Emilio Laiso

Our favourite, non-conforming Doctor is back and this time she is under the influence of the our even more adored two psychopathic droids - Bee-Tee and Triple-0 have a plan and they need Aphra's help as well as that of a motley bunch of criminals and social misfits.

Great fun, great action and a touch of morals hidden way way beneath a very selfish and murderous cover!

Aphra is such an amoral disaster. I love her. I love the strange cast of characters each storyline has introduced (and killed off). I'm so into the complicated, tricksy relationship between Aphra and Tolvan.

I love everything about this book. Aphra is just such a wonderful character who brings out the best of her eclectic supporting cast, from murder-droids to killer mercs and even a by-the-book imperial love interest. Truly delightful stuff.

I love this series because unlike most narratives of the genre, it features a bunch of evil characters who have to outsmart one another. In a classic good vs evil story, for good to triumph, you need the villain(s) to make often ludicrous tactical mistakes (such as giving a long speech about world domination while the hero is managing to escape). In Doctor Aphra, everyone goes from chaotic neutral to chaotic/lawful evil, so it’s no barrels hold from beginning to end.

The premise of this show more story arc is fun, and it holds up for a while. However I really noticed the writer switch up, especially at mid-point through the narrative. The dialogues felt clunky and plagued by an over-use of adjectives (the Thesaurus syndrome: you pile up fancy words to the detriment of style). The themes of ”are evil people truly 100% evil?”, ”isn’t everyone deep down looking for love/trust?”, ”isn’t it better when we all get along?” felt tired, just like the superheroes stories about ”what does it mean to be a hero?”

I’ve found that the Doctor Aphra series has been consistently great at showing but not telling these issues, and making Aphra and the characters around her interesting, clever, and complex. This is the first entry in the series in which both the writing and themes feel ham-fisted. It’s disapponting. show less