Story: There is a war raging over the planet Gadrell Major between Humans and the Phracton Swarm. But there is another enemy on this world which is more dangerous than both sides put together…
There is a pregnant woman on Earth in the year 1997. But the child she carries is not quite human. It is a creature who has the power to destroy the entire world…
Pridka Dream Centre, a space station in the distant future built to treat and hone all manner of Psychic dysfunction. Unannounced, they have just received a visitor with a particular disorder untreatable at this facility…
What is the common thread that weaves these three, seemingly separate storylines into one?
Review: So, let me start by saying that this is not a great book. I kind of had to force my way through it. The story begins on the war raged planet where these Phracton blokes are hell-bent on aquiring the rights to this world at any cost. The Humans who didn’t get away on the escape ships have ended up being frightened scavengers. One of these sad foragers has found a woman buried under a pile of rubble. But, this is no ordinary woman. This is a powerful Sensopath! A creature of incredible mental ability, able to channel the mental powers of herself and others to be used for Evil! We shall call her Shanstra. What could be the motives behind her hidden rage? Well, I had to wait until the last few chapters to get this explained to me.
The Doctor and Bernice arrive on earth in 1997. He has been broody ever since Ace left. (I, on the other hand, am ecstatic.) The two of them go out for a jaunt around the neighborhood, but of course, the forces of mystery cause them to get caught up in the life of a pregnant woman, who just happens to be carrying fragment #2 of this Sensopath gestalt in the form of her unborn child. In the esuing plot twists, the mother ends up dead, and the Sensopath, who we will call Kelzen, ends up in the Zero Room of the TARDIS and headed towards Gadrell Major, for more fun.
The third fragment of this trinity of Evil, arrives at the aformentioned Psychic Space Station which is run by the Pridka. From what I understand, they are a race of mentally powerful Reptile Fish Men. The third fragment, who will be known as Jirenal, decides to use all the minds of the creatures on board, and the minds of the creatures yet to arrive, to boost his power to aid him in, ahem, Universal Domination!
So, the Doctor arranges a few things out of our earshot with Kelzen, and on Gadrell Major has a run-in with Shanstra, who begins to attempt conjunction with Jirenal. The Doctor and company then head to the Pridka Space Station to thwart this contrived plan of reunification.
What a load of old cobblers. We all know how it is going to end up, but they drag us along on this ride through three boring scenarios, hoping it will keep our interest. Well, it didn’t. The Sensopaths are cut-rate megalomaniacs. The Space-Fleet guys are all wooden. The scavengers are all punks. And the apparent threat to the “entire universe” is underplayed. There are three droll in-jokes that got a smile out of me. But the biggest smile came when I was finished reading it, and was able to finally move on to the next one. I can honestly say that the best part of this novel was the inside of the back cover, because it meant I was done! I certainly hope that they improve, at least a bit, for the next few I read.
Anyway, I only give this one a 5/10. The cover is pretty, but don’t judge this book by it…
Year: 1995
Author: Daniel Blythe
Publisher: Virgin
Pages: 272