"The Shadow Of Weng-Chiang" is the kind of book that I, as a fan, try very hard to enjoy. It's set in a mostly undeveloped area of the programme's history (namely, the Fourth Doctor's time with the First Romana), it's a sequel to one of the most-beloved stories of the Seventies, and it takes great pains to flesh out a largely unknown (by me at least) historical setting.

So why, then, is it so damn _boring_? As it transpired, "Shadow was a book for which I could generate virtually no enthusiasm. McIntee has once again bogged down his prose in excessive detail and irrelevant historical fact, making the novel more akin to a university textbook than a Doctor Who adventure. His sense of pacing and action -- already on shaky ground in previous books like the similarly tedious "Lords Of The Storm" -- collapses completely here as vast stretches pass by without event, and important sequences are treated so lacadaisically that they generate no interest whatsoever.

Similarly poor is McIntee's characterisation, with only the Doctor coming across well (and McIntee does indeed have a pretty good grasp of the Fourth Doctor, although not rivalling Stephen Marley or Gareth Roberts). Romana is wooden and ill-developed, and none of McIntee's supporting characters are interesting or memorable. I quickly lost interest in keeping track of who was betraying who, not because the plot was dense or complex but because I just didn't particularly care. Even Hsien-Ko, the villainess of the piece, ends up as just another raving lunatic, despite McIntee's evident attempts to make her something more.

As far as plot goes, "Shadow" again falls flat on its face with a load of "Trek"-style technoshite. While the idea of the Dragon Paths and the Earth's "telluric currents" aren't too bad, the idea of wiring a mountain to act like a nuclear reactor is pushing things a little beyond Doctor Who's normal limits of green entropy and dodgy paleontology. Perhaps my lack of suspension of disbelief derives mainly from the fact that McIntee utterly failed to keep me enthralled, so I had more time as I was reading to realize how foolish the plot sounded.

And, with regards to being a sequel to "Talons", again "Shadow" just doesn't deliver. While I'll be the first to admit that I think that story is a little overrated, "Shadow" does it no service whatsoever. I firmly believe that a sequel must exist not simply to leech off the ideas of the original, but to add new layers to the existing story, not to simply continue it but to enrich it. "Shadow" does very little to add to "Talons", and ultimately its being a sequel feels forced and stagey. The presence of a character like Mr Sin is hardly a help, as nothing new is done with those elements; really, the whole thing falls flat on its face.

"The Shadow Of Weng-Chiang" marks a new low for the writing of David McIntee, which has gone steadily downhill since premiering with such promise with "White Darkness". I, for one, am becoming very leery of McIntee's output, and I can't say I'm particularly looking forward to his next effort, "The Dark Path".

4/10.

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