"Death to the Daleks!"

"You don't have power over the Daleks. You just have power over the rest of us."

Writer: Nicholas Briggs 

Format: Audio

Released: October 2001

Series: Dalek Empire 1.03

Featuring: Suz, Alby, Kalendorf

Synopsis 

Yeses have passed. The war goes on.

For every Dalek defeat, the Earth Alliance has suffered ten. Could it be that the Daleks are finally on the brink of victory?

Suz and Kalendorf have devised a secret plan to defeat the Daleks. But is it too late?

The Dalek Emperor seems to have its own hidden agenda...

Verdict 

"Death to the Daleks!" was a very good audio adventure to continue the advancement of this first series of the Dalek Empire range. I was intrigued in The Human Factor by how long these stories were covering and that's certainly continued to be the case here. I loved the relationship between Suz and Kalendorf here and I just love the audacity by Nicholas Briggs to give us the assumption that our main character actually somewhat enjoys working for the Daleks now, rousing up the slaves of the worlds they continue to conquer. I thought it was incredible that the Daleks credited Suz with the Dalek Empire because of how well she increased the slave morality. How horrific must that be! After reluctantly volunteering for the Dalek cause in Invasion of the Daleks, she was now accredited with being responsible for the Dalek Empire. I can't imagine how that must have felt for her. I was further intrigued by the fact she would only answer to the Dalek Emperor or the Dalek Supreme, it seemed she'd accepted her position now and would only listen to those in charge. The way she understood the Dalek hierarchy in such depth was also a surprise! She'd really gotten at home with her new life, much to her disgust. Her reaction to the extermination of the people she ordered to rid her room of cameras and recording equipment was very surprising! She didn't really flinch, she just reluctantly did as she was told to prevent further death. I think it's just wonderful to do that to your main character, almost put them on the side of the enemy. A very bold move! I really liked the continuation from the cliffhanger of the previous story with Pellan the one being killed, not Alby. The revelation of Pellan was a big surprise but one I thought was very good. He'd been planted by the Daleks to gather information about Alby because of his connection to Suz. She was losing her hope that she used to inspire the Dalek slaves, and amazingly using human emotion, the Daleks wanted Alby to rekindle the flame of hope in Suz. The women they relied on to increase slave efficiency. The women indirectly responsible for the Dalek Empire. I liked how the Daleks subtly found out about Kalendorf's telepathic communication by making Suz pick between the man she loved and the man she had a great deal of animosity for. She chose the illogical option so the Daleks knew something was up. I liked how despite seemingly being on the side of the Daleks, our Angel of Mercy was still planning on when to strike a revolt. But she had to be incredibly careful to avoid her biggest fear - death. The Daleks themselves were fantastic in this story and at their ruthless best. I mean, Earth had fallen and now the galaxy was the Daleks in its entirety. They'd conquered everything of significance. An incredibly frightening thought! Was Suz and Kalendorf's tour of Dalek occupied planets over? I'll guess we'll find out in the finale. The references to the Project Infinity were good and I look forward to seeing what exactly that is. Tanlee was very good in this story and it seems like he'll play a great and important part in the final story of the series. The revelation provided about Pellan really was a game changer - as was the moment the Dalek Emperor spoke to Suz for the first time. She almost seemed honoured to be talked to by the leading commander of the Dalek race which was another shock! The climax was very good and after hope being in abundance for Alby and Suz that they might be reunited, the cliffhanger told us something that was impossible to believe. Suz was dead. I doubt that'll be the case but it's certainly keeping me in suspense! Overall, a brilliant story to continue what has been a very consistent series thus far.

Rating: 8/10