Although "Lords" is his first Missing Adventure, David A McIntee is a veteran of no less than three New Adventures -- "White Darkness", "First Frontier" and "Sanctuary". Like those books, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with "Lords" -- there are no embarrassing characters, aggravating plot holes or bad ideas.

Unfortunately, "Lords" also shares one other trait with McIntee's previous books: it is incredibly, mind-numbingly, boring. Despite having been published many times previously, McIntee has yet to realize that it is unnecessary to make use of every adjective listed in Roget's Thesaurus just to describe something. As a result, "Lords" moves at a sluggish pace, seemingly taking forever for things to happen. Moreover, when events do finally occur, the are related in the same bland, overwritten style as the rest of the novel, and hence are given a feeling of inconsequentiality. Climactic scenes like Jahangir's final sacrifice should bear an importance and monumentality, but instead simply seem to happen. It is as if, despite the vast number of words he uses, McIntee has yet to master the challenge of making his prose more than simply words on paper. Only on rare occasions, like Sharma's near-death, does a glimmer of good prose finally show through.

This aura of tedium also extends to virtually every character in the novel including, sadly, the Doctor and Turlough. Although there is nothing strictly wrong with the two principles -- indeed, McIntee seems well-versed in the traits which define these characters -- they seem like dull shadows of their televised selves, or indeed of their previous Missing Adventures appearances. Few of the supporting characters solicit any time of sympathy from the reader, simply because, again, it is difficult to envisage them as "people" and not merely characters in a book. Nur, Sharma, Jahangir... all of these are dull and lifeless, and come across as having being created purely for their function in the plot. The only character I truly enjoyed was the lackadaisacal Karan -- but, of course, he gets killed off before a third of the book is through.

To his credit, McIntee does do some interesting work with the Sontarans who, I must confess, failed to thrill me in any of their on-screen appearances. In addition to resolving apparent conflicts about the appearance of the creatures, he also delves into the mentality of the different types of Sontarans, and to their attitude towards battle, promotion and death. Although I doubt I'll ever consider the Sontarans as interesting or well-rounded as, say, the Ice Warriors, "Lords of the Storm" goes some way towards developing Robert Holmes' creations.

The Rutan, too, come off rather nicely, despite being virtually ignore duntil it feels as though the book is almost over. The group-mind of the Rutan is well-portrayed, if unoriginal, and the readjustment of Karne back into the Rutan state of mind is particularly interesting.

The Bottom Line: Ultimately, "Lords of the Storm" fails to rise above mediocrity, presenting a decidedly dull entry into the Missing Adventures line which I found impossible to read for more than a half-hour or so per sitting. Although I could perhaps understand the unwieldiness and slow pace of McIntee's prose in historical novels like "White Darkness" and "Sanctuary", here -- as with the equally plodding "First Frontier" -- it is inexcusable and truly detracts from what is, at its heart, an intriguing story. I can only hope McIntee's writing improves in time for his imminent fifth Who novel, "The Shadow of Weng-Chiang".

5/10.

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