| TO THE SLAUGHTER by Stephen Cole |
| Story ? Synopsis: The TARDIS runs out of mercury, landing in a space station near Saturn. The Doctor, Fitz and Trix split up in their search for a new source. They learn that an operation is underway to destroy some of Jupiter's moons, with celebrity decoratiste Aristotle Halcyon being the brains behind the plan. Halcyon's ship leaves, with Fitz and the TARDIS on board. The Doctor and Trix hijack another ship and head after them. They touchdown on the moon Thebe, where they find evidence of what happened to the moon Carme before it was "accidentally" destroyed. They barely make it back to their spaceship before Thebe meets the same fate as Carme. Fitz finds that his fake cover as an art expert works out, impressing Halcyon. Halcyon is being employed to destroy dozens of Jupiter's moons. The Doctor and Trix race against time to find evidence linking Halcyon's business associate Robart Falsh with the destruction of Carme and Thebe. To Falsh's consternation, alien slugs are found on the moon Leda. These turn out to be malign, causing an emotional rage in people and animals. They were created by Klimt, under Falsh's instructions. Down on Callisto, preparations escalate for the big event of Halcyon destroying the moons. The Doctor finds that Halcyon's special paint, Halcytone, is also malign, but when treated proves an antidote to the slugs. But with so much widespread chaos, a massive shock is needed to jolt the people out of their rage frenzy. Overcoming his reluctance, he organises the simultaneous destruction of all the designated moons, which cancels out the anger. Finally, he is able to reunite with Trix and Fitz. |
| Review:- Leaving Earth, the Doctor and his companions find themselves in a space opera as they uncover deceit and a cosmic plan to reshape the solar system... Space opera is a style that hasn't really worked when it has been tried in these books, but here it allows for the separate plot strands to tick along nicely. While Fitz is busy giving us the Halcyon side of things, the Doctor and Trix are busy gallivanting through space to find the evidence on Falsh. Whilst Falsh is clearly a baddy, Halcyon seems more opaque - is he misguided, or is he just wilfully destructive? In this sense, it is Falsh who gives the answer, as he very definitely is guided by money, and the need for control, whereas Halcyon is more of an artist. Then again, the deceptive Klimt is worse than both of them. His initial appearance as Torvin is a cunning introduction, as his character grows in interest before being shown as himself. Both the paint and the slugs seem innocuous results from weapons research, but both are highly effective and highly dangerous. Unfortunately, whilst the bad men are running around, they're rather more ominous than the wheedling women trying to bring them down. Sook may be trying to double-cross her boss, but ultimately can't because she likes him. And she doesn't rat on Fitz despite his inadequacy. Trix does get to show off her skills, but most of the other female characters are rather less empowered. Which is a bit of a shame. Halcyon's blindness is a subplot that surprised me - maybe I should have been more observant to the clues. Then again, it's hardly subtle to counterpoint a man whose career is in the visual spectrum with the irony that he can't properly see his work. To be fair, though, it's more to point up how nasty Halcytone actually is. Trix being paired with the Doctor for a lot of the time helps her, as she is less a seasoned traveller than Fitz. He blunders his way to relative safety and staying close to the TARDIS, and allowing him his obligatory relationship to satisfy the apparent remit of such things. The Doctor is well written, from his frequent computer manipulation, to using the sonic screwdriver and clambering over large packing cases. He tries to find allies instead of enemies, and is shrewd enough to find solutions where there seem to be none. He is justly harsh on Flash and Klimt, but considerate to Halcyon. Overall, it's another in a run of good, standalone EDAs. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy of this book. |