Taleya

Author at Final Refuge http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~taleya.

911 (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 30th July 2000 (16)
Tags: Short Story
(15K)

The log of a 911 call. Very good. Blair to a T. We just love our Blair. And the last bit is Simon to a T. Gotta smile at the last line.

Bereft (Doctor Who)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 30th March 2008 (20)
Tags: Short Story
(8K)

Summary:What would happen if the TARDIS actually HAD been destroyed during the Big Finish Audio Singularity?

This is sad, heartbreaking, moving... with a sliver of hope. Just enough to keep Turlough and the Doctor going, enduring in this bleakness; the bleakness of a Russian winter, the bleakness in the Doctor's mind of the loss of the TARDIS and the communion he had with it.

The Dark Path (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 13th March 2002 (2)
Tags: Short Story
(28K)

This story follows on from the end of the episode "Dead Drop". Well, it may follow on, but I don't follow it. It didn't make sense to me. It started out promisingly, with the emotional aftermath of the episode, and I thought it would be a nice insightful emotional resolution story. Then it turned into something completely different! I can't see where one follows on from the other, except possibly the implication that Jim threatening to drop Rachins at the end of the episode is explained by the Evil Presence. But as it was, the spirit plane stuff just felt cliched to me, and lacked subtlety. There's more to a choice between good and evil than a fancy setting and rotting corpses. This story really did not work for me.

Desperate Measures (Doctor Who)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 30th March 2008 (21)
Tags: Short Story
(10K)

Summary:Set after Enlightenment, Turlough takes a final, desperate action to claw his way to freedom.

This story is painted with emotions, gestures, actions, expressions; oh yes, there is dialogue, but very little is needed. Masks fall, and then rise again. Intense, well written, plausible missing scene.

Fallout (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 28th November 2000 (1)

This story is an angst-fest, with spooky mystical stuff. There are a few stale phrases -- I noticed two instances of "burly Captain(s)" within the space of a few paragraphs, and while I might describe Joel as burly, I don't really think of Simon that way. The characterisation is a touch more fanon than canon.

The story picks up in the second half, becoming more interesting to me as Jim has to face the strangeness of a fractured reality, and making me cheer as he doesn't play by the rules, and giving us some cool character moments at the end.
    Jim sank down onto the couch, cradling his head in his hands. He had no idea. This wasn't his realm, this was Blair's. Give him something tangible, something he could fight with his fists, not words. Blair was the academic, the wizard who built towers of elegant phrases, not him. Blair was the one who opened his mind, seeing things that no one thought of noticing. Blair was the Shaman, the Guide.
    The soul.
    But Blair wasn't there.


All in all, reasonably good. Though I was actually expecting the end to be somewhat chilling, but the author didn't do what I expected.