The Labyrinthine Web

"My tasty time snacks!"

Writer: Richard Dinnick

Format: Short Story

Released: June 2017

Printed in: Myths & Legends 09

Featuring: Racnoss

Synopsis

The war between the Time Lords and the Racnoss is in its infancy, but the consequences and spread are already massive. Regeneration is useless as the Racnoss infuse the Time Lords with their Huon shakes, making them ripe and delicious for their latest hatchlings...

Verdict

The Labyrinthine Web was another decent continuation of the Myths & Legends collection of short stories! This volume has had something of a continued taking us back into the distant past and showing a glimpse of the war between the Time Lords and the Racnoss is fantastic! I really am a fan of the idea and whilst this really was just a glimpse at less than twenty pages, it's great to get an insight into the war. Fysus served to be the lead character in the story and I thought he was a very good little character and had quite a few similarities to the Doctor which was very nice indeed. There was a sense of familiarity around him which was terrific. I certainly got the sense that Dinnick had the Doctor in mind when writing this character as some moments, like his working out of the way to defeat the Racnoss and his little wink, were extremely reminiscent of our Time Lord hero. There wasn't actually a lot learned about the Gallifreyans but I liked how they were used to make the Racnoss look strong. The moment where eight Time Lords had been zapped down by a webstar and began regenerating simultaneously, only for the star to then again zap them dead permanently mid-regeneration was very good. It gave them an immediate sense of fear and fright but that wasn't really needed after all we saw in The Runaway Bride. The continuity with that episode here was very good and I liked the use of the Huon particles. I was less keen about the boasting of the Huon shakes but that was quite alright. Messothel served as a good commander of the Racnoss and took the place of the Empress in the aforementioned Christmas Special. The dynamics changing of having a male Racnoss, I presume as it wasn't quite made clear, was good but things were largely the same with the hatchlings. The pace of the story was good but it wasn't so obvious and clear, or frankly believable, that such a long time of something like a month had passed during its events over just a couple of paragraphs. There needed to be more breakage and exploration of the intervening moments for me. Phaedra made a lovely little character and I enjoyed her relationship with Fysus very much. I also thought the character of Hellner was quite humorous but he was also a bit useless which was a shame. The maze scenes were great and could have done with being extended as they were exciting. The ending was decent with Fysus having reversed the Huon particle effects but just how he managed it would have been better to know. Aria was a superb character and was really lovely but it's a shame that she didn't have more time to shine. Her role in the conclusion was very good and I liked how much she aided Fysus. Overall, a very decent continuation of the collection and a good story!

Rating: 7/10