursue vague plots at the behest of a naff villain. It is, at least, short. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy of this book. |