Doctor Who:
Legacy of the Daleks
By John Peel
Reviewed By Paul Bowler
As the Doctor begins
searching for his missing companion, Sam, a psychic cry of despair from his
granddaughter Susan leads him to Earth in the late 22nd century
where England is gradually recovering from the Dalek invasion. This is where
the Doctor left Susan after she fell in love with David and stayed to help the
survivors rebuild. However, when the Doctor arrives in Domain London he finds
that Susan has gone missing and the city is now divided by political
infighting.
The Doctor’s attempts to
find Susan leads to a confrontation with Lord Haldoran, who is planning
all-out-war against his enemies. Haldoran’s military advisor, Estro, has
installed power cables down an abandoned mineshaft, where they are attempting
to reactivate a mysterious device. When the Doctor meets Estro he instantly
recognizes him as the Master. However, this is the incarnation who regularly
battled against the 3rd Doctor, and he has been manipulating events
so can he seize control of a powerful Dalek weapon.
But have the Daleks really
been vanquished, or are they secretly rebuilding? The Doctor is reunited with
Susan, and together with her husband David, and Donna, a knight of Domain
London, they must find a way to stop the Master from escaping with the core of
the matter transmuter and destroy the Daleks.
Legacy of the Daleks is
set thirty years after the Dalek Invasion of Earth, where humanity is gradually
starting to rebuild, but the shortage of natural resources has begun to cause
conflict as opposing political factions begin to turn on one another. Although
the Doctor’s companion Sam dose not appear in Legacy of the Daleks, this offers
John Peel the chance to reunite the Doctor with his granddaughter Susan, as
well as her husband David, and introduce us to Donna, one of the Knights of
Domain London.
One of the most
interesting aspects of Legacy of the Daleks is way Peel develops these
characters, these are harsh times, and it seem that Susan and David’s
relationship is in trouble. David is struggling to cope with the fact Susan is
not aging like him, because she is a Time Lord, and it’s beginning to put a
strain on their marriage. Donna is another really strong character, she is the
black sheep of her family, and has had to overcome great adversity in her own
personal life. Haldoran is a maliciously evil character; his plot to overthrow
his rivals is utterly ruthless.
The Eighth Doctor is right
in the thick of the action in Legacy of the Daleks. It was interesting to see
the Doctor reunited with Susan, and the added bonus of having the Delgado
version of the Master included as well brought a nice twist to the story. It
takes a while for the Daleks to appear, but when they do the plot becomes
really action packed as the Daleks go on the rampage. After such an exciting
story, the ending did seem a little rushed and a bit contrived for my liking,
but it was still a thoroughly entertaining book.
