The Banquo Legacy (Doctor Who) [Paperback]

Justin Richards (Author), Andy Lane (Author)

Book Description

Series: Doctor Who | Publication Date: February 2001

Middletown in 1889 is a small mining village -- but the local mine is about to be closed down. In an attempt to avoid this catastrophe, the owner, Lord Urton built a huge dam across the river to reduce flooding in a promising area of the mine, but to no avail.

However, little does he realise that the construction of the dam has disturbed something that was lying dormant in the earth. Something that is now stirring into life...

Strange events are afoot, with local deaths that appear to be caused by lightning strikes. Except that the soles of the victims' feet are burned black.

It's up to the Doctor to find out what mysterious forces have been unleashed. Perhaps the stranger in town, Nepath, who wants to buy the mine from Lord Urton, can shed some light on the matter...

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: BBC Pubns (February 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0563538082
• ISBN-13: 978-0563538080
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,236,649 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Justin Richards has written dozens of novels as well as non-fiction books. He has also written audio scripts, a television and stage play, edited anthologies of short stories, been a technical writer, and founded and edited a media journal.

Justin is the author of The Death Collector, The Chaos Code, The Parliament of Blood and The Invisible Detective series. He is also Creative Consultant to the BBC's best-selling range of Doctor Who books.

His novel 'The Skeleton Clock' is available as a Kindle eBook.

He lives in Warwick with his wife and two children, and a lovely view of the castle.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellence, October 22, 2001

By 

Andrew McCaffrey "The Grumpy Young Man" (Satellite of Love, Maryland) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Banquo Legacy (Doctor Who) (Paperback)

BANQUO LEGACY is fantastic. It's dripping with atmosphere, it has a cracking plot, and it feels miles away from being "just another runaround". This is such a relief after so many forgettable books (there's been so many of them before this, that I can't even remember when the last memorable book was) to have something that's just flat-out good.

The book is split into two memoirs. One is written by a solicitor who is being paid to be an impartial witness to a scientific experiment. The other is written by a police inspector who is called to the scene after everything goes fatally wrong. Set in the 19th Century, the story feels very much at home in the culture of the original mad scientists and the stories of the intellectuals of the time. The real authors of the book, Andy Lane and Justin Richards, set the stage wonderfully, with every detail fitting perfectly into the Victorian mystery novel that they've created.

There are some wonderful themes running through this book; the most satisfying and well executed would be the reflections upon seeing an objective reality from two differing, subjective standpoints. This is most obvious in the narrative, as the overall story is told from the point of view of two different people. This leads to a handful of overlapping scenes where certain details and events are described twice with slight differences in their recollection; it's an effect that's pulled off very nicely. This theme also extends into the experiment that they are observing, which is based upon the placing of thoughts and experiences from one mind directly into another. It crops up in one or two other places (most notable the sections involving Compassion) and is quite rewarding to the reader once one figures out what is going on.

The only real problems with this book are that the authors were so skillful at creating a late 19th Century atmosphere that the references to Time Lords, TARDISes and other anachronisms seem very much out of place. Perhaps there would have been a better way to incorporate these elements into the story without their metaphorical seams showing. Despite these minor details, this is quite an enjoyable book and comes as a breath of fresh air. Don't skip this one.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A change of pace for the 8th Doctor, June 11, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Banquo Legacy (Doctor Who) (Paperback)

While not as dense and complicated as lots of the other Doctor Who books, this is an interesting mystery set in the late 19th century which begins with Compassion pulling off something that is quite strange and would not be something you'd expect a TARDIS to be able to do! Then she, along with the Doctor and Fitz, are forced to take refuge at Banquo Manor, posing as guests who are scheduled to arrive to witness a scientific demonstration. As the drama at Banquo Manor unfolds, things go from dark to horrific. The most interesting aspect of this story is that it is told from the viewpoints of two of the guests at Banquo, alternating between them from chapter to chapter. We see some events described twice, from two different points of view, and both are ultimately befuddled by the Doctor's involvement.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps the best ever....., April 6, 2004

By 

Handsome Timmy D (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Banquo Legacy (Doctor Who) (Paperback)

Original, witty, poetic. Two of Doctor Who's best authors teaming up to tell a simple horror story (well, maybe not that simple) from two different perspectives. I read this in a few hours and was so mad when it was done. And was even more mad that Paul McGann wasn't starring in the DVD release of this!!!
Mr. Lane & Mr. Richards worked terribly hard to achieve the local and historical flavor of the piece but it is more than evident in the content that they had fun doing it. And MAN, did I have fun reading it. Scary in some places, laugh out loud funny in others. Some good BBC books before this one, some bad ones, but I must say this was arguably the first GREAT ONE. The Talons of Weng-Chiang of the 8th Doctor.
The only "negative" I can say is that one should read some 8th Doctor/Fitz novels before this one to really get attached to their interplay. There's some "techno-babbly" stuff about Compassion being a TARDIS and yadda-yadda-yadda, but this is a character driven story, enjoyable for all Doctor Who fans. Highest possible recommendation.