Story: In “Lords Of The Storm”, a Rutan spy infiltrated the Sontaran ranks. He became aware of the fact that the Sontarans had cracked the Rutan Military codebank and had retrieved information that could turn the tides of the war so much in the Sontarans favor, that the Rutans could be utterly defeated. After a book-long chase, the Rutan spy managed to escape with its life and began its long trek back to the Rutan homeworld in order to warn the Host of the imminent Sontaran attack. Unfortunately, this Rutan spy became trapped in a decompressed spacecraft, thereby freezing it into a dormant state and delaying the delivery of this information, giving the Sontarans time to bring their plans closer to completion.
The Doctor, who, of course, knows about this spy from his encounters with it on Rudra, has heard of a number of strange deaths on various planets. These deaths match with the way a Rutan shapeshifts into another form, by probing into the bodily depths of the creature to be copied, gleaning all information needed to make an almost-perfect duplicate. This is a messy business, and it leaves a severely mutilated corpse as a side effect of the transmogrification. The Doctor sends in his companions, and ex-Adjudicators, Roz and Chris to find this Rutan and help it get back to its homeworld. The Doctor doesn’t know exactly what the great “secret” information is, but by allowing the Rutan to complete its mission, the war will continue, and the Universe will remain as it is. If the Rutans are defeated totally, the Sontarans, knowing only war, will inevitably set their sights on the rest of the Galaxy. By aiding the Rutan, the Doctor will keep both races busy with each other, and out of everyone elses’ hair (or scales, or shells, or whatever).
Review: I really could go on, but the Godfather of Doctor Who, Terrance Dicks, does such a great job of conveying this story to the reader that I’m just lessening his great prose by condensing it. Now, although this book is a broadend version of the video Shakedown: Return Of The Sontarans, only a small portion of this book is taken up with the events in the video. I love the way that Terrance spares you the long-winded description, and seems to impart a distinct “Britishness” onto the aliens, which is a refreshing change from the usual. Most NA authors, whose cyberpunk attitude causes their characters to react to things with long streams of profanity, seem childish in comparison to the dignified and imaginative words that grace these pages. So yes, another high rating, 9 out of 10. Can it get better? Yes, but only if Robert Holmes rises from his grave.
Year: 1995
Author: Terrance Dicks
Publisher: Virgin
Pages: 272