Thursday, 16 July 2015

Short Trips, Steel Skies 8.01: Corridors of Power, by Matthew Griffiths

(Apologies: this failed to post last week, and I somehow didn't notice!)

Okay, I'm sorry to say this is my least favourite short story so far in this marathon, and as a result this will be a short review. I don't like to dwell on negatives.

My main problem was the prose, which I found a real effort to read. The initial setting and mystery were interesting, but I don't think the story managed to follow through. I admit I didn't even understand the ending: I picked up on the tone, but couldn't make sense of the actual events. The Doctor's explanation of the solution to the mystery was straightforward, but didn't seem to lead to the enforced decision the travellers had to take.

It's a shame because Griffiths obviously had a handle on the character of the TARDIS crew, and I think he might have had a good idea for a story; but here the execution let it down, to the point where I can't even tell if that feeling is correct or not.

You know what? I think I'm going to do short reviews for short stories, as a rule. Because I don't usually have so much to say about them anyway. Although, at a meagre 210 words including this paragraph, Corridors of Power will hopefully be the limit case.

Published:
Date: December 2003
ISBN: 1-84435-045-2

Rating:
1/10.

Next Time:
The Schoolboy's Story.

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