A piece of varying interest
|
'Set Piece' is Kate Orman's second book in the New Adventures series and is narrowly her best. Not because 'The Left-Handed Hummingbird' is a literary triumph but becasue this effort is more readable in that it is breezier and less convoluted; which speaks volumes about L-HH but anyway...Ace is really at the centre of this story, she is separated from her two companions and the three of them find themselves flung through a time-rift into different periods in Earth's history. The Doctor begins the story as the prisoner of an army of mansize metal ants; ostensibly travelling through space and 'stealing' ships in order to use the crew and passengers as guinea-pigs in their warped experiments. Meanwhile Ace has been carried back to Egypt and becomes embroiled in a plot to depose the Pharaoh whilst Benny finds herself in Vichy France.
As with Orman's previous entry in the series, the plot relies too heavily on a strong knowledge of the 'whoniverse'; The Doctor finds himself working with a relative of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart but we are never really told how or why they came together; Sutekh is also mentioned and readers unfamiliar with 'The Pyramids of Mars' will be baffled. This makes it hard to concentrate on the story - something to do with the aforementioned ants and the Egyptian god Set - and hard to really care what happens.
'Set Piece' fairly accurately reflects all that is good and bad about the New Adventures series, with a big, bold plot that has too many ideas jostling for place - the various timezones - the universe devouring monsters - for any one of them to really develop effectively. Points are added for the cover; although yet another titillating image of Ace is hardly an accurate reflection of the sword-wielding, cold-blooded killer she has become.
|
|
|
United States | 
United Kingdom | 
Canada