Roy Gill (1)Besprekingen

This box set comprises 4 full-cast stories featuring Michelle Gomez as Missy, the incarnation of the Master that squared off with Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor.

A Spoonful of Mayhem, by Roy Gill (3.5/5): Some literal LOL moments as Missy does a Mary Poppins: crossbreeding dogs and squirrels into a creature that chases itself up trees for kicks. Also I immediately guessed that Dan Starkey was the Warden. I like the idea of Missy being subject to exile like the Doctor was in the 1970s. Boy does she chafe at those restrictions. But also boy does this story highlight how sociopathic she is. The kids were rather stilted, and I couldn’t tell if that was their characters or the actors.

Divorced, Beheaded, Regenerated, by John Dorney (4/5): This was totally bonkers and I loved it, even as there was a LOT of scenery-chewing (especially when the Meddling Monk and Missy were trying to out-villain each other). I did not know how it would turn out, and there are some great LOL moments (but to say more would spoil them).

The Broken Clock, by Nev Fountain (3.5/5): This story begins with a highly amusing read on true crime documentaries (hyperbolic narration, constant repetition of information) and becomes a somewhat meta, mildly confusing in places involving time loops real and imagined. Americans may find the satire of Americans somewhat over the top (the theme tune for the documentary had what sounded like the opening line of “Yankee Doodle” Morse coded into it as a motif), and the American cops seemed to speak through clenched square jaws and take everything seriously, including their quipping. I did find myself surprised by the turns the story took, so well done.

The Belly of the Beast, by Jonathan Morris (2/5): I could buy the general premise (Missy sets up some sort of exploitative mining operation), but I still don’t really understand why the mining needed to be literally inside a beast; it didn’t add anything to the story. There was also an awful lot of screaming and yelling, which I should probably expect from a Missy story, but it felt OTT and meant I couldn’t listen to it in public because I was constantly adjusting the volume.

Overall rating: 3.25/5

SUBLIME!!!

This was a fast listen, but not my favourite Big Finish. Ten shows up but is voiced by the main male lead, and the impression veers into parody rather a lot for my liking. Ten doesn’t speak with his teeth clenched THAT much, does he?

Cameron is a young teen who has just lost his father, and his mother left when he was even younger, so he's very thankful when his grandmother takes him in, even though he doesn't know her at all because for some reason, his father wouldn't let him have anything to do with her when he was growing up. When she tells him she can bring his father back from the dead with his help, he's over the moon. She explains to him that there is a world parallel to ours, called the Daemon parallel, and that he has magic and can help her obtain all of the things needed to perform the ritual to bring his father back. This sets Cameron off on a quest that involves werewolves, daemons, and even humans, and puts him in danger from an unexpected source.

I enjoyed this book very much. Cameron was a very likeable young man, and the friends he makes along the way are just as likeable. The interesting thing is that the ones you think will be evil sometimes aren't, and the ones you're supposed to trust are sometimes the ones you should be running away from the fastest. It keeps you on your toes!

The plot was well written, and moved along at an easy pace. The world building was phenomenal due to a very interesting setting. The human world and the Daemon parallel were described very well, which made them easy to imagine. The ending was a great twist, as well.

In summary, I enjoyed this book very much and look forward to reading the next book in the series.

Highly recommend to MG readers who like a little paranormal in their stories.

5/5 stars.

I received a copy of this book free of charge through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I adore Missy (Michelle Gomez). She is, perhaps, my favorite incarnation of Doctor Who in the history of the entire show. Literally, every episode of the Peter Capaldi era that featured her was immediately made better by her being in it. Gomez brings this wonderful energy to the role, balancing genuine pathos with the Master's typical crazy, evil behavior. So, when Big Finish Productions announced they were giving Missy her own series, I was absolutely excited for it. Four stories with Missy as the main character? Sign me up! These stories - A Spoonful of Mayhem by Roy Gill, Divorced, Beheaded, Regenerated by John Dorney, The Broken Clock by Nev Fountain, and The Belly of the Beast by Jonathan Morris - make up this utterly superb first series of audio adventures for Missy. Each episode has a completely different tone and method of exploring Missy as a character - and I adore each of them.

This box set is a series of four stand-alone stories that are loosely connected by an overarching storyline featuring Missy trying to regain her TARDIS/transform it into a kind of super-TARDIS. But that overarching plotline isn't really the point of this set and it doesn't really come into focus until the last ten minutes of the fourth story in the set. The joy of this boxset comes from Michelle Gomez's performance as Missy and the truly delightful stories written for her by Roy Gill, John Dorney, Nev Fountain, and Jonathan Morris. Each story explores Missy in a different light; A Spoonful of Mayhem sees her trapped by space wardens and forced to be the governess for some children in order to further her plans, Divorced, Beheaded, Regenerated sees her going against the Meddling Monk (Rufus Hound) in order to steal a part of his TARDIS to further her plans, The Broken Clock sees her impersonating a Scotland Yard detective as she takes part in a weird, timey-wimey true-crime show, and The Belly of the Beast shows her at, perhaps, her most cruel as she is an evil dictator commanding a group of slaves. Each story plays up these different aspects of Missy's personality perfectly and each one is an utter delight.

I don't want to go into any real specifics on the stories other than to say that each one is totally distinct from the other. There are major tonal differences as well as each plot being totally different and featuring totally different characters. For the most part, Missy is the only character who appears in every story - there is one exception to this, but to say anything more would be a major spoiler. So, with that said, it's admirable how the side characters in each story are as well developed as they are. Each writer does this without sacrificing any of Missy's "screentime", too, which is doubly impressive. Particular standouts are Rufus Hound's performance as the Meddling Monk - a role which he has played before and been amazing in. It's always fun when Missy runs into other Time Lords as each of them has to deal with her in a different way and I love how her dynamic changes depending on which Time Lord she's dealing with. My other favorite side characters are the ones in The Broken Clock. As I mentioned, that story takes the form of a true-crime TV show, with a narrator interviewing various people involved in the story and "actors" portraying those people in dramatic reenactments. Missy, predictably, doesn't much care for the actress portraying her and quickly takes over the role and makes the whole story even more timey-wimey.

Each story has something new to say about Missy and most of them also add something interesting to the Doctor Who universe at large. We find out that the Monk hid from the Time War and now finds himself stranded because of it. We find out that Missy's TARDIS ditched her because it realized the atrocities she'd commit in the Time War - and also saw the fact that she'd continue to commit atrocities after its conclusion. We learn that, even though the Time Lords are back in the universe, creatures they used to keep under control still run amuck (particularly those who feed on paradoxes). And there's a whole lot of other clever ideas that expand the universe of Doctor Who. This is one of my favorite sets from Big Finish in a long time precisely for the reason that it doesn't rely on overly referencing the past. This box set is about expanding the world of Doctor Who and it does so admirably, with each author bringing something new or doing a new twist on something we thought we knew. I love it when Big Finish audios do something new or try something that the TV series couldn't do. It's one of the reasons why The Broken Clock is my favorite story in this set. I love when shows have episodes that are take-offs on other media - the episodes of The X-Files and Supernatural that parody other shows are some of the best ones - and this take off on true-crime shows, with a Doctor Who twist, is just so much fun. That's the best way to describe this set, really: "so much fun".

All in all, Missy - Series 1 is one of my favorite box sets to come out from Big Finish in ages. It features some of the most creative stories from the company, is all about my favorite incarnation of the Master (Michelle Gomez's Missy), and really expands the world of Doctor Who in new and interesting ways. Every story feels unique, both tonally and plot-wise, while still forming part of a larger narrative that ends in a cliffhanger that makes you long for the next set. It's clear that Michelle Gomez is still having an enormous amount of fun portraying Missy as she delivers a performance that perfectly balances Missy's pathos with her completely bonkers insanity. The performances from the guest cast complement Gomez's performance nicely, and the writing for each story gives Gomez something new to play with each time. This box set is just an utter delight. It's a fun way to spend four hours and I'm excited to hear more.

This title was released in June 2016. It will be exclusively available to buy from the BF website until July 31st 2016, and on general sale after this date.

A two-hour adventure celebrating 50 years of Dark Shadows!

“Some are born with magic, some acquire magic, and others have magic thrust upon them...”

The year is 1767. Young widow Laura Murdoch Stockbridge is to marry Joshua Collins, heir to the Collins fortune. Meanwhile, Joshua’s sister Abigail is in love with disreputable sailor Abraham Harkaway.

But the course of true love never did run smooth… especially when the witch Angélique Bouchard is around.

For Angélique has been sent back in time. And she has one mission…

To destroy the Collins family forever.

Featuring cast from the original television series, Blood and Fire is a special audio drama to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Dark Shadows.

This title was released in June 2016. It will be exclusively available to buy from the BF website until July 31st 2016, and on general sale after this date.

A two-hour adventure celebrating 50 years of Dark Shadows!

“Some are born with magic, some acquire magic, and others have magic thrust upon them...”

The year is 1767. Young widow Laura Murdoch Stockbridge is to marry Joshua Collins, heir to the Collins fortune. Meanwhile, Joshua’s sister Abigail is in love with disreputable sailor Abraham Harkaway.

But the course of true love never did run smooth… especially when the witch Angélique Bouchard is around.

For Angélique has been sent back in time. And she has one mission…

To destroy the Collins family forever.

Featuring cast from the original television series, Blood and Fire is a special audio drama to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Dark Shadows.

This was an awesome and entertaining audio drama to listen to.
I can hardly wait for series two.

Loved the book. It was fun and exciting, definitely something younger readers would be able to see themselves in. The plot had enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing - no easy figuring out "who done it" ahead of time!

Cameron was a truly likeable character, who grew throughout the book. You wanted him to succeed and prove everyone wrong.

Love how the world-building was set up, with the split between this world and the demon world, as well as someone needing the ability to slip between the two. The whole department store/otherworld? Fantastic!

The story is set in Edinburgh, where slang and idiom usage can sometimes create problems for American readers. Not so here - the slang was lightly sprinkled through the book, and it was easy to figure out what was being said.

All in all this is a good start to what looks to be a promising series (I hope!)

2,5