Lords of the Storm

"Really? Do you tell the toaster what sort of spread you're going to put on the toast? More or less everything the Sontarans do is with an eye to defeating the Rutan. They've been at war for longer than mankind has been standing upright, and they don't take any prisoners."

Writer: David A. McIntee
Format: Novel
Released: 7th December 1995
Series: Virgin Missing Adventures 17

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Turlough

Synopsis

The war between the Sontarans and the Rutans has been raging for millennia. Billions have died and the whole star systems have been obliterated in the conflict. Now, finally, one side may have victory within its grasp.

The human colony world of Rhagi is crucial to that victory. When the Doctor and Turlough arrive there, they find a seemingly stable society ruled by a strict caste system. But all is not as it seems. Members of the lower caste are being struck down by a mysterious illness. People are vanishing in their hundreds. And strange objects have been observed orbiting the sun.

Why is Raghi so important to the feuding alien empires? And how high a price will the galaxy pay if the conflict comes to an end?

Verdict

Overall, Lords of the Storm was a very good book and from a personal point, at time of reading of course, brought the Sontarans back to their evil roots which was great to read! Now, I can't say I dislike Strax accompanying the Eleventh Doctor, quite the opposite actually. But it's been a while since a story featuring the Sontarans as villains appeared on television and not only did we get them back to their best, but we had a great taste of action of the endless war between the Sontar natives and the Rutan Host!

After a slow start, some four chapters plus an irrelevant prologue, the novel finally kicked into action as the plot threads sunk through, the Doctor and Turlough arrived, and Nur got into her stride. Nur was by far my favourite character in the novel! She was just awesome and I loved her throughout. Isn't it just great when a story specific character lights up a book? The main criticism I would have with the novel, other than the style of language from David A. McIntee, was the time it took for the Sontarans to enter the story. From the cover as you can see above, plus the synopsis, we know for a fact that the Sontarans are featuring, so why not throw them into the deep end straight away? I think it would've made the start of the novel more exciting and overall would improve my final rating.

I really liked the plot however, once it got going, and how the story was set directly after Resurrection of the Daleks and the Doctor was visibly upset at losing Tegan as companion. But he had other things to deal with as the plan of the Sontarans was devious, evil and just brilliant! Using planets and scientist to destroy the Rutans! Genius. It's rather difficult to explain in detail as there are many twists and a lot of information to handle, but once you get the grasp of it, it really is great. I loved the many references to The Invasion of Time and adored the shock reference to The Dalek Invasion of Earth. It was great to have another story featuring the Rutan, who'd only appeared in Horror of Fang Rock and their description was really great! I really was against the ridiculousness of just calling the main Rutan Host 'Fred' though, that spoilt the reappearance of them I thought. Chapter 7 was by far my favourite part of the book as it had a tremendous action scene that had Nur show her strengths and the Doctor in danger of his life! Not for the first time of course. The climax was very entertaining and it was a great twist to discover that Major Starne was a disguised Rutan! But it begs the question, if the Rutan can camouflage as Sontarans, surely they'd have won the war by now? The ranking system of the Sontarans was excellent throughout and definitely helped gain some information about the magnificent villains. The unexpected reference to Leela was also good! Turlough wasn't great however, he just seemed to be in the way most of the time but that provided humour so it wasn't all bad. The plot thread regarding the TARDIS being taken was also fantastic! Overall, some minor issues - but very good nonetheless!

Rating: 8/10