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Doctor Who: The Legacy > Kuang Shi - Chapter Two
Chapter Two Review by Paul Clement As chapter one moved sedately towards it's conclusion, the Doctor had passed through a portal, leaving behind his two companions in the hands of two very dubious characters. If chapter one slowly built the scenario, chapter two fairly bursts into action as Andie begins to get the story rolling. The absence of the Doctor is hardly noticeable to the reader throughout the chapter due to the momentum with which the separate story threads are developing. One of the strongest features is the interplay between characters within the chapter. Bradley appears to have some sort of design on Nick, to the point where he is happy to mislead him into believing he is responsible for the recovery of Nick's leg injuries. Lulled in by Bradley, Nick opens up to him, and the reader gains an important incite into Nick's inner feelings about his transformation into a human and the loss he feels because of it. We also learn that The Kuang-Shi are vampires, which I had suspected from the opening prologue. It also opened up the question, are the Kuang-Shi and the planet Styria in anyway connected to the planet visited briefly by the Doctor and Brad in the Season 1 story "So Long Legend"? I think so, but like everyone else, I'll just have to wait and see. Meanwhile Alf is trying to regain more of the memories of her past with the younger version of herself, Ace and accompanied by Nicholas, whom she believes to be Nick. The interplay between Alf and Nicholas is perhaps even more sinister, with Alf unaware of who Nicholas is, while Nicholas keeps reminding himself of Alf's counterpart the Lady Dorothy, who he obviously has an unresolved past with. Andie shows his capacity to surprise within this chapter also, with the apparent death of Ace, how Alf will react when she finds out will be interesting to read. One of the signs of a good writer is their ability to awake questions in the readers mind, and in this area Andie does remarkably well for every question he answers, a new one is posed. Although early on we learn that the mysterious man in the PVC outfit is one if the Millenium People, and also learn that Bradley, and presumably Nicholas are vampires, new questions have been raised such as, Is Ace dead? If so and if this means a paradox, will the Dommervoy return? What has happened to Nick and what has precipitated the return of the Millenium People? Will Nick be content to continue to travel with the Doctor if his powers have been restored? Perhaps the only downside to Andie's work so far in Kuang-Shi has been some of it's predictability, The fact that the Kuang-Shi are vampires was fairly apparent from the prologue, though it must be said that being aware of the Andie's love of all things vampirical helps too. The revelation that the PVC outfitted gentleman was one of the Millenium People was also fairly clearly signposted to the observant reader. That said, it was an interesting read, and I look forward to Chapter three.
Chapter Two Review by Elizabeth Medeiros If I were to give a subtitle to Chapter Two of “Kuang-Shi”, it might be “Wolves in Sheep's Clothing.” For both Bradley and Nicholas are pretending to be what they're not, friendly and benevolent, in order to lure Alf and Nick to themselves. But the true nature of the evil that was just glimpsed at in the previous chapter is now revealed. Kuang-Shi means vampires! There's a slow developing terror in this chapter that just drew me in and grabbed me as a reader and didn’t let go. Just the sentence “Bradley inhaled the air and let out a sigh of satisfaction. ‘Blood! He hissed.” practically made my spine tingle. This Bradley is one mean, nasty dude and the way he lusts after Nick-in every sense of that word- is quite chilling. What makes this even more effective is Nick's vulnerability. His implants are failing, he can barely walk and Bradley can't wait to have him. It reminded me of the wild, where a predator such as a lion just runs a deer into exhaustion and then pounces and goes in for the kill. These scenes are both fascinating and terrifying in their slowly mounting danger; it's great reading. The scenes with Alf and Nicholas are equally well written and vivid. Nicholas is hell bent on revenge and Alf has no clue that he isn't her Nick. Part of me wanted to yell out a warning to her, but of course, I couldn't. Though I found it somewhat odd that Alf couldn't tell that he wasn't Nick, surely their body language and ways of speaking are nowhere alike. But Alf doesn't see that Nicholas' hatred is more personal, and tough though she may be, she is just as vulnerable as Nick is with Bradley. Sometimes just knowing violence and revenge are imminent make for compelling reading, and that's certainly true here. I could feel Alf's fear when she finally sees Nicholas as a vampire. She’s at his mercy and vampires have no mercy. In between these sharp and intense scenes, the actions of the little man, the Millennium Bitch, add a much needed lighter touch to this chapter. Scene after scene of pure evil and terror tend to lose their punch after a while and the sarcastic, unlikable Bitch is a welcome change of pace. Though that cliffhanger may not be as frightening or bloody as the one featuring Alf, it is unique. But both cliffhangers bring up a whole new set of questions, only to be answered in chapter three. |
