"Eternity Weeps" is so much like Jim Mortimore's previous effort, "Parasite", that it's almost funny. I don't mean to say that "Eternity Weeps" is a rip off of the plot of its predecessor like some bad Hollywood sequel; rather, the two books are structurally similar... and this isn't a good thing. Once again, we have a supporting cast which doesn't survive long enough for the readers to become acquainted with them; once again, we have a Doctor who seems almost an inconvenient inclusion; and once again, the rest of the main cast is so unlikeable that it's hard to care at all what happens over the course of the novel.

Indeed, the nigh-invisibility of the Doctor and the predominance of Benny (and Jason) -- not to mention the sudden disappearance of the Doctor Who logo from the front of the book -- seems to set up EW as a test run for the series of Benny-only books which begin with "Oh No It Isn't!" in May. It's unfortunate, then, that Jim has such a poor handling of the character -- Benny here is made out to be overreactionary, even paranoid, too many of her actions exaggerated and out of synch with past portrayals. This includes her relationship with Jason, which crashes and burns just as quickly as it developed in "Death and Diplomacy" less than a year ago, and no more realistically. Sure, Jason does some lousy things. Sure, their marriage has its problems. But Jason's deeds and the problems their relationship faces seem inconsequential compared to some of the problems real married couples have faced and overcome... and surely, their past experiences dealing with the unknown would better prepare the pair to work things out between themselves. While I concede that their break-up is not inconceivable based upon previous books, it definitely needed far more set-up than is given here. Ultimately, it feels like an editorial decree rather than a natural development of the storyline, and that's rarely a good thing.

It's ironic, then, that Jason is perhaps the best of all the characters in "Eternity Weeps". The mistakes he makes, while occasionally causing one's head to shake, are only human and at least he tries to do something and make things better, unlike Bernice. Where Benny rails and acts contrarily, Jason risks everything and plunges back six billion years in the past. Sure, he actually causes the very thing he's trying to prevent, but c'est la vie: this act is nonetheless selfless and endearing, leading the reader to appreciate Jason's efforts, regardless of the results he produces. And besides he does redeem himself in the end by helping (albeit unwittingly) to concoct the Agent Yellow vaccine -- surely that counts for something!

Indeed, Jason seems to be fulfilling in "Eternity Weeps" the role normally held by Chris Cwej. That character, though, takes a major tumble in the book. After the sensitive treatment of Chris' recovery from Roz's death in "Bad Therapy", it makes little sense that he should suddenly revert to a grieving imbecile, evoking all the symptoms of a nervous breakdown. Where "Bad Therapy" approached Chris' grief in a mature fashion, "Eternity Weeps"' answer is to have Chris call other people by Roz's name. Unfortunate. And even one of the climactic points of the novel -- Chris' inability to kill Liz as she lies suffering from Agent Yellow -- seems muted in effect. For one thing, it's debatable whether killing her actually would be the correct course of action: certainly, the recovery of the formula for making the Agent Yellow vaccine was of paramount importance. Secondly, with all the death and devastation in "Eternity Weeps", even the death of a former companion just seems like another notch on the bedpost: by that point, Mortimore has so desensitised the reader to the occurrence of death that the whole thing seems to be a non-event. And it doesn't help that Liz gets so little exposure before her death that her character isn't even recognizable.

The Doctor, as stated previously, really makes little impact on this novel, though he is decently handled when he does appear. The same goes for the guest cast, who are generally well-handled (with the notable exception of Liz), but are too transient to seem at all important.

Mortimore's other key misstep in EW is the plot. He appears to pick up and discard elements at will, leaving far too many questions unanswered. Indeed, the whole Noah's Ark question -- the impetus for the novel -- goes utterly unresolved, unless I missed something big. Why was one mountain the "door" and the other the "key"? What was the transmat doing on Earth? What were those rectangular crevices in Mount Ararat? Answers on the back of a postcard, please. Indeed, the whole storyline seems constructed specifically so that Mortimore can get to certain key scenes; it's an ill-constructed plot designed more for immediate effect than any longterm appreciation -- a sort of Doctor Who equivalent to "Star Trek: First Contact", if you like. Indeed, given Jim's plot construction failings both here and with "Parasite", and his towering success with the "Decalog" short story "The Book Of Shadows", I have to wonder whether he isn't more suited to short story and novella writing than fully-fledged novels.

"Eternity Weeps" is neither a pleasant read, nor a compelling end (of sorts) to the Benny/Jason relationship, nor a satisfying death story for Liz Shaw. While those elements of the plot which are intelligible do redeem it somewhat (there's definitely a good story lurking in there somewhere!), and the characterisation of Jason Kane is undoubtedly excellent, this is a rather poor start to 1997.

4/10.

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